Page 65 - All About History - Issue 38-16

Through History

WESTERN ELECTRIC 500 The round buttons on

early Trimline 2220 models
ROTARY DIAL PHONE 1949 were later replaced by
square buttons
Western Electric’s 500 series is one of the most
successful and enduring creations of the rotary
phone era. Conceived by the firm of American
industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss for Bell
Telephone Laboratories, it featured the iconic
thermoplastic wedge-shaped base unit, housing Antonio
the dial, ringer and handset cradle, which would Meucci
become a familiar site in homes and businesses ITALIAN AMERICAN 1808 89
over the next four decades. Essentially the same Although less famous than Alexander WESTERN ELECTRIC TRIMLINE
design was used for telephones in Britain, including Graham Bell, Antonio Meucci was
declared the true inventor of the
the popular Ericsson 706, which was introduced by telephone by the US Congress in 2002. 2220 TOUCH TONE PHONE 1968
the General Post Office in 1959. An Italian immigrant, Meucci designed The first touch-tone phone was introduced by
the General Post Office in 1959.
Western Electric his ‘electrophone’ around 1870 in New
placed numbers York but couldn’t afford a full patent. Bell System in November 1963. A keypad on the
outside the dial Consequently, his ideas were base unit replaced the rotary dial, which made
partly to prevent overshadowed and he
them wearing died penniless. dialling faster and more convenient. Button presses
off with use produced distinct tones and were decoded based
on different combinations of the frequencies
“Nicknamed ‘The assigned to the keypad’s rows and columns.
Western Electric introduced the Trimline range
Brick’, the 8000X was two years later. Early models retained a rotary dial
about 33 centimetres in the handset but touch-tone editions came out
the following year. The Trimline 2220 series was
long and weighed released in 1968,
adding pound and
790 grams” star keys to the
original keypad.
The Nokia 3210 was an early
The Nokia 3210 was an early
so-called ‘candybar’ phone because
so-called ‘candybar’ phone because
MOTOROLA DYNATAC of its small, rectangular shape NOKIA 3210 1999
Before Apple and Samsung
MOBILE PHONE 1973 became the biggest names
Although Motorola originally in mobile phones, Nokia
demonstrated its DynaTAC (Dynamic was among the top brands
Adaptive Total Area Coverage) mobile thanks to the success of
phone in 1973, the first retail model pre-smartphone devices
wasn’t approved for another decade. like the Nokia 3210. Apple’s iPhone design was
based on already-initiated
Even then it barely qualified as mobile. Although it wasn’t the research that would lead
Nicknamed ‘The Brick’, the 8000X was Finnish company’s first to the iPad
about 33 centimetres long, 8.9 mobile phone, it certainly
centimetres thick and weighed helped to make the
790 grams. Moreover, a fully devices essential to young APPLE IPHONE 2007
charged battery only lasted consumers. The internal Touch displays had been mooted more than
about 30 minutes. Costing antenna made the 3210 more two decades before IBM unveiled Simon, the
several times what premium shapely than most previous first touchscreen phone, in 1993. 14 years later,
mobile phones do now, it was models of mobile phones, Apple revolutionised mobile communications
an expensive and impractical and at only 12.4 centimetres by releasing the iPhone, which combined
symbol of affluence. Newer long and 5.1 centimetres thick, smartphone capabilities with an easily portable
models followed, it could fit easily into a pocket form factor. Initially, the First Generation
however, proving that Steve Jobs for maximum portability. iPhone didn’t support third-party apps due
our willingness AMERICAN 1955 2011 Moreover, the three pre- to limitations in the operating system. That
to always be Steve Jobs didn’t invent either installed games (including changed, however, when the App Store
touchscreens or smartphones but
available is he was largely responsible for making the now-iconic mobile opened in 2008. The app market subsequently
nothing new. them integral to our everyday lives. As phone game Snake) and exploded, leading to competition from other
CEO of Apple, he introduced the iPod, interchangeable covers
Motorola’s original iPhone and iPad, which have blurred were enough of a novelty platforms, particularly Google’s Android.
specifications said the the lines between mobile computing Since then, Apple has continually updated the
DynaTAC would work and telecommunications with to ensure that more than iPhone, leading to the release of the iPhone 6s
‘almost anywhere’ the spread of apps and 160 million units were sold
except in elevators and wireless networks. worldwide. in 2015.
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