10.2
TECHNOLOGY
SPEAKING
1
Look at the photos on this page and
answer the questions below.
1
What do you think the major changes
have been to mobile phones, since the
first mobile phone, in photo A?
2
Which of the following features or
attributes are most important to you in a
phone?
internet access voicemail text messaging
battery life weight and size of phone
camera games
READING
2
a
Read the text about the history of
the mobile phone. What important
developments took place between 1973
and 1992?
Growth of global telephony
Telephone technology has changed dramatically since Alexander Graham Bell invented
the telephone in 1876. The biggest change has been the development of mobile phones.
Here’s a look back at the most important advances in mobile phone technology.
2
b
Answer the questions.
1
Why is Martin Cooper known as ‘the father of the mobile phone’?
2
What two features of the first mobile phone are very different from
mobile phones today?
3
Which important development in mobile phone technology took
place in the late 1980s?
4
Why did Neil Papworth use his personal computer to help him
send a text message?
5
Which came first: the camera phone or the smartphone.
6
Where was the world’s bestselling phone produced?
3
Find words in the text that mean:
1
small and easy to carry
2
big and heavy
3
symbolic or representative
4
an electronic device
5
the ability to send and receive documents electronically
6
bring out a new product
4
Identifying key dates
What do you think were the three most
important years for mobile phone development? Why?
1973
The first mobile telephone call was made on April 3, 1973
by Martin Cooper, who was working for a telephone electronics
company at the time. He is known as “the father of the mobile
phone”.
He made his first call, standing in the street in New York City. The
portable phone he was using weighed about one kg – about the
same as a bag of sugar. The battery allowed the user to talk for
only 30 minutes – and took ten hours to charge!
1983
A decade later, in 1983, the first mobile phones were sold in
the US. They were sold at a price of about £2,500 each.
1986
Voicemail was added to mobile phones in 1986, but text
messages were not invented until several years later.
1990
By 1990 there were a million mobile phone users in the USA.
1992
The first text message was sent on 3 December, 1992,
by Neil Papworth, a computer engineer in the UK. At the time
mobile phones didn’t have keyboards so it was sent via a personal
computer.
According to Ofcom, the average person in the UK now sends 50
text messages every week, but an average of 193 texts are sent
every week by 12-15 year olds.
1993
In 1993 the first smartphone was invented. This bulky
phone had a calendar, fax, touch screen and several other
features.
1996
In 1996 users could access the internet on smartphones.
This is also the year in which QWERTY keyboards were first
added to smartphones.
1997
The first camera phone was invented by a French man
called Phillipe Kahn, and the first photo sent by a mobile phone
was in 1997. Khan sent photos of his new baby daughter,
Sophie, from the hospital where she was born.
The 21st century
The bestselling mobile phone, which was
launched in 2005, was made in Finland. More than 250 million
devices were sold, making that phone the highest selling
technological gadget in history. The phones are now iconic
and are still sold second–hand.
Even with all the features smartphones now have, and all the
things they can do, mobile phone technology is still growing.
Who knows what the next developments will be?
80
