© Mark Ollig
The faces of many New Yorkers displayed puzzlement and curiosity April 3, 1973, while watching an unusual activity.
Martin Cooper, Motorola’s Communications System Division general manager, was walking down a sidewalk in New York City, talking into what looked like a brick held against his head.
The “brick” was a 2-pound cellular telephone handset with 20 minutes of battery talk time.
Cooper and his fellow co-creators had built the first portable cellular phone.
Cooper placed a call to Joel Engel, who was head of AT&T’s Bell Labs program, and who was working on building a cellular phone.
AT&T was also the company responsible for developing the cellular technology being used inside Cooper’s newly-created, never-before-seen portable cellphone.
“Joel, I’m calling you from a cellular phone, a real cellular phone, a handheld, portable, real cellular phone,” Cooper recalled saying.
Cooper said there was no immediate reply, and assumed Engel was speechless.
As stated by Cooper, Engel abruptly ended the phone call [hung up, I assume] after speaking only a few words.
Cooper said the call from the first portable handheld cellphone made by Motorola – not AT&T – must have really angered Engel.
For his part, Engel reportedly said he does not recall the conversation ever taking place.
Cooper had another cellular telephone conversation with a New York radio reporter that day, 47 years ago.
Before 1973, Motorola had been manufacturing bulky, mobile radio phones used in police and civilian automobiles.
Cooper hoped to see the day when people would have a portable communications device they could carry with them.
“People are inherently, naturally, mobile. They want to be able to move around freely and not be inhibited,” he said.
Cooper was influenced by the 1960s TV series “Star Trek,” and the handheld wireless communicator used by Captain James T. Kirk.
He was intrigued by how easily Kirk communicated with his fellow Starfleet officers using the small device he carried with him.
I learned the original Star Trek communicator was designed and built by prop maker, Wah Ming Chang.
The first (non-cellular) wireless, mobile phone call using a telephone handset was placed June 17, 1946, from a car in St. Louis, MO, according to AT&T’s corporate website.
This type of mobile telephone limited the driver’s phone call through a single radio tower with no “hand-off” to another radio tower. When a driver traveled out of range of the tower, the telephone call was lost, and the driver would need to come into the range of another radio tower and place a new call.
In 1947, AT&T’s Bell Laboratories revealed a new networking model being studied for wireless telephone networks, using cellular technology that would “hand-off” a telephone call from tower to tower.
During the 1960s, AT&T’s research into cellular telecommunication technology began in earnest.
It wouldn’t be until 1977 that AT&T, using its research and development division, Bell Labs, would build the first prototype cellular networking system for widespread public use.
By 1978, AT&T began testing its new analog cellular telecommunications system in Chicago, IL and Newark, NJ.
In 1982, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officially authorized the use of commercial cellular networking services in the US.
In the early 1980s, Robert Galvin, chairperson of Motorola, showed one of Motorola’s new cell phones to President Ronald Reagan.
When shown the new portable cellular phone, Reagan was amazed and remarked, “What’s keeping us from having this?”
In 1983, Motorola’s 16-ounce (1 pound) DynaTAC (Dynamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage) portable cellular phone was successfully used over an analog mobile cellular network in Chicago, IL.
The first authentic 2G (second generation) digital cellular networks were launched in 1991. 3G appeared in 2001, and 4G in 2009.
In 2019, the major wireless carriers began installing 5G digital cellular technology and antennas.
The distinction of being the first 5G smartphone on the market belongs to Sony’s Xperia 1 II, which was announced Feb. 24.
Samsung has five models of 5G phones, including the Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, released March 6.
Apple is expected to announce its 5G iPhone this fall.
When will we see 6G cellular networks? My guess is in 2029, and, no, I don’t know its bandwidth or how fast it will be.
“The father of the cellular phone,” Martin Cooper, is 91 years old and holds 11 US patents in the field of wireless communications.
His famous US Patent 3906166, titled Radio Telephone System, includes his cellular phone and the radio tower network to connect it.
Descriptions and drawings of this patent can be seen at https://bit.ly/3awle1p.
In 1983, Motorola’s 8000X DynaTAC “brick” cellular phone sold for $4,000, which today, is equivalent to $10,400.
Have a good week, and be safe, everyone.
The faces of many New Yorkers displayed puzzlement and curiosity April 3, 1973, while watching an unusual activity.
Martin Cooper, Motorola’s Communications System Division general manager, was walking down a sidewalk in New York City, talking into what looked like a brick held against his head.
The “brick” was a 2-pound cellular telephone handset with 20 minutes of battery talk time.
Cooper and his fellow co-creators had built the first portable cellular phone.
Cooper placed a call to Joel Engel, who was head of AT&T’s Bell Labs program, and who was working on building a cellular phone.
AT&T was also the company responsible for developing the cellular technology being used inside Cooper’s newly-created, never-before-seen portable cellphone.
“Joel, I’m calling you from a cellular phone, a real cellular phone, a handheld, portable, real cellular phone,” Cooper recalled saying.
Cooper said there was no immediate reply, and assumed Engel was speechless.
As stated by Cooper, Engel abruptly ended the phone call [hung up, I assume] after speaking only a few words.
Cooper said the call from the first portable handheld cellphone made by Motorola – not AT&T – must have really angered Engel.
For his part, Engel reportedly said he does not recall the conversation ever taking place.
Cooper had another cellular telephone conversation with a New York radio reporter that day, 47 years ago.
Before 1973, Motorola had been manufacturing bulky, mobile radio phones used in police and civilian automobiles.
Cooper hoped to see the day when people would have a portable communications device they could carry with them.
“People are inherently, naturally, mobile. They want to be able to move around freely and not be inhibited,” he said.
Cooper was influenced by the 1960s TV series “Star Trek,” and the handheld wireless communicator used by Captain James T. Kirk.
He was intrigued by how easily Kirk communicated with his fellow Starfleet officers using the small device he carried with him.
I learned the original Star Trek communicator was designed and built by prop maker, Wah Ming Chang.
The first (non-cellular) wireless, mobile phone call using a telephone handset was placed June 17, 1946, from a car in St. Louis, MO, according to AT&T’s corporate website.
This type of mobile telephone limited the driver’s phone call through a single radio tower with no “hand-off” to another radio tower. When a driver traveled out of range of the tower, the telephone call was lost, and the driver would need to come into the range of another radio tower and place a new call.
In 1947, AT&T’s Bell Laboratories revealed a new networking model being studied for wireless telephone networks, using cellular technology that would “hand-off” a telephone call from tower to tower.
During the 1960s, AT&T’s research into cellular telecommunication technology began in earnest.
It wouldn’t be until 1977 that AT&T, using its research and development division, Bell Labs, would build the first prototype cellular networking system for widespread public use.
By 1978, AT&T began testing its new analog cellular telecommunications system in Chicago, IL and Newark, NJ.
In 1982, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officially authorized the use of commercial cellular networking services in the US.
In the early 1980s, Robert Galvin, chairperson of Motorola, showed one of Motorola’s new cell phones to President Ronald Reagan.
When shown the new portable cellular phone, Reagan was amazed and remarked, “What’s keeping us from having this?”
In 1983, Motorola’s 16-ounce (1 pound) DynaTAC (Dynamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage) portable cellular phone was successfully used over an analog mobile cellular network in Chicago, IL.
The first authentic 2G (second generation) digital cellular networks were launched in 1991. 3G appeared in 2001, and 4G in 2009.
In 2019, the major wireless carriers began installing 5G digital cellular technology and antennas.
The distinction of being the first 5G smartphone on the market belongs to Sony’s Xperia 1 II, which was announced Feb. 24.
Samsung has five models of 5G phones, including the Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, released March 6.
Apple is expected to announce its 5G iPhone this fall.
When will we see 6G cellular networks? My guess is in 2029, and, no, I don’t know its bandwidth or how fast it will be.
“The father of the cellular phone,” Martin Cooper, is 91 years old and holds 11 US patents in the field of wireless communications.
His famous US Patent 3906166, titled Radio Telephone System, includes his cellular phone and the radio tower network to connect it.
Descriptions and drawings of this patent can be seen at https://bit.ly/3awle1p.
In 1983, Motorola’s 8000X DynaTAC “brick” cellular phone sold for $4,000, which today, is equivalent to $10,400.
Have a good week, and be safe, everyone.
