Definition: phone

(telePHONE) Today, "phone" is often synonymous with smartphone or cellphone, and as time passes, the smartphone moniker is evolving into just plain "phone," "cellphone" or "mobile."

In contrast, a "telephone" often means a desk phone connected to a landline or to the Internet (see VoIP). See telephone, payphone, wall phone, smartphone and landline.

The Smartphone of the 19th Century

In the late 1800s, this Ericsson phone was just as trailblazing as the iPhone was in 2007. Photo taken at Antoni Gaudi's famous "La Pedrera" apartment house in Barcelona.