Portal:Telephones

The Telephones Portal

A telephone, commonly shortened to 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 wireless 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 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. 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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Mobile device forensics is a branch of digital forensics relating to recovery of digital evidence or data from a mobile device under forensically sound conditions. The phrase mobile device usually refers to mobile phones; however, it can also relate to any digital device that has both internal memory and communication ability, including PDA devices, GPS devices and tablet computers.

Mobile devices can be used to save several types of personal information such as contacts, photos, calendars and notes, SMS and MMS messages. Smartphones may additionally contain video, email, web browsing information, location information, and social networking messages and contacts.

There is growing demand for mobile forensics due to several reasons and some of the prominent reasons are:

Use of mobile phones to store and transmit personal and corporate information
Use of mobile phones in online transactions
Use of mobile phone devices by criminals (Full article...)

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A car phone is a mobile radio telephone specifically designed for and fitted into an automobile. This service originated with the Bell System and was first used in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 17, 1946. (Full article...)

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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 1Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
Image 2Mobile payment system (from Smartphone)
Image 3Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
Image 4The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
Image 5Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 6A young woman speaking on a mobile phone in Copenhagen, 2025 (from Mobile phone)
Image 71917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
Image 8Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
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 10Reis's telephone around 1861, first device called telephone (from History of the telephone)
Image 11Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
Image 12Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
Image 13Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010 (from Smartphone)
Image 14A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
Image 15Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
Image 16A 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 17The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button (from Smartphone)
Image 18A 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 19Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
Image 201896 telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
Image 21Mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 people (from Mobile phone)
Image 22A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
Image 23A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
Image 24A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank) (from Smartphone)
Image 25Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
Image 26A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
Image 27Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1–f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
Image 28A pedestrian looking down at a smartphone while crossing a road (from Mobile phone)
Image 29Replica 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 30Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
Image 31Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
Image 32Blackview A60 Andoid Go mobile phone smartphone cell phone showing the front-facing camera is put in notch display (from Smartphone)
Image 33Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
Image 34A German rotary dial telephone, the W48 (from History of the telephone)
Image 35Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
Image 36Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone)
Image 37Tooltip 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 38Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 39Innocenzo Manzetti considered the idea of a telephone in 1844 (from History of the telephone)
Image 40Martin 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 41Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
Image 42Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 43A Nexus 6, an Android smartphone, displaying the Main Page of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
Image 44A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
Image 45"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 46The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has an artificial intelligence-powered feature. (from Smartphone)
Image 47
Bell prototype telephone stamp
Centennial Issue of 1976
(from History of the telephone)
Image 48Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
Image 49Antonio Meucci, 1849, developing a voice-communication apparatus that several sources credit as the first telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 50E-waste in Agbogbloshie (from Smartphone)
Image 51Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
Image 52The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 7, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
Image 53Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
Image 54Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
Image 55A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
Image 56A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)

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Thomas C. Cowherd (March 20, 1817 – April 4, 1907) was a British-born tinsmith and poet, and father to 16 children in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, including James H. Cowherd, the second earliest manufacturer of telephones to Alexander Graham Bell. (Full article...)

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