The mobile phone

The mobile phone (also called a mobile, wireless, cellular phone, cell phone, or hand phone(hp))[1] is a short-range, portable electronic device used for mobile voice or data communication over a network of specialized base stations known as cell sites. In November 2007, the total number of mobile phone subscriptions in the world reached 3.3 billion, or half of the human population, which also makes the mobile phone the most widely spread technology and the most common gadget in the world. In addition to the standard voice function of a telephone, current mobile phones may support many additional services, and accessories, such as SMS for text messaging, email, packet switching for access to the Internet, java gaming, bluetooth, infrared, camera with video recorder and MMS for sending and receiving photos and video. Most current mobile phones connect to a cellular network of base stations (cell sites), which is in turn interconnected to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) (the exception is satellite phones). Since the mid-2000s, an increasing number of cellphones can connect to the Internet, a portion of which can be navigated using cellphones.