The name Martin Cooper is indeed less flashy than Steve Jobs, even though his figure is no less important. He is the inventor of the cell phone.
Cooper made the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X in 1973 which was the world's first cell phone. At the age of 92, Cooper is a guest star on BBC Breakfast.
At the event, Cooper reminded all of us not to play with our cellphones too often. The statement came after the co-host admitted to spending 5 hours a day just to use his cellphone.
"Do you really enjoy spending 5 hours a day? Take that time to make your life better!" Cooper said as quoted from Phonearena.
The inventor of the cell phone says he spends less than 5% of his time on cell phones. This means Cooper only uses the phone 1.2 hours a day.
This figure is far below the average daily usage. According to Statista research shows that 46% of Americans surveyed say they spend between five and six hours on their phone a day and 11% use their smartphone for seven hours a day or longer.
Still on the BBC Breakfast show, Cooper tells where he came from making the lDynaTAC 8000X. The idea came to him while working at Motorala, when the popularity of the phone in the car bothered him so much because it was stuck in the car.
So came the idea of making a cell phone that can be put in a car, but can also take them wherever they go. He wanted the device to be small enough to fit in his pocket but still reach his ears and mouth.
Motorola liked the idea so much that it spent millions of dollars developing the phone, and used the technology the team that worked on the project used to build a police radio.
For the first public test, Cooper telephoned in front of reporters on April 3, 1973. He called AT&T chief engineer Joel Engel and said, "Hi, Joel, this is Marty. I'm calling you from a cell phone, someone's on a cell phone."
Ten years after being showcased, the new Motorola DynaTAC 8000X was launched on the market. The device is priced at USD 3,995, which is twice the price of the Samsung Galaxy Fold 3, and that doesn't count inflation.
The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X weighs 2.5 pounds and is 10 inches long. The battery lasted 25 minutes and took 10 hours to charge.
Even at a price close to $3,995 at the time, Cooper's invention was a huge hit, especially among businessmen, Wall Street traders, and anyone whose job required him to be in constant contact with other people throughout the day.