Portal:Telephones
The Telephones Portal 
A telephone 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. A common short form of the term is phone, which came into use early in the telephone's history.
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 cellphone) 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...)
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The StarTAC is a series of mobile phones released by Motorola starting in 1996. It is the successor of the MicroTAC, a semi-clamshell design first launched in 1989. Whereas the MicroTAC's flip folded down from below the keypad, the StarTAC folded up from above the display. The StarTAC was among the first mobile phones to gain widespread consumer adoption; approximately 60 million StarTACs were sold.
The StarTAC was the first Clamshell/flip phone to gain widespread commercial use, although other less successful models had been in circulation as early as 1991, and an early precursor of this form factor, the Grillo, was designed as early as 1965.
In 2005, PC World named the StarTAC as the 6th Greatest Gadget of the Past 50 Years (out of a list of fifty). The StarTAC brand was revived in 2004 and 2007 for a series of flip phones exclusive to some Asian markets, and again for a cordless phone model. (Full article...)Types of phones -
A camera phone is a mobile phone which is able to capture photographs and often record video using one or more built-in digital cameras. It can also send the resulting image wirelessly and conveniently. The first commercial phone with color camera was the Kyocera Visual Phone VP-210, released in Japan in May 1999.
Most camera phones are smaller and simpler than the separate digital cameras. In the smartphone era, the steady sales increase of camera phones caused point-and-shoot camera sales to peak about 2010 and decline thereafter. The concurrent improvement of smartphone camera technology, and its other multifunctional benefits, have led to it gradually replacing compact point-and-shoot cameras.
Most modern smartphones only have a menu choice to start a camera application program and an on-screen button to activate the shutter. Some also have a separate camera button, for quickness and convenience. A few such as the 2009 Samsung i8000 Omnia II have a two-level shutter button as in dedicated digital cameras. Some camera phones are designed to resemble separate low-end digital compact cameras in appearance and to some degree in features and picture quality, and are branded as both mobile phones and cameras—an example being the 2013 Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom. (Full article...)Selected audio -
The TeleZapper is a device designed to reduce the number of telemarketing-related phone calls a household receives by imitating the tone signal normally played by a phone company to indicate a line has been disconnected. The Telezapper was created by Privacy Technologies, Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Appliance Mfg. Co. (Full article...)
List articles
- 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
Related portals
General images -
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Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone) -
A smartphone displaying the homepage of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone) -
Old Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone) -
Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone) -
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) -
A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone) -
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1917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone) -
Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone) -
Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone) -
1896 Telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone) -
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) -
A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone) -
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Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone) -
Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone) -
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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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Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone) -
Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone) -
A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone) -
IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone) -
Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone) -
A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone) -
Bell prototype telephone stamp(from History of the telephone)
Centennial Issue of 1976 -
The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 10, 1876 (from History of the telephone) -
Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone) -
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) -
Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone) -
A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone) -
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Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone) -
Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone) -
Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone) -
Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone) -
Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone) -
A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone) -
A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone) -
People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone) -
"Device options" menu of Samsung Mobile's TouchWiz user interface as of 2013, accessed by holding the power button for a second (from Smartphone) -
Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone) -
The back of a Huawei P30. It features three rear-facing camera lenses with Leica optics. (from Smartphone) -
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Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (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) -
The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone) -
The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (from Smartphone) -
The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone) -
Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone) -
A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone) -
Android smartphones (from Mobile phone) -
The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone) -
Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone) -
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) -
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) -
Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone) -
Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone) -
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) -
Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone) -
Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone) -
A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
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Selected biography
Antonio Santi Giuseppe Meucci (/meɪˈuːtʃi/ may-OO-chee, Italian: [anˈtɔːnjo meˈuttʃi]; 13 April 1808 – 18 October 1889) was an Italian inventor and an associate of Giuseppe Garibaldi, a major political figure in the history of Italy. Meucci is best known for developing a voice-communication apparatus that several sources credit as the first telephone.
Meucci set up a form of voice-communication link in his Staten Island, New York, home that connected the second-floor bedroom to his laboratory. He submitted a patent caveat for his telephonic device to the U.S. Patent Office in 1871, but there was no mention of electromagnetic transmission of vocal sound in his caveat. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for the electromagnetic transmission of vocal sound by undulatory electric current. Despite the longstanding general crediting of Bell with the accomplishment, the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities supported celebrations of Meucci's 200th birthday in 2008 using the title "Inventore del telefono" (Inventor of the telephone). The U.S. House of Representatives in a resolution in 2002 also acknowledged Meucci's work in the invention of the telephone, although the U.S. Senate did not join the resolution and the interpretation of the resolution is disputed. (Full article...)Selected images
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Automatic electric Rotary dial telephone -
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. -
Track-side emergency brake and emergency telephones at the platform of the metro station Aspern Nord, Donaustadt, Vienna, Austria -
Mailbox and public telephone in Haßfurt, Germany -
Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French -
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Landline call blocking in use -
The AUTOVON was a worldwide American military telephone system that was built starting in 1963. -
Android smartphones -
Historical telephone with the German imperial eagle and the heraldic shield of the House of Hohenzollern dynasty; Vollmer's Mill, Seebach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany -
Acoustic telephone ad, The Consolidated Telephone Co., Jersey City, New Jersey, 1886 -
Telephone booth box art outside the Tower of London, 2012 -
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 -
A historic telephone booth in Skansen, Stockholm -
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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Public telephone, Bucharest, Romania -
A Funke + Huster telephone inside the Idrija Mine, Slovenia -
Emergency telephones, on the Paris-Bordeaux railway line, Saint-Saviol station, Vienne, France -
A Northern Electric telephone, model number N415H, circa 1950 (probably) -
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Apple iPhones -
A Western Electric candlestick phone from the 1920s -
An example of a K6, the most common red telephone box model, photographed in London in 2012 -
A Bell Canada payphone with digital display -
Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French -
Wooden wall telephone with a hand-cranked magneto generator
Topics
| Types | |
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| Accessories | |
| Connectivity | |
| Calls | |
| Applications | |
| Mobile networks, protocols |
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| General operation | |||||||
| Mobile devices |
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| Mobile specific software |
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| Culture | |||||||
| Environment and health | |||||||
| Law | |||||||
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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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