Mobile phones now seem part of everyday life, but it wasn't so long ago that there were no mobile phones at all. Since their early development, the mobile phone has become more than simply a communication device. Now, you can play games, make video calls, surf the internet, and much more. Let us take a look back and see how phones have evolved over the past couple of decades. 

The 80's and the First Commercial Mobile Phone

Although mobile phones have been in development since the 1960s, they were by no means portable. 

They were only useful as car phones and had to be permanently powered to use them. They were also expensive, so only those who could afford them had them in their cars. 

Move forward to 1984 and you see the first mobile phone that was commercially available - the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. 

It weighed 1 kilo and was 30cm long. It also had a talk time of 30 minutes with a standby time of 8 hours. 

Nokia in the 90's

Before Samsung and LG mobile phones were dominating the market, there was Nokia. Although Motorola continued to refine the mobile phone, Nokia took things to a whole new level. 

In 1993, Nokia released the 1011 which was the first phone to use digital networks instead of analogue ones. 

This meant the phone could send SMS messages for the first time. Although it is a hugely popular way to communicate now, it took time to catch on. 

The Nokia 1011 had a dual line display and 99 spaces for contact storage, more than the 30 of the first Motorola phone. 

During the 1990s, Nokia continued to innovate, eventually coming out with the 8110 which was hugely popular. This decade also saw the release of one of the most iconic and popular phones ever made - the 3310. 

Major Players Arrived in the 00s

In the early 2000s, manufacturers such as Sony, LG, and Samsung started to break into the mobile phone market. This was also the beginning of the end for Nokia's dominance. 

Flip phones were becoming more common with dual screens so you didn't need to open the phone to see notifications. 

This decade also saw colour screens, MP3 players built-in, and WAP which was a basic version of the internet. 

Into the 10s With the iPhone

Arguably one of the biggest developments in mobile phone history was the release of the Blackberry for business users and the iPhone. 

Both these companies would enjoy growing success in the 2010s and see the development of the mobile phone increase rapidly. 

These developments would take us forward into the present day. 

Present Day Mobile Phones

Mobiles are not only becoming smarter, but they are also gaining more processing power, faster data, and can now be folded including the screen. 

Add to this facial and fingerprint recognition, phones are now the most secure they have ever been. This has led to online payments and tap-to-pay now being the most used payment option. 

Many people would now be lost without their mobile phones. It goes to show just how dependent people have become on such a relatively new technology.