21 Sep

World’s First Smartphone

 

ibm_simon_world_s_first_smartphone

For those who think that Apple Iphone was the world’s first smartphone, think again! IBM Simon was first release on August 16, 1994 making it the first smartphone. It has touch screen with stylus which is not yet appreciated on its day. Because of that , they are only able to sell 50,000 units. It is a bit heavy that it weights 510grams. It costs USD 1099 without contract.


FEATURES

In addition to its ability to make and receive cellular phone calls, Simon has the following features:

  • Send and receive Fax
  • Send and receive Emails
  • Calendar
  • Address book
  • Appointment scheduler
  • Calculator
  • World time clock
  • Electronic note pad
  • Handwritten annotations input
  • Standard and predictive stylus input screen keyboards

Hardware Specifications

Hardware specification is not impressive for today but was a top of the line during its time.

CPU: Vadem 16 MHz, 16-bit, x86-compatible
Memory: 1 MB
Storage: 1 MB
Display: 4.5 in × 1.4 in (114 mm × 36 mm), 160px x 293px monochrome backlit LCD

Smartphones today are now a thousand times faster and more capable than this first smartphone. To give you an idea, 1GHz is equal to 1000MHz and 1GB memory is equal to 1000 MB. Smartphones today runs with at least 1GHz processor and 4GB of memory while the first smartphone runs only in 16MHz of processor and 1MB of memory. This gives us an idea how far the technology has evolved in the past 20 years.