Today's mobile movement is all about efficiency and
multitasking. But with the first cellphone in 1973, you could
place a phone call and get a workout at the same time. After
all, the phone weighed 2.5 pounds. The cellphone turned 40 on
Wednesday, April 3. Its creator, Martin Cooper, 84, placed the
first mobile phone call on the streets of New York City — he
phoned his rival, Joel Engel, head of research at Bell Labs. You
can imagine how cheeky that exchange was. Alas, the call
couldn't last too long — the Motorola Dynatac's battery life
only squeezed out 20 minutes of talk time.