The arrival of the mobile phone heralded a new age of mobility.
With capabilities far beyond basic calls and texts, smartphones have changed the way people interact and live.
People rely on their phones to e-mail, use social media, take photographs, shop, play games, listen to music and so much more.
On April 3, 1973, an engineer at US telecommunications company Motorola stood in New York’s 6th Avenue and made the world’s first mobile phone call on a prototype, dubbed the DynaTAC.
“I’m calling you from a cell phone - a real, handheld, portable cell phone,” Mr Martin Cooper declared to a rival engineer Joel Engel, who was working on a similar project at AT&T’s Bell Labs.
From the world’s first mobile phone call, it took a further 10 years for Motorola to launch the mobile phone commercially. Nicknamed “the brick”, the DynaTAC 8000X measured in at about 33cm by 4.5 by 9cm, and was just shy of a kilogram.
The first mobile phone call was made in Singapore only in August 1988.
A year later, mobile phone calls could be made in underground MRT stations and tunnels here - a first in the world.
According to the man who invented the mobile phone 50 years ago, the problem with mobile phones is that people look at them too much. Mr Cooper - dubbed “father of the mobile phone” - uses his iPhone mostly to speak to people.
While the smartphone increases connectivity and productivity, it can also lead to addiction and social isolation.
The powerful mini computers that sit in all our pockets today have been forged by a half-century of innovation, and there are more mobile phone subscriptions in the world today than there are people.
The Straits Times Picture Desk looks at mobile phones’ dominance in our everyday lives.
The beauty of camera phones? Never missing a photo op. Selfies with bunnies in sunnies on March 24, 2023, at Resorts World Sentosa's Bunnyverse, where colourful sculptures of this year's Chinese zodiac animal have taken up residence for a year.
Stretching and scrolling on May 3, 2023, at the transfer lounge of Changi Airport Terminal 2 and at Jalan Besar Community Club.
An elderly man chooses audio clarity in a trade-off as he watches a video on his phone at Toa Payoh Central on May 3, 2023.
A foodpanda delivery rider at Yishun Ring Road on Jan 9, 2023.
A tourist using her mobile phone at a self-service kiosk to claim a Goods and Services Tax refund at Changi Airport Terminal 2 on May 4, 2023.
Two women getting up close with nature through their phone camera lenses at Nanyang Technological University's Yunnan Garden on Jan 6, 2023.
A couple taking photographs at the art installation 24 Hours In Singapore by Baet Yeok Kuan, outside Asian Civilisations Museum on Feb 27, 2023.
Office workers at the green spaces at Raffles Place MRT station (photo taken Aug 2, 2022) and the ground-floor lawn of Guoco Tower (April 27, 2023) for some me-time on their phones.
Young and old turn to their mobile phones for entertainment and connectivity on the go, as seen on this MRT train on the East-West line heading towards City Hall MRT station on April 7, 2023.
Stop and stare: A passenger checks her phone at the transit area of Changi Airport Terminal 2 on May 3, 2023, while over at CapitaSpring downtown, a man nestles in for some screen time.
A woman absorbed in her mobile phone while travelling along the East-West MRT line on May 4, 2023.
A nurse at KKH Children's Emergency holding up a mobile phone playing a cartoon to distract a three-year-old patient as he gets stitches on his forehead on April 2, 2022.
A photographer takes a snapshot of a couple at their pre-wedding shoot in front Victoria Theatre on Feb 27, 2023.
Migrant workers and domestic helpers relaxing at a playground near Jurong Regional Library on May 29, 2022.
Visitors get creative with photo-taking at Merlion Park on March 1, 2023.
These friends at the National Gallery on May 4, 2023 know the steps to a good wefie.
Walk on by: Did these men notice their eye-catching backdrops of a mural by Yip Yew Chong in Mohamed Ali Lane and the Esplanade bridge while on their calls?
Phone play in parallel dimensions at Serangoon MRT station on March 27, 2023.
These passengers, captured as their bus passes Ang Mo Kio-Bishan Park on Feb 26, 2023, keep entertainment on hand.
The smartphone meeting its predecessors at the Hello Mobile section of the Off/On: Everyday Technology that Changed Our Lives, 1970s-2000s showcase at National Museum of Singapore on June 7, 2022.
A young couple’s camera phone swings into action at Singapore Botanic Gardens on April 23, 2023.
A man engrossed in a game on his mobile phone near Block 38, Toa Payoh Lorong 5, on May 3, 2023.