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 Greek: τῆλε (tēle, 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, video games and digital photography. Mobile phones offering only basic capabilities are known as feature phones; mobile phones which offer greatly advanced computing capabilities are referred to as smartphones. (Full article...)
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone functions and personal computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from older-design feature phones by their more advanced hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, which facilitate wider software, access to the internet (including web browsing over mobile broadband), and multimedia functionality (including music, video, cameras, and gaming), alongside core phone functions such as voice calls and text messaging. Smartphones typically contain a number of metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit (IC) chips, include various sensors that can be leveraged by pre-installed and third-party software (such as a magnetometer, a proximity sensor, a barometer, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and more), and support wireless communication protocols (such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or satellite navigation). More recently, smartphone manufacturers have begun to integrate satellite messaging connectivity and satellite emergency services into devices for use in remote regions where there is no reliable cellular network. (Full article...)
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The push-button telephone is a telephone that has buttons or keys for dialing a telephone number, in contrast to having a rotary dial as in earlier telephone instruments.
Western Electric experimented as early as 1941 with methods of using mechanically activated reeds to produce two tones for each of the ten digits and by the late 1940s such technology was field-tested in a No. 5 Crossbar switching system in Pennsylvania. The technology at that time proved unreliable and it was not until after the invention of the transistor that push-button technology became practical. On 18 November 1963, after approximately three years of customer testing, the Bell System in the United States officially introduced dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) technology under its registered trademark Touch-Tone. Over the next few decades touch-tone service replaced traditional pulse dialing technology and it eventually became a world-wide standard for telecommunication signaling.
Although DTMF was the driving technology implemented in push-button telephones, some telephone manufacturers used push-button keypads to generate pulse dial signaling. Before the introduction of touch-tone telephone sets, the Bell System sometimes used the term push-button telephone to refer to key system telephones, which were rotary dial telephones that also had a set of push-buttons to select one of multiple telephone circuits, or to activate other features. Digital push-button telephones were introduced with the adoption of metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit (IC) technology in the early 1970s, with features such as the storage of phone numbers (like in a telephone directory) on MOS memory chips for speed dialing. (Full article...)Types of phones -
iPhone is a line of smartphones produced by Apple Inc. that use Apple's own iOS mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007. Since then, Apple has annually released new iPhone models and iOS updates. As of November 1, 2018, more than 2.2 billion iPhones had been sold. As of 2022, the iPhone accounts for 15.6% of global smartphone market share.
The iPhone was the first mobile phone to use multi-touch technology. Since the iPhone's launch, it has gained larger screen sizes, video-recording, waterproofing, and many accessibility features. Up to the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, iPhones had a single button on the front panel with the Touch ID fingerprint sensor. Since the iPhone X, iPhone models have switched to a nearly bezel-less front screen design with Face ID facial recognition, and app switching activated by gestures. Touch ID is still used for the budget iPhone SE series.
The iPhone is one of the two largest smartphone platforms in the world alongside Android, and is a large part of the luxury market. The iPhone has generated large profits for Apple, making it one of the world's most valuable publicly traded companies. The first-generation iPhone was described as a "revolution" for the mobile phone industry and subsequent models have also garnered praise. The iPhone has been credited with popularizing the smartphone and slate form factor, and with creating a large market for smartphone apps, or "app economy". , Apple's App Store contained more than 2.2 million applications for the iPhone. (Full article...)Selected audio -
Last-call return, automatic recall, or (on PBX and centrex service) camp-on, is a telecommunication feature offered by telephony service providers to subscribers to provide the subscriber with the telephone number, and sometimes the time, of the last caller. The service may also offer the facility to place a call to the calling party. (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 telephone operating companies
Related portals
General images -
Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
Old Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
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)
People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone).jpg.webp)
A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)
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)
Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
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)
Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola 8900X-2 to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (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)
Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)- 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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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).jpg.webp)
Actor portraying Alexander Graham Bell in a 1926 silent film. Shows Bell's second telephone transmitter (microphone), invented 1876 and first displayed at the Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia. (from History of the telephone)
Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from History of the telephone)
The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
"Device options" menu of Samsung Mobile's TouchWiz user interface as of 2013, accessed by holding the power button for a second (from Smartphone)
The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (from Smartphone)
Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone)
A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone).jpg.webp)
A person using a Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone (from Smartphone)
Modern Apple iPhone. This phone is considered a smartphone (from History of the telephone)
A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. (from Mobile phone)
The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
1896 Telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
1917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone)
Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
Bell prototype telephone stamp(from History of the telephone)
Centennial Issue of 1976.jpg.webp)
Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone)
The Nokia 9 PureView features a five-lens camera array with Zeiss optics, using a mixture of color and monochrome sensors. (from Smartphone)
Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 10, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)
Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1-f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
Selected biography
Selected images
Landline call blocking in use
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 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
Historical telephone with the German imperial eagle and the heraldic shield of the House of Hohenzollern dynasty; Vollmer's Mill, Seebach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
Automatic electric Rotary dial telephone
Android smartphones
An example of a K6, the most common red telephone box model, photographed in London in 2012
A historic telephone booth in Skansen, Stockholm
Mailbox and public telephone in Haßfurt, Germany
Track-side emergency brake and emergency telephones at the platform of the metro station Aspern Nord, Donaustadt, Vienna, Austria
The AUTOVON was a worldwide American military telephone system that was built starting in 1963.
Telephone booth box art outside the Tower of London, 2012
Acoustic telephone ad, The Consolidated Telephone Co., Jersey City, New Jersey, 1886
A police box outside Earl's Court tube station in London, built in 1996 and based on the 1929 Gilbert Mackenzie Trench design
A Funke + Huster telephone inside the Idrija Mine, Slovenia
Public telephone, Bucharest, Romania
Apple iPhones
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.
A Western Electric candlestick phone from the 1920s
Emergency telephones, on the Paris-Bordeaux railway line, Saint-Saviol station, Vienne, France
A Northern Electric telephone, model number N415H, circa 1950 (probably)
Topics
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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 | |||||||
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Cellular network standards | |||||||||
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| 0G radio telephones (1946) |
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| 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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