The Smartphone

Polybius, a Greek statesman and tutor to the Roman general, Scipio Africanus, sees that the Romans' method of signaling on the battlefield is limited to a small number of messages. He decides to invent a code so words can be exchanged between battalions freely. The result: the first long distance messaging system.

In 1941 the Nazi’s are winning the war in Europe. The Nazi U boats are fast and agile and the allied torpedoes are not very accurate. Hollywood star, a secret inventor, Hedy Lamarr is determined to help fight the Nazis. Inspired by a player piano, she invents a way to control torpedoes remotely and creates the world’s first secret communications system.

Dial in to the fascinating history of the smartphone, from its roots in Morse Code to 2007, when Apple unveiled the first-ever iPhone. Plus, see how the next generation of smartphones will allow us to communicate through them just by thinking.