Portal:Telephones
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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...)
Selected article - show another
Telephony (/təˈlɛfəni/ tə-LEF-ə-nee) is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunication services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is intimately linked to the invention and development of the telephone.
Telephony is commonly referred to as the construction or operation of telephones and telephonic systems and as a system of telecommunications in which telephonic equipment is employed in the transmission of speech or other sound between points, with or without the use of wires. The term is also used frequently to refer to computer hardware, software, and computer network systems, that perform functions traditionally performed by telephone equipment. In this context the technology is specifically referred to as Internet telephony, or voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). (Full article...)Types of phones - show another
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.
The first handheld mobile phone was demonstrated by Martin Cooper of Motorola in New York City on 3 April 1973, using a handset weighing c. 2 kilograms (4.4 lbs). In 1979, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) launched the world's first cellular network in Japan. In 1983, the DynaTAC 8000x was the first commercially available handheld mobile phone. From 1983 to 2014, worldwide mobile phone subscriptions grew to over seven billion; enough to provide one for every person on Earth. In the first quarter of 2016, the top smartphone developers worldwide were Samsung, Apple and Huawei; smartphone sales represented 78 percent of total mobile phone sales. For feature phones , the top-selling brands were Samsung, Nokia and Alcatel.
Mobile phones are considered an important human invention as they have been one of the most widely used and sold pieces of consumer technology. The growth in popularity has been rapid in some places, for example, in the UK, the total number of mobile phones overtook the number of houses in 1999. Today, mobile phones are globally ubiquitous, and in almost half the world's countries, over 90% of the population owns at least one. (Full article...)Selected audio - show another
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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 - show new batch
- Image 11917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
- Image 2Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
- Image 3Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
- Image 4The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 10, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
- Image 5Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
- Image 6Old Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
- Image 7Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
- Image 8Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 10Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
- Image 11Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 15A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
- Image 16Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
- Image 17Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 19"Device options" menu of Samsung Mobile's TouchWiz user interface as of 2013, accessed by holding the power button for a second (from Smartphone)
- Image 22Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)
- Image 23A 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)
- Image 24Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 25Martin 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)
- Image 26A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
- Image 27A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
- Image 28The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
- Image 29A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
- Image 30Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1-f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
- Image 31Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola 8900X-2 to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
- Image 32Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
- Image 34People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
- Image 35The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone)
- Image 36Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
- Image 38A 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)
- Image 39Actor 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)
- Image 40The 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)
- Image 42This 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)
- Image 47Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
- Image 48Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
- Image 49Tooltip 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)
- Image 50Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
- Image 51Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
- Image 53Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 54The back of a Huawei P30. It features three rear-facing camera lenses with Leica optics. (from Smartphone)
- Image 55The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
- Image 57Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 58Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 59Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
- Image 61A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
- Image 62A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
Selected biography
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, which include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and early versions of the electric light bulb, have had a widespread impact on the modern industrialized world. He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees. He established the first industrial research laboratory.
Edison was raised in the American Midwest. Early in his career he worked as a telegraph operator, which inspired some of his earliest inventions. In 1876, he established his first laboratory facility in Menlo Park, New Jersey, where many of his early inventions were developed. He later established a botanical laboratory in Fort Myers, Florida, in collaboration with businessmen Henry Ford and Harvey S. Firestone, and a laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey, that featured the world's first film studio, the Black Maria. With 1,093 US patents in his name, as well as patents in other countries, Edison is regarded as the most prolific inventor in American history. Edison married twice and fathered six children. He died in 1931 due to complications from diabetes. (Full article...)Selected images
- Image 1The AUTOVON was a worldwide American military telephone system that was built starting in 1963.
- Image 2A Funke + Huster telephone inside the Idrija Mine, Slovenia
- Image 3Mailbox and public telephone in Haßfurt, Germany
- Image 4An example of a K6, the most common red telephone box model, photographed in London in 2012
- Image 5A cordless phone
- Image 6Wooden wall telephone with a hand-cranked magneto generator
- Image 7Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
- Image 8Emergency telephones, on the Paris-Bordeaux railway line, Saint-Saviol station, Vienne, France
- Image 9A police box outside Earl's Court tube station in London, built in 1996 and based on the 1929 Gilbert Mackenzie Trench design
- Image 10A Northern Electric telephone, model number N415H, circa 1950 (probably)
- Image 11Track-side emergency brake and emergency telephones at the platform of the metro station Aspern Nord, Donaustadt, Vienna, Austria
- Image 12Historical telephone with the German imperial eagle and the heraldic shield of the House of Hohenzollern dynasty; Vollmer's Mill, Seebach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
- Image 14Push-button telephone
- Image 15Android smartphones
- Image 17An Italian gettone telefonico (telephone token) from 1945, which was used in Italian phone booths
- Image 18Public telephone, Bucharest, Romania
- Image 19Automatic electric Rotary dial telephone
- Image 21Telephone booth box art outside the Tower of London, 2012
- Image 22Apple iPhones
- Image 23A 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.
- Image 24A historic telephone booth in Skansen, Stockholm
- Image 25Photograph 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
- Image 26Acoustic telephone ad, The Consolidated Telephone Co., Jersey City, New Jersey, 1886
- Image 27Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
- Image 28Foldable smartphones
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