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, 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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A missed call is a telephone call that is deliberately terminated by the caller before being answered by its intended recipient, in order to communicate a pre-agreed message. It is a form of one-bit messaging.
Missed calls are common in emerging markets where mobile phones with limited outgoing calls are widely used; as the call is not actually completed and connected, it does not carry a cost to the caller, hence they can conserve their remaining prepaid credit. Specific patterns of consecutive missed calls have been developed in some countries to denote specific messages. Missed calls are also referred to in some parts of Africa as beeping, flashing in Nigeria, a flashcall in Pakistan, miskol in the Philippines and ring-cut in Sri Lanka.
Missed calls are especially prominent in India. Expanding upon their use as a communications method, they have been adopted as a form of marketing communications, in which users can "missed call" specific numbers and receive a call or text back that contains advertising and other content. Other forms of services have also been built around use of missed calls in such a manner, primarily to take advantage of the fact that feature phones are still relatively common in India as opposed to smartphones. (Full article...)Types of phones -
Field telephones are telephones used for military communications. They can draw power from their own battery, from a telephone exchange (via a central battery known as CB), or from an external power source. Some need no battery, being sound-powered telephones.
Field telephones replaced flag signals and the telegraph as an efficient means of communication. The first field telephones had a battery to power the voice transmission, a hand-cranked generator to signal another field telephone or a manually-operated telephone exchange, and an electromagnetic ringer which sounded when current from a remote generator arrived. This technology was used from the 1910s to the 1980s. Later the ring signal was operated by a pushbutton or automatically as on domestic telephones. Manual systems are still widely used, and are often compatible with the older equipment.
Shortly after the invention of the telephone, attempts were made to adapt the technology for military use. Telephones were already being used to support military campaigns in British India and in British colonies in Africa in the late 1870s and early 1880s. In the United States telephone lines connected fortresses with each other and with army headquarters. They were also used for fire control at fixed coastal defence installations. The first telephone for use in the field was developed in the United States in 1889 but it was too expensive for mass production. Subsequent developments in several countries made the field telephone more practicable. The wire material was changed from iron to copper, devices for laying wire in the field were developed and systems with both battery-operated sets for command posts and hand generator sets for use in the field were developed. The first purposely-designed field telephones were used by the British in the Second Boer War. They were used more extensively in the Russo-Japanese War, where all infantry regiments and artillery divisions on both sides were equipped with telephone sets. By the First World War the use of field telephones was widespread, and a start was made at intercepting them. (Full article...)Selected audio -
Ringing tone (audible ringing, also ringback tone) is a signaling tone in telecommunication that is heard by the originator of a telephone call while the destination terminal is alerting the receiving party. The tone is typically a repeated cadence similar to a traditional power ringing signal (ringtone), but is usually not played synchronously. Various telecommunication groups, such as the Bell System and the General Post Office (GPO) developed standards, in part taken over by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and other standards bodies. With modern cell phone and smartphone technology ringing tone can be customized and even used for advertising. (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
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Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone) -
Android smartphones (from Mobile phone) -
Inserted memory and SIM cards (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) -
"Device options" menu of Samsung Mobile's TouchWiz user interface as of 2013, accessed by holding the power button for a second (from Smartphone) -
Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone) -
Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone) -
A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone) -
The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone) -
The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 10, 1876 (from History of the telephone) -
The back of a Huawei P30. It features three rear-facing camera lenses with Leica optics. (from Smartphone) -
A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone) -
Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone) -
Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone) -
A text message (SMS) (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) -
Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone) -
Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone) -
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Bell prototype telephone stamp(from History of the telephone)
Centennial Issue of 1976 -
1896 Telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone) -
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) -
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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The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone) -
Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola 8900X-2 to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone) -
Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone) -
Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from History of the telephone) -
A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone) -
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) -
Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone) -
Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone) -
Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone) -
1917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone) -
Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone) -
The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (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 Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone) -
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A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone) -
The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone) -
A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone) -
A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone) -
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IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone) -
Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone) -
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) -
Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone) -
Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone) -
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People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone) -
Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone) -
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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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) -
A smartphone displaying the homepage of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone) -
Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone) -
A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone) -
Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone) -
Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone) -
Old Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone) -
Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
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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. -
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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The AUTOVON was a worldwide American military telephone system that was built starting in 1963. -
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Acoustic telephone ad, The Consolidated Telephone Co., Jersey City, New Jersey, 1886 -
Track-side emergency brake and emergency telephones at the platform of the metro station Aspern Nord, Donaustadt, Vienna, Austria -
Wooden wall telephone with a hand-cranked magneto generator -
A Northern Electric telephone, model number N415H, circa 1950 (probably) -
A Bell Canada payphone with digital display -
Automatic electric Rotary dial telephone -
Telephone booth box art outside the Tower of London, 2012 -
Landline call blocking in use -
A Western Electric candlestick phone from the 1920s -
Historical telephone with the German imperial eagle and the heraldic shield of the House of Hohenzollern dynasty; Vollmer's Mill, Seebach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany -
Apple iPhones -
A Funke + Huster telephone inside the Idrija Mine, Slovenia -
Emergency telephones, on the Paris-Bordeaux railway line, Saint-Saviol station, Vienne, France -
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 -
Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French -
Android smartphones -
Public telephone, Bucharest, Romania -
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Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French -
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 -
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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