Emily Gerdes
12 November 2012
HIST 3716
Paper Assignment
Modern Mobile Phone Technology
Today, going without a cell phone might be hard to imagine. It has become a lifeline, a way to keep in constant connection with the rest of the world. Recently, corporations like
Apple and Samsung have taken the technology to another level by creating “smart phones”.
These mobile devices allow the user to basically carry around a pocket computer, which gives people the opportunity to keep track of their emails and social networking agendas from anywhere. Though people have become so reliant upon this marvel, have many bothered to look into why it was created?
The mobile phone is defined as a device used to make telephone calls over a radio link while moving around a wide range of geographical areas. They perform this function by connecting to a cellular network provider which then allows access to the public network.
1 Cordless phones, in contrast, can only be used within a short range of their base.
Mobile phones were an invention that branched from Reginald Fessenden’s shoreto-ship radio demonstrations, as did WWII handheld transceivers. 2 Before the handheld phone was completed in 1973, they were limited and could only be installed in vehicles. 3
During that year, two of the leading corporations, Motorola and Bell Labs, found themselves in a race to create the first handheld mobile phone. Competition was ended on
1 Marshall Brain et al. ""How Cell Phones Work"." HowStuffWorks, Accessed November 11, 2012. http://www.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone.htm
.
2 John Grant, "Experiments and Results in Wireless Telephony," The American Telephone Journal (1907): pp.
49-51, (accessed November 14, 2012). http://earlyradiohistory.us/1907fes.htm
3 Tom Farley and Mark van der Hoek. "Private Line: Telecommunications Expertise." Cellular Telephone
Basics. Accessed November 12, 2012. http://www.privateline.com/mt_cellbasics/ .

April 3, 1973 when Martin Cooper, an executive researcher at Motorola used the first mobile phone to place a call to Dr. Engel of Bell Labs. 4
Looking at Dr. Ran Wei, Ph.D.’s article entitled, “Wireless Telephony”, the author addresses that the mobile phone is not only a mechanism for making calls, but it also could have some lasting psychological effects as well.
5 Wei’s article suggests the mobile phone could be used to “maintain perpetual contacts with coworkers or business partners irrespective of movement and changing spatial location” 6 , meaning that these phones make possible to keep in touch no matter where a person is or if they are on the move.
Modern mobile phones are one of the world’s most impactful innovations to date.
Almost everyone carries one with them at all times, and the technology continues to build upon itself.
WORD COUNT: 449
4 Maggie Shiels. "A chat with the man behind mobiles." BBC News. Last modified 2003. Accessed November
12, 2012. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2963619.stm
.
5 A.E Grant. and J. H. Meadows (2012). Communication Technology Update, 10/e, Taylor & Francis.
6 (Grant et al.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brain, Marshall, Jeff Tyson, and Julia Layton. HowStuffWorks, ""How Cell Phones Work"."
Accessed November 11, 2012. http://www.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone.htm
.
Farley, Tom, and Mark van der Hoek. Cellular Telephone Basics, "Private Line:
Telecommunications Expertise." Accessed November 12, 2012. http://www.privateline.com/mt_cellbasics/ .
Grant, A. E. and J. H. Meadows (2012). Communication Technology Update, 10/e, Taylor &
Francis.
Grant, John. "Experiments and Results in Wireless Telephony." The American Telephone
Journal. (1907): pp. 49-51. http://earlyradiohistory.us/1907fes.htm (accessed
November 14, 2012).
Shiels, Maggie. BBC News, "A chat with the man behind mobiles." Last modified 2003.
Accessed November 12, 2012. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2963619.stm
.
Wajcman, Judy, Michael Bittman, and Judith E. Brown. "Families without Borders: Mobile
Phones, Connectedness and Work-Home Divisions." Sage Journals.