Portal:Telephones

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A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables 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 Ancient Greek: τῆλε, romanized: tēle, lit. 'far' and φωνή (phōnē, voice), together meaning distant voice.

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 cell phone, is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones (landline phones). This radio frequency link connects to the switching systems of a mobile phone operator, providing access to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Modern mobile telephony relies on a cellular network architecture, which is why mobile phones are often referred to as 'cell phones' in North America. (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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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, as envisioned by NewDealDesign, under the leadership of Gadi Amit, 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...)

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*Get Smart* character Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) using his signature shoe phone

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...)

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Multi-frequency dialing

These multi-frequency tones were generated by automated switching equipment. The blue box was designed to replicate these tones.

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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. During that period, charges associated with long-distance calling were commonplace and could be significant, depending on the time, duration and destination of the call. A blue box device allowed for circumventing these charges by enabling 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 by the telecom company's billing system as an incomplete call. A number of similar "color boxes" were also created to control other aspects of the phone network. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various telephone-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1A German rotary dial telephone, the W48 (from History of the telephone)
Image 2Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
Image 3A Nexus 6, an Android smartphone, displaying the Main Page of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
Image 4Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
Image 5The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
Image 6Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
Image 7A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank) (from Smartphone)
Image 8A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
Image 9Actor 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 10A Meizu MX4 with Flyme OS (from Smartphone)
Image 11This 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 12Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
Image 13E-waste in Agbogbloshie (from Smartphone)
Image 14A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
Image 15
Bell prototype telephone stamp
Centennial Issue of 1976
(from History of the telephone)
Image 16Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 17Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
Image 18A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone)
Image 19The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (from Smartphone)
Image 20A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
Image 21Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
Image 22Xiaomi 13 Ultra featured a Leica Summicron camera system (from Smartphone)
Image 23Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 24Martin 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 25A 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 26Oppo Find X6 features software-based tuning co-developed with Hasselblad (from Smartphone)
Image 27Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
Image 28The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
Image 29Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
Image 30"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 31The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 7, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
Image 32Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)
Image 33Reis's telephone around 1861, first device called telephone (from History of the telephone)
Image 34The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button (from Smartphone)
Image 35Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
Image 36Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
Image 37Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
Image 38Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 39A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
Image 40A 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 41Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
Image 42IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone)
Image 43Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 44Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)
Image 45Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1–f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
Image 46Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
Image 47A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
Image 48Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from History of the telephone)
Image 49People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
Image 50Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
Image 51Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone)
Image 52A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
Image 53Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
Image 541896 telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
Image 55Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
Image 56Tooltip 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 57Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
Image 58A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
Image 59A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
Image 60Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
Image 61The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone)
Image 621917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
Image 63Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)

Selected biography

Anthony Pollok (c. 1829 – July 4, 1898) was an American patent attorney who, with Marcellus Bailey, helped prepare Alexander Graham Bell's patents for the telephone and related inventions. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies
Alexander Graham Bell Thomas Edison Innocenzo Manzetti Charles Bourseul Johann Philipp Reis Antonio Meucci Tivadar Puskás Douglas H. Ring W. Rae Young Martin Cooper (inventor) Thomas Cowherd Gardiner Greene Hubbard Thomas A. Watson Elisha Gray George Sweigert Pat Fleet John Draper

Selected images

Image 1Automatic electric Rotary dial telephone
Image 2Foldable smartphones
Image 3A Western Electric candlestick phone from the 1920s
Image 4Public telephone, Bucharest, Romania
Image 5Mailbox and public telephone in Haßfurt, Germany
Image 6An Italian gettone telefonico (telephone token) from 1945, which was used in Italian phone booths
Image 7Apple iPhones
Image 8A Northern Electric telephone, model number N415H, circa 1950 (probably)
Image 9Photograph 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 10A Funke + Huster telephone inside the Idrija Mine, Slovenia
Image 11Android smartphones
Image 12Track-side emergency brake and emergency telephones at the platform of the metro station Aspern Nord, Donaustadt, Vienna, Austria
Image 13The AUTOVON was a worldwide American military telephone system that was built starting in 1963.
Image 14Telephone booth box art outside the Tower of London, 2012
Image 15Emergency telephones, on the Paris-Bordeaux railway line, Saint-Saviol station, Vienne, France
Image 16Landline call blocking in use
Image 17Wooden wall telephone with a hand-cranked magneto generator
Image 18A 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 19A Bell Canada payphone with digital display
Image 20Acoustic telephone ad, The Consolidated Telephone Co., Jersey City, New Jersey, 1886
Image 21A historic telephone booth in Skansen, Stockholm
Image 22A police box outside Earl's Court tube station in London, built in 1996 and based on the 1929 Gilbert Mackenzie Trench design
Image 23Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
Image 24Historical telephone with the German imperial eagle and the heraldic shield of the House of Hohenzollern dynasty; Vollmer's Mill, Seebach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Image 25Push-button telephone
Image 26An example of a K6, the most common red telephone box model, photographed in London in 2012
Image 27Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
Image 28A cordless phone

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Telephones in the news

15 November 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine, Germany–Russia relations: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz holds a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine, their first contact since 2022. Putin tells Scholz that any negotiated settlement to end the war must recognize the territories that Russia has occupied as part of Russia and that Ukraine must abandon its aspiration to join NATO. (AP) (The New York Times)

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v t e Telephony
Types	Landline Cable telephony Mobile phone Satellite phone Photophone
Accessories	Answering machine Caller ID
Connectivity	Cable protection system Communications satellites Fibre-optical Free-space optical ISDN Mobile phone signal POTS PSTN Submarine cables VoIP
Calls	Missed call Misdialed call Nuisance call Phone tag
Applications	Fax transmission Telephone calls Telephone newspapers Théâtrophone Video calls
Telecommunication portal Telephones portal

v t e Emergency telephone numbers
Emergency telephone Harmonised service of social value
000 (Australia) 102 (India) 106 (Australia) 108 (India) 110 (Iran, Japan, China) 111 (New Zealand) 112 (Europe and others, worldwide GSM mobile networks) 119 (parts of Asia and Jamaica) 120 (China) 122 (Austria, Egypt, and Bosnia and Herzegovina) 123 (Colombia, Egypt) 128 (Mercosur member states) 190 (Brazil) 911 (Iraq, North America E-911 system, Philippines) 988 (North America Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) 999 (Bangladesh, UK and others) 1122 (Pakistan)
Telephones portal Telecommunication portal List article Category Wikimedia Commons