Mobile phone of the 20th century. Telephone: principle of operation, development from invention to modern times. Life without phones

An antique telephone, dating from the late 19th or early 20th centuries, can become an original piece of furniture or even lay the foundation for a future private collection. A short historical excursion from ABITANT experts will help you better understand the intricacies of such a delicate issue.

Behind Bell and Edison

The name of Alexander Graham Bell, who patented the first electric telephone in the Washington bureau of Western Union on February 14, 1876, is known, of course, to a good half of humanity. And the American company Bell Telephone, founded in 1877, in just two years grew into the international alliance The International Bell Telephone Company, which launched production and active commercial activities on both sides of the ocean. Meanwhile, telephones from Western Union are becoming increasingly popular in America, and Europeans are setting up their own, no less progressive and revolutionary production of devices, which quickly introduced the invention of Thomas Edison's carbon powder microphone into everyday reality. The real innovators of the industry in the Old World are the German company Siemens and Halske, which opened a plant in St. Petersburg in 1877, and the Danish manufacturer Ericsson L.M., which own the most extraordinary models of the era.

Paris telephone boom

In order to imagine the “telephone boom” that has arisen, just a few statistical facts are enough. Thus, in January 1890, the first directory of metropolitan subscribers was published in Paris, which already included 6,995 people (of which 823 were private individuals), listed in alphabetical order with clarification of address and profession. Telephone operators at 12 nodes in the city found the desired interlocutor using this latest data. So, for example, one could ask “Pierre Taettinger, metal dealer, living at 22 Rue Dunkirk, and connected to the communications center of the Boulevard Villette.” Intercity connections were possible with Brussels, Le Havre, Rouen, Lille, Reims, Lyon and Marseille, but at certain intervals. And the increased demand for telephone sets led to a massive proliferation of Parisian manufacturing companies: at the turn of the century their number numbered several dozen (Aboilard, Grammont, Jacqueson, Charron Bellanger, Gautier & Hugues, Picart-Lebas, Berthon-Ader, Thomson-Houston, S.G.T. (Société Générale des Téléphones), S.I.T. (Société Industrielle des téléphones), J. Dubeuf, L.M.T. (Le Materiel Téléphonique Constructeur), Radiguet, Burgunder and many others.). Among manufacturers from other countries, the Swiss RTT and A. Zellweger, the American company S.H. should also be mentioned. Couch Company and the Danish Emil Mollers–Horsens.

Types of Antique Telephones

But let's return to the very subject of discussion. Over several decades of the technical telephone boom, designers and engineers have developed more than a dozen different types of private and office remote electrical communication devices. Thus, the first models were divided into wall-mounted and table-top; for earpieces, for devices with a fixed microphone, for devices with two hearing tubes, for devices with a bucket tube. Wall telephones, in turn, were divided into models such as “cathedral”, “lectern” and “mold”, and desktop ones - into a post with a column (otherwise “candlestick” or “stand”), into “brick” (or “coffin” ), "sewing machine", "violin" and "lyre". L.M.T. company also released a tabletop version inspired by the Normandy. The cases were made from solid wood, mostly walnut and acaju, and varnished, and from the 1920s, glossy ebonite and bakelite models came into fashion. In the early 1930s, the first models with rotating dials appeared.

The price of phones from the late 19th to early 20th centuries varies from 150 to 700-800 euros, depending on the condition of the device, its manufacturer and the rarity of the object. And the cost of some of the most rare and unique specimens can reach 2000 euros.

One of the most elegant telephone models from Berthon-Ader, 1897

Legendary telephone type« sewing machine» from Ericsson L.M., 1910

Telephone type« music stand»​ from Mors Abdank, 1894

Desk horn type telephone« Column»​ Berliner, 1912

Aboilard horn table apparatus, 1904

Wall mounted type« Cathedral» companies Berliner, 1916

Tabletop model with two ear tubes and fixed microphone from Burgunder, 1908

Tabletop type machine« candlestick» from Grammont, 1920s

Wooden model from 1924, supplemented with a dial in the 1930s, Dunyach et Leclert

Tabletop brick model» from Ericsson France, 1930

Legendary Bakelite model« Normandy»​ from L.M.T., 1934, Art Deco style

Today, the entire Internet community is discussing a video posted on the World Wide Web. In documentary newsreels from the 20s of the last century, users saw a woman holding an object resembling a mobile phone. Now everyone is wondering: either this is a guest from the future, or a great falsification of modern jokers.

Evgeniy Zubkov figured it out. NTV report.

This one came as a bonus to the collector's edition of Charlie Chaplin's 1928 film The Circus. It seems like an ordinary video, black and white film, people of that time, but meticulous film buff director George Clarke quickly identified the anachronism.

Attention to the woman in a black coat and hat! If you look closely, it looks like she's talking on her cell phone. Tens of thousands of people who have already discussed this video on the Internet think so, but how could a mobile phone end up at the beginning of the last century? Fantastic!

However, skeptics put forward several logical explanations. The lady is probably listening to a portable transistor radio or hiding her face from the camera. But who is she talking to then? Perhaps she has schizophrenia. Either this is skillful editing, and the lady is our contemporary, which is more likely to be true, since the first cell phones appeared only 30 years ago, and they were quite large.

History, however, remembers many cases of fakes that were mistaken for the original and vice versa. From the latest, stored in one of the Canadian museums, a photograph from the year 1941. Doubt was raised by the image of a man wearing a fashionable sweater, modern glasses, a T-shirt with a printed logo and a portable camera.

Experts immediately made a verdict: a young man could not look like that in those days. And they were wrong. After a thorough check, no traces of installation were found.

Another example: the recent negotiations on the Middle East in Washington. Reality: Leaders walk down the red carpet to meet reporters. Next is a pseudo-illustration, it was published by the Arab media, changing the heads of state so that the President of Egypt was in the very center.

Another example of forgery is the launch of Iranian missiles in 2008. A technical mistake - one of the rockets did not take off - was turned into a national success with the help of a graphic editor and shown to the world. But the professionals quickly saw through the trick.

Or another incident, the authoritative agency Reuters got into it. A photographer who worked at the height of the military conflict in Lebanon was caught retouching a number of photographs. It turned out that he edited the footage for greater credibility, so that the Israeli bombing of Beirut, as well as their consequences, looked more juicy.

With the advent of new technologies, the process of falsifying video or photographic materials has become accessible to almost everyone. It used to be that everyone watched in amazement as movie characters shook hands with real presidents. Or the host of a TV program is transported back in time to help the Secretary General load a gun.

Now you can turn a fat woman into a sexy model in a short period of time. And for glossy magazines, eliminating defects in photographs of celebrities is routine. Otherwise there will be nothing to see.

Now everyone is exaggerating the story of a mobile phone from the distant past. Although it is possible that Mr. Clark himself made all the fuss, falsifying chronicle footage in order to attract attention to his person.

Almost no modern person can imagine his life and work without a telephone.

However, more recently, in historical terms, there were times when a telephone was considered a luxury. Who invented and introduced the telephone to the masses?

Landline communications

As everyone knows, the era of telephone communication began with wired telephones, which could transmit voice messages using technologies that were significantly different from modern ones.

Such a device became a major breakthrough and the first “bell” of an active scientific and technological revolution, which began almost immediately from the creation of such an innovative device.

Story

The first telephone was created in an era when the only way to more or less quickly transmit messages over long distances was the telegraph.

At that time, the telegraph was considered a perfect and fully functional means of communication with remote regions.

However, the invention of the telephone caused a revolution, and it quickly began to be put into use.

It is worth noting that the invention of the telephone could not have been thought of until electricity was discovered.

When electricity became more or less widely used, the telegraph appeared - Morse presented to the public in 1897 not only his alphabet, but also his broadcasting apparatus.

The appearance of the world's first device capable of quickly transmitting information without a physical carrier over a greater distance proved that such a transmission method was possible in principle, and gave scientists of that time the impetus to develop methods for its improvement.

First device

And at the end of the 19th century, scientists managed to significantly improve the transmission method and give it a new format. It is believed that Alexander Bell invented the telephone, but this is not entirely true.

The appearance of the device would be impossible without Philip Rice- German scientist.

It was Rice who created the very basis of the future telephone set- a device capable of transmitting a recording of a human voice over certain (quite large for that time) distances using galvanic current conductors. Rice's development was published in 1861, and during this period Bell took it as the basis for his future invention - the telephone, in the form in which we know it now.

So, after 15 years, namely in 1876, the first telephone based on galvanic current appeared, the inventor of which was considered Alexander Graham Bell.

At this year's World's Fair, a Scottish researcher presented his device that allows voice messages to be transmitted over a distance, and also applied for a patent.

Specifications

What technical characteristics did this first device have?

It was significantly inferior not only to the devices that became widespread in the 20th century, but also to subsequent models created by Bell a few years later.

However, at that time its characteristics were considered premium.

The distance over which the device could transmit sound was 200 m, which was a lot.

Initially, it had severe sound distortion, but with the next improvement, Alexander Graham Bell eliminated this problem.

And in this form, the device, invented and improved by him, existed for almost another 100 years.

History of creation

Like many famous inventions that changed not only the course of scientific and technological progress, but also the course of history, it was created by accident.

Initially, Alexander Bell's goal was not to create a device that would transmit a voice message, but to create a telegraph apparatus capable of transmitting several telegrams simultaneously.

In the process of experiments on such improvement of the telegraph apparatus, the telephone was created.

The telegraph operated using pairs of records, and for their experiment Bell and his assistant prepared several pairs of such records, which were tuned to operate at different frequencies.

As a result of a slight violation of the experimental technology, one of the plates got stuck.

The inventor's assistant began to express his opinion regarding what had happened, while Bell himself at that moment carried out some manipulations with the receiving device of the telegraph apparatus.

A few seconds later, scientists heard sounds coming from the transmitter and resembling a voice recording, although with very strong distortion.

From this moment the history of telephone communication began. After Alexander Bell presented his device to the public, many eminent scientists began work to improve the existing device. The patent office issued hundreds of patents for devices that could modernize and improve the created phone.

1 The most significant of them are: T. Watson's call

2 , replacing the whistle that was originally installed on the Bell apparatus, which appeared in 1878; Carbon microphone M. Michalski

3 , which improved the quality of transmission, and was created in 1878; Automatic telephone exchange for 10,000 numbers S. Apostolov

, which appeared in 1894.

The importance of Alexander Bell's invention can also be assessed by financial parameters.

This patent became one of the most profitable in the world, it was he who made Bell a world famous and very rich man. But was it deserved?

In 2002, the US Congress recognized that this patent was issued undeservedly, and the true discoverer of telephone communication should be considered not the Scottish scientist Alexander Graham Bell, but the Italian inventor Antonio Meucci, who created his device after many years of the Bell telephone.

In 1860, he created the truly first apparatus capable of transmitting sound through wires. Meucci's device was called the telextrophone.

At the time of the creation and improvement of the invention, Meucci lived in the USA, was already almost an elderly man and was in a very poor financial situation.

At this stage, his invention and The large company Western Union became interested.

Its representatives offered the scientist to sell all his developments for a substantial sum, and also promised to assist in obtaining a patent.

The poor financial situation forced Meucci to give in to the company's demands. He received his money, but did not receive any help in obtaining a patent, so he applied for it himself, but was refused. And in 1876, Alexander Bell received a patent for an almost completely similar device.

This was a serious shock for Meucci, and he tried to challenge the decision to award the patent to Bell in court.

During the first stages of the proceedings, Meucci did not have enough finances to fight the huge corporation.

As a result, the right to the patent was nevertheless returned to him in court, but only when the validity period of this patent had already expired.

Important! Only in 2002 was a resolution passed by the Congress of the United States of America, according to which Meucci was officially recognized as the inventor of the telephone.

The twentieth century

Devices similar to Meucci's were used throughout much of the twentieth century.

They were constantly being improved, and if the first models that became widespread could communicate with the called subscriber only through a telephone exchange, which required a manual connection, then later these stations became automatic, and subscribers were able to communicate almost directly.

The advent of such an automatic communication system was a big step towards the invention of the telephone as users know it today.

The first telephone that brought scientists closer to the invention of cellular communications was the radiotelephone.

After this, the first cell phone appeared, and relatively recently, satellite telephony.

The newest of the existing developments can be called, which has little in common directly with the phone, but performs the same functions.

mobile connection

The history of cellular communications began with radiotelephones, the first tests of which were carried out in 1941 by G. Shapiro and I. Zakharchenko in the USSR, and by AT&T Bell Laboratories in the USA.

The system was based on radio communication and was intended to be used for communication between cars (in the modern sense, it was more like a walkie-talkie than a telephone).

In both superpowers, the tests were successful and the system fully met the expectations of the inventors.

And already in 1947, the concept of using hexagonal cells for communication was first proposed in the USA.

It was proposed for use by Douglas Ring and Ray Young, inventors working on the Bell staff. The tests were also successful, and it was on the basis of this technology that mobile communications subsequently developed (and it was on the basis of this technology that it got its name).

But the real birthplace of mobile communications is still considered not to be the USA or the USSR, but Sweden.

Here, in 1956, a vehicle-to-vehicle communication system was launched and successfully operated, which became the first such system in the world.

Initially, the project was implemented in the three largest cities of the state - Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo.

Telephone sets of Kupriyanovich

The first telephone that could be truly mobile and used in field devices was invented in the USSR.

The subscriber could carry it with him; it did not need to be built into cars and transported, like earlier models.

The device was presented to the public by L. I. Kupriyanovich, a Soviet engineer, in 1957.

The weight of the device was 3 kg, which was very light by the standards of that time, but it operated over fairly long distances - up to 30 km, depending on the terrain.

The operating time of this device without replacing batteries was 20-30 hours, depending on operating conditions. The inventor received a patent for the engineering solutions of the device in 1957.

This engineer continued to work in this direction until 1958.

This year he created a more compact mobile phone that works on the same principles as the previous device.

The new device weighed only half a kilogram and was no larger than a cigarette box.

This year he is creating a device that works on the same principles as the previous two, but weighs only 70 grams and fits in your pocket. It is capable of communicating over a distance of up to 80 km.

According to the inventor, this device could well be adapted for mass production with the aim of mass equipping heads of departments and enterprises with it.

Some time later, in one of his interviews with periodicals, he announced his readiness to design 10 automatic television stations for portable telephones throughout the country. But this project was never implemented in reality.

Bulgarian developments

Although Kupriyanovich himself will soon stop working, his system, in one variation or another, continues to be improved by other companies.

Thus, in 1965, the Radioelectronics company from Bulgaria presented at the Inforga-65 technology festival a system consisting of a main telephone exchange for 15 subscribers, and 15 telephones themselves.

At the same time, they mention that the project was developed precisely on the principle of Kupriyanovich’s equipment. Work on such technology in this organization continues in 1966.

At the Interorgtekhnika-66 scientific exhibition, they presented a set of mobile phones and a station designed to work with six devices. An industrial model is presented, ready, to a greater or lesser extent, for mass production.

In the future, the company works with this particular model, which is already significantly different from Kupriyanovich’s devices.

They first create a station with 69 numbers, and then with 699.

The system became widespread, became a substitute for intercom and was widely produced by industrial enterprises to equip departmental institutions with communications, and was actively used in the country until the early 90s.

Car phones

At the same time, the development of radiotelephones for cars is actively underway.

They are implemented using a different technology, different from Kupriyanovich’s technology, but are relatively popular and widely distributed in the USSR and the world at the beginning of the second half of the twentieth century.

In 1958, work began on the design and creation of mobile phones intended for equipping civilian departmental vehicles. These phones were called"Altai"

In 1963, Altai was already introduced into more or less mass production and was relatively widely used; the technology was so far widespread only in Moscow, and then began to be used in St. Petersburg.

Only by 1970 it came into operation in another 30 large cities of the Soviet Union.

Commercial cellular communications

The first steps towards the widespread introduction of cell phones and the commercialization of the industry were taken in 1982 by a British company Pye Telecommunications.

They demonstrated an automatic mobile phone that works as an attachment to a walkie-talkie Pocketphone 70. Theoretically, the device could be implemented everywhere.

Motorola

In 1983, Motorola introduced the first model of a truly commercial mobile phone, intended not only for organizations and departments, but also for individual users who simply could afford to purchase a device.

The device model was called DynaTAC 8000X, and it took the company almost 16 years to create it.

At the same time, a huge amount of money was invested in it, according to some sources - more than $110 million.

The device weighed almost 800 grams, had a length of 33 cm, a thickness of 4.5 cm, and a width of almost 9 cm.

The battery could operate autonomously for up to 9 hours in standby mode or 1 hour in talk mode, and it was the first phone with a battery charged from a mobile network.

The device was sold at a price of almost $4,000.

Spreading

The technology quickly became popular despite the fact that the first devices were very expensive for the average user.

But already in 1984, such phones (and the mobile communication format) were already used by more than 300,000 subscribers.

In 2003, this figure exceeded one billion two hundred million subscribers - it is generally accepted that it was in this year that the technology truly became widespread throughout the world and became firmly established in the life of the average user.

And on July 1, 1991, the first call made in the GSM format was made in Finland. And it is this date that is considered the birthplace of the widespread format that we use to this day. Even with the introduction of other wireless communication technologies and other types of networks, this communication format still remains the most widespread and is characterized by the largest coverage area on the globe.

In 1998, a prototype of the first device of this type with a touch-sensitive screen appeared.

This was an important step towards a qualitatively new type of mobile communication devices, including smartphones.

This first touch phone, in fact, became the progenitor of the devices we use today.

Throughout the 80s and 90s, the price of mobile phones fell, and by the early 2000s they, although still expensive, were becoming affordable to a larger portion of users.

And after 7-8 years, mobile communications will almost completely replace landline communications.

My phone rang. Who's speaking? Elephant! The telephone is an invention that changed the world. Since all our modern activities are so tied to this thing, we decided to trace the history of its development, and at the same time understand how it works.

Do you know someone who doesn't have a phone? Perhaps these are only very old grandparents. Or the guys from the Tumba-Yumba tribe. Although they probably already have one. The telephone appeared a century and a half ago, and here is the result: every person makes about 1,500 phone calls a year!

Telephony development

The first telephones had a range of only 500 meters, they did not have a ringer, and calls had to be made using a whistle. After introducing a carbon microphone and telecoil into the phone, the range of the device increased significantly.

The first telephone exchanges could not connect subscribers directly. In order to “call”, you had to pick up the phone and start turning the lever. After connecting with the telephone operator, she was told the subscriber's number, she plugged the plug into the socket, and only after that the conversation began.

Direct calls have become possible since the 20s of the last century, although an automatic switchboard capable of replacing the work of telephone operators was proposed back in 1887 by the Russian scientist K.A. Mosticki.

Now we are accustomed to 7-digit numbers and international telephone codes. And the first telephone numbers consisted of only 2-3 digits.

In 1927 it was already possible to call from New York to London. Telephone networks began to actively cover the globe.

By the way, call us any time! For our readers there is now a 10% discount on

The principle of operation of the phone “on the fingers”

Why on the fingers? Because before you deal with something complex (for example, the principle of operation of a modern mobile phone), you always need to deal with the simplest things, from which everything started.

The signals in the telephone are electrical. Human speech is a sound signal. The telephone converts sound signals into electrical signals and vice versa.

We speak into a microphone, the membrane vibrates, its vibrations in the magnetic field create a current in the coil, which is transmitted through the wire to the interlocutor. At the other end, the opposite process occurs: current flows in the moving coil of the speaker, which causes the membrane to vibrate and “ripple” the air. As a result, we hear sound.

Now phones can be divided into:

• regular landline phones;
• radiotelephones;
• Cell Phones;
• satellite phones;
• phones operating in IP telephony.

The emergence of modern phones, mobile communications

The significance of the invention of the mobile phone was also revolutionary. And the first mobile phones appeared in 1976. They were huge, and their cost was also huge. In the 1980s in America you could already buy a mobile phone for $3,500. For comparison: a new Ford Mustang cost 6,500.

It is believed that it was invented in the USA, but there is a version that the first mobile prototype was developed in the USSR in 1973. Like many interesting developments, the Soviet mobile phone remained unknown to the world.

In the CIS countries, mobile phones became widespread in the 90s of the 20th century.

Prospects for the development of phones

Scientists, futurists and social researchers believe that in the future, smartphones are likely to replace individual devices such as the computer, laptop and camera. The capabilities and power of the phones will allow you to simply connect a monitor and keyboard to them, turning your smartphone into a full-fledged personal PC.

Already, a modern telephone is a real research station that collects a huge amount of data. In the future, the quantity and quality of data will increase. The information collected can be used for a variety of studies: from the behavior of groups of people to earthquake prediction and weather forecasting. Bank cards will also become a thing of the past. There is already technology that allows you to pay with a smartphone, using it instead of a card.

But this is all in the future. For now, no matter how smart your smartphone is, it won’t be able to write a coursework or test for you. A special student service can help with this, providing the services of professionals in all fields: from agronomy and accounting to electronics and nuclear physics.

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Probably, each of us from time to time wonders how this or that industry developed. When did the car first appear on the roads? Who developed the first space rocket? How and when did the mobile phone appear and what influenced its development? It is precisely the last question that we will examine today. The mobile industry is truly interesting and vast, although it has only existed for a few decades. Many of you reading this article have probably seen the first push-button brick phones with tiny black and white screens, which, meanwhile, could hardly be called a cheap pleasure. Now look at the smartphone market - elegant beauties with powerful hardware and huge displays that anyone can afford. How have mobile phones managed to develop so much in just a couple of decades?

The pioneer mobile phone

The world's first official conversation on a mobile phone not connected to a landline network took place in New York in 1973.

April 3, 1973 turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day. An older man, Martin Cooper, emerged from the New York office of the then Motorola company. In his hand he had an unknown milk-colored object - moving a little away from the office, he pressed some buttons on this box. Almost at the same time, in the office of Motorola's competitor, Bell Laboratories, the telephone set in the office of the head of the research apparatus, D. Engel, rang. When he picked up the phone, he heard Martin Cooper's voice on the other end:

“Do you know why and where I’m calling you from? I’m now standing in the middle of Manhattan and in my hands I have the world’s first cell phone!”

This is the official simple story of the world's first telephone call from a cell phone. But there is also a version according to which the world's first wireless telephone saw the light not in the United States, but in the USSR - back in 1961. It was in this year that reports appeared in media agencies that a sample was developed by the talented hands of radio engineer Leonid Kupriyanovich telephone, through which, via radio communication, it was possible to make a call to a base telephone station within 25 km. Now to us, contemporaries, this distance seems ridiculous, but in the 60s, this became significant progress in the field of telephone communications.

Such a mobile phone weighed half a kilogram, and it could work while waiting for more than a day. It was a box with a disk for dialing, with a handset connected to it and a pair of toggle switches. Naturally, it was not entirely convenient to use - apart from the weight load, when using it, either both hands were occupied, or it was necessary to hang it on the belt in some way.

But, for an unknown reason, after 1965 they stopped talking and writing about this invention, and the radio engineer himself went into the development of medical equipment.

But the development of the world's first Motorola telephone continued - and after 11 years (1984) the first portable telephone equipment went on sale. The beginning of the history of this legendary technology is considered to be 1984. The first mobile phone was equipped with a memory of thirty numbers, a ringtone and an LED display. This miracle of technology weighed 800 grams. and cost about 4 thousand dollars. In addition to its noticeable weight, this unit had another significant disadvantage: the battery only lasted for 20-30 minutes.

How the mobile industry developed until the end of the last century

After some time, when the world community understood and appreciated the capabilities of mobile telephone technology, with slow but sure steps this technology industry began to rebuild its production for mobile equipment. Of course, everything did not happen in such a dynamic mode as in modern conditions (this is understandable; there were no such technologies as now in the 80s). But still, in 1985-86, the German company Siemens, which was especially popular in the mid-00s, introduced the Mobiltelefon C1. The device looked impressive - it was, in the full sense of the word, a suitcase equipped with electronics.

In 1987, then still a company, today already a large Nokia corporation, released its version of the latest mobile device - Nokia Mobira Cityman 900. This device no longer had such impressive weight parameters, but this advantage turned out to be the only thing that the Finnish phone could boast of. He only had a memory for eight numbers, and this miracle of technology cost about 4.5 thousand dollars.

But, despite this, Nokia Mobira sales were excellent - even the leader of the USSR Gorbachev purchased this unit when he visited Helsinki.

How mobile communications came to Russia

Mobile phones came into mass use among Russians only after perestroika; before that time, mobile devices were used only by politicians, movie stars, high-ranking military officials and other persons who could afford the purchase and use of such equipment.

The most notable mobile phones of the 20th century

The 90s gave life to many well-known companies that were engaged in the development and production of mobile phones. Some of them, despite the thorny path, are successful today, while others remain in our memory, like iconic brands 10-15 years ago. Let's dive into memories.

The industry began its development in 1991 - contracts and agreements for the export of mobile devices began to be signed. By that time, the new Motorola MicroTAC 9800x model was already in great demand on the world market: it weighed only 350 grams and became an inhabitant of the pockets of millions of citizens around the world. This phone, unlike its predecessors, could be carried with you everywhere, which is why it was so loved by screenwriters, politicians, bandits and businessmen in the early 90s in our young country.

The Motorola Micro TAC had a built-in phone book from which it was possible to directly call a subscriber. The last modification of this line of Motorola phones was released in 1998; in just 9 years, 37 models were produced.

Pilot mobile projects were developed and launched not only in our country - in many developed countries of the rest of the world, communication standards were also harmonized, mobile networks and production were launched. At this time, society, which could afford to purchase such an expensive toy, became accustomed to its use and to the status that it strengthened and supported.

But, as we all know, the times of sky-high prices for phones and cellular communications have sunk into oblivion and, after 1992, more budget mobile phone models began to appear in our country (a little later than in Europe). For example, the Finnish Nokia 1011 could boast of wide distribution at that time: a compact and absolutely charming device in those years. This model cost no more than 1.5 thousand dollars and worked according to the GSM 900 standard. In terms of functionality and practical side, it was, in general, not much different from the famous Motorola MicroTAC 9800x, except for the changed MonoLCD display and increased duration of use without recharging - up to one and a half hours.

Another outstanding old man from the 90s. It was a flagship with a long battery life without charging: it could work in standby mode for about a day, and in talk mode for about 3 hours. With this mobile device, there was no need to carry a charger with you everywhere - this is already a distant reminder of modern models.

But only the Benefon Beta mobile unit could boast of the appearance of a clock on the display in 1994; in addition, it had a standby mode of more than 4 days. It is not known what this is connected with, but the model never received distribution, which is why the name of this phone seems unfamiliar.

But many people remember the legendary Nokia 2110. It held a leading position in the mobile market from 1995 until the early 2000s. An interesting and presentable design by the standards of that time, a vibration alert, three information lines on the screen, an alarm clock, a calculator, a stopwatch and an SMS function. By the way, the iconic Nokia ringtone appeared for the first time on the Nokia 2110.

During these same years, Motorola StarTAC conquered North America - it was the first “folding phone” that Americans fell in love with for its futuristic design, compact size and affordable price segment.

This model pioneered the color display. Also, this German mobile development could boast of bold body colors and a fairly reliable and long-lasting battery. Siemens S10 could be found on sale in 1997.

As they called it in 1998 - the world's first communicator. This Finnish miracle of technology is now considered the predecessor of modern smartphones: it had a QWERTY keyboard and had a more advanced set of features than other mobile phone models of that time. It had various applications, including a text editor, which was convenient to work with, thanks to an almost computer keyboard. True, the display of this portable device was black and white, and it did not have access to the Internet. Later, the WAP function appeared, and the Finns also worked on the weight parameters: 9110 became much more convenient to use.

A real breakthrough happens in the 21st century. Mobile devices are rapidly becoming cheaper, new companies are appearing, giving rise to impressive competition. And most importantly, the devices themselves are being improved. It was in the 00s that the first smartphones appeared that were not perceived by modern users as dinosaurs. New operating systems are being developed, devices are becoming more powerful, design is given a lot of attention, and every user no longer looks at a mobile phone as something prohibitively expensive.

New functions - new possibilities

It was at the turn of the century that phones began to master the functions known in our time: they learned to access the World Wide Web using the WAP protocol. Also, the end of 1999 was remembered for the appearance of a mobile device with two SIM cards, and in 2000, MP3 melodies could already be heard from phones. At the same time, photo-video and multimedia functions were introduced; in 2002, Siemens SL45 with Java technology appears.

Design

Phones continued to get smaller in the early 2000s, with some models being designed in ladies' style (miniature and compact). The Panasonic GD55 boasted the size of a matchbox, and if you remember the Samsung SGH-A400, it fit into the average palm. Despite the fact that these models had a monochrome type of screen, they accessed the Internet quite quickly.

The pioneering smartphone

In 2002, the first smartphone based on the Series S80 operating system, Nokia 9210, was released. This operating system became the predecessor of Symbian, which was subsequently used by many global mobile brands. The “operating system” opened up many possibilities for smartphones, including multitasking, as well as the convenience of the interface and basic basic functions.

iPhone

The birthday of this now mega-popular gadget is 2007 - it was in this year that the legendary creation of Steve Jobs saw the light. Thanks to this model, the concept of a smartphone - a phone with a large screen diagonal and a minimum of traditional buttons - has firmly and apparently entered modern everyday life for a very long time. Apple also developed its newest operating system, iOS. Around the same time, Android was born, which quickly came under the wing of Google.

Evolution of technical characteristics

All classes of chargers have also undergone revolutionary changes: a wireless battery charging function has appeared. Its development was completed back in 2009, but this technology began to be implemented only in 2015.

Another equally useful and convenient thing that is familiar to almost every user is the AppStore and GooglePlay application stores, which entered our lives a few years ago. And if we also remember such a technological innovation as, which allows you to pay by touching a smartphone to a terminal, then we can safely say that there has been an undeniable sharp leap in the development of mobile technologies over the past 17 years.

The cameras built into modern gadgets have also evolved far: in the first phones equipped with cameras, the resolution was 0.3 megapixels, but now on the market you can find smartphones with a camera resolution of 41 MP. Add to this the dual flash function, autofocus and other functionality and here it is - the perfect shot anytime, anywhere.

The acceleration of the Internet, with its appearance in our phones, occurred in geometric progression: if the first phones with WAP could boast a speed of several kilobytes per second, now, with the LTE function, the speed is already measured in gigabits.

Evolution of design

The design of modern models consistently maintains the direction of simplicity and conciseness of forms and details - a rectangular thin body with an ever-increasing screen diagonal size. Experts in the field of technological development and futuristic ideas argue that the appearance of smartphones of the future will not change radically, except that this will affect the size of the screens. But they are quite capable of knocking digital products such as cameras and laptops out of the market in the near future.

Industry development forecasts

Analysts and mobile industry experts claim that in the near future, smartphones will replace all computer equipment for humanity: it will be possible to connect external monitors, keyboards, and mice to them. Memory volumes will grow, and data transfer speeds will increase - Wi-Fi will gradually become a thing of the past.

Also, forecasts have been voiced more than once that all types of magnetic passes and bank cards will migrate to smartphones. Such technologies are already being developed in the market for these products. Smartphones of the future will most likely get rid of such annoying problems for all users as a battery discharged at the wrong time. Technologies for fast and independent charging are already being developed and implemented in modern gadgets. New types of batteries that are on the verge of introduction can be charged in a matter of minutes.

Mobile devices will lose frames around the screen, which is already gradually happening. Display sizes will increase, bendable panels will appear, allowing you to roll or fold the phone. From here we get complete exclusion from the tablet market. And this will not happen in decades - already in 2019, Samsung is ready to present the first folding smartphone, Apple - in 2020.