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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The LG G2 is an Android smartphone developed by LG Electronics. Serving as a successor to 2012's Optimus G and the 2013 Optimus G Pro phablet, the G2 was unveiled at a press event in New York City on 7 August 2013, and first released in September 2013. The G2 is primarily distinguished by software features that LG billed would "learn" from users, a high fidelity sound system designed to produce higher quality audio, a 5.2 in (130 mm) 1080p IPS LCD screen with technology that the company claimed would improve energy efficiency and reduce the size of the bezel around it, along with the unique placement of its power and volume keys—eschewing their typical location on the edge of a smartphone by placing them on the rear below the camera lens.

The device was released to mostly positive reception; the G2 was universally praised for LG's efforts to produce a more seamless and compact design that nonetheless maximized screen size, its high performance, the quality of its display and primary camera, along with its long-lasting battery. Critics were divided on certain aspects of its design, such as its rear button layout, and its plastic chassis—which was panned for closely resembling recent Samsung Galaxy products and being a regression from the glass-based chassis of the Optimus G. Similarly, while its software and user interface was praised for its usability and large number of customization options, some reviewers felt that the software suffered from feature creep and contained notable usability regressions in comparison to "stock" Android.

Sales of the G2 exceeded LG's estimates; in late-December 2013, a Korean news agency reported that at least 3 million units of the G2 had been sold worldwide. (Full article...)

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The Simon Personal Communicator shown in its charging base

The IBM Simon Personal Communicator (simply known as IBM Simon) is a handheld, touchscreen PDA designed by International Business Machines (IBM), and manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric. Although the term "smartphone" was not coined until 1995, because of Simon's features and capabilities, it has been retrospectively referred to as the first true smartphone.

BellSouth Cellular Corp. distributed the IBM Simon in the United States between August 1994 and February 1995, selling 50,000 units. The Simon Personal Communicator was the first personal digital assistant or PDA to include telephony features (make phone calls). The battery lasted only an hour, and flip phones became increasingly slim which led to its demise. (Full article...)

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Example of a North American busy signal

Listen to a busy signal from North America.

Example of an old North American busy signal

Listen to a busy signal from North America used prior to 1980.

Example of a European busy signal

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Example of a French busy signal

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Example of a United Kingdom busy signal

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A busy signal (or busy tone or engaged tone) in telephony is an audible call-progress tone or audible signal to the calling party that indicates failure to complete the requested connection of that particular telephone call. (Full article...)

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

Image 1A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
Image 2Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1–f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
Image 3The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
Image 4The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 7, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
Image 5A Meizu MX4 with Flyme OS (from Smartphone)
Image 6
Bell prototype telephone stamp
Centennial Issue of 1976
(from History of the telephone)
Image 7People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
Image 8Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
Image 9Antonio Meucci's telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 10IBM Simon and charging base (1994) (from Smartphone)
Image 11The LG Prada with a large capacitive touchscreen introduced in 2006 (from Smartphone)
Image 12Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)
Image 13A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
Image 14Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
Image 151896 telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
Image 16Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
Image 17Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
Image 18"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 19A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
Image 20Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)
Image 21A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank) (from Smartphone)
Image 22Xiaomi 13 Ultra featured a Leica Summicron camera system (from Smartphone)
Image 23Oppo Find X6 features software-based tuning co-developed with Hasselblad (from Smartphone)
Image 24A Nexus 6, an Android smartphone, displaying the Main Page of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
Image 25Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
Image 26Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
Image 27Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 28Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
Image 29Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
Image 30Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
Image 31Antonio Meucci, 1854, constructed telephone-like devices. (from History of the telephone)
Image 32Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
Image 33A German rotary dial telephone, the W48 (from History of the telephone)
Image 34A 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 351917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
Image 36A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
Image 37Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
Image 38Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s (from Smartphone)
Image 39A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
Image 40Mobile/desktop convergence: the Librem 5 smartphone can be used as a basic desktop computer (from Smartphone)
Image 41Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
Image 42Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 43Actor 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 44Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone)
Image 45Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
Image 46The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads (from Smartphone)
Image 47A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
Image 48A 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 49Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 50This 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 51Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
Image 52Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
Image 53E-waste in Agbogbloshie (from Smartphone)
Image 54The Nokia 9110 Communicator, opened for access to keyboard (from Smartphone)
Image 55Martin 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 56Reis's telephone around 1861, first device called telephone (from History of the telephone)
Image 57A Moto G7 Power; its display uses a tall aspect ratio and includes a "notch". (from Smartphone)
Image 58A Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a "hole-punch" camera (from Smartphone)
Image 59A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
Image 60Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
Image 61The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button (from Smartphone)
Image 62Tooltip 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 63Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)

Selected biography

Draper at Maker Faire Berlin, 2015

John Thomas Draper (born March 11, 1943), also known as Captain Crunch, Crunch, or Crunchman (after the Cap'n Crunch breakfast cereal mascot), is an American computer programmer and former phone phreak. He is a widely known figure within the computer programming world and the hacker and security community, and generally lives a nomadic lifestyle. (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 George Sweigert Pat Fleet

Selected images

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

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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