Introduced in 1983 as the future in personal communications, the analog cell phone was a behemoth with a retractable antenna. But that's not the only type of analog phone that was made since then. Analog's Advanced Mobile Phone System, or AMPS, was abolished by early 2008, as all major networks finally dropped the analog system in favor of the channel bundling abilities of GSM or CDMA digital networks.
Original Models
In models like the Motorola DynaTAC, the first analog mobile phones were shoulder-steadied, 5 lbs. or more and used a retractable antenna that extended more than 1 foot from the device. These mobile devices were as many as 3 inches thick to contain the technology needed to operate what was basically a powerful transceiver that needed a large battery. Most early owners, because of the cumbersome size of the truly mobile unit, mounted the devices in the center consoles of vehicles.
Smaller Over Time
Within four years, Motorola, the major company spearheading the cell phone expansion into the private sector, was touting its MicroTAC and Rival units, at more than half the size of the DynaTAC. These units, because of their size, are thought of by many to be the first truly mobile analog phones. Motorola and other companies, over time, made analog and digital phones, though the former was quickly outpaced in sales and development by the latter. At the "analog sunset" in February 2008, just 1 percent of the customers with the nationwide networks still offering AMPS were using analog phones, mostly for emergency or deep rural needs. (Reference 1)
Dual Band
Manufacturers say digital networks offer better sound quality, security and bundling capacity, but analog has come in handy over the past few decades when digital service was interrupted. Dual-band mobile phones were introduced in the 1990s to fill these coverage gaps (see Resources). Now that GSM phones are available in quad-band technology and towers and satellites have been deployed to cover just about every region, the need for analog security has been eliminated by digital.
Tags: analog phones, antenna that, cell phone, digital networks, Mobile Phone, mobile phones, mobile phones were
