A mobile phone
(also known as a cellular phone, cell phone and a hand phone) is a
device that can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link while
moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a
cellular network provided by a mobile phone operator, allowing access to
the public telephone network. By contrast, a cordless telephone is used
only within the short range of a single, private base station.
In
addition to telephony, modern mobile phones also support a wide 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 that offer
these and more general computing capabilities are referred to as
smartphones.