What is a Cell Phone?
Known by the moniker cellular phone, mobile phone, car phone, cellphone, portable telephone, mobile device, smartphones, smart phones, or cellular device, a cell phone is simply a portable device that can make and recieve phone call over a radio frequency while the consumer is in the telephone service area. 

Most milennials have difficulty recalling  a time when cell phones were not common place.  It is safe to say, in the modern western world almost all adults, teenagers and  many adolescent children have personal cell phones.

While the history of cell phones is a bit blurry, there is no doubt the evolution of the cell phone has been so profound it has revolutionized how we, as a society, communicate.  

There is no doubt with radio communications flourishing in the early 1900s and landline telephone services becoming common place, the progression to truly mobile communication devices was a natural step. Where that step began is a little more confusing. Some consider two way radios, or "walkie talkies" an ancestor and precursor to the modern cell phones of today;  while others focus on portability and the development cellular networks as the the true turning point.

The truth is, the merging of radio telephones and the development of sophisticated "cell networks" allowing mobility and travel while communicating is what has resulted in the shift in how the western world communicates.

It is not difficult to argue, that the evolution of the bulkie "walkie talkie" with a long antenna and cumbersome base station gave way to "brick phones" and unwieldy "bag phones" but it would have been near impossible to predict the capabilities and capacity of the small multi function handheld devices that are now capable of so much more than just phone calls.

Today's cell phones are almost all smart phones and have expanded capabilities that include the ability to send and receive: SMS messages, text messages MMS messages,and email. Additionally smart phones have the ability to connect to the Internet, as well as bluetooth systems or devices.  They also have the capacity to capture digital photography and  to run third party applications similar to those run on a desktop or network computer.

View a timeline of when cell phones were invented.

Article Date: April 25, 2020