I used the term "smartphone" to relate to the modern information society. After looking through The New York Times, LA Times, and Chicago Tribune, I found that the term was first used in a display ad in the Chicago Daily Tribune in July of 1919. However, there were obviously no smart-phones back then and I realized that the word "smart-phone" was describing a picture of a stool. I don't know why it was called a "smartphone" but it was. The earliest article I found that actually related to an actual smartphone was from Jan of 1986 in the LA Times. It described a smart phone as a "pay phone" with a computer built in. This relates to what we know as a smartphone today with the only difference being that a smartphone today has much more computing capabilities and accessories that come with it. I thought it was very interesting how the term was used back in 1986, because I genereally think of smartphones as something that didn't come about until recently.
That is really cool that someone had actually come up with the idea for a smartphone when computers weren't such a big deal like they are today.
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