تکامل تلفن ها

The Evolution of Telephones

Welcome to Speak English Now Podcast. With your host Georgiana. The podcast that will help you to speak English fluently with no grammar and no textbooks.

Hi, everybody! I’m Georgiana, your online English teacher, and founder of speakenglishpodcast.com

My mission is to help you to speak English fluently.

I have a question for you. What was your first cell phone? I got my first cell phone in 1996, and it was a Motorola. I can’t remember the exact model, but it was very different from what we can find in stores nowadays. And yeah - with this type of cell phone, one could only make phone calls and send text messages. Now I have a smartphone, and I don’t make any phone calls anymore. Like everybody else, I tend to use WhatsApp, Telegram, Messages, FaceTime, or Skype.

I must have mentioned before that I love technology. Actually, without it, you could not listen to this podcast because I wouldn’t be able to record it :)

Ok, so let’s talk about cell phones and how people used to communicate before they were invented.

The smartphone couldn’t exist without the landline telephone. And do you know when it was developed?

Yes. A long time ago, in 1876. And the idea of the landline telephone was inspired by the telegraph.

We all know that telephones came before cell phones, but have you ever heard of car phones?

Yes! The original car phone weighed about 80 pounds, and this piece of technology was created in 1947.

Back then there were a limited number of people who used this car phone, and there were 5 to 10-year waiting lists. Can you imagine?

The car phone was a great invention, but luckily for us in 1973, Motorola created the DynaTAC 8000X - the first handheld cell phone.

It cost $4000, which would be $10000 today. However, the cell phone wasn’t available on the market until 1983.

Many of us complain that our smartphones run out of battery too soon.

Do you how long the battery of the first cell phone would last?

Only 35 minutes!!!

And that’s not all. This cell phone would take 10 hours to charge!!! Can you imagine that?

I guess now you’re feeling grateful for having a smartphone. :) As you can see, there is an incredible difference between the first cell phone and the ones available on the market nowadays.

So, the first cell phone was expensive, it weighed a lot, and the battery didn’t last much. That’s not something that can be sold to everybody.

Therefore, very few people used a cell phone, and they were not for sale.

They were leased.

And I’m not going to mention all cell phones invented in the last 40 years. Instead, I’m going to mention the first smartphone. Do you know when it was invented?

In 1992. And I’m not talking about an Apple cell phone. The first smartphone was the IBM SIMON. This phone was considered the first smartphone, the first touchscreen phone, and the first phone to have software apps.

It cost around $1100, which would be $1800 today. Not all affordable! So I guess the only businessman carried this smartphone.

Now I’ll mention some cell phones that were extremely popular in early 2000.

In 2002 Nokia 1100 became the best-selling cell phone of all time.

One of the most wanted cell phones in 2004 was Motorola Razr V3. I loved this cell phone, and I regret I didn’t buy it at the time. The funny thing is that yesterday I found it for sale on Amazon. It’s cheaper than it was in the past, but it can’t beat my current smartphone.

You probably know this already but in 2007 something amazing happened. Something that would forever change cell phones, the computer industry, and technology. Yes. I’m talking about the original iPhone that was a complete success — selling more than 6 million units.

Did you know that the original iPhone was the first cell phone without any physical keyboard?

This led to great controversy, and I’ll tell you all about with a mini-story.

But for now, let us continue.

For those of you Android users, you may be interested to know that in 2008, the smartphone HTC Dream was the first phone to run Android.

Do you know when the first Samsung Galaxy phone was released? Only ten years ago in 2009.

In 2016 Google Pixel was the first smartphone on the market to run entirely by Google.

For many, the phone feature has become the least used feature.

However, in the future phones could make another drastic change.

What do you think?

Mini-Story �

(practice your speaking)

All right! Now let’s practice with a mini-story. Sometimes I call it a conversation simulator because you practice your English like in a real conversation.

Here’s how it works: I give you information and ask simple questions.

After each question, there is a pause where you can answer. After the pause, I give you a correct answer for you to compare.

Let’s get started!

In 2007, Apple released a new cell phone that would revolutionize the industry.

Who released a new cell phone? Samsung?

No. No. Samsung didn’t release a new cell phone. Apple released a new cell phone.

When did Apple release a new cell phone? In 2006?

No. Apple didn’t release a new cell phone in 2006. Apple released a new cell phone in 2007.

What did Apple release in 2007? A tablet?

No. No. Apple didn’t release a tablet in 2007. Apple released a new cell phone in 2007.

Would this new smartphone revolutionize anything?

Yes. This new smartphone would revolutionize the industry.

A competitor CEO (chief executive officer) laughed at the new device because it lacked a physical keyboard.

Did the competitor CEO cry?

No. No. The competitor CEO didn’t cry. He laughed.

What device did the CEO laugh at?

He laughed at Apple’s new cellphone.

Did the new device have a physical keyboard?

No. The new device didn’t have a physical keyboard.

That CEO also predicted that the new smartphone would be limited to a small segment of the global market.

Who predicted something?

The CEO. The competitor CEO predicted something.

Did he predict that the new smartphone would be popular?

No. No. He didn’t predict that the new smartphone would be popular.

According to the CEO, would the new smartphone be limited to a large segment?

No. According to the competitor CEO, the new smartphone wouldn’t be limited to a large segment. It would be limited to a small segment.

However, the new device ended up being a product which changed the mobile landscape.

Did the new device change anything?

Yes. The new device changed something.

The new device changed the movie industry. Right?

No. No. The new device didn’t change the movie industry. It changed the mobile landscape.

Since then, most competitors have launched similar devices abandoning the physical keyboard.

Did the competitors launch different or similar devices?

The competitors launched similar devices and not different.

Did the competitors abandon something?

Yes. Competitors abandoned the physical keyboard of their smartphones.

What did they abandon? Their computers?

No. No. The competitors didn’t abandon their computers. They abandoned the physical keyboard of their smartphones.

Perfect! It’s the end of this mini-story. As you can see, through questions and answers you can practice and improve your speech.

If you want to get hours of audio with mini-stories and points of view lessons, I’d like to recommend to you my English Fluency Course.

You can get it at Fluency.SpeakEnglishPodcast.com Well, I think that’s enough for today. Try to listen to this content several times and leave a comment on Facebook, Youtube, iTunes, etc. to help me spread the word about this podcast.

I’ll be back next week!

Take care! Bye! Bye!