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A look at the
modern phone
PHONES ARE AN ESSENTIAL part of everyday life. It’s amazing to look back
at the countless improvements and additional features that have been introduced since Alexander Graham Bell’s first phone in the 1870s.
Today, the advancements continue with additional features to help in
work situations and at home. Bell would undoubtedly be amazed to see the
features found in the latest high-end phone models.
Night mode and call block. Both features are designed to cut down on
disruptions for you and your family. With night mode, you can program each
handset not to ring, at your discretion. And once you store the numbers of
unwanted callers on your phone’s “call block” list, those callers will get a busy
signal if they call you again.
Talking caller ID. With this feature, a caller’s information is announced
in between rings so you don’t have to get up if it’s someone you don’t wish to
speak to.
Talking alarm clock. With this feature, you can program a multitude of
phrases to wake or alert you.
Talking battery alert. This feature reminds you when your battery is
low, so you’re not left with a dead battery.
Drop- and splash-resistant handsets. Because today’s phones are portable, they must be tough. Unlike models of days past, many phones today can
stand up to everyday wear and tear and have safeguards against occasional
dropping and accidental splashes. A
THIS&THAT
DID YOU KNOW?
Alexander Graham Bell’s first commercial
telephones were called “box” or “
long-distance” telephones. The first telephone
line was installed in April 1877 between
Charles Williams’ electrical shop on Court
Street in Boston and his home in Cambridge
about three miles away. A month later the
first rented telephone installations were
made, beginning the era of commercial
telephone service.
This early phone had no signaling device
to determine incoming calls. In June 1877,
Thomas Watson, an
electrical designer and
mechanic who had worked
in Williams’ shop, devised a
“thumper” that would strike
the diaphragm of the box
telephone to make a tapping
sound on the receiving tele-
phone. This was later replaced
by an electric bell, which
in one form or another
survives today.
