Andrew Avella
Nicole Short
ENG 170
8 May 2020
The Evolution of the Cell Phone
It was on April 3, 1973 when Martin Cooper made the first phone call on a mobile cell phone (Hopkins). The engineer at Motorola used his over two pound prototype to phone his rivals at Bell Laboratories while completely disconnected from any tethers (Hopkins). The final version of this device was the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, released in 1983 later at a price of $3,500, which is equivalent to over $10,000 today when adjusted for inflation (Hopkins). Nearly half a century has passed since Cooper made the first call on a mobile phone and the advances in cell phone technology has had a monumental impact on society.
The advances in communication technology that we’re used to today only came to be in the last few centuries. One of the first big steps was Samuel Morse’s electric telegraph. Morse sent the first message with the telegraph in 1844 and the technology would sweep America over (History). Before the telegraph, the fastest way to deliver a message was by horse which could take weeks or months for a transatlantic message (History). Other methods for long distance communication relied on many distanced stations relaying a simple smoke signal or drum beat; a method which was dependent on clear weather to be effective (History). By 1866, a telegraph line had been built to deliver telegrams across the Atlantic Ocean (History).
Operation of the telegraph was based on a system bearing Morse’s surname (History). When connected to the proper infrastructure, a telegraph can only send one signal: on. Morse code is a translation of the Latin alphabet, numbers, and some punctuation symbols to a system of short and long individual transmissions that could travel over telegraph lines (History). A simple sentence warning of an incoming invader was slower to code and decode when compared to writing but electrical wire is several orders of magnitude faster than anything that preceded it. The invention of the telephone allowed for the direct transmission of conversation over the same wires and would replace the comparatively slower telegraph over the following years (History).
It’s not hard to see why the telephone stuck. The phone allowed people to stay connected as cities started to expand and suburbs began to spring up along with the invention of the car. As manifest destiny continued to bring settlers westward, pioneers could keep up to date on the news of the east, that is, once these towns had telephone lines built to reach them. Of course, today, it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t have a phone of their very own in their pocket. Many modern smartphones have become cheap enough for people in almost every income bracket and flip phones can be had for even less. A $35 flip phone is a hundredth the cost of the price that the Motorola DynaTAC 8000x sold for and it could probably play snake too.
In talking about his first mobile phone call, Martin Cooper recalls that “Sophisticated New Yorkers gaped at the sight of someone actually moving around while making a phone call,” (Hopkins). He continued by mentioning, “I made numerous calls,” and somewhat humorously recounts a call “where I crossed the street while talking to a New York radio reporter-probably one of the more dangerous things I have ever done in my life” (Hopkins). To even accomplish such an act, Cooper’s primitive phone had to work disconnected from any phone lines and use an early version what we know today as a cellular network. Cooper’s team, including Joel S. Engel, Richard H. Frenkiel, and Phil Porter first devised of a small cellular network in the 1960’s and filed a blueprint for their findings in 1971 (Hopkins). The 1990’s was truly the decade of the cell phone. It was around this time that cell phones finally dropped in price enough to enter the consumer market, becoming more accessible than ever before (Hopkins).
In an earlier interview, Cooper was asked for his take on how the cellular industry had evolved. Perhaps unexpectedly, Cooper laments that the cellular industry “focus[es] on gimmicks and gadgets such as cameras and MP3 players,” explaining that “none of [these features] work better than the discrete devices” (Schwartz). I’m sure anyone who uses their smartphone to take pictures of [of what?] would laugh at Cooper’s dated complaints. At the time of this interview, AccuWeather was launching a service to bring weather forecasts to their subscribers’ cell phones (Schwartz). Another gimmick on cell phones? Not quite. Jim Candor, senior vice president at AccuWeather claims that there is a lot to gain with accurate forecasts. Candor explained: “In 1994, two freezes occurred within two weeks of each other in the coffee-growing region of Brazil.” AccuWeather subscribers bought up coffee before these blizzards hit and made a significant profit after the price per pound of the coffee they bought jumped from $1.40 to $2.60 overnight, “giving those investors with faith in weather people a $50,000 profit on each contract. Candor said they made millions” (Schwartz). The intersection of the accessibility and immediacy of cell phones and the vast knowledge available on the internet in this way is nothing short or amazing.
The access of information via the internet is not entirely sunshine and rainbows of course. Peter Paul in an editorial discussing the effects of digital technology provides an interesting thought: “Instead of ‘Everything learned or needed to know, I learned in kindergarten,’ we now have ‘Everything I need to learn or to know can be Googled.” More generally, Paul is pointing out how the internet provides people the opportunity to neglect learning important life skills and instead use their phones to look up how to tie a tie, how to cook, or []. Even worse, Paul discusses what he calls “the ugly” of this technology. This includes cyberbulling, which can have effects ranging from mental derangement or depression to suicide. It includes addiction: to video games, social media, or as Paul puts it: “cases that would have made my mother blush (and cry),” citing a story where a father forgot to drop his son at day care on his way to work and forgetting about him, leaving him to suffocate in the car.
People using their cell phones while driving is another significant problem. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated around 3,154 fatalities and 424,000 injuries as a result of distracted drivers in 2013 (Tian). Granted, these numbers represent any type of distraction but texting while driving is a significant safety risk for drivers and passengers (Tian). Although texting is a bigger distraction than a phone call these calls still distract drivers even when a hands-free device is being used (Tian). Multiple surveys found that around 69 to 77% of adults had used a cell phone while driving and around 40% have texted while driving (Tian). Even scarier is that 60% to 72% of younger adults say they text and drive (Tian). The introduction of what are essentially smartphones or tablets embedded in newer cars is even more concerning considering dangerous cell phone use while driving is.
Despite these gross misuses of cell phones, I cannot deny my own personal appreciation for them. The modern smartphone is much more than what cell phones used to be. Cooper criticized cell phone manufacturers for adding cameras and MP3 players to their phones but those are two features I use almost every day on my device. More than that, I can check my email, play a game of minesweeper or sudoku to pass the time, write down a thought, navigate to any address with GPS, and I of course take phone calls. One service whose work I believe has been wholly dismissed is Google Earth and Google Street View. Google had the money and know-how to photograph views from roads and streets all around the planet and anyone with access to the internet can essentially walk down these roads at no charge. With a smartphone, I can get in a car, get step by step directions to anywhere I can think of, and see where it is I want to go. That was a pipe dream not 50 years ago.
The versatility of smartphones is commendable. Some years ago, a group of app developers released an iPhone app called “Concussion Recognition and Response” (Walkinshaw). This app, based on an initiative from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, aims to aid in identifying whether or not someone has sustained a concussion in the absence of a medical professional (Walkinshaw). The app is not a replacement for a professional diagnosis. The user is asked a couple questions and is advises whether medical attention may or may not be necessary (Walkinshaw). Other apps now exist to send and receive money, replace a TV remote, tune an musical instrument, edit videos, or to listen to any song ever recorded, many of which are free to download.
Smartphones are often taken for granted nowadays by so-called digital natives. Many of the digital immigrants of the world have taken to abandoning snail mail and paper maps, and I can’t blame them. Why wait for weather forecasts every ten minutes on TV when the same information is a few taps away on a smartphone? Why buy an expensive camera to catalog a vacation when cell phones are becoming amazing cameras outright? And why not own a smartphone when the device and a cellular network plan are more affordable then they have ever been?
Works Cited
Hopkins, Christopher Snow. “5 Inventors of the Cell Phone Honored for Wiring the World.” National Journal Daily, Atlantic Media, Inc., Feb. 2013.
Paul, Peter V. “The Digital Generation: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” American Annals of the Deaf, vol. 157, no. 5, 2013, pp. 407–11, doi:10.1353/aad.2013.0000.
Schwartz, Ephraim. “WIRELESS WORLD: Happy Birthday, Mr. Cell Phone – Thirty Years Have Been Good to the Cell Phone, but It Still Has a Ways to Go.(a Talk with Inventor, Marty Cooper).” InfoWorld, vol. 25, no. 14, InfoWorld Media Group, Inc., Apr. 2003.
Tian, Yan, and James D. Robinson. “Predictors of Cell Phone Use in Distracted Driving: Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior.” Health Communication, vol. 32, no. 9, Routledge, Sept. 2017, pp. 1066–75, doi:10.1080/10410236.2016.1196639.
Walkinshaw, Erin. “iPhone App an Aid in Diagnosing Concussions.” CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal = Journal de l’Association Medicale Canadienne, vol. 183, no. 14, Oct. 2011, pp. E1047–E1048, doi:10.1503/cmaj.109-3942.
History. “Morse Code & the Telegraph.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Nov. 2009, www.history.com/topics/inventions/telegraph.