- The mobile phone model used to make the first call was over 30 centimetres tall and weighed almost a kilo.
3 April marks International Mobile Phone Day, an event that is not explicitly recognised by any body or institution, but which has become unofficially established.
But why is it celebrated on this particular day?
When was the first call made on a mobile phone?
The idea for World Mobile Phone Day arose precisely from the first call made on a mobile phone.
On 3 April 1973, Motorola engineer Martin Cooper made the first call from a device of this type.
The connection was made from Sixth Avenue in New York, and Cooper, his company’s systems manager, called his ‘rival’ Joel Engel at Bell Labs (part of AT&T, Motorola’s direct competitor), a company founded by Alexander Graham Bell.
The phrase ‘Guess where I’m calling from?’ perfectly exemplifies the advance this represented for telecommunications, a century after the invention of the telephone.
Some people see certain parallels in this message with the ‘Mr Watson, come here, I want to see you’ that Graham Bell snapped at his assistant after calling him on the telephone from an adjoining room after patenting the device.
This demonstration took place, as reported on the Guinness World Records website, in a context in which ‘Motorola called a press conference at the Hilton Midtown Hotel in New York on the afternoon of 3 April 1973 to present the project. However, before the event, Cooper decided to dazzle a particularly sceptical journalist by showing him the mobile phone in operation on the streets of Manhattan’.
What mobile device was used to make the first call?
This milestone in the history of communications, which revolutionised how people communicated around the world, was achieved with a prototype mobile phone called the Motorola DynaTAC 8000x.
This device, which would not be commercially available until 1983, had a number of features that are a far cry from the mobile phones we know today. As a curiosity, we could add that the retail price was $3,995, which meant that at that time it was something exclusive to senior executives.
In terms of its physical characteristics, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000x weighed around one kilo and measured 33 cm x 4.5 cm x 8.9 cm.
In terms of operation, it required ten hours of charging to provide 30 minutes of talk time. Another characteristic feature, which might seem shocking today, is that it had a storage capacity of only 30 numbers in its phonebook.
How many mobile phone users are there in the world?
One way to get an idea of how this technology has evolved over the last half-century is to look at the evolution of the number of users.
In the 1980s, as we have just mentioned, due to its price, the mobile phone was a symbol of status and purchasing power, but today its use – with differences between ranges, types and models, of course – is widespread throughout the world.
Another step forward in the history of mobile telephony was the birth of the smartphone, a more sophisticated mobile phone with more features that has become almost hegemonic within this type of mobile device.
According to the Digital 2026 report by We are social, no less than 97.4% of the world’s population has a smartphone. If we consider the figure for the total world population with a mobile phone, the percentage rises by just one tenth to 97.5%.
And what happened in Spain? Telefónica played a key role in the 1990s in introducing mobile phone service to the country: first with the analogue MoviLine service and then with the digital service, Movistar, in 1995.
Movistar mobile phones
Movistar offers a wide variety of mobile phones (in Spanish) which, depending on the needs of each user, can be adapted to the most suitable range according to the user profile.
From high-end models (necessary for those who need maximum performance for photos, videos or games) to basic models (for those who prioritise calls, messaging and long battery life), as well as mid-range models with optimised RAM, good battery life and high-quality screens at competitive prices.
Purchasing these mobile devices with Movistar offers exclusive benefits such as interest-free financing, fast delivery or in-store collection, an official warranty and personalised technical support.
In addition, Movistar has recently launched Movistar Swap, a device renewal programme that allows customers to get the latest iPhone and Samsung models.
Frequently asked questions
Although it is not an official commemoration, 3 April is celebrated as Mobile Phone Day because the first call was made on this device on that day in 1973.
A prototype mobile phone called the Motorola DynaTAC 8000x.
