Do you remember when the only thing a cell phone did was make telephone calls and you had to dial them yourself? Today of course that “phone” is actually a pocket-sized computer with gigabytes of memory and enough processing power to recognize your voice commands, play your favorite movies in HD, and do your banking, all while keeping you in constant touch with the world.
While all that was happening in the world of communications, a similar explosion of technology was taking place in the world of metrology, particularly handheld metrology. Today’s handheld gages bear as much resemblance to their “dumb” predecessors as a vintage “bag-phone” does to the latest smart phone, and for many of the same reasons.