The Evolution of Phones

By: Jackie Gallegos

Instructor: Katy Hansen
Institution: University of New Mexico
Date: Tuesday, April 22, 2014


















When I grew up, I grew up with cord and cordless landlines. Phones have been around
for long time and they are a pretty big deal in todays society. In the 1870s phones were not
called phones, instead they were called Cellular Technology, A system allowing calls to be
moved from one cell to another while remaining on the same channel, according to CNN
Network. Over the years, there have been many types of phones, wired phones to smart-
computer phones. There has been a growth in cell-phone technology and its still growing. Cell
phones have grown popular all over and are expanding out everywhere throughout the country.
From the 1870s till today, cell phones have changed styles, and even expanded out on what they
are able to do. So from the 1870s till today what changes were made to have the final outcome
to smartphones? In this essay, there will be discussion about the evolution of the first phone to
ever be created, its inventors, features, vast capabilities, and where it stands in the present day
technology.
Alexander Graham Bell, an engineer, was the first person to fully invent the phone and
patent the wired-based phone that he created. He invented the Operator Phone. His phone was
able to send voice signals through wire, which people had thought was impossible to do. Mary
Bellis had explained, Alexander Graham Bells notebook entry of March 10
th
, 1876, describes
his successful experiment with the telephone. Speaking through the instrument to his assistant,
Thomas A. Watson, in the next room, Bell utters these famous first words, Mr. Watson come
here I want to see you. (Mary Bellis, p.1.) His notebook entry shows the excitement of
making the first phone to work and make calls. These phones where very cheap in 1876.
However, twenty dollars to them was Four-Hundred thirty-two dollars today.
The evolution of phones grew and became better known. Western Electric and Bell
Companies came up with the new phones that were transmitted into radios. These phones where
hooked up into the radios and where transmitted through the equipment that was hooked up all
over the car. These cars had big antennas that stuck up from on top of the car to give signal to the
phones. A bell sounding noise that would signal to the phones. The phones alone in 1984 cost
about three thousand dollars which is about seven thousand dollars today. Companies like
Motorola would lease the phones and would make advertisements for these phones to promote
them.
As telephones grew, a man named Martin Cooper, who was an Electrical Engineer and
graduated from Illinois Institution of Technology, invented the first wire-less cell phone.
According to Tas Anjarwalla, Cooper wanted to have freedom to talk on the phone away from
their cars. (Tas Anjarwalla, CNN Network p.1). His phone was about 11 inches high and 4
inches deep. The phone was about 1 inches wide and weighed about 2 pounds. His phone
was used for making calls to other cell phones as well as anywhere around the country. The
phone cost about three-thousand, nine hundred dollars then which today it would be like buying
a phone for ten-thousand dollars. Coopers first cell phone call was made on April 3, 1973, and
his call was made to AT&T Joel S. Engel, competitor of Motorola.
By 1999 Motorola came up with smaller phone cell. Not only were the phones capable of
making more efficient calls, but they were improved with games. Phones grew faster and became
even more popular during this time. There were flip phones, pink phones, touch screen; any
design you can think have there was a phone like it. The prices for these phones were affordable
for every-type of income situation. As the years go by the phones were able to do much more
such as texting and even taking pictures. Some phones even had capabilities of getting onto the
internet. Phones during this time were in great demand.
A man by the name of Steve Jobs came into the era of about 2010. He was famous for
creating the Iphones. These Iphones were big; they could do pretty much anything. They could
access the internet, download music, better cameras with higher mega pixels, and even had apps
that could be games or anything else. These phones were big. Shortly after the Iphones sprung
about, other phone companies started producing phones like Iphones. Motorola created Androids
and Droids that can do the same thing as Iphones but could not use Itunes. These phones where
the phones of the future then and are still growing and becoming something bigger and having
more to them. Phone providers would use persuasion and new type of words that would help
promote their products for example: The iPhone has Wi-Fi and can connect to many different
cellular networks, including 1xRTT and GPRS (shown as a circle on the status bar), EDGE
(shown as a capital E on the status bar), UMTS and EV-DO (shown as 3G), a faster version of
UMTS and 4G (shown as a 4G symbol on the status bar), and LTE (shown as LTE on the status
bar). (Wikipedia, p.1). These words are commonly heard and mean something when buying a
new smartphone. Smart phones are still in high demand and there are several different types of
them.
In conclusion, phones took a long time to evolve, but as soon as the code was cracked
these phones came faster. Phones have really grown throughout the world and still growing.
Phones in this generation today, are very important to people and continue to be in high demand.
Starting from a wired phone and evolving into a wire-less, internet-accessible, smartphone,
makes you wonder, what will be next?











Work Cited
"The First Mobile Phone Call Was Placed 40 Years Ago Today." Fox News. FOX News
Network, 03 Apr.2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
Anjarwalla, Tas. "Inventor of Cell Phone: We Knew Someday Everybody Would Have One."
CNN Tech. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
Bellis, Mary. "The History of the Telephone." About.com Inventors. About.com, 07 Mar. 2014.
Web. 13 Apr. 2014.
"IPhone." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Apr. 2012. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.

PBS. "Alexander Graham Bell." PBS. PBS, 1999. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.

"THE FIRST CAR TELEPHONES." THE FIRST CAR TELEPHONES. Geoffrey C. Fors, 21
Sept. 2012. Web. 2 May 2014.