Move Back
![moto_01]()
Apr. 3, 1973: By 1973 Motorola demonstrated a prototype DynaTAC (DYNamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage) portable radiotelephone cellular system. A low-power handset was a fundamental element of the system.![moto_02]()
The Dynatac engineering team, circa 1972-1973. Though revolutionary, that phone was one giant hunk of plastic!![moto_04]()
Motorola designer Rudy Krolopp with five Motorola Dynatac portable cellular phone prototypes in 1983. The world's first commercial handheld cellular phone, weighing in at 28 ounces, wasn't available to consumers until 1984.![moto_05]()
Most American's first experience with a portable cellular phones was likely through car models like these, seen in 1985. And still giant, of course.![moto_06]()
By 1989, smaller models such as the Motorola Microtac were being released, and the competition was beginning.![moto_09]()
Motorola's Startac from 1996 proved phones could be small and sexy.![Nokia_5110]()
Late 90s phones often resembled this "candybar" shaped Nokia 5110. They fit better into the pocket, of course, but were anything but smart.![zoolander_tiny_phone]()
The miniaturization trend was parodied in the 2001 film "Zoolander," in which Ben Stiller plays a model who carries a tiny phone about the size of a peanut.![First_iPhone_2007]()
Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone at a Macworld conference in 2007. With the runaway success of that product, smartphones started growing again -- and never looked back.![samsung_Galaxy_S_4_glamour_shot]()
The new Samsung Galaxy S4, the flagship smartphone from the tech powerhouse. Expect phones to keep getting bigger, the company said recently.![Huawei_ascend_mate]()
With a 6.44-inch body, the Huawei Ascend Mate is one of the new breed of ginormous phones.Supersize me! How cell phones went from giant to tiny to giant again
Forty years ago today, Motorola created the world's first commercial portable cellular phone -- a giant brick of plastic. Over the years they became impossibly small. And now are set to swell once again.
Move Forward
- Supersize me! How cell phones went from giant to tiny to giant again
