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. 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...)

Selected article -

Mobile phone use while driving is common but it is dangerous due to its potential for causing distracted driving and subsequent crashes. Due to the number of crashes that are related to conducting calls on a phone and texting while driving, some jurisdictions have made the use of calling on a phone while driving illegal in an attempt to curb the practice, with varying levels of efficacy. Many jurisdictions have enacted laws making handheld mobile phone use illegal. Many jurisdictions allow use of a hands-free device. Driving while using a hands-free device has been found by some studies to provide little to no benefit versus holding the device itself and carrying on a conversation. In some cases restrictions are directed only at minors, those who are newly qualified license holders (particularly those of a younger age), or to drivers in school zones. In addition to voice calling, activities such as texting while driving, web browsing, playing video games, or phone use in general may also increase the risk of a crash.

In the United States, automobile crashes due to distracted driving are increasing even after the passage of laws intended to lessen such use while driving. Using a cell phone while driving increases the driver's risk of causing a crash. Drivers can become distracted, decreasing the driver's awareness on the road, leading to more car crashes. When drivers talk on cell phones the risk of an automobile crash resulting in hospitalization is four times higher than when not talking on a cell phone. Drivers who text when behind the wheel are twenty-three times more likely to have an automobile crash. One out of every four automobile crashes in the United States are caused by texting while driving. (Full article...)
List of selected articles

Types of phones -

A shoe phone is a shoe that has a telephone within it. Though there is no specific evidence that spies or those involved in espionage actually used shoe phones, they were popularised by fictional spies in television shows, most notably the television series Get Smart. Modern mobile phone technology has allowed for the development and production of working shoe phones. (Full article...)
List of phone types

Selected audio -

2600 hertz (2600 Hz) is a frequency in hertz (cycles per second) that was used in telecommunication signaling in mid-20th century long-distance telephone networks using carrier systems. (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

General images -

The following are images from various telephone-related articles on Wikipedia.
  • The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (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)
  • Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from History of the telephone)
  • A German rotary dial telephone, the W48 (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)
  • Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
  • A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
  • Bell prototype telephone stamp
    Centennial Issue of 1976
    (from History of the telephone)
  • Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
  • Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
  • Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
  • Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
  • The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone)
  • 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)
  • E-waste in Agbogbloshie (from Smartphone)
  • Old Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
  • Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
  • Modern Apple iPhone. This phone is considered a smartphone (from History of the telephone)
  • 1896 Telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
  • 1917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
  • Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
  • A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
  • 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)
  • The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 10, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
  • 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)
  • Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
  • Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (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)
  • Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
  • A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
  • The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
  • A smartphone displaying the homepage of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
  • Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
  • The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
  • Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)
  • A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
  • Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
  • A Meizu MX4 with Flyme OS (from Smartphone)
  • Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola 8900X-2 to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
  • Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone)
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
  • Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
  • The back of a Huawei P30. It features three rear-facing camera lenses with Leica optics. (from Smartphone)
  • People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
  • A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
  • Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
  • A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
  • A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
  • Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
  • IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone)
  • The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button (from Smartphone)
  • Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (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)
  • Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
  • Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
  • A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone)
  • Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
  • Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
  • A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank) (from Smartphone)
  • Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)

Selected biography

Hubbard in 1875

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...)
List of selected biographies

Selected images

  • Emergency telephones, on the Paris-Bordeaux railway line, Saint-Saviol station, Vienne, France
  • A Bell Canada payphone with digital display
  • Landline call blocking in use
  • An Italian gettone telefonico (telephone token) from 1945, which was used in Italian phone booths
  • Android smartphones
  • Apple iPhones
  • Mailbox and public telephone in Haßfurt, Germany
  • A historic telephone booth in Skansen, Stockholm
  • Track-side emergency brake and emergency telephones at the platform of the metro station Aspern Nord, Donaustadt, Vienna, Austria
  • An example of a K6, the most common red telephone box model, photographed in London in 2012
  • 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.
  • Telephone booth box art outside the Tower of London, 2012
  • Automatic electric Rotary dial telephone
  • A Western Electric candlestick phone from the 1920s
  • A cordless phone
  • Acoustic telephone ad, The Consolidated Telephone Co., Jersey City, New Jersey, 1886
  • Foldable smartphones
  • A Northern Electric telephone, model number N415H, circa 1950 (probably)
  • Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
  • Wooden wall telephone with a hand-cranked magneto generator
  • The AUTOVON was a worldwide American military telephone system that was built starting in 1963.
  • Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
  • A police box outside Earl's Court tube station in London, built in 1996 and based on the 1929 Gilbert Mackenzie Trench design
  • A Funke + Huster telephone inside the Idrija Mine, Slovenia
  • Public telephone, Bucharest, Romania
  • 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
  • Push-button telephone
  • Historical telephone with the German imperial eagle and the heraldic shield of the House of Hohenzollern dynasty; Vollmer's Mill, Seebach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Topics

Subcategories

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Telephony
Telecommunications systems
Bulletin board systems
Call centre
Call recording
Telephone crimes
Digital subscriber line
Directories
Telephony equipment
Telephone exchanges
Fixed mobile convergence
History of the telephone
Information by telephone
Voice over IP
Local loop
Modems
Telephone numbers
Telephony in popular culture
Privacy of telecommunications
Secure communication
Telephone services
Telephony signals
Telephony software
Telemarketing
Telephone voiceover talent
Telephony stubs
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Mobile phones
Mobile phones by company
Active noise control mobile phones
Mobile telephone broadcasting
Mobile phone companies
Mobile phone culture
History of mobile phones
Mobile phone industry
Lists of mobile phones
Mobile device management
Mobile phones with 4K video recording
Mobile phones with 8K video recording
Mobile phones with an integrated hardware keyboard
Mobile phones with infrared transmitter
Mobile phones with mechanical zoom lens
Mobile phones with pressure-sensitive touch screen
Mobile phones with self-capacitive touch screen layer
Mobile phones with stylus
Mobile phones with user-replaceable battery
Mobile phones with multiple rear cameras
Open-source mobile phones
Mobile phone recycling
Mobile phones by shape
Smartphones
Mobile software
Solar-powered mobile phones
Mobile phone standards
Mobile phones with stereo camera
Watch phones
Works about mobile phones
Mobile phones by year of introduction
Mobile phone stubs
Moved
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Smartphones
Smartphones by brand
Smartphones by operating system
CyanogenMod
Discontinued smartphones
Flagship smartphones
Foldable smartphones
Line of flagship smartphones
Mobile software
Modular smartphones
MyTouch
N-Gage (service) compatible devices
Phablets
S60 (software platform)
Smartphone operating systems
Smartphone patent wars
Videotelephony

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Bell System task force

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