Text messaging
Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages between two or more mobile phones, or fixed or portable devices over a phone network. The term originally referred to messages sent using the Short Message Service (SMS). It has grown to include multimedia messages (known as MMS) containing images, videos, and sound content, as well as ideograms known as emoji. The service itself has different colloquialisms depending on the region. It may simply be referred to as a text in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines, an SMS in most of mainland Europe, or an MMS or SMS in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The sender of a text message is commonly referred to as a texter.
Text messages can be used to interact with automated systems, for example, to order products or services, or to participate in contests. Advertisers and service providers use direct text marketing to message mobile phone users about promotions, payment due dates, and other notifications instead of using postal mail, e-mail, or voicemail.
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency carrier while the user is moving within a telephone service area. 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). Most modern mobile telephone services use a cellular network architecture, and therefore mobile telephones are often also called cellular telephones or cell phones. In addition to telephony, modern mobile phones support a variety of other services, such as text messaging, MMS, email, Internet access, short-range wireless communications (infrared, Bluetooth), business applications, gaming, and photography. Mobile phones which offer these and more general computing capabilities are referred to as smartphones.
The first handheld mobile phone was demonstrated by John F. Mitchell and Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighing c. 4.4 lbs (2 kg). In 1983, the DynaTAC 8000x was the first commercially available handheld mobile phone. From 1983 to 2014, worldwide mobile phone subscriptions grew to over seven billion, penetrating 100% of the global population and reaching the bottom of the economic pyramid. In 2014, the top mobile phone manufacturers were Samsung, Nokia, Apple, and LG.
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