Happy Birthday mobile phone!

The mobile phone (or cell phone) is 40 years old today. Or at least the first mobile telephone call was made 40 years ago today. Since then mobile phones have been used for a quite frankly ridiculous amount of things. The speed at which mobile phone technology has advanced is astonishing. I remember when practically nobody had mobile telephones, apart from rich businessmen and astronauts from the future.

Since then mobile phones have gone from strength to strength. I remember when the first colour screen mobile phone was released. I remember when you could play snake. I remember when ringtones stopped sounding like Morse code and you could actually listen to the music properly. I remember when a camera phone was a big deal and it pretty much was as big as a camera strapped to a phone.

It has really been since phones got touchscreens and became smartphones that mobile phones have become as useful a tool as a Swiss army knife, but without the killing power. To be able to contact almost anybody almost anywhere in the world at almost any time through voice or text is pretty amazing to start off with, but we've just wanted our phones to do more and more. There are millions of apps doing a bajillion and one things, from entertainment to tools. There are hundreds of things you can do on a mobile phone today that 10 years ago you probably couldn't do on a computer.

All this begs the question, what is next for the mobile phone. Has it reached its peak? There are bound to be more stupid and pointless apps churned out like Channel 4 churns out point-and-laugh documentaries, but are there going to be any real advances in mobile phone technology? I think 3D is probably the next step. 3D  films and televisions are becoming commonplace so surely the mobile phone screen is next. After this maybe holograms? Then hologram calls? Then maybe 3D printing from your phone, so you can send objects through a text message? Maybe phones will be able to make heat and fire? So that stupid lighter app on your iPhone might actually light a cigarette.

Nobody knows for certain, but it should be fun finding out.