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
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for voice calls for the delivery of voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet.
The broader terms Internet telephony, broadband telephony, and broadband phone service specifically refer to the provisioning of voice and other communications services (fax, SMS, voice messaging) over the Internet, rather than via the public switched telephone network (PSTN), also known as plain old telephone service (POTS). (Full article...)Types of phones - show another
A tin can phone is a type of acoustic (non-electrical) speech-transmitting device made up of two tin cans, paper cups or similarly shaped items attached to either end of a taut string or wire.
It is a particular case of mechanical telephony, where sound (i.e., vibrations in the air) is converted into vibrations along a liquid or solid medium. These vibrations are transmitted through the medium (string) and then converted back to sound. (Full article...)Selected audio - show another
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A blue box is an electronic device that produces tones used to generate the in-band signaling tones formerly used within the North American long-distance telephone network to send line status and called number information over voice circuits. This allowed an illicit user, referred to as a "phreaker", to place long-distance calls, without using the network's user facilities, that would be billed to another number or dismissed entirely as an incomplete call. A number of similar "color boxes" were also created to control other aspects of the phone network. (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 2Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
- Image 5Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
- Image 6Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
- Image 10Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
- Image 11The back of a Huawei P30. It features three rear-facing camera lenses with Leica optics. (from Smartphone)
- Image 13Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 15Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola 8900X-2 to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
- Image 17A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
- Image 18Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
- Image 20Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 21A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
- Image 22This 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 23Actor 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 24Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 25A 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 26Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
- Image 27Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)
- Image 28The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
- Image 29People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
- Image 30Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 31Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1-f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
- Image 32The 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 33Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
- Image 34Martin 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 36Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
- Image 37Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 38A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
- Image 40Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 41The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone)
- Image 42Tooltip 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 43Old Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
- Image 44Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
- Image 45A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
- Image 46Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
- Image 49Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
- Image 51A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
- Image 54The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
- Image 55Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
- Image 56A 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 57"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 58Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from History of the telephone)
- Image 591917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
- Image 60A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
- Image 61Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
- Image 62The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 10, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
Selected biography
Gardiner Greene Hubbard (August 25, 1822 – December 11, 1897) was an American lawyer, financier, and community leader. He was a founder and first president of the National Geographic Society; a founder and the first president of the Bell Telephone Company which later evolved into AT&T, at times the world's largest telephone company; a founder of the journal Science; and an advocate of oral speech education for the deaf.
One of his daughters, Mabel Gardiner Hubbard, married Alexander Graham Bell. (Full article...)Selected images
- Image 1A cordless phone
- Image 2Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
- Image 3Android smartphones
- Image 5A historic telephone booth in Skansen, Stockholm
- Image 6Push-button telephone
- Image 7Foldable smartphones
- Image 8A police box outside Earl's Court tube station in London, built in 1996 and based on the 1929 Gilbert Mackenzie Trench design
- Image 9Automatic electric Rotary dial telephone
- Image 10An example of a K6, the most common red telephone box model, photographed in London in 2012
- Image 11Telephone booth box art outside the Tower of London, 2012
- Image 13Apple iPhones
- Image 14Track-side emergency brake and emergency telephones at the platform of the metro station Aspern Nord, Donaustadt, Vienna, Austria
- Image 15A Northern Electric telephone, model number N415H, circa 1950 (probably)
- Image 16A 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 17Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
- Image 18Emergency telephones, on the Paris-Bordeaux railway line, Saint-Saviol station, Vienne, France
- Image 19Mailbox and public telephone in Haßfurt, Germany
- Image 21The AUTOVON was a worldwide American military telephone system that was built starting in 1963.
- Image 22Public telephone, Bucharest, Romania
- Image 23Wooden wall telephone with a hand-cranked magneto generator
- Image 24Acoustic telephone ad, The Consolidated Telephone Co., Jersey City, New Jersey, 1886
- 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 26Historical telephone with the German imperial eagle and the heraldic shield of the House of Hohenzollern dynasty; Vollmer's Mill, Seebach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
- Image 27An Italian gettone telefonico (telephone token) from 1945, which was used in Italian phone booths
- Image 28A Funke + Huster telephone inside the Idrija Mine, Slovenia
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