World Firsts

A mobile phone that fitted into a shirt pocket was once an ambitious engineering project. The PC105T brought that ambition to market in 1986, helping turn the mobile from a hand-held device into something people could carry in a pocket.

Simon combined a cellular phone with a personal communicator, including email, fax and a pen-operated screen. Its prototype appeared in 1992 and the joint development was announced in 1993. GSM History identifies it as the origin of the smartphone, before that name was used for the Ericsson R380.

Before Snake reached millions of Nokia phones, Hagenuk put Tetris into the MT-2000. A software engineer’s idea that business users might enjoy a game became a built-in feature—although playing it could drain the battery in about an hour.

The SPH-M100 combined a mobile phone, an MP3 player and storage for around an hour of music. A separate music-playing device had become a feature of the phone, anticipating the way handsets would absorb other everyday products.

Taking a picture was only part of the breakthrough. The J-SH04 connected its camera to the phone’s messaging, making it easy to send what you were seeing to someone else. GSM History distinguishes this from earlier devices whose photographs had to be transferred to a computer by cable.

A camera facing the user made video calls—and self-portraits—possible. GSM History credits the Z1010, announced in February 2003 and used in 3G operator trials that year, ahead of the Motorola A920’s August announcement.

The gesture of swiping to unlock a phone appeared before the iPhone. The small N1 used a web of light beams to detect the action. Its place in this story emerged in a London patent case, where the earlier handset mattered to the judgment.

The Prada was more than a fashion collaboration. Its capacitive touchscreen reached the market before the first iPhone. The account follows a revealing distinction: introducing a feature first did not necessarily mean making the greatest commercial impact with it.

The G1 brought Android to market with a slide-out keyboard and a growing promise of applications. Designed and manufactured by HTC for T-Mobile, it marked the beginning of a new smartphone platform whose early software was still finding its feet.

A single display folded outwards, turning an Android tablet-sized screen into a phone. Royole reached the market ahead of Samsung and Huawei, though the account also records teething problems from the rush to be first.