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By Charlotte Connelly on

Mobile Technology: Past, Present And Future

This blog post is writted by Chloe Vince, volunteer for Information Age. Information Age is a brand new communications gallery opening in 2014. 

“Joel, I’m calling you from a ‘real’ cellular telephone. A portable handheld telephone.”

These words, spoken by Martin Cooper – a senior engineer at Motorola, to Joel Engel – a competing developer at the company Bell Labs, began the first ever conversation to be had on a mobile telephone.

It was 40 years ago that Martin Cooper, who has since become known as the father of the mobile telephone, made that call on a Motorola DynaTAC – a device 9 inches tall, 5 inches deep and weighing 28 ounces – truly a ‘brick’. However, it was still not until what has become known as the ‘digital decade’ between 1993 and 2003 that the mobile phones really took off commercially.

The Motorola 8800X ‘block phone’ launched in 1993 at the beginning of the ‘digital decade,’ (Source; Science Museum)

Since then the mobile phone has advanced significantly – not least of all in size and design. Using mobile telephones as a means of calling your friends seems to have become inconsequential with the use of mobile internet, maps, text messaging, music and access to various other applications on-the-go. Which leaves me wondering – where next? How can mobile phone technology developer even further in the next forty years?

The Motorola StarTAC mobile phone launched in 1996 was the first ever ‘clamshell’ design phone, and was one of the first mobile phones to succeed commercially – selling around 60 million. (Source: Science Museum / SSPL)
The Motorola StarTAC was the first ever ‘clamshell’ design phone. Launched in 1996, it was one of the first mobile phones to succeed commercially. Source: Science Museum / SSPL

Several communication companies, such as Telstra are currently trialling the use of mobile phones alongside health monitors, for example heart rate monitors attached discreetly to elderly patients, to transmit real-time health data to your GP enabling them to respond quickly to any abnormal activity. This technology would also have the potential to screen for major illness every time it takes a reading. Can you imagine how many lives could be saved rather than waiting five years between health screenings? Not to mention the time and money saved from reduced face-to-face check-ups and appointments.

But let’s take a step back for a moment – is this all good news? Mobile phone companies already have access to a lot of your personal information – most call and text message records are retained for at least a year and GPS services allow mobile networks to trace where your phone is used. Do you want mobile phone companies to have access to our health data too? Or do you think the potential health benefits outweigh the possible privacy risks?

With so much progress being made since that first telephone call in 1973, the future of mobile phone technology seems limitless. What do you think the future holds?

One comment on “Mobile Technology: Past, Present And Future

  1. using mobile phones attached with external sensors sounds like an excellent idea and one that should be commended…furthermore if that device is attached to a custom PC that can then act as a hub to collate and compute relevant data to form a health check of an individual…..

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