Identifying the strengths of a cell phone’s underlying technology is simple, as long as you understand the meaning of 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G. 1G refers to the first generation of wireless mobile technology, 2G refers to the second generation of technology, and so on. As you might expect, subsequent generations are faster and include improved or new features. Most wireless carriers currently support both 4G and 3G technology, which is useful if your location allows your phone to operate at only 3G speeds.

Since 1G was introduced in the early 80s, a new wireless mobile telecommunications technology has been released approximately every 10 years. They all refer to the technology used by the mobile carrier and the device itself. They have different speeds and features that improve on the previous generation. The next generation is 5G, which was launched in 2020.

Remember analog phones from the old days? Cell phones started with 1G technology in the 80s. 1G is the first generation of wireless mobile technology. 1G only supports voice calls.

1G is an analog technology and the phones using this technology had poor battery life, poor call quality, little security and were prone to dropped calls.