Yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of the first cell phone call. Take a look at the progression of the phone over the last four decades, from the “brick” to the almost paper thin smartphones of today.

Martin Cooper, 84 was the original creator of the cell phone, and made the first mobile phone call on the streets of New York City. Who did he call? His rival, Joel Engel who was at the time head of research at Bell Labs (then a division of AT&T). The call wasn’t incredibly lengthy, as the Motorola DynaTAC’s battery only lasted a measly 20 minutes, with Cooper saying:

I’m ringing you just to see if my call sounds good at your end.

Take a look at the growth of the cellphone in the gallery below.

[Source: Gaurdian, Mashable, Mashable]