Portal:Telephones
The Telephones Portal 
A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into electronic signals that are transmitted via cables and other communication channels to another telephone which reproduces the sound to the receiving user. The term is derived from Ancient Greek: τῆλε, romanized: tēle, lit. 'far' and φωνή (phōnē, voice), together meaning distant voice.
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was the first to be granted a United States patent for a device that produced clearly intelligible replication of the human voice at a second device. This instrument was further developed by many others, and became rapidly indispensable in business, government, and in households. (Full article...)
A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while the user is moving within a telephone service area, as opposed to a fixed-location phone (landline phone). The radio frequency link establishes a connection to the switching systems of a mobile phone operator, which provides access to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Modern mobile telephone services use a cellular network architecture, and therefore mobile telephones are called cellphones (or "cell phones") in North America. In addition to telephony, digital mobile phones support a variety of other services, such as text messaging, multimedia messaging, email, Internet access (via LTE, 5G NR or Wi-Fi), short-range wireless communications (infrared, Bluetooth), satellite access (navigation, messaging connectivity), business applications, payments (via NFC), multimedia playback and streaming (radio, television), digital photography, and video games. Mobile phones offering only basic capabilities are known as feature phones (slang: "dumbphones"); mobile phones that offer greatly advanced computing capabilities are referred to as smartphones. (Full article...)
A smartphone, often simply called a phone, is a mobile device that combines the functionality of a traditional mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multimedia playback and streaming. Smartphones have built-in cameras, GPS navigation, and support for various communication methods, including voice calls, text messaging, and internet-based messaging apps. (Full article...)
Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Android is developed by a consortium of developers known as the Open Handset Alliance, though its most widely used version is primarily developed by Google. It was unveiled in November 2007, with the first commercial Android device, the HTC Dream, being launched in September 2008.
At its core, the operating system is known as the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and is free and open-source software (FOSS) primarily licensed under the Apache License. However, most devices run on the proprietary Android version developed by Google, which ships with additional proprietary closed-source software pre-installed, most notably Google Mobile Services (GMS) which includes core apps such as Google Chrome, the digital distribution platform Google Play, and the associated Google Play Services development platform. Firebase Cloud Messaging is used for push notifications. While AOSP is free, the "Android" name and logo are trademarks of Google, which imposes standards to restrict the use of Android branding by "uncertified" devices outside their ecosystem.
Over 70 percent of smartphones based on the Android Open Source Project run Google's ecosystem (which is known simply as Android), some with vendor-customized user interfaces and software suites, such as TouchWiz and later One UI by Samsung and HTC Sense. Competing ecosystems and forks of AOSP include Fire OS (developed by Amazon), ColorOS by Oppo, OriginOS by Vivo, MagicUI by Honor, or custom ROMs such as LineageOS. (Full article...)
Mobile radio telephone systems were mobile telephony systems that preceded modern cellular network technology. Since they were the predecessors of the first generation of cellular telephones, these systems are sometimes retroactively referred to as pre-cellular (or sometimes zero generation, that is, 0G) systems. Technologies used in pre-cellular systems included the Push-to-talk (PTT or manual), Mobile Telephone Service (MTS), Improved Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS), and Advanced Mobile Telephone System (AMTS) systems. These early mobile telephone systems can be distinguished from earlier closed radiotelephone systems in that they were available as a commercial service that was part of the public switched telephone network, with their own telephone numbers, rather than part of a closed network such as a police radio or taxi dispatching system.
These mobile telephones were usually mounted in cars or trucks (thus called car phones), although portable briefcase models were also made. Typically, the transceiver (transmitter-receiver) was mounted in the vehicle trunk and attached to the "head" (dial, display, and handset) mounted near the driver seat. They were sold through WCCs (Wireline Common Carriers, a.k.a. telephone companies), RCCs (Radio Common Carriers), and two-way radio dealers. (Full article...)
Dual-tone multi-frequency signaling (DTMF) is a telecommunication signaling system using the voice-frequency band over telephone lines between telephone equipment and other communications devices and switching centers. DTMF was first developed in the Bell System in the United States, and became known under the trademark Touch-Tone for use in push-button telephones supplied to telephone customers, starting in 1963. DTMF is standardized as ITU-T Recommendation Q.23. It is also known in the UK as MF4. (Full article...)
- Comparison of smartphones
- List of best-selling mobile phones
- List of countries by number of broadband Internet subscriptions
- List of countries by number of telephone lines in use
- List of countries by smartphone penetration
- List of country calling codes
- List of iPhone models
- List of mobile network operators
- List of mobile phone brands by country
- List of mobile phone generations
- List of telecommunications companies
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1896 Telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
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Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone)
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The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 10, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
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A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
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A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
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Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from History of the telephone)
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Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
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A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
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A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
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A sign in the US restricting cell phone use to certain times of day (no cell phone use between 7:30–9:00 am and 2:00–4:15 pm) (from Mobile phone)
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Bell prototype telephone stamp(from History of the telephone)
Centennial Issue of 1976 -
A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
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Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
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Martin Cooper of Motorola, shown here in a 2007 reenactment, made the first publicized handheld mobile phone call on a prototype DynaTAC model on 3 April 1973. (from Mobile phone)
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IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone)
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The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (from Smartphone)
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Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
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People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
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The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone)
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The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
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A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
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Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
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Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
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The back of a Huawei P30. It features three rear-facing camera lenses with Leica optics. (from Smartphone)
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The back of a Nokia 9 PureView. It features a five-lens camera array with Zeiss optics, using a mixture of color and monochrome sensors. (from Smartphone)
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Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
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Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
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Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1-f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
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A sign along Bellaire Boulevard in Southside Place, Texas (Greater Houston) states that using mobile phones while driving is prohibited from 7:30 am to 9:00 am and from 2:00 pm to 4:15 pm. (from Smartphone)
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"Device options" menu of Samsung Mobile's TouchWiz user interface as of 2013, accessed by holding the power button for a second (from Smartphone)
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This layout of the camera viewfinder was first introduced by Apple with iOS 7 in 2013. Towards the late 2010s, several other smartphone vendors have ditched their layouts and implemented variations of this layout. (from Smartphone)
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Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
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Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
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A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
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A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
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Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)
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Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
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Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
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The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
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Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
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Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
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Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
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Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
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Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone)
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Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
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Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
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Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
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Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)
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Actor portraying Alexander Graham Bell in a 1932 silent film. Shows Bell's second telephone transmitter (microphone), invented 1876 and first displayed at the Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia. (from History of the telephone)
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A smartphone displaying the homepage of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
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Old Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
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1917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
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A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone)
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Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
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Tooltip in Kiwi Browser, a Google Chromium derivative, reveals the full URL by hovering over the tab list using the stylus on a Samsung Galaxy Note 4. (from Smartphone)
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Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
Pat Trumble Fleet is an American voice actress. Widely recognized for the tens of thousands of recordings she has made for US telephone companies such as AT&T, Verizon, Qwest, the former Bell System companies, and others since 1981, she is still most recognized as the person who says "AT&T" in the company's sound trademark, which played prior to any operator assisted or credit card paid call, and on answer when calling AT&T customer service numbers.
She is also the voice for most "star" services (e.g. last-call return, call blocking, etc.) for AT&T local telephone companies, and the voice heard when making AT&T handled calls through 1-800-CALL-ATT (225-5288) and through international AT&T access numbers such as USADirect. (Full article...)-
A police box outside Earl's Court tube station in London, built in 1996 and based on the 1929 Gilbert Mackenzie Trench design
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A Funke + Huster telephone inside the Idrija Mine, Slovenia
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Historical telephone with the German imperial eagle and the heraldic shield of the House of Hohenzollern dynasty; Vollmer's Mill, Seebach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
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Android smartphones
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Acoustic telephone ad, The Consolidated Telephone Co., Jersey City, New Jersey, 1886
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Photograph of the interior of the Prairie Grove Airlight Outdoor Telephone Booth in Prairie Grove, Arkansas, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
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A Northern Electric telephone, model number N415H, circa 1950 (probably)
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The AUTOVON was a worldwide American military telephone system that was built starting in 1963.
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Landline call blocking in use
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Wooden wall telephone with a hand-cranked magneto generator
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Public telephone, Bucharest, Romania
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A Western Electric candlestick phone from the 1920s
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Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
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Apple iPhones
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A historic telephone booth in Skansen, Stockholm
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A Bell Canada payphone with digital display
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A traditional North American rotary phone dial. The associative lettering was originally used for dialing named exchanges but was kept because it facilitated memorization of telephone numbers.
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Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
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Telephone booth box art outside the Tower of London, 2012
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Track-side emergency brake and emergency telephones at the platform of the metro station Aspern Nord, Donaustadt, Vienna, Austria
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Emergency telephones, on the Paris-Bordeaux railway line, Saint-Saviol station, Vienne, France
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Mailbox and public telephone in Haßfurt, Germany
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An example of a K6, the most common red telephone box model, photographed in London in 2012
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Automatic electric Rotary dial telephone
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| Connectivity | |
| Calls | |
| Applications | |
| Mobile networks, protocols |
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| General operation | |||||||
| Mobile devices |
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| Culture | |||||||
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Cellular network standards | |||||||||
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| 0G radio telephones (1946) | |||||||||
| 1G (1979) |
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| 2G (1991) |
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| 2G transitional (2.5G, 2.75G, 2.9G) |
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| 3G (1998) IMT-2000 (2001) |
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| 3G transitional (3.5G, 3.75G, 3.9G) |
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| 4G (2009) IMT Advanced (2013) |
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| 5G (2018) IMT-2020 (2021) |
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| Related articles | |||||||||
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Telephones in the news
- 20 July 2024 –
- The government of Equatorial Guinea suspends internet and telephone services on the separatist island of Annobón, with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization condemning the suspension. (Agencia NOVA)
- 19 July 2024 – 2024 Bangladesh quota reform movement
- The government of Bangladesh cut off internet, mobile phone, and TV broadcast services in the country, instituting a media blackout. (France 24)
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