History of Mobile Phone Technology
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Mobile phones were first used by the police in Sweden way back in 1946. Those phones, however, were not of a superior quality, since only 6 calls could drain the battery in a police car. Two-way radio technology was at work then, but the phones were not very practical because of the toll they took on car battery.
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The development of hexagonal cells by D. H Ring of Bell Labs led to invention of the modern day technology used in cell phones, in 1947. The year 1967 was when mobile phone technology became available, but it came with restrictions. For example, the cell phone users had to remain within a certain area in order to make or receive calls.
Another Bell Labs engineer Amos Edward Joel, came up with the call handoff system in the year 1970. This meant that a call could be continued from one area to another without any location constraints. In 1971, AT&T filed an application with the FCC asking for permission to begin cellular services. The approval took over 10 years. Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) were assigned the frequencies of 824-894 MHZ by the FCC in 1982. AMPS were an analog service between 1982 and 1990, and its digital version went online in 1990.
The first moveable cell phone named the Motorola Dyna TAC 8000X was introduced in the year 1983. This phone was very light, and weighed a meager 28 ounces. Its dimensions were 13 inches by 1.75 inches by 3.5 inches. It was nicknamed ‘Brick’ thanks to its shape, and the man behind its invention was Motorola’s Dr. Martin Cooper.
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