Portal:Telephones
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. Nowadays, phones are almost always in the form of smartphones or mobile phones, due to technological convergence.
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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Problematic smartphone use is psychological or behavioral dependence on cell phones. It is closely related to other forms of digital media overuse such as social media addiction or internet addiction disorder.
Commonly known as "smartphone addiction", the term "problematic smartphone use" was proposed by researchers to describe similar behaviors presenting without evidence of addiction.
Problematic use can include preoccupation with mobile communication, excessive money or time spent on mobile phones, and use of mobile phones in socially or physically inappropriate situations, such as driving an automobile. Increased use can also lead to adverse effects on relationships, degraded mental or physical health, and increased anxiety when separated from a mobile phone or sufficient signal. Individuals between the ages of 3 and 11 are at the highest risk for problematic smartphone use. (Full article...)Types of phones -
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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...)
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 -
- Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from
- 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
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Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)A
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BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)Several
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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 sign along
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Nokia 9 PureView. It features a five-lens camera array with Zeiss optics, using a mixture of color and monochrome sensors. (from Smartphone)The back of a
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IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone)
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tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)A 19th century acoustic
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Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
- Scrapped mobile phones (from
- Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from
- Mobile payment system (from
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English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)A smartphone displaying the homepage of the
- Mobile payment system. (from
- A high-capacity portable
- Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992
- A
- Private conversation, 1910 (from
- A smartphone touchscreen (from
- The
- Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from
- Old Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from
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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)Actor portraying
- Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from
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Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)Mobile/desktop convergence: the
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TouchWiz user interface as of 2013, accessed by holding the power button for a second (from Smartphone)"Device options" menu of Samsung Mobile's
- Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from
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Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)The
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Bell prototype telephone stamp(from History of the telephone)
Centennial Issue of 1976 - A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from
- A German
- The back of a
- A French
- Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from
- People using phones while walking (from
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New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)A
- 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
- Android smartphones (from
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Google Chromium derivative, reveals the full URL by hovering over the tab list using the stylus on a Samsung Galaxy Note 4. (from Smartphone)Tooltip in Kiwi Browser, a
- Modern Apple iPhone. This phone is considered a smartphone (from
- Top of cellular telephone tower (from
- The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 10, 1876 (from
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Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone)A
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HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)Optical track pad sensor of an
- 1917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from
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SIM card (from Mobile phone)Typical mobile phone mini-
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Sweden) (from History of the telephone)1896 Telephone (
- A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from
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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)
- Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from
- The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from
- A text message (SMS) (from
- Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1-f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from
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Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone)The original
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Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
- Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from
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LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (from Smartphone)The
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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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Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
- Inserted memory and SIM cards (from
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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rotary phone dial. The associative lettering was originally used for dialing named exchanges but was kept because it facilitated memorization of telephone numbers.A traditional North American
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police box outside Earl's Court tube station in London, built in 1996 and based on the 1929 Gilbert Mackenzie Trench designA
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Western Electric candlestick phone from the 1920sA
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Acoustic telephone ad, The Consolidated Telephone Co., Jersey City, New Jersey, 1886
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Bell Canada payphone with digital displayA
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AUTOVON was a worldwide American military telephone system that was built starting in 1963.The
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Prairie Grove Airlight Outdoor Telephone Booth in Prairie Grove, Arkansas, which is listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesPhotograph of the interior of the
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Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
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Android smartphones
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Rotary dial telephoneAutomatic electric
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A Northern Electric telephone, model number N415H, circa 1950 (probably)
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Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
- Track-side emergency brake and
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magneto generatorWooden wall telephone with a hand-cranked
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Emergency telephones, on the Paris-Bordeaux railway line, Saint-Saviol station, Vienne, France
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red telephone box model, photographed in London in 2012An example of a K6, the most common
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telephone booth in Skansen, StockholmA historic
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Public telephone, Bucharest, Romania
- An Italian
- Apple
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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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A Funke + Huster telephone inside the Idrija Mine, Slovenia
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Mailbox and public telephone in Haßfurt, Germany
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Landline call blocking in use
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Telephone booth box art outside the Tower of London, 2012
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