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Unit 6, Reading 1

Over the decades from 1973 to 2010, cell phones evolved dramatically from large brick-like devices with only 30 minutes of battery life to slim touchscreen smartphones capable of running thousands of apps. Early key developments included the first commercial cell phone from Motorola in 1983 costing $4,000; Nokia introducing affordable rectangular phones in the 2000s; the 2002 launch of the first camera phone in the US; and the 2007 iPhone popularizing touchscreens and launching the app economy. By 2010, smartphones dominated the market and people were rarely without their connected devices.

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33 views4 pages

Unit 6, Reading 1

Over the decades from 1973 to 2010, cell phones evolved dramatically from large brick-like devices with only 30 minutes of battery life to slim touchscreen smartphones capable of running thousands of apps. Early key developments included the first commercial cell phone from Motorola in 1983 costing $4,000; Nokia introducing affordable rectangular phones in the 2000s; the 2002 launch of the first camera phone in the US; and the 2007 iPhone popularizing touchscreens and launching the app economy. By 2010, smartphones dominated the market and people were rarely without their connected devices.

Uploaded by

Alejandro
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LEVEL 1 - UNIT 6

CELL PHONES
Reading 1

HOW MUCH CELL PHONES HAVE ACTUALLY


SKILLS: CHANGED OVER THE YEARS

- Details It’s difficult to imagine a time without cell phones connecting us to

- Scanning people across the city, the country, and the world. Aspects like
being able to change our wallpaper, type with a full keyboard, and
send unlimited messages were all developed and introduced over a
long period of time.

The first phone


In 1973, the first call from a Motorola mobile device was made with
a phone that looked like a brick and weighed about 2.4 pounds.
Martin Cooper, an executive at Motorola, used the large device,
which worked for only 30 minutes after a 10-hour charge, and
called Dr. Engel from their rival company.
Getting started:

A $4,000 Motorola phone
Do you remember your
It took 10 years to make a phone for commercial use. In 1983,
first cellphone? What
Motorola released the DynaTAC which was still big and heavy, and
was it like? cost approximately $4,000. But it wasn’t until 1989 that phones
began to get smaller with the Motorola MicroTac, a flip phone
small enough to fit inside a shirt pocket.
LEVEL 1 - UNIT 6

Nokia’s involvement
At the turn of the century, Nokia appeared
in the cell phone market. The Nokia 6000
series introduced durable, rectangular
phones that fit perfectly into a palm or
pocket. It was the first cell phone made at a
low price. Around the same time, Samsung
released the Samsung SPH-I300, which
allowed its users to directly touch the screen
of the phone to dial. This phone easily
resembles today’s touchscreen smartphones.

A camera phone released by Sprint


In 2002, the camera phone arrived in the
US, which had been released in Japan first.
In November 2002, Sprint started the trend
with the Sanyo SCP-5300, a phone that cost
$400 and could only capture shots at 640 x
480 pixels. However, it took years for the
quality of cell phone cameras to improve.

The RAZR
By 2004, cell phone companies were competing to make the
phone function and look better. The Motorola RAZR was
released with its slim design and color screen. With the
option to choose between silver, pink, blue, black, and a
few others, it became a fashion statement as well as a
means of communication.

The first iPhone


It wasn’t until the iPhone made its debut in 2007 that cell
phones began transitioning from their role as a means for
communication to a tool for daily tasks. With the first
iPhone, Apple introduced touchscreen functions, internet
access through Safari, a virtual keyboard, and email
access. Although the iPhone was revolutionary, the
BlackBerry eclipsed the new release. With BBM instant
messaging, everyone from teens to businessmen and
rappers were obsessed with the Blackberry. 2007 was the
year that Twitter introduced shorter messages, and also the
first time in history that Americans received and sent more
texts than phone calls, according to the New York Times.
LEVEL 1 - UNIT 6

Apple launches the App Store


Just one year after the first iPhone
release, Apple launched the App Store
with 500 apps, and over 10 million
applications were downloaded the first
week. Android did the same a few
months later with 50 apps in their
store, and the BlackBerry App World
was created after that.

The iPhone 4 changed everything


In 2010, the iPhone 4 made its debut. It
was a slim, futuristic-looking phone
with long battery life. The same year,
Samsung experimented with a larger
size phone again, the Galaxy Note.

*Adapted from https://www.insider.com/the-

history-of-the-cellphone-2018-7#the-first-

phone-weighed-over-two-pounds-1

Glossary:

- Flip phone: This is a phone that is more compact when closed. Then, when you

open it, it reveals the screen, keypad, speaker and microphone.

- Safari: It is a Web browser developed by Apple, Inc., and is the default browser

of the operating systems used in its product lines such as OS X for the Mac and

MacBook computers and iOS for the iPhone and iPad mobile devices.

- BBM: Known by its full name BlackBerry Messenger, it was a mobile instant

messenger and videotelephony application included on BlackBerry devices.


LEVEL 1 - UNIT 6

Answer the following questions.

1. Did you experience any of the moments mentioned in the text?

2. What were the main characteristics of the 1973 Motorola mobile device?

3. Was the 1983 Motorola DynaTAC cheap?

4. What phone is described as durable, small and inexpensive?

5. Where was the phone camera initially introduced?

6. Which cellphone stood out because of its nice design?

7. What big change took place in the United States in 2007?

8. When were people able to download apps for the first time?

9. Which big phone was released in 2010?

What do you think?

Cellphone challenge: Could

you spend the next week

without using your

cellphone? Why (not)?

Which would the positive

and negative aspects be?

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