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Upward mobility: the evolution of the mobile phone
August 26th, 2011 a 8:50am
Remember some of the first mobile phones? They were enormous, cost several thousand dollars and only offered a few hours of talk time for every recharging. My first phone was a Siemens C61 – not exactly a brick phone and certainly didn’t put me into debt, but it is nothing compared to the smartphones offered today.
Around this time last year, we spoke to Bob Berner, Rogers Executive Vice President Network and Chief Technology Officer who joined Cantel (later known as Rogers wireless) as one of the first employees in 1985. He told us about his first mobile phone which I think is best described in his own words:
My first phone was a Mitsubishi car phone. It was on a cradle on the dashboard with the amplifier in the trunk and the antenna installed on the roof. Most phones we sold in the early days were car phones and had to be installed – they cost between $2,500 and $3,500 all in. There was also a bag phone version you could get, which was essentially a car phone in a satchel. Transportable phones soon became available – they were full-power, 3-Watt phones with a big battery and carrying handle attached – sort of like an army radio. The first handheld portable phone we sold was the Motorola 5000. That was an incredible piece of technology for the time and they sold for about $5,500 in Canada –that was real money back then! These phones now seem so large and clunky compared to what we are accustomed to today, but were they ever durable!
Well, we’ve come a long way since then and to help illustrate this point, check out this visual history of the mobile phone from our friends at Connected Magazine to see just how far we’ve come. The graphic is easier to see if you download it here.
Also, we recently started a thread in our Community Forums where you can post your own “evolution of wireless” pictures. Were you the proud owner of a “Zack Morris phone?” Dust off the photo album, get that pic scanned and post it here.
What was your first mobile phone?
Miranda MacDonald is a regular contributor to RedBoard
Upward mobility: the evolution of the mobile phone,
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Back in 1998, I used a Nokia 2110
Nice one! What colour did you have?
It was black. I don’t remember how much I paid for the phone but I do recall that my monthly bills were between $140 and $160, and obviously that did not include data.
My first was a Motorola StarTak!
Oh wow. I just Googled it to make sure I was envisioning the right thing. So awesome! I love the little antenna. :)
My first cellphone was a BlackBerry Pearl 8100. Red! Rogers!!!
I had the Ericsson T28z. Wow, I thought that phone was cool!
My first phone was the Motorola T720 (Silver). It was such a good, reliable phone!
What a good little phone! I remember that one!
My first cell phone was a huge Motorola (brick), no idea what model it was. Then I got a Motorola Flip Phone that had bright green numbers on the display.
Thank God the phones have gotten smaller and better.
My very first one was the Motorola DynaTAC (1985-1989), but I soon has it was out I went with the Motorola MicroTAC in1989 and that was such an improvement then. But the funny things is that by then I’ll keep the same phone for 3-4 years and now I’ve been changing at least once a year ( Dream , Magic, Milestone, Samsung SGS1, Htc Desire Z, Samsung SGS2 and pretty soon I hope HTC EVO 3D) such great time now for my inner geek not so great for my pocket $$$. And all this happen on Cantel/Rogers for about 90% of the time, so thank for the service, but please more good and up to date phones for the years to come.
Thanks for your comment Claude and thanks for all your business over the years! You’ve definitely seen the full evolution of mobile phones – from a Motorola DynaTAC to an HTC Evo 3D! Crazy!
Sorry for the mistakes, I’ve hit the submit a bit to soon…lol…
Haha wow this brings back memories. My first phone was a Sanyo by Clearnet. I don’t remember the model, but it looked like a mini cordless phone, and had a blue screen!
Oh boy! My dad had one of those satchel phones! I don’t remember the model/make (Motorola?) — the thing was big & clumsy – but it was a “cellular phone”!!
My first cell phone – Nokia 101 ;) … had just started university and bought one of those in ’94. Barely used it because couldn’t really afford the charges. Had some basic plan with 1/2-hour of talk time per month (evenings after 8pm) – daytime calls were all charged by the minute! hahaha.
My first was a Motorola DynaTec. That was back in 1984.
Thanks for all your comments and stories everyone! Does anyone still have their first phone?
Yes, the first phone bought for my wife is still in the closet upstairs (Somewhere…I think….without the battery which I sent to the recycler long ago). I remember telling my boss back then that one day EVERYONE will have a cell phone, they just need to bring the cost down…the per minute charge back then was, I think, 35 cents!