A call was made on the first mobile phone 50 years ago.

On April 3, 1973, Marty Cooper, an engineer at Motorola, made history by placing the first-ever call on a handheld, portable cell phone. Cooper dialed his counterpart at rival firm Bell Laboratories and informed him of his achievement. The commercial version of Cooper’s prototype, the Motorola Dynatac 8000X, was released 11 years later in 1984. It was priced at a whopping £9,500 ($11,700) and had limited features, including no messaging, no camera, 30 minutes of talk time, 10 hours to charge the battery, and about 12 hours of standby time. However, the Dynatac 8000X was a milestone in mobile technology, paving the way for today’s modern smartphones.

While mobile phones have come a long way since Cooper’s first call, he believes that today’s phones are “suboptimal” in design and functionality. Cooper predicts that artificial intelligence will play a more significant role in the future of mobile technology, selecting or creating apps based on individual needs. He also believes that smartphones will become increasingly important in monitoring health, improving productivity, and ultimately, eliminating wars.

Despite his reservations about the design of modern smartphones, Cooper remains enthusiastic about their potential. He believes that we are still at the beginning of the mobile phone revolution and that smartphones will continue to play a central role in shaping our future.