For mobile phone enthusiasts, the name Motorola usually brings back the images of some of the most stylish flip phones ever made. However, the company surely has much more to be proud about. With many iconic gadgets to its name, Motorola has been at the forefront of technological inventions and innovations for well over half a century now.

In this article, we take a look at the company’s history as well as some important milestones it achieved on its journey to where it is today.

The Beginning: battery eliminators and car radios

It all began in the decade of 1920 when Paul Galvin from Illinois went to Chicago in search of work. After working for a local storage-battery company there and a couple of failed attempts to start his own businesses, he along with is brother Joe Galvin established Galvin Manufacturing Corporation in the year 1928.

The company, which had $565 in working capital and just five employees, focused on making battery eliminators – a device that enabled battery-powered radios to work with household electricity instead.

Like almost all the other companies, Galvin Manufacturing was also severely affected by the Great Depression that hit the USA in 1929. In an effort to pull the company out of red, Galvin began experimenting with the auto mobile-radio market, asking his employees to design an inexpensive car radio that could be installed in vehicles of any make.

The following year, the company was able to produce a working model, which carried the brand name Motorola. The name was derived from the words “motorcar” and “victrola.”

In 1930s, Galvin Manufacturing came up with devices like police radio (a car radio that received only police broadcasts) and home radio with push-button tuning features – a first of its kind.

Towards the end of the decade, the company started researching on television. However, the research work was halted for a couple of years in favor of war-related projects that produced products like the Handie-Talkie SCR536 portable two-way radio, as well as the Walkie-Talkie, both of which were by used the U.S. Army Signal Corps in WWII.

R&D Work on television resumed in the year 1945, and the company unveiled its first TV in the year 1947. Dubbed Golden View, the $179 TV became hugely popular, with the company selling over 100,000 sets within a year of its launch, and becoming the number four TV manufacturer in the US.

The year 1947 turned out to be an important year in the company’s history as it also saw Galvin’s son Robert joining the company, as well as the company being renamed Motorola, Inc.

Towards the end of the decade, in an attempt to expand its automotive business, Motorola also tried developing car heaters, but the project failed after its engineers couldn’t solve some technical issues like those related to proper exhaustion of the gasoline fumes.

Home Entertainment

Like in the case of Sony, the invention of transistor created a new business opportunity for Motorola, which quickly formed a semiconductor development group that churned out products like three-amp power transistors. It also started supplying transistors to other companies, including some of its competitors.

The 1950s was also the decade when the demand for home entertainment equipment like televisions took off in the US. Citing opportunity in home entertainment market, Motorola focused on creating stereo phonographs, the first of which were introduced in the year 1958.

The step proved to be successful with sales surpassing the prior year’s sales of all phonographs and hi-fi equipment. This was followed by development of units that were a combination of stereos, radios and television sets. These products turned out to be so popular that the brand name ‘Motorola’ became synonymous with ‘entertainment in the air.’

1958 was also the year when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) came into existence, and Motorola became one of the agency’s first suppliers, providing space communication equipment like transponders that were used in Mariner II, which launched in 1962 to explore the planet Venus.

The famous Apollo 11 mission saw hundreds of Motorola engineers designing, testing, and producing the space flight’s sophisticated electronics. After becoming the first human to land on moon, Neil Armstrong said his first words -…

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Talk time

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33:20h

Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
33:19h

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
30:29h

OnePlus 2
30:29h

Motorola DROID Turbo
30:09h

Microsoft Lumia 640 XL LTE Dual SIM
29:46h

Microsoft Lumia 640 XL LTE
29:46h

Microsoft Lumia 640 XL Dual SIM
29:46h

Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
29:46h

Samsung Galaxy Note5
28:34h

HTC One (M8) for Windows
28:34h

Nokia Lumia 1520
28:34h

Samsung Galaxy Note 4
28:31h

Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet LTE
28:25h

Samsung Galaxy S5
27:37h

Sony Xperia Z1
26:53h

Samsung Galaxy S6 active
26:29h

Samsung P6800 Galaxy Tab 7.7
25:45h

LG G3
25:38h

LG G Pro 2
25:37h

LG G Flex
25:19h

Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
25:16h

LG G2
25:15h

Samsung Galaxy A7 Duos
25:12h

BlackBerry Passport
25:12h

Huawei Ascend Mate
25:12h

Motorola Nexus 6
25:03h

Alcatel Hero
25:02h

Oppo N1
25:01h

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo
24:52h

Sony Xperia Z Ultra
24:23h

Apple iPhone 6 Plus
23:49h

LG AKA
23:20h

Sony Xperia Z3
23:13h

Microsoft Lumia 640 Dual SIM
23:09h

Microsoft Lumia 640 LTE
23:09h

Microsoft Lumia 640 LTE Dual SIM
23:09h

Oppo R7
22:58h

Samsung P6200 Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus
22:42h

Motorola Moto E (2nd gen)
22:36h

Sony Xperia Z2
22:13h

Sony Xperia C3 Dual
22:11h

Meizu MX4 Pro
22:09h

Yota YotaPhone 2
22:09h

Samsung ATIV SE
22:05h

Xiaomi Redmi Note
21:41h

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
21:39h

ZTE Axon Pro
21:23h

Xiaomi Mi 4i
21:02h

Meizu m2 note
20:55h

LG Optimus G Pro E985
20:45h

HTC One M9
20:44h

Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
20:42h

Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX
20:24h

Motorola RAZR i XT890
20:07h

Huawei Ascend Mate7
20:06h

Samsung Galaxy A3
20:04h

Samsung Galaxy E7
20:04h

Samsung Galaxy A3 Duos
20:04h

Oppo Find 7
20:03h

Samsung Galaxy S5 Active
20:01h

BlackBerry Q10
20:00h

OnePlus One
19:56h

Samsung Galaxy Grand 2
19:55h

Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 I9200
19:54h

Sony Xperia SP
19:49h

Samsung Galaxy S6
19:48h

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
19:48h

Sony Xperia T3
19:48h

HTC Butterfly 2
19:23h

HTC Butterfly S
19:14h

HTC Desire Eye
19:11h

Oppo R819
19:03h

Asus PadFone X
18:45h

Xiaomi Mi 4
18:15h

Samsung Galaxy Note 3
18:12h

LG G2 mini
18:11h

Oppo Find 7a
18:11h

Samsung I9505 Galaxy S4
18:03h

Samsung Galaxy A5 Duos
18:02h

Samsung Galaxy A5
18:02h

LG G Flex2
17:51h

Sony Xperia ZR
17:48h

HTC One (E8)
17:47h

LG G4
16:40h

…

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