Portal:Telephones
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.
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...)
Project Ara was a modular smartphone project under development by Google. The project was originally headed by the Advanced Technology and Projects team within Motorola Mobility while it was a Google subsidiary. Google retained the ATAP group when selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo, and it was placed under the stewardship of the Android development staff; Ara was later split off as an independent operation. Google stated that Project Ara was being designed to be utilized by "6 billion people": 1 billion current smartphone users, and 5 billion feature phone users.
Under its original design, Project Ara was intended to consist of hardware modules providing common smartphone parts, such as processors, displays, batteries, and cameras, as well as modules providing more specialized components, and "frames" that these modules were to be attached to. This design would allow a device to be upgraded over time with new capabilities and upgraded without requiring the purchase of an entire new device, providing a longer lifecycle for the device and potentially reducing electronic waste. However, by 2016, the concept had been revised, resulting in a base phone with non-upgradable core components, and modules providing supplemental features.
Google planned to launch a new developer version of Ara in the fourth quarter of 2016, with a target bill of materials cost of $50 for a basic phone, leading into a planned consumer launch in 2017. However, on September 2, 2016, Reuters reported that two non-disclosed sources leaked that Alphabet's manufacture of frames had been canceled, with possible future licensing to third parties. Later that day, Google confirmed that Project Ara had been shelved. (Full article...)
A red box is a phreaking device that generates tones to simulate inserting coins in pay phones, thus fooling the system into completing free calls. In the United States, a nickel is represented by one tone, a dime by two, and a quarter by a set of five. Any device capable of playing back recorded sounds can potentially be used as a red box. Commonly used devices include modified Radio Shack tone dialers, personal MP3 players, and audio-recording greeting cards. (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 telephone operating companies
A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
1917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
A New York City driver holding two phones (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)
Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (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)
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/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)
Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
The back of a Huawei P30. It features three rear-facing camera lenses with Leica optics. (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)
Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
Old Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone)
The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 10, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
Apple iPhone smartphone (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)
Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
Bell prototype telephone stamp(from History of the telephone)
Centennial Issue of 1976
Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola 8900X-2 to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (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)
Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (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)- 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)
Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
1896 Telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
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 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)
IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone)
A smartphone displaying the homepage of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
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)
Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)
Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from History of the telephone)
Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (from Smartphone)
A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
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Landline call blocking in use
Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
Emergency telephones, on the Paris-Bordeaux railway line, Saint-Saviol station, Vienne, France
A Funke + Huster telephone inside the Idrija Mine, Slovenia
A police box outside Earl's Court tube station in London, built in 1996 and based on the 1929 Gilbert Mackenzie Trench design
A Northern Electric telephone, model number N415H, circa 1950 (probably)
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.
Apple iPhones
Public telephone, Bucharest, Romania
Telephone booth box art outside the Tower of London, 2012
An example of a K6, the most common red telephone box model, photographed in London in 2012
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
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
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
Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
A Western Electric candlestick phone from the 1920s
Automatic electric Rotary dial telephone
A Bell Canada payphone with digital display
Wooden wall telephone with a hand-cranked magneto generator
Mailbox and public telephone in Haßfurt, Germany
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