Qualcomm’s San Diego headquarters features a museum that may be a time capsule of the cell phone trade. The corporate, based in 1985, grew over the many years to develop early satellite tv for pc communication gadgets, the CDMA cellular expertise protocol that powered 3G telephone networks, and extra not too long ago the Snapdragon line of processors seen in telephones just like the Samsung Galaxy S23.
The museum is open on weekdays, however requires an appointment in an effort to go to. So throughout a latest go to to the headquarters, we took a dive into the museum to see the telecommunications gadgets of the previous on show. You may take a look at the highlights within the gallery embedded right here.
Inside Qualcomm HQ’s Appointment-Solely Museum Stuffed With Retro Telephones
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These embrace the the Omnitracs, an early texting and GPS gadget constructed for the trucking trade that used satellite-based expertise to permit for communication in distant areas. The museum additionally exhibits off the primary digicam telephone — which is a flip telephone that makes use of an attachable exterior digicam to take pictures. And the museum exhibits a number of displays on the event of the CDMA expertise, which was not too long ago phased out when Verizon shut down its 3G networks on the finish of 2022.
Qualcomm additionally had a hand in satellite tv for pc communications for the Nationwide Safety Company (NSA), and the museum contains an instance of a satellite tv for pc telephone used for the presidential limousine.
