Mobile phones began life as the two way radio, which was also known as mobile rigs. these were installed in vehicles such as cabs, police cars and ambulances, although were not strictly mobile phones because they were not normally connected to the telephone network. while the earliest mobile phones were permanently installed in vehicles, later versions such as the transportables, also known as bag phones, could be carried, and can be used as either portable or as mobile two-way radios.

The first generation of mobile phones are often referred to as 1G. These mobile phones are the analog devices that were introduced in the eighties & continued until they were replaced by 2G mobile phones, which ran on digital networks. indeed, although 1G & 2G systems use digital signalling to connect the radio towers to the rest of the phone network, the voice itself during a phone call encoded to digital signals in 2g whereas voices on 1G phones are not.

The very earliest second generation mobile phones were commercially launched in finland in 1991. While 2-g networks were completely digital, the previous 1g networks were analog. one of the main benefits that 2-g networks had over their 1g predecessors was that conversations were digitally encrypted. This was major because it was possible for third parties to listen in on calls on analog networks. as well as this, 2-g systems were lots more efficient, which allowed far more mobile phones to be used. Finally, 2-g introduced data services for mobile, which include sms messages.

After 2-g mobile phones were launched, the previous mobile phone systems were called 1g. while radio signalling on 1g networks are analog, & on 2-g networks they are digital, both the 1g and 2g systems use digital signals to link the radio towers & the rest of the phone network.

The very first pre-commercial 3-g mobile phone network was launched in japan in may of 2001. 3-g was later commercially released in Japan on 1 october 2001.

3-g is the third generation of mobile phone standards & technology, which succeeded 2-g mobile technology. the birth of 3g technologies enabled network operators such as orange to give their users a wider range of better services. This includes broadband wireless internet, as well as high tech video calls.

Despite the success of 3g, there's also been some complaints about it. These include criticism over the expense of 3-g phones, a lack of network coverage because it is still a pretty new service & the high power usage of 3g phones.

Since the launch of 3-g mobile telephone technology. people have been thinking about 4-g. 4-g technology will be the future of mobile phones, producing the most sophisticated handsets and best services yet. in actual fact, one of the next services to be developed is thought to be live streaming of radio and television shows to 3-g handsets is and companies such as real & disney recently announcing that they'll be offering these services.

Above all, although the mobile phone's history they've come a long way in the last few years, it also shows that they'll go even further still.