Communication devices refer to all the devices we have today that we use to store and convey information from one point to another. There are several communication devices available today. The most common ones include television, telephone and radio receivers. Technological advancement has led to the production of more technical digital devices that are able to incorporate aspects of old communication devices such as the FM radio receiver, television receivers and the ability to make phone calls into single devices such as laptops and tablets.
The history of communication devices dates as far back as over two hundred years ago. This is in the 1800s when the battery which is used to power most communication devices today was invented. Ever since then, numerous technological advancements have taken place giving way to invention of more sophisticated devices that boast of greater abilities as their predecessors.
Numerous discoveries were made in the 1800s such as taking of the first photograph in 1826 by Joseph Niecephore Niepce, discovery of Braille which is still used by the blind to day. The type writer was also invented in the same century in 1829 by W.A Burt. Invention of the typewriter meant that letter typing could be done at a much faster pace. Amazingly, even the principle of fibre optics was developed as early back as 1854 and has been slowly improved to become what it is today, the fastest means of data transfer over long distances.
Alexander Graham Bell discovered the telephone in 1876; Microphones were also invented in the same year, all crucial components of today’s communication devices.
In the 1900’s Thomas Edison’s talking motion picture paved way for what is seen as video today. This also opened the way for the movie industry. Later in 1938, Chester Carlson created one of the early computer printers which later led to the development of laser printers, the same technology that also led to development of the photocopier.
The 1900’s also saw the development of compact disks, cassette tapes which are some of the early storage devices. The Ethernet was also developed specifically in 1973. One of the significant computer models we know today, the Apple Macintosh was made in 1984. It was the most protected computer at the time. The biggest revolution to communication came in 1990 with the implementation of the World Wide Web which we use today to communicate with each other across the globe. Early internet could only allow for basic communication through e-mail. These days, all kinds of files can be transmitted over the internet from audio, text to even video files making video conferencing possible.
All the powerful communication devices that we use in the current century are all modifications of early inventions made by the science greats such as Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Emile Berliner, John Tyndall, Samuel Morse just to mention but a few.
Some of the modern communication devices we use today are computers of different sizes that have the ability to utilize broadband internet connection to transmit all manner of files. These are smart phones, tablets and computers of all sizes.