Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a phone that can be carried from place to place, generally small enough to fit in ones pocket (though some early mobiles were much larger than that).

There are two main technologies used in mobile phones: cellular technology, and satellite technology.

Early mobiles were analog; newer ones are digital.

There are a number of different digital cellular technologies; these include: GSM, CDMA, DECT.

Mobile phone technology is often divided into generations: 1G, 2G, 2.5G, 3G.

Major mobile phone manufacturers include: Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola.

Many mobile phones support 'auto-roaming', which permits the same phone to be used in multiple countries. However, both countries must use the same mobile system, the same frequencies and there must be an agreement between the two countries' telephone companies.

Americans often call mobile phones 'cellular phones'; this usage is common only in the United States and South Africa, and is in some cases a misnomer. See cell phone for further discussion.

Mobile phones must be distinguished from portable phones; with a portable phone the user purchases their own base station, which they connect to a landline, and the range of the phone is generally restricted to one building or so.

Mobile phones support not just voice calls; they can also send and receive data and faxes (if a computer is attached), sending short messages (Short Message Service), and access the WWW (see WAP).

see also Iridium