Mobile Phones and Technological Advances

When Dr. Martin Cooper invented the mobile phone in 1973, I can't believe he could have imagined its capabilities today. Cooper made his legendary first call to his rival, Joel Engel, at Bell Labs on a Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. The technological masterpiece weighed in at nearly 2 pounds and had the newest features: send, end, and recall. For around $4000, you could own the latest in "portable" technology.

For those of use who were around when the first big and bulky car phone hit the shelves, we can really be impressed with the cellular advances made today. With cell phones that fit into a pocket and some of which are literally miniature gadgets, it is really an amazing transformation.

Boy, have we come a long way! Today a mobile phone can not only send text messages and take the place of your little black book, but even air the evening news in real time. Just like the big screen in your living room your mobile phone is now able to receive audio and video information from radio signals and express them on your phone's screen. But why stop there? The LG Vu can even turn its display so that you can have the widescreen experience in the palm of your hand! The Hitachi W62H is even capable of downloading entire movies for your viewing pleasure. And of course there's iPod integration and GPS capabilities, but sign language? Hitachi is developing a prototype that allows for 3-D animation of sign language. What's next?

With all of these capabilities, our mobile phones have become our own personal assistants. They manage our e-mails, our appointments, even our travel arrangements. Dr. Cooper's wildest dreams have really come true with the smartphone. A smarpthone is basically a mini computer that is loaded with every possible feature, including, full computer capability and operating systems, Internet browsing, email, GPS, video and still host cameras, mp3 player, calendar, notepad and of course the mobile phone function. The other unique thing about smartphones is a tactile touch screen, which allows the selection of functions by simply touching the screen of the phone. And, what is more amazing is the icon displays that make the touch screen that much more interesting.

The leading manufacturers of smartphones are Apple with the iPhone and Rim with the Blackberry. The smartphone models hit the mobile market by storm. With millions sold and still selling this type of phone is certainly one of the best and most versatile gadgets around.

One thing is sure that technology will continue to advance and we can expect more and more functions to be integrated into phone models of the future and one has to wonder what will they think of next?