Since Motorola’s senior engineer Martin Cooper made the first ever mobile phone call to a rival telecommunications company to let them know he was calling from a mobile back in 1973, mobile phones have come a long way. Motorola’s first ever mobile phone, the Dynatac 8000X which was released in 1983, weighed an impressive 1.75lb’s and stood at 13-inches tall, a far cry from the compact handheld smartphones that we’re used to today.
It was Motorola that paved the way for nearly a decade until 1992 when Nokia showed up with the 1011. Mobile phones began to get smaller as manufactures were able to shrink the technology needed to make a functioning mobile until we were left with the likes of the Nokia 3310, a phone famed for it’s amazing battery and incredible durability compared to what’s on offer at the moment.
During the mid-2000’s however something strange began to happen. Some two decades later mobile phones began to get bigger, partly due to bigger screens as consumers demanded more from their phones. Making calls and sending messages was no longer enough. Games, music, photos and video were now a must. Whilst manufacturers delivered what people wanted the first ‘smartphones’ were hit and miss – slow hardware and buggy apps made for some terrible user experiences. Then along came the iPhone in 2007.
Although it wasn’t without its flaws the iPhone presented everything that was currently available on the market but in a far more polished, well presented package and people bought into it. This set the standard for other manufacturers who were quick to follow the iPhone’s distinct design, leading us to where we are today. Giant glossy screens with phone capable of doing just about everything a computer can.
To demonstrated the evolution of smartphones in the real world Reddit user zHighlander uploaded this image. As you can see, it’s incredibly similar to the illustrated timeline above.
via UltraLinx
