The most iconic mobile phones in history

You might not fully realise it, but it's been more than 45 years since Martin Cooper, a Motorola researcher and executive, made the first call on a handheld mobile phone to his rival, Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs, from a street corner in New York. 

"As I walked down the street while talking on the phone, sophisticated New Yorkers gaped at the sight of someone actually moving around while making a phone call," Cooper is reported to have said. "Remember that in 1973, there weren't cordless telephones or cellular phones.

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'I made numerous calls, including one where I crossed the street while talking to a New York radio reporter - probably one of the more dangerous things I have ever done in my life."  

He used the Motorola DynaTAC for that fateful call, a "mobile" phone that weighed more than a kilogram. Today's phones weigh a tenth of that, and are far more powerful.

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It has been a long and arduous journey to get from the back-breaking, heavy shoulder-strapped behemoths to the paper-thin smartphones of today. Pocket-lint takes a look at some of the more iconic handsets that have marked the path along the way.

Source : https://www.pocket-lint.com/phones/news/120303-mobile-phone-40-year-anniversary