In this handy guide to the history of the mobile, we take a look at phones from Martin's eighties bricks, to the 'appy-go-lucky world of 2013.
Cityboy's brick: the DynaTAC 8000X
This 1980s beast was Motorola's first commercial mobile. Launched in America in 1983, it was available to British customers in 1985 with the massive price tag of £3,000. As heavy as a breeze block, eighties bankers could waltz completely cord-free around town, laughing at those idiots who were still seventies enough to have carphones. Original DynaTAC 8000Xs now fetch upwards of £500 on eBay.
Colourful Nokia 101
This phone launched Nokia's nineties dominance of the mobile market, becoming Britain's best selling mobile in 1994. Using coloured keys, the phone's Italian-American designer Frank Nuovo was the first to use green keys for 'answer' and red keys for 'reject.' By the mid-nineties you could get a snazzy moss green, pale plum or snow white coloured handset for £150.
WTF it's GSM!
The world's first SMS was sent in December 1992 to the director of Vodafone UK and read 'Merry Christmas'. Before then, all the mobiles had been analogue, so couldn't cope with the digital data needed for sending text. For this texting malarkey to kickoff, the clever chaps in Europe developed the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and called the whole lot '2G.' Nokia, once again, came up trumps and produced the first 2G handset.
Indestructible: 3310
Arguably the greatest phone ever made, and now a cult classic. Launched in 2000, this virtually indestructible mobile deity offered incredible 459 character texting, 35 phenomenally irritating ringtones and Snake II. Refurbished 3310s have become massively popular in developing countries.
More than a phone
By the early 2000s, standard phones were so affordable that 'everybody and their mom's' had one. Mobile manufacturers needed to smarten up their act and make phones more exciting. Ericsson pulled a blinder in 2001 with the T68, giving consumers an incredible colour screen. Now you view the network provider's logo in colour – and that was about it. Then came cameras, picture messaging and the wonderful world of WAP.
Smartypants
By 2004, the network technology existed to deliver internet to mobile handsets but there was just no decent handsets and no network. As the coverage started to improve, manufacturers like BlackBerry and Nokia began realising the potential of secure email access on mobiles, whacking mini keyboards on their devices to lure serial emailers to their handsets. The problem was, they were mainly owned by politicians and CEOs. What the world needed was a cooler, touchy-strokier telephonic experience. So in 2007, smart boy Steve Jobs revealed his shiny screened iPhone which, by 2008, was supported by the blossoming App Store. Nokia and BlackBerry were history and Apple was king.
App attack
In recent years, it has become hard to remember a time when you couldn't use a slingshot to launch birds at pigs, slice fruit with a finger-controlled blade, and stay so connected with your friends that you essentially live in their pockets. As the internet and computers permeate your once pure handset, it's funny to think that the technology at the centre of it all is really the same as that of that of its 40 year old predecessors.
Phone facts
• Motorola's 1996 StarTAC was the first flip phone and one of the first to vibrate.
• The Nokia 6110, launched in 1997, was the first handset with Snake.
• Nokia's 1100 is the world's best selling mobile. It offers nothing but calls and texts.
• 92% of UK adults own and use a mobile phone. 4% of North Koreans own are mobile phone users.