A cell phone or a mobile phone has been an innovative technological advancement in the field of communication. It has spawned a rise in the world of communication. This invention has made wireless and remote communication possible. A cell phone is a handheld device used to communicate with people. This device can be taken along with users to any place they go.

The evolution of cell phones has been tremendous over the past 20 years. The size of a cell phone was once as long as our forearm. Today, an exponentially more powerful cell phone is available as a thumb-sized device.

Much advancement in information and communication technology has been implemented in the making of a cell phone, and they have proved to be a great breakthrough in this field. For example, Bluetooth technology, wireless fidelity (WiFi), touch screen (IFR), smartphones, etc., are just some of the innovations. The latest consumer trend currently is the “smartphone”. The world is now completely driven by smartphones.

The growth of cell phone companies
Companies selling cell phones have now become giant corporate firms. These companies manufacture and sell mobile phones and their accompanying accessories. Recently, all the cell phone companies have seen enormous technological progress and have thus become a leading industry in the world market.

There are so many companies competing with each other to introduce new features on their cell phones. There are many companies making cell phones and leading the world economy. Cell phones, though small in size, need a lot of resources for building it. Not just manpower but also a lot of machinery and materials are required in manufacturing a cell phone. Therefore, cell phone companies are considered as forming large-scale industries. They also produce a great number of employment opportunities worldwide. This humongous industry however, did not have a grandeur beginning.

The evolution of cell phone companies
On April 3, 1973, a Motorola researcher and executive, Martin Cooper, made a call for the first time through a wireless handheld device known as a cellular phone to his then-rival Dr. Joel S. Engel, part of Bell Labs. Cooper’s Boss, John F. Mitchell, Chief of Portable Communication, Motorola, played a great role in the development of small cellular wireless products and designing of cell phones. The phone used by Cooper weighed 1.1 Kg and measured 9 inches in length and 5 inches in breadth. It was said that it took 10 hrs to charge and gave thirty minutes of talk time.

Even before that happened in 1973, the Ericsson Company (Sweden) made a phone that was cellular and completely automatic. It was called the MTA. This model of cell phone was not successful as it was heavy in weight, measuring around 40 Kg. Zero generation networks were first introduced in 1971, in Finland. However, it was only after 1990 that cell phone usage actually got commercialized.

There were so many improvements in the cell phone industry with the onset of Global Systems for communications and radio spectrums. They were able to bring up a revolution in the field of cell phones. The history of cellphones is deeply tied with the history of the networks on which they operated.

History of generations
The “generation” word biblically meant an average time span between the parents and their offspring. The same goes for the “generation” terminology in cell phones. The improvements in the cell phone industry can be understood with generation chronology.

1G : This is an analog cellular network. It was first deployed in DynaTAC 8000X by an American 1G network called Ameritec.

2G : This era witnessed the onset of prepaid cell phones. In 1991, Radiolinja was launched in Finland. This was the first GSM (European standard network) mobile phone. In 1993, the first ever cellular phone, IBM Simon, was launched.

3G : The very first pre-commercial trial network of 3G was established by NTT DoCoMo in Tokyo, Japan. This era also paved way for internet-enabled (3G) laptops called netbooks. This 3G usage was so widespread that it became a household name very easily.

4G : The LTE Standard and WiMAX (by Sprint) Standard were the first billed commercial 4G services.