Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
A man talks on his mobile phone while standing near a conventional telephone box, which stands empty. Enabling technology for mobile phones was first developed in the 1940s but it was not until the mid-1980s that they became widely available. By 2011, it was estimated in Britain that more calls were made using mobile phones than wired devices. [1]
Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus. A mobile phone, or cell phone, [a] is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones (landline phones).
That first cell phone began a fundamental technology and communications market shift to making phone calls to a person instead of to a place. [6] [19] Bell Labs had introduced the idea of cellular communications in 1947, but their first systems were limited to car phones which required roughly 30 pounds (12 kg) of equipment in the trunk. [21]
The rise in popularity of touchscreen smartphones and mobile apps distributed via app stores along with rapidly advancing network, mobile processor, and storage technologies led to a convergence where separate mobile phones, organizers, and portable media players were replaced by a smartphone as the single device most people carried.
Before the era of smartphones, mobile phones were generally manufactured by companies specializing in telecommunications equipment, such as Nokia, Motorola, and Ericsson. Since the advent of smartphones, mobile phone manufacturers have also included consumer electronics companies, such as Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi. [41]
Mobile technology has evolved rapidly over the past few years. Since the start of this millennium, a standard mobile device has gone from being no more than a simple two-way pager to being a mobile phone, GPS navigation device, an embedded web browser and instant messaging client, and a handheld gaming console.
Other large school districts, such as Los Angeles, were able to ban phones on school campuses. Florida banned cellphones across the state in 2023 and Indiana and Ohio passed legislation this year.
The telephone played a major communications role in American history from the 1876 publication of its first patent by Alexander Graham Bell onward. In the 20th century the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) dominated the telecommunication market as the at times largest company in the world, until it was broken up in 1982 and replaced by a system of competitors.