When did cell phones first appear? The world's first mobile phone

First mobile phone appeared in 1983. From that moment on, phones began to develop rapidly in terms of design and functionality. The modern iPhone, with its thousands of applications and games, high-quality photos and videos, can no longer be compared with that modest first Motorola. Since that very first moment, there have been thousands of different phone models.

In 2007 there was a revolution called "3G". The advent of 3G networks has reduced the load on channels cellular communication and significantly expand the capabilities of subscribers. And the capabilities of phones, of course. The modern mobile phone, which easily fits in the palm of your hand, has a range of functions that in the 80s was available to a "portable" computer the size of a briefcase.

What were they, the first phones?

The phone was first from Motorola with the mysterious name DynaTac. It was a heavy tube with buttons and a protruding antenna. The phone hardly fit in the hand and had a minimum number of functions for making calls.

In six years, Motorola's phone has evolved into a truly portable model — MicroTac. These phones had a small docking station and were installed in cars. However, they still did not fit into the pocket of clothes.

The next stage of development is over in 1992 model output Motorola International. It was the first fully digital mobile phone. An elegant, thin for those times handset with buttons and an antenna. Around the same time, the Nokia 1011 appears - the first mass-produced phone. GSM standard. The phone had a liquid crystal screen located in the upper part of the body and a short - a few centimeters - antenna. At the same time, the first PDA from IBM appeared, or, as it was called, combo phone.

In 1996 Motorola releases first flip phone. Sleek, slim phone with two-line LED display. In the upper part of the clamshell there was only a loudspeaker. In the right upper corner phone flaunted a thin antenna.

An alternative to the model described above was a telephone Banana Nokia 8110, which became popular in the first film "The Matrix". The phone was equipped with a small but very informative monochrome display. The keyboard was closed with a plastic cover that slides down, at the lower end of which there was a microphone.

The first series of smartphones was Nokia 9000 Communicator. The phone looked like an opening pencil case, in one half of which there was a color elongated screen, in the second there was a full-fledged keyboard. This smartphone was built on Intel processor 386. In 1998 This communicator has become much lighter, has evolved into model 9110i.

mass model mobile phones at this time became Nokia 5110. He looked quite modestly - a black monoblock with a screen, buttons and a small antenna. The phone had basic functions and was available to customers. By 1999 he grew up up to Nokia 8210, in a more stylish design, with additional functionality.

Nokia 7110 became the first phone with WAP-browser. Flat phone with pretty big screen. Like the "banana", the keyboard was covered with a sliding down cover.

Nokia 5120: phone for all occasions. The model differed in that it had a shock-resistant waterproof case, which, among other things, could be replaced.

Benefon ESC became the first phone with GPS. The phone was made in the monoblock form factor, had big screen and stylish black and silver design.

First phone with mp3 player Samsung SPH-M100

The first phone with a built-in mp3 player was the Samsung SPH-M100, a silver phone with a flip-down microphone.

During the same period, there appeared the legendary Nokia 3210. The phone was notable for having an internal antenna and T9 smart input for entering messages. Was about 160 million sold these phones.

In 2000 appeared first touch screen phone. It was Ericsson R380. The phone had a monochrome screen, a decent part of which was hidden behind a folding keyboard.

At the same time, another popular legendary phone - Nokia 3310. The model became one of the most popular: about 126 million phones were sold.

In 2001 Nokia 8310 appeared. The phone was equipped additional features which were new at the time: Infrared, functional calendar and FM radio.

Then came the miniature Ericsson T39 is the first phone with Bluetooth. Very quickly, it evolved into the T66, which is no more than a pack of cigarettes high. Model T68 already had a color screen.

Siemens at the same time releases a model S45, the first GPRS phone with 360kb internal memory which was quite a lot at the time.

In 2002 appeared Nokia 3510 designed to bring Internet services to the masses. The 3510i version had a color screen.

The Nokia 7650 slider was the first phone with a built-in camera..

At the same time appeared Sony Ericsson P800, touch screen smartphone with 128 MB memory. The phone had a nice light blue design.

In 2003 appeared Nokia 1100, another bestseller. Since release it has been sold 200 million copies.

Then there appeared Nokia N-Gage and Palm One, gadget phones, and Nokia 6600 Symbian phone. A model Nokia 7600 became one of the first 3G smartphones, the lightest and smallest.

In 2004 the legendary appears Motorola Razor V3 set the industry standard in design. A smartphone Nokia 7610 became the first to carry a 1-megapixel camera on board. His colleague Nokia 3220 offered full access to the Internet.

In 2005 appeared Nokia 1110— budgetary GSM phone for developing countries. In parallel, its antipode appears - HTC Universal, the first 3G PDA with Windows Mobile.

In 2006 was released Nokia N73, a phone that garnered a following over the next few years. At the same time appeared Nokia E62 - the first business phone.

2007 marked appearance of the iPhone . It was a phone with a rotation sensor, multi-touch touch interface. The phone instantly captured a significant market share. In response to Apple, was released htc phone Touch, with its own Multi-Touch interface and high screen resolution.

In 2008 appeared iPhone3G, an even more desirable model for all apps that can be purchased from the AppStore.

Then there appeared T-Mobile G1, first phone with operating system Android by Google. By April 2009, one million phones had been sold.

At the same time, the legendary Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, mobile phone for music lovers. It should also be noted business smartphone Nokia E63, LG Dare with handwriting recognition, Nokia N79 with 5 megapixel camera and Carl Zeiss optics. LG KC910 already had an 8-megapixel camera and xenon flash.

LG Arena was born in 2009- first phone with 3D interface. At the same time, the BlackBerry Curve 8900 appeared with a convenient trackball and high screen resolution. Unfortunately, 2G. It is worth noting the appearance of LG Versa - a phone with a connected QWERTY keyboard and a virtual keyboard on the touch screen.

Since then, the evolution of mobile phones has taken place in leaps and bounds. Almost every model of a modern phone began to have widgets for communication in popular in social networks. Some models, such as Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot, have powerful optics and a camera with a matrix high resolution. Already, mobile phones have functionality close to the possibilities personal computer. Phones with touch screens replace the usual monoblocks. What will be next? Projection 3D displays? What are mobile phones evolving into now?

The telephone was created in a period that was considered the era of the telegraph. This device was in demand everywhere and was considered the most advanced means of communication. The ability to transmit sound over distances has become a real sensation. In this article, we recall who invented the first telephone, in what year it happened, and how it was created.

Breakthrough in the field of communication development

The invention of electricity was an important milestone in the development of telephony. It was this discovery that made it possible to transmit information over distances. In 1837, after Morse presented his telegraph alphabet and broadcasting apparatus to the general public, the electronic telegraph began to be used everywhere. However, at the end of the 19th century, it was replaced by a more advanced device.

What year was the telephone invented?

The telephone owes its appearance, first of all, to the German scientist Philip Rice. It was this man who was able to construct a device that allows you to transfer a person's voice over long distances using galvanic current. This event took place in 1861, but there were still 15 years left before the creation of the first telephone.

Alexander Graham Bell is considered the creator of the telephone, and the year of the invention of the telephone is 1876. It was then that the Scottish scientist presented his first device at the World Exhibition, and also applied for a patent for the invention. Bell's phone worked at a distance of no more than 200 meters and had strong sound distortion, but a year later the scientist improved the device so much that it was used unchanged for the next hundred years.

The history of the invention of the telephone

The discovery of Alexander Bell was made by chance in the process of experiments to improve the telegraph. The goal of the scientist was to obtain a device that allows you to simultaneously transmit more than 5 telegrams. To do this, he created several pairs of records tuned to different frequencies. During the next experiment, a small accident occurred, as a result of which one of the plates got stuck. The scientist's partner, seeing what happened, began to swear. At this time, Bell himself was working on a receiving device. At some point, he heard faint sounds of disturbance from the transmitter. Thus begins the history of the invention of the telephone.

After Bell demonstrated his device, many scientists began to work in the field of telephony. Thousands of patents were issued for inventions to improve the first apparatus. Among the most significant discoveries are:

• the invention of the call - the device created by A. Bell did not have a call, and the subscriber was notified using a whistle. In 1878
  T. Watson made the first call for a telephone;
• the creation of a microphone - in 1878, a carbon microphone was designed by the Russian engineer M. Makhalsky;
• creation of an automatic station - the first station for 10,000 numbers was developed in 1894 by S.M. Apostolov.

The patent received by Bell became one of the most profitable not only in the United States, but also in the world. The scientist became extremely rich and world famous. However, in fact, Alexander Bell was not the first person to create the telephone, and in 2002 the US Congress recognized this.

Antonio Meucci: pioneer of the telephone

An inventor and scientist from Italy in 1860 created an apparatus capable of transmitting sound over wires. When answering the question of what year the telephone was invented, you can safely name this date, since the true discoverer is Antonio Meucci. He called his "brainchild" a telephotophone. At the time of his discovery, the scientist lived in the United States of America, he was already aged and was in a very deplorable financial situation. Soon, a large American company, Western Union, became interested in the development of an unknown scientist.

Representatives of the company offered the scientist a substantial amount for all the drawings and developments, and also promised to assist in obtaining a patent. The difficult financial situation forced the talented inventor to sell all the material of his research. The scientist had been waiting for help from the company for a long time, however, having lost his patience, he himself applied for a patent. His request was not granted, and the real blow for him was the message about the great invention of Alexander Bell.

Meucci tried to defend his rights in court, but he did not have enough funds to fight a large company. The Italian inventor managed to sue the right to a patent only in 1887, by the time it expired. Meucci was never able to use the rights to his invention and died in obscurity and poverty. Recognition for the Italian inventor came only in 2002. By resolution of the US Congress, it was he who invented the telephone.

A mobile phone is a necessity in today's world. A person cannot imagine himself without this device and experiences discomfort, being in “separation” from him. Needless to say, this truly unique invention has not only simplified life, but also dragged humanity into the technological process of progress. It's hard to imagine, but many people remember life without phones. It would seem that only yesterday the communication device was more of an invention of a fantastic genre, but today it is a matter of prime necessity.

Pioneer of the mobile era

Motorola can hardly be called a leader in the mobile phone market. However, it was this company that produced the very first mobile phone in the world. It was a Motorola DynaTAC 8000X model.

Motorola DynaTAC 8000X

Released in 1983. Its first development was presented 10 years before this historic moment.

in the US, the story of 1973 is told like a legend. It was then that the inventor Martin Cooper, walking around Manhattan, defiantly made a call to the mobile phone he had created. Witnesses of this spectacle doubted the adequacy of Cooper's condition, mistaking him for being excessively drunk or sick.

What are the characteristics of the device:

• phone memory stored up to 30 numbers;
• the weight of the first mobile phone was 1 kg;
• a fully charged battery provided 1 hour of operation;
• the cost of such a phone was 3995 dollars (it is worth noting that this is the price of a good car in those days).

The modern generation, reading this, will smile sarcastically, but such an achievement was not just a breakthrough, but also the first step towards today's success in this area.

Top 5 Legendary Telephone Inventions

After the world received a mobile phone, many companies began to work in this direction, trying to invent something similar, and even better to surpass the previous creator. As in any field, the success of the invention confirms the mass character. In our case, these are people who used phones. Some models were promising and, as a result, did not fall in love with the public, others were not so publicized, but became real favorites. Consider the most sensational models:

• Nokia Mobira Senator is a car phone. Majority mobile devices those times weighed a lot, so they found their application in cars. This Nokia model had a weight of about 10 kg. She earned her fame in our country due to the fact that it was Gorbachev who used it.

Nokia Mobira Senator

• Nokia 8110 - or more commonly known as the banana phone from the movie The Matrix. It is not known what made this model so popular, a movie or an unusual form. However, this year it returns to store shelves in a re-released version. Its cost is about 120 dollars in our country, the phone is made in black, as well as the original yellow. There is no doubt that it will find its audience in today's mobile world.

Nokia 8110 reissue

• Motorola StarTAC - the world's first clamshell (1996). About 60 million copies have been sold. Such a high demand was due to the ultra-modern and unique design, in addition, the weight of the device was 90 grams, which was also unusual. The price for this model was about 1 thousand dollars, but this did not stop him from gaining such popularity.

Motorola StarTAC

• Benefon Dragon was released in 1998. He, like no other phone, is associated with the era of crimson jackets and the so-called “new Russians”. After all, it was this segment of the population that could afford such an expensive pleasure. It did not differ in special design or attractive appearance, however, in the absence of a choice, it was he who was considered a luxury item. The weight of the phone was 200 grams, the thickness was 2 cm, the functionality is quite simple - calls, a calculator, an alarm clock, a calculator.

• Nokia 3310 - 2000 release. The stories about the indestructibility of this phone do not end now. Over 130 million copies have been sold worldwide. Everything ingenious is simple - this is how you can characterize this phone. Loud speaker, bright screen, easy operation and durability. In addition, everyone has a couple of stories in store, how the Nokia 3310 helped out in hammering nails and cooking chops, how it survived the flood and was reborn from the ashes.

Smart - era

Having learned the convenience of using a mobile phone, the world could not stop there. They began to demand more from a modern gadget: they began to fill it with everything big amount functions, improve its capabilities, hone appearance and find new uses. Finally, the time has come when the phone has become not only convenient, but also “smart”. This is a real helper and savior.

"Smart phone" (smart-phone) - combines the functions of a mobile and personal computer.

First in the world famous smartphone— IBM Simon. Its appearance is far from a modern counterpart, but the functionality and idea are undoubtedly repeated. The device with a weight of 1 kg included the function of a telephone, sending a fax, email, notepad, calculator, clock and several games. The gadget was controlled using a stylus, the screen was completely touch-sensitive. The cost of such pleasure was 1 thousand dollars. The device should have been a real sensation. However, he was not appreciated and passed through his fingers. Most likely this is due to the limitation of the technological capabilities of that time, no one believed in a smartphone. In addition, the Internet in those memorable times was not quite in working order, but rather had mythical properties, and the very prospects for the development of mobile communications were not clear to mankind.

World's first smartphone - IBM Simon

In 1996, Nokia repeated its attempt to conquer the mobile world together with Hewlet-Packard, presenting its development to the public - the HP 700LX PDA. Behind him, at the end of the same year, the Nokia 9000 Communicator appeared. A year later, a Taiwanese company known as HTC announced the development of cutting-edge devices that combine the properties of a phone and a PDA. The success of the company was not lightning fast, despite the loud statements and colorful promises. Lish in 2000, they were able to enter the world market and present a wide selection of their undoubtedly high-quality products.

Modern technologies

Making a review of mobile phones, it is impossible not to dwell on the story of the iPhone. Probably, everyone already knows the notorious story of apples, and the incredible story of the creator Steve Jobs. However, the mystery of what lies behind the company's success has not been solved and cannot be completely solved. Whether it was superintuition that made it possible to understand what modern man wants, or whether it was just a coincidence that happened at the right time. On June 29, 2007, IPhone smartphones went on sale, with their own operating IOS system. For some six months, the device has gained incredible popularity, while in many ways inferior in performance to many phones. Favorite smartphones are now the standard.

The Android OS, which competes today, first went on sale in 2008 on T-Mobile device G1 (HTC Dream). What's next? It would seem that smartphones have reached perfection, having surpassed yesterday's computers and phones, becoming an inseparable and accessible companion to a person. Next comes the time for capacity building and marketing gimmicks. A technological sensation is not expected in the near future, and sales are needed. In order to sell, you need to surprise. This is how phones with a wide diagonal appear, combining a phone and a tablet, curved devices, shockproof and other unusual gadgets.

Modern leaders

Global analytical companies annually work to provide data on the leaders of world markets, including mobile ones. According to the results of the first quarter of 2018, Samsung is the leader. During the reporting period, they managed to sell 78 million smartphones, which is 22% of the total. Apple - ranks second, having sold 52.2 million smartphones - 15%. In third place is Huawei with 11%. In the North American market, Apple has always been the leader for many years, occupying 40% of the market.

The market for smartphones and mobile phones has expanded greatly since the introduction of the first telephone. Today, almost anyone can buy a smartphone. The assortment panel is so wide that it allows you to choose a gadget for every taste and budget.

Interesting facts about mobile phones

Using a mobile phone every day, a person does not even know about many unusual things and facts about this gadget:

• The most popular function of a mobile phone is not calls, and not even SMS, but clocks. It is to check the time that a person most often uses the phone;
• the pollution of the mobile phone exceeds the pollution of the handle of the drain tank;
• the text of the world's first SMS message: "Merry Christmas";
• Florida resident became famous for the biggest bill for mobile communication- 201 thousand dollars. Unaware of the roaming charges, she used mobile communications while in Canada;
• a driver talking on the phone while driving is one third slower to react than a driver who is in a state of intoxication;
• In England, an invention was presented - a toilet bowl capable of recharging a mobile battery.

Man has reached the highest heights in the field of technology. The mobile communication niche is now one of the most popular. People have been trying to find something similar for a long time: notepads, alarm clocks, players, watches, calculators and more. The mobile phone is everything. This pocket assistant stores an incredible amount of information about its owner. In addition, the gadget model characterizes the owner as much as possible. Elegance and glamor are preferred by the female part of the population, business people prefer conciseness and functionality, the elderly prefer ease of use. Whatever the choice, the telephone in our time is a necessity that makes a person mobile, operational and open.

It is believed that the history of mobile phones began in 1910. It was then that Robert Sloss, a well-known American journalist, predicted the emergence in the near future of devices with which it would be possible to make remote calls without a direct connection to the PBX. It is unlikely that he then could have imagined what those same devices would be like 100 years later. In fact, they are already full-fledged computers. And making calls is one of their many additional functions, which is far from being the main one. When was the very first cell phone created and who was its inventor? And which of the devices went on mass sale first, that is, was it available to everyone?

History of creation

According to history, the first cell phone in the world, or rather its working prototype, was created by the Soviet scientist Kupriyanovich Leonid Ivanovich. The principle of operation of such a device was based on the transmission of a radio signal over a distance. It was in 1957. This function performed a built-in repeater. Simply put, it was a portable radio that had the ability to generate a signal and distribute it in an open area.

Of course, the transmission distance was relatively meager. Yes, and it was possible to catch such a signal with the most ordinary radio receiver. There was no question of any encryption at that time. The main task facing Leonid Ivanovich was to transmit a radio signal at a distance using a portable base station. It is from this moment that the history of the creation of a mobile phone in the form in which we are accustomed to seeing it starts.
Of course, the test sample can only conditionally be called portable. The tube itself weighed about 3 kilograms and was connected to the base station, in which the RF signal reception / transmission module was integrated. The battery was placed there.

On this prototype, the development of Kupriyanovich did not end. Already in 1961, he introduced a more modernized variation of his device. And even then it really could be called pocket, because it weighed only 1.2 kilograms. True, it worked for only 10 minutes, after which it was necessary to change the power sources. But the main thing is that the scientist created a trend that absolutely all mobile phone manufacturers followed in the future. They are still observed to this day.

Release of Motorola DynaTAC

Motorola became world famous in 1973. After all, it was she who introduced the first Cell Phones for wide distribution. It's about about Motorola DynaTAC. True, the finished prototype went on sale only 10 years later - in 1983, but this is already associated with the development of cellular networks, which subsequently led to the creation of GSM coverage. Motorola DynaTAC, according to journalists, could provide uninterrupted communication for 1 hour. And in standby mode, it worked for about 8 hours, after which it had to be put on charge. The battery, by the way, “from scratch” was charged in as much as 10 hours. And its power was so high that often Motorola DynaTAC test samples simply overheated due to a short circuit.
In the next 10 years, the company actively upgraded the presented device, and already in 1984 the DynaTAC 8000X went on sale. In fact, this is a test cell phone. True, visually it looked like a huge suitcase, to which a handset with a built-in speaker and microphone was attached. It's a stretch to call it portable. In any case, with its help it was really possible to remotely, anywhere, call a fixed PBX for subsequent communication with the specified subscriber.

However, few people know that Motorola DynaTAC is not a unique device that works according to cellular network standards. It is worth mentioning PAT-0.5 and ATRT-0.5 - these are the first cell phones developed by scientists from Bulgaria. True, they worked exclusively in combination with the RATC-10 base station, capable of locally creating microcellular networks with a maximum load of 6 subscribers. From that moment on, the creation of a cellular signal transmission standard began, which was actively introduced everywhere only in 1992 (in Germany). And already in 1993, Russia created its own GSM network operator, which was the closed joint-stock company MTS. Until that moment, only Delta Telecom operated, which provided communication services according to NMT-450 standards. True, the cost of connecting him was about 4 thousand dollars.

As for the DynaTAC 8000X, it enjoyed unprecedented popularity. The manufacturer did not even have time to satisfy the demand for this device. And this despite the fact that its then cost was $ 3,995! Even by today's standards, this is a cosmic price. By the way, the first cell phones were eventually in demand mainly by automobile concerns, which supplied their cars with them. In fact, it was a marketing ploy on their part to attract new customers.

Color display integration

DynaTAC 8000X did not have a display (it was only in some prototypes). Its base station had only 12 keys. With their help it was possible to subscriber number, accept or end a call. A little later, mobile phones appeared with a pre-installed liquid crystal display. But the first "smartphone" with a color display was the Siemens S10. True, it displayed only 3 colors, which were conditionally divided into 8 shades. It was in 1995. And in 1996, the Nokia Communicator appeared on the consumer market - a full-fledged smartphone. True, he had a proprietary OS installed, which was completely closed to third-party developers. That is, applications for it were not released.

And the further history of the development of mobile phones is already known to many. In just a few years, GSM-¬-networks appeared in most developed countries. The generally accepted standard was the GSM-900 and GSM-1800 network. They are still available, but no longer meet the modern requirements of the end user due to Low quality data transmission, high vulnerability to hacking and noise ("zero" information).

Altai system

In historical reference, the experimental Altai system, organized back in 1963 and operating at a frequency of 150 megahertz, is rarely mentioned. It is a nationwide communication standard for wireless transmission sound signal. By 1973, it was fully integrated into the fixed network. That is, through it it was possible to call fixed stations. In the same year, the standard was partially changed - the frequency range was expanded to 330 megahertz. Interestingly, until 2011, Altai continued to function at the state level. The network was actively used in many cities. At the moment, the system operates exclusively in Novosibirsk, but the issue of terminating support (for financial reasons) is already being considered.

But it is worth considering that only wireless base stations developed specifically on the territory of the USSR were connected to the Altai system. There is no talk of traditional mobile phones. However, some foreign companies have made an attempt to produce communication devices that would support such a standard. But the Soviet authorities refused them all. Not surprising, because the signal transmission was carried out conditionally encrypted. And the prototype for base stations was the same device developed by Kuprinovich Leonid Ivanovich.

In total, today it is difficult to say what the first cell phones in the world were like. Several high-profile companies were simultaneously involved in their development. And their experiences quite often overlap. Historically, it is believed that the original working prototype was presented in the USSR. When did the first cell phone appear? In 1957, but he worked on a conventional radio frequency. If we are talking about the standard cellular network, then the devices working with them were the PAT-0.5 and ATRT-0.5 devices, visually more like huge walkie-talkies. And of those devices that could be purchased by everyone, it is worth mentioning the DynaTAC 8000X from Motorola. It is worth considering that in all devices until 1992, a similar principle of operation of the transceiver was used. Only later they began to be integrated into microprocessors and compact modules.

Mobile communications in the USSR

We are all used to the fact that mobile technologies and devices come from overseas. And communication standards (for example, GSM), and the phones themselves, and all the equipment of operators - bear the stigma "Made in not-with-us". The USA, Europe, Japan and even China supply us with communications. And somehow it was already forgotten that earlier we ourselves were leaders in this area. At one time, it was in our country that the world's first network of automatic mobile communications was launched. And if not for the attitude of the Soviet leadership, (sabotage?) Perhaps we would now speak not by “nokia”, but by “volemot” ...

Did the USSR have mobile communications?

Such a question may seem strange to many, especially from a generation for which mobile communications are strongly associated with a plastic box with a large color screen, a bunch of buttons and buzzwords such as GPRS, WAP, 3G. Where in the Cursed Scoop (c) could mobile communications come from?

Well, firstly, what is a mobile connection? What is the definition of this term?

Mobile communication is a radio communication between subscribers, the location of one or more of which changes.

Mobile communication is cellular, trunking, satellite, plus paging systems and zonal SMRS (fixed channel through a repeater).

In other words, cellular communications (although this term is probably not familiar to all users of this very type of communication) is just a variation of a broader concept - mobile communications. Moreover, it appeared much later than the first mobile radio systems in general.

In the world, the first mobile communication systems appeared after the First World War. So in 1921, the first radio-equipped police cars began to be used in the United States. But mobile communications of that time were almost completely used in highly specific forms, primarily military, police and all kinds of specialized services. They did not have access to public telephone networks, they were not automatic, so this period can be skipped.

The first mobile communication systems for the average consumer began to appear after the Second World War. However, these were also rather limited systems in terms of capabilities. The connection was one-way (simplex), that is, in the image of military radio stations - you pressed the PTT - you speak, let go - you listen. Yes, and the choice of a free radio channel with subsequent connection to a terrestrial telephone network was completely manual. The presence of a control room with telephone ladies and a manual switchboard was an indispensable attribute of such systems.

Those who remember the French film of the 60s "Razin" can remember the episode when the hero of Louis de Funes spoke on such a "mobile phone" from his car. "Hello, young lady, give Smolny!".

From this follows a simple conclusion. The process of calling from a mobile phone should be indistinguishable from a call from a regular phone. This will be the criterion mobile network connections of wide use.

So, the world's first fully automatic mobile communication system was created and put into operation in the Soviet Union. And for several years the USSR was the world leader in the field of mobile communications.

"Altai". The first in the world.

See the first US patent 1972!
U.S. Patent 3,663,762 -- Cellular Mobile Communication System -- Amos Edward Joel (Bell Labs), filed Dec 21, 1970, issued May 16, 1972 http://www.google.com/patents?vid=3663762 at this link and other patents , later

Work on an automatic mobile communication system called "Altai" began in 1958. In the city of Voronezh, in the Voronezh Research Institute of Communications (VNIIS), subscriber stations(in other words, actually phones) and base stations for communication with them. Antenna systems were developed at the Moscow State Specialized Design Institute (GSPI), the same place where Soviet television was born. Leningraders worked on other components of Altai, and later enterprises from Belarus and Moldova joined. Specialists from different parts The Soviet Union joined forces to create an absolutely unique product at that time - automatic mobile communication.

"Altai" was supposed to become a full-fledged telephone installed in a car. It was simply possible to speak on it, as on a regular phone (that is, the sound passed in both directions at the same time, the so-called duplex mode). To call another "Altai" or a regular phone, it was enough just to dial the number - as on a desktop telephone set, without any channel switching or conversations with the dispatcher.

Realize this opportunity with the then technical level it wasn't easy. digital communication, of course, was not yet; the voice was transmitted over the air in the usual way. But, in addition to voice, it was necessary to transmit special signals, with the help of which the system itself could find a free radio channel, establish a connection, transmit the dialed phone number etc.

It now seems natural to us to simply dial a number on the buttons of a mobile phone. And in 1963, when the experimental zone of the Altai system was launched in Moscow, a real telephone in a car made an indelible impression. The developers tried to make it as similar as possible to the usual devices: Altai had a handset, and in some models even a dialing dial. However, the disk was soon abandoned and replaced with buttons, since it turned out to be inconvenient to turn the disk in a car.

Party and economic leaders were delighted with new system. Car telephones soon appeared in the ZILs and Chaikas of the upper echelons of the Soviet leadership. They were followed by "Volga" directors of the most important enterprises.

"Altai" of course was not a full-fledged cellular system. Initially, one city, together with the suburbs, was served by only one base station with sixteen radio channels. But for a small number of senior leaders who had access to mobile communications, this was enough at first.

The system used frequency range 150 MHz are frequencies of the same order as the meter range of television. Therefore, an antenna mounted on a high tower made it possible to provide communication at a distance of up to tens of kilometers.

A similar system in the US, IMTS (Improved Mobile Telephone Service), was launched in the pilot area a year later. And its commercial launch took place only in 1969. Meanwhile, in the USSR, by 1970, "Altai" was installed and successfully operated in about 30 cities!

By the way, about the IMTS system. There is one very interesting paragraph in the description of this system.

In the 70s and the early 80s, before the introduction of cellular phones, there were "waiting lists" of up to 3 years for those wishing to have mobile telephone service. These potential subscribers were literally waiting for other subscribers to disconnect their subscription in order to obtain a mobile telephone number and mobile phone service.

In the 70s and early 80s, before the use of cellular communications, there were "waiting lists", up to 3 years, for those who wanted to have a mobile connection. Potential subscribers were forced to wait until existing subscribers disconnected from the network in order to receive a telephone number and mobile network services.

Queues! Lists! Numbers! Here it is, the Cursed Scoop (c)!!!

Of course, such severe restrictions were caused by a limited number of radio channels. But I specifically draw attention to this so that readers understand that similar systems could not be massive purely by technical reasons and not because of someone's malice.

For this reason, the phones of this system were very expensive (from 2 to 4 thousand dollars) and a minute of conversation cost from 70 cents to 1.2 dollars. Often the phones were rented from the company rather than bought.

And by the way, this system is still in operation in Canada and the United States.

Now in Moscow, Leningrad, Tashkent, Rostov, Kiev, Voronezh and many other cities (and regions) of the USSR, party and economic leaders could easily talk on the phone from the car. Our country, strange as it may seem to hear now, was confidently leading in the field of mobile communications.

In the 1970s, the Altai system was actively developed. New radio channels were allocated (22 "trunks" of 8 channels each) in the 330 MHz band - i.e. at slightly longer wavelengths than decimeter television, which made it possible to provide a considerable range and simultaneously serve more subscribers. Thanks to the use of the first microcircuits, subscriber stations became more and more compact - although they still remained automobile (it was possible to carry the phone along with the batteries in a heavy suitcase).

By the mid-70s, the geography of the Altai system gradually expanded to 114 cities of the Soviet Union.

Special work on the modernization of equipment had to be carried out for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Moreover, it is for the Olympics base station"Altaya" moved to the Ostankino TV tower. Prior to that, she occupied the top two floors of a high-rise building on Kotelnicheskaya embankment.
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The famous building on Kotelnicheskaya embankment. The top three floors in the 60s were occupied by the Altai system equipment, which provides the Central Committee and the Supreme Council with excellent mobile communications.

At the Olympics-80 connection upgraded system"Altai-3M" was used very widely and showed its best side. So, almost all journalistic reports from the competitions passed through Altai. Soviet signalmen became the winners of the Olympics along with Soviet athletes; True, they did not get Olympic medals, but many leading developers received the USSR State Prize.

However, during the Olympics, the limitations of Altai began to appear. Sometimes journalists complained about bad connection; the engineers advised them to rearrange the car a little, and everything immediately got better.

In total, by the beginning of the 80s, the number of subscribers of the Altai system was about 25 thousand.

In order for the wireless telephone to become widespread, further development of the system was required - in particular, the transition to the now familiar use of many base stations covering neighboring sections of the territory. And Soviet engineers were quite ready for this development. Unfortunately, not everything depended only on this readiness.

A VOLEMOT that came too late.

In the early 1980s, specialists from VNIIS and other enterprises were ready to work on a new generation communication system. It was named "Volemot" (short for the names of the cities where the developers were located: Voronezh, Leningrad, Molodechno, Ternopil). A feature of "Volemot" was the ability to fully use many base stations; during a conversation, it was possible to switch from one of them to another without losing connection.

This feature, now known as "handover" and allowing you to carry on conversations on the move without any problems, made "Volemot" a full-fledged cellular communication. In addition, automatic roaming was supported: the Volemot device, registered in the network of one city, could be used in another. In this case, the same 330 MHz band was used, and each base station could, if necessary, "cover" tens of square kilometers with communications.

Volemot" could become a mass connection for the countryside, a "true friend" of collective farmers, summer residents and tourists. For this purpose, it would have been better suited than the Western cellular systems developed during the same period (AMPS, NMT), since it was easy to operate over a very wide area. But to serve many subscribers in a small area (in the city), Volemot was inferior to AMPS and NMT, however, further development, however, could solve this problem.

Mobile communications could well fit into the Soviet way of life, and into the communist ideology. Initially, telephones could, for example, be installed in villages and summer cottages for collective use and rented out in tourist clubs (for the duration of a trip). Call service from "Volemot" could appear in long-distance trains or buses. And, of course, there was no threat to "state security" - mobile communications without encryption devices are very easy to listen to. Therefore, in the future it could well become available to all citizens of the country.

However, for several years, the Volemot project failed to obtain the necessary funding and the development of the system was very slow. Meanwhile, cellular systems in the West were actively developing and gaining popularity. For the beginning - the middle of the 1980s, the former leadership was lost.
"Volemot" was nevertheless completed by the end of the 1980s and was ready to begin deployment, but at that time the "process had already begun" and there was no longer any talk of the possibility of catching up with Europe and the United States.

Nevertheless, the system was launched in a number of cities in the early 90s and is still in operation, just like Altai. Today their main positioning is professional communications for various services, from taxis to ambulances.

But despite this, a full-fledged cellular communication managed to appear in the USSR. The first operator - Leningrad "Delta Telecom" began its work on September 9, 1991, three and a half months before the collapse of the USSR. This means that work on its installation began six months or a year before this event, when the events that followed in December in Belovezhskaya Pushcha were not predicted even by CIA analysts.

Something interesting. The first cell phones.

Mobile (or rather - car!) phone of the early 80s by Nokia - Mobira Senator. The weight of the apparatus is 15 kilograms.

Mobira Talkman - phone of the second half of the 80s - early 90s. Its weight is only 3 kg.

Motorola's first cell phone, the DynaTAC 8000X, was released on March 6, 1983. Its development cost about 100 million dollars (of that time!).

The phone weighed 794 grams and had dimensions of 33x4.4x8.9 cm. The battery charge was enough for 1 hour of talk time or 8 hours of standby time. He had a memory for 30 numbers and ONE melody.

This phone cost $3995. He has been on the cellular communication market for 10 years.

In the network of America's first commercial cellular company, Ameritech Mobile, the monthly fee was $50, plus one minute of conversation cost users from 24 to 40 cents (depending on the time of the call). A year after its launch, its network had 12,000 subscribers.