Portal:Telephones

The Telephones Portal

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 is a 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. Smartphones are distinguished from older-design feature phones by their more advanced hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, access to the internet, business applications, mobile payments, and multimedia functionality, including music, video, gaming, radio, and television. (Full article...)

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Telemarketing (sometimes known as inside sales, or telesales in the UK and Ireland) is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products, subscriptions or services, either over the phone or through a subsequent face to face or web conferencing appointment scheduled during the call. Telemarketing can also include recorded sales pitches programmed to be played over the phone via automatic dialing.

Telemarketing is defined as contacting, qualifying, and canvassing prospective customers using telecommunications devices such as telephone, fax, and internet. It does not include direct mail marketing. (Full article...)

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Samsung foldable smartphones (front side)

A foldable smartphone (also known as a foldable phone or simply foldable) is a smartphone with a folding form factor. It is reminiscent of the clamshell (or "flip phone") design of many earlier feature phones. Some variants of the concept use multiple touchscreen panels on a hinge, while other designs utilise a flexible display. Concepts of such devices date back as early as Nokia's "Morph" concept in 2008, and a concept presented by Samsung Electronics in 2013 (as part of a larger set of concepts utilizing flexible OLED displays), while the first commercially available folding smartphones with OLED displays began to emerge in November 2018.

Some devices may fold out on a vertical axis to into a wider, tablet-like form, but are still usable in a smaller, folded state; the display may either wrap around to the back of the device when folded (as with the Royole FlexPai and Huawei Mate X), or use a booklet-like design where the larger, folded screen is located on the interior, and a screen on its "cover" allows the user to interact with the device without opening it (such as the Samsung Galaxy Fold series). Horizontally-folding smartphones have also been produced, typically using a clamshell form factor.

The first generation of commercially released foldable smartphones faced concerns over their durability, as well as their high prices. In 2023, around 1% of worldwide smartphone ownership was foldable smartphones. (Full article...)

List of phone types
Payphone Courtesy telephone Emergency telephone Secure telephone Smartphone Mobile phone Satellite phone Phablet Car phone Windows Phone Camera phone Feature phone VoIP phone iPhone Tin can telephone Sound-powered telephone Grillo telephone Golden telephone Reis telephone Cordless telephone Shoe phone Field telephone IBM Simon Mobile radio telephone Modular smartphone Prepaid mobile phone

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Example of a North American reorder tone

Listen to a reorder tone from North America.

Example of a European reorder tone

Listen to a reorder tone from Europe.

Example of a British reorder tone

Listen to a reorder tone from the United Kingdom.

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The reorder tone, also known as the fast busy tone, or the congestion tone, or all trunks busy (ATB) tone is an audible call progress tone in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) that is returned to a calling party to indicate that the call cannot be processed through the network. (Full article...)

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

Image 1Reis's telephone around 1861, first device called telephone (from History of the telephone)
Image 2Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
Image 3The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 7, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
Image 4A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
Image 5Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
Image 6The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button (from Smartphone)
Image 7Antonio Meucci, 1854, developed a voice-communication apparatus that several sources credit as the first telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 8Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
Image 9A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
Image 10
Bell prototype telephone stamp
Centennial Issue of 1976
(from History of the telephone)
Image 11Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
Image 12Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
Image 13A Nexus 6, an Android smartphone, displaying the Main Page of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
Image 14Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1–f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
Image 15Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
Image 16Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)
Image 17This 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 18Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 19Replica of the telettrofono at Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci of Milan, Italy, invented by Antonio Meucci and credited by several sources as the first telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 20Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
Image 21Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 22Oppo Find X6 features software-based tuning co-developed with Hasselblad (from Smartphone)
Image 23Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
Image 24A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
Image 25Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
Image 261896 telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
Image 27The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction in 2007, the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone)
Image 28A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone)
Image 29The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has an artificial intelligence-powered feature (from Smartphone)
Image 30Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
Image 31Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
Image 32A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
Image 33E-waste in Agbogbloshie (from Smartphone)
Image 34Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)
Image 35Actor 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 36A 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 37Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
Image 38A 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 39Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
Image 40"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 41A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
Image 42The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (from Smartphone)
Image 43IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone)
Image 44A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
Image 45Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone)
Image 46Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
Image 47A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
Image 48People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
Image 49Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
Image 50Tooltip 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 51A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank) (from Smartphone)
Image 52Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
Image 53A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
Image 54The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
Image 55The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
Image 56Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
Image 57Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
Image 58Martin 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 59Xiaomi 13 Ultra featured a Leica Summicron camera system (from Smartphone)
Image 60A German rotary dial telephone, the W48 (from History of the telephone)
Image 611917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
Image 62Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
Image 63Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 64A Meizu MX4 with Flyme OS (from Smartphone)

Selected biography

"A shirt pocket phone to call anyone in the world, at any time" - George Harry Sweigert, The Plain Dealer (June 1966)

George H. Sweigert (1920–1999) is credited as the first inventor to patent the cordless telephone.

Born in Akron, Ohio, Sweigert served five years in the US Army as a radio operator in World War II in Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Fiji and New Georgia assigned to the 145th Headquarters Company under the 37th Infantry Division (United States). Following the war, Sweigert attended Bowling Green State University near Toledo, Ohio.

Sweigert credited his military experience for invention of the cordless telephone, citing experimentation with various antennas, signal frequencies, and types of radios. (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 Anthony Pollok Thomas A. Watson Elisha Gray Pat Fleet John Draper

Selected images

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

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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