2. Design History of the Mobile Phone
Since the dawn of mankind communication has been one of those primal instincts which
has continuously developed. Mobile communication was a major step in this development.
The invention of the first mobile phone in 1973 has made the world a much smaller place
than ever before as you can contact anyone you know with the touch of a button. Along with
the advances in technology being achieved by these phone companies was a need for new
‘flashy’ mobile phone designs to take the market by storm. An awful lot has changed in the
world of mobile phone design since the original 1973 model up to the more modern and
more aesthetically pleasing iPhone 4. Mobile Phone design has been through quite a lot,
from the loss of the external antenna to the introduction of the touch screen and nearly every
design application has a basis in the technological advances being made in the mobile
phone industry.
Dr. Martin Cooper of Motorola with the first cell phone (1973).
iPhone 4 – available as of 2010.
The first truly portable mobile phone to hit the market was the Motorola MicroTAC 9800X
released in 1989. This was the introduction of the ‘flip’ open cell phone concept where the
mouthpiece folded over the keypad. This set the design for modern flip phones which have
become so widely used today. It also set a challenge for all other manufacturers, to make a
mobile phone which was smaller and more efficient than anything available on the market at
that time, and so the mobile phone race began.
As companies began to make mobile phones smaller and more powerful, designers where
given the chance to come up with a mobile phone which was both asthectically pleasing and
fully functional.
Nokia was the first company to manage to mass produce a mobile phone, the Nokia 1011
which remained in production up until 1994.
3. The handset was only available in black and measured 195 x 60 45mm featuring an
extendable external antenna and a monochrome display. This mobile proved extreamly
popular and is widely belived to be the reason for Nokias stronghold over the mobile market
up until recent years.
Nokia 1011 – first mass produced GSM mobile phone.
The next major step in Mobile phone design advances was the introduction of the ‘Smart
Phone’ a device that could do much more than just make and receive calls. In 1994, after a
joint effort by IBM and BellSouth the IBM Simon was born. Simon was a very advanced
piece of technology at its time. Besides being a mobile phone it also had applications for a
calendar, address book, world clock, calculator, note pad, email and even games. It was also
the first mobile phone to work with touch screen technology and also display a QWERTY
keyboard.
IBM Simon – World first ‘Smart Phone’.
Along with the introduction of the worlds first ‘Smart Phone’ came a change in the way
mobile phones could be used. A cell phone was no longer just a device which gave the user
the ability to communicate but also allowed the user to store information, meetings, memos,
and send email. This was a huge step in the evolution of the mobile phone.
As mobile phones gained the ability to be more than just a communications device mobile
phone designers attempted to hold on to there ‘portable’ function by producing smaller
4. models. The most popular of which was the Nokia 8210 released in 1999. The 8210 was the
smallest, lightest model available at the time, though it seems considerably ‘chunky’ when
compared to today’s slimline models. Designers also created removable ‘Xpress-on’ covers,
6 released by Nokia themselves as well as many third-party ones. This introduced mobile
companies to the idea of creative designs on their handhelds.
Nokia 8210 – smallest phone available at the time
The introduction of this phone also caused many other phone companies to begin
competing to produce a mobile phone which not only had several impressive functions but
would remain lightweight and handheld. The Nokia 8210 changed the direction of mobile
phone design, but only for a brief period.
In 2001 Sony Ericsson struck back with the T68, the first phone to have a colour screen, a
big step forward at the time, also allowing for it to be the first phone with two way MMS
(multimedia messaging service) yet lacked a camera.
Sony Ericsson T68
5. Nokia took the spotlight again in 2003 by producing a mobile phone/handheld gaming
device hybrid, the N-Gage in an attempt to lure people away from the GameBoy Advance.
However this was all in vain as the buttons for a mobile phone did not transfer over well to a
gaming device and many users felt it was a disappointment. Nokia attempted to re-release
the N-Gage in 2004 with a smaller, sleeker model but it fell to the same reviews.
Nokia N-Game Gaming Mobile
Nokia decided to dump the N-Gage series but retained the software to use in future smart
phones which could better handle the gaming system requirements. This gave Nokia a
competitive edge within the mobile gaming community and helped retain Nokias good name
after the failure of the N-gage.
Designers now had a broader range of concepts for mobile design than ever before; this
allowed for more design choices to be made. Nokia were the first manufacturers to storm
ahead in the mobile phone world producing numerous different models to the market
accompanying for a very broad range of customers. Mobiles phones containing MP3 players,
digital cameras, alarms, and games were all available to the public. Many manufacturers
however decided on a specific direction to take with their designs, this caused for a split
between the regular mobile phone, the smart phone and the camera phone. Smart phones
became increasingly popular in the business world due to the many functions available on
them such as GPS and e-mail. The camera phone became more popular among younger
generations as social networking sites allowed for mobile phone pictures to be uploaded
online to the user’s profile. The step between taking a picture on a mobile and using a
computer to upload it was removed when mobile phones became internet ready and the
pictures could be uploaded instantly from anywhere in the world.
Competition began to stir in the smart phone market in 2004 when Treo released the Treo
600, a highly-capable smart phone but its fame was short lived due to the introduction of the
Blackberry. Blackberry have managed to successfully retain the position as the best smart
phone manufacturers to this day by creating well designed phones for the business person of
today, with GPS, e-mail and PC like applications such as MS Word.
Blackberry Curve 8900
6. In 2007 Apple introduced the world to the iPhone, which inevitably changed the direction of
mobile phone design once again. The iPhone featured a multi-touch screen, impressive
camera, and internet access like no other mobile. The iPhone also covered the gaming
aspect of the mobile with thousands of downloadable apps available online by both Apple
and third-parties. The iPhones impressive looks alongside its many functions gave Apple a
nice slice of the mobile phone market prior to its release and was one of the most highly
anticipated mobile phone releases in history.
iPhone - took the market by storm in 2007
The iPhone design removed the keypad and made the entire phone touch screen based.
This allowed for a smooth glossy phone which was loved by all. The iPhone also opened a
door for the ‘iPhone Killers’. The term iPhone Killer was given to many phones released from
2008 to this day which were based on the iPhones original design concept. That is one of a
screen based front to the phone with no buttons visible. The most successful of which to this
date is the HTC Desire 2. Openly based on the iPhones design with little differences the HTC
Desire 2 is a beautifully designed mobile phone with as many functions and apps available to
it as the iPhone itself, however due to Apples stronghold on the market thanks to the original
iPhone HTC never managed to outsell Apple.
HTC Desire 2 - iPhone Killer
7. The question now though is ‘what’s next for mobile phone design?’ There are many future
concepts for mobile design available online though nobody can know for sure which ones will
actually go into production. New technologies allow for bendable material to be used in
design and this appears to be where most mobile phone concepts are heading. One thing we
can know for sure is that mobile phone design will continue to take dramatic turns in its
direction and produce phones that we could never have dreamt of.
Nokia 888 - Mobile phone concept
8. References:
Cassavoy, L. (2007). In Pictures: A History of Cell Phones. Available:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/131450/in_pictures_a_history_of_cell_phones.html.
Last accessed 20th April 2011.
Fling, B (2009). Mobile Design and Development. USA: O'Reilly Media. p1-10.
Lindholm, C (2003). Mobile usability. USA: The McGraw-Hill Companies. p139-144.
Steve. (2009). Your Future Is Calling. Available:
http://weburbanist.com/2009/06/29/your-future-is-calling-15-creative-cool-cell-phone-
concepts/. Last accessed 25th April 2011.
TechiCore. (2010). A brief history of mobile phones. Available:
http://techicore.com/communications-and-mobile/mobile-phones/8-a-brief-history-of-
mobile-phones. Last accessed 15th April 2011
