Robert Heinlein: Space Cadet

A hand-held mobile radiotelephone is an old dream of radio engineering.
One of the earliest

descriptions can be found in the 1948 science fiction novel Space Cadet by Robert Heinlein. The
protagonist, who has just traveled to Colorado from his home in Iowa, receives a call from his
father on a telephone in his pocket. Before leaving for earth orbit, he decides to ship the
telephone home "since it was limited by its short range to the neighborhood of an earth-side [i.e.
terrestrial] relay office." Ten years later, an essay by Arthur C. Clarke envisioned a "personal
transceiver, so small and compact that every man carries one." Clarke wrote: "the time will come
when we will be able to call a person anywhere on Earth merely by dialing a number." Such a
device would also, in Clarke's vision, include means for global positioning so that "no one need
ever again be lost." In his 1962 Profiles of the Future, he predicted the advent of such a device
taking place in the mid-1980s.[6]
The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. First commercially available, hand-held cellular mobile phone,
1984
Early predecessors of cellular phones included analog radio communications from ships and
trains. The race to create truly portable telephone devices began after World War II, with
developments taking place in many countries. The advances in mobile telephony have been
traced in successive generations from the early "0G" (zeroth generation) services like the Bell
System's Mobile Telephone Service and its successor, Improved Mobile Telephone Service.
These "0G" systems were not cellular, supported few simultaneous calls, and were very
expensive.
The first handheld mobile cell phone was demonstrated by Motorola in 1973. The first
commercial automated cellular network was launched in Japan by NTT in 1979. In 1981, this
was followed by the simultaneous launch of the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) system in
Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.[7] Several other countries then followed in the early to
mid-1980s. These first generatiion ("1G") systems could support far more simultaneous calls, but
still used analog technology.
In 1991, the second generation (2G) digital cellular technology was launched in Finland by
Radiolinja on the GSM standard, which sparked competition in the sector, as the new operators
challenged the incumbent 1G network operators.
Ten years later, in 2001, the third generation (3G) was launched in Japan by NTT DoCoMo on
the WCDMA standard.[8] This was followed by 3.5G, 3G+ or turbo 3G enhancements based on
the high-speed packet access (HSPA) family, allowing UMTS networks to have higher data
transfer speeds and capacity.
By 2009, it had become clear that, at some point, 3G networks would be overwhelmed by the
growth of bandwidth-intensive applications like streaming media.[9] Consequently, the industry
began looking to data-optimized 4th-generation technologies, with the promise of speed
improvements up to 10-fold over existing 3G technologies. The first two commercially available
technologies billed as 4G were the WiMAX standard (offered in the U.S. by Sprint) and the LTE
standard, first offered in Scandinavia by TeliaSonera.
Features
Main article: Mobile phone features
See also: Smartphone
All mobile phones have a number of features in common, but manufacturers also try to
differentiate their own products by implementing additional functions to make them more
attractive to consumers. This has led to great innovation in mobile phone development over the
past 20 years.
The common components found on all phones are:
A battery, providing the power source for the phone functions.
An input mechanism to allow the user to interact with the phone. The most common input
mechanism is a keypad, but touch screens are also found in most smartphones.
A screen which echoes the user's typing, displays text messages, contacts and more.
Basic mobile phone services to allow users to make calls and send text messages.
All GSM phones use a SIM card to allow an account to be swapped among devices.
Some CDMA devices also have a similar card called a R-UIM.
Individual GSM, WCDMA, iDEN and some satellite phone devices are uniquely
identified by an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number.
Low-end mobile phones are often referred to as feature phones, and offer basic telephony.
Handsets with more advanced computing ability through the use of native software applications
became known as smartphones.
Sound quality
In sound quality, smartphones and feature phones vary little. Some audio-quality enhancing
features like Voice over LTE and HD Voice have appeared and are often available on newer
smartphones. Sound quality can remain a problem with both, as this depends, not so much on the
phone itself, as on the quality of the network, and in case of long distance calls, the
bottlenecks/choke points met along the way.[10][11] As such, on long-distance calls even features
such as Voice over LTE, HD voice may not improve things. In some cases smartphones can
improve audio quality even on long-distance calls, by using VoIP phone service, with someone
else's WiFi/internet connection. [12]
Several phone series have been introduced to address specific market segments, such as the RIM
BlackBerry focusing on enterprise/corporate customer email needs; the Sony-Ericsson 'Walkman'
series of music/phones and 'Cyber-shot' series of camera/phones; the Nokia Nseries of
multimedia phones, the Palm Pre the HTC Dream and the Apple iPhone.
Text messaging
Main article: SMS
The most commonly used data application on mobile phones is SMS text messaging. The first
SMS text message was sent from a computer to a mobile phone in 1992 in the UK, while the first
person-to-person SMS from phone to phone was sent in Finland in 1993.
The first mobile news service, delivered via SMS, was launched in Finland in 2000, and
subsequently many organizations provided "on-demand" and "instant" news services by SMS.
SIM card
Main articles: Subscriber Identity Module and Removable User Identity Module
Typical mobile phone SIM card

GSM feature phones require a small microchip called a Subscriber Identity Module or SIM card,
to function. The SIM card is approximately the size of a small postage stamp and is usually
placed underneath the battery in the rear of the unit. The SIM securely stores the servicesubscriber key (IMSI) and the Ki used to identify and authenticate the user of the mobile phone.
The SIM card allows users to change phones by simply removing the SIM card from one mobile
phone and inserting it into another mobile phone or broadband telephony device, provided that
this is not prevented by a SIM lock.
The first SIM card was made in 1991 by Munich smart card maker Giesecke & Devrient for the
Finnish wireless network operator Radiolinja.[citation needed]
Multi-card hybrid phones

A hybrid mobile phone can hold up to four SIM cards. SIM and RUIM cards may be mixed
together to allow both GSM and CDMA networks to be accessed.[13][14]
From 2010 onwards they became popular in India and Indonesia and other emerging markets,[15]
attributed to the desire to obtain the lowest on-net calling rate. In Q3 2011, Nokia shipped 18
million of its low cost dual SIM phone range in an attempt to make up lost ground in the higher
end smartphone market.[16]
Kosher phones
There are Jewish orthodox religious restrictions which, by some interpretations, standard mobile
telephones do not meet. To solve this issue, some rabbinical organizations have recommended
that phones with text messaging capability not be used by children.[17] These restricted phones are
known as kosher phones and have rabbinical approval for use in Israel and elsewhere by
observant Orthodox Jews. Although these phones are intended to prevent immodesty, some
vendors report good sales to adults who prefer the simplicity of the devices. Some phones are
even approved for use by essential workers (such as health, security and public services) on the
sabbath, even though use of any electrical device is generally prohibited.[18]

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A hand-held mobile radiotelephone is an old dream of radio engineering.

One of the earliest

A battery, providing the power source for the phone functions.

Typical mobile phone SIM card

Multi-card hybrid phones

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