Definition: These are phones that use wireless cellular technology to send and recieve phone signals. Cell phones are generally a new idea (considering that they have only been around for a decade) and yet they have become the most popular way for people to communicate with friends and relatives. They have become very well-known because of their portability, easy use, and wireless capabilities.

Details:

The picture to the right displays a common cell phone. As you can tell, cell phones are extremely small and compact considering everything that they can do. With a cell phone, you can talk to basically anyone on the planet. This technology works by dividing the Earth into small regions called cells, which tend to usually be hexagonal. Within each cell the wireless telephone signal goes over its assigned bandwidth to a cell tower, as shown in the bottom-left picture, which relays the signal to a telephone switching network, which then connects the user to the desired party. Cell phones only encounter a problem when they are not near a signal tower or unable to connect to a telephone signal and therefore have no ability to make a phone call. However, this problem usually only occurs in rural areas. In today's time, cell phones can do much more than make phone calls. They can also connect to the Internet in order to look up webpages and download games, songs, etc. These things in addition to saved cell phone numbers are saved on the cell phone's memory card, as shown in the bottom-right picture. With their various uses, cell phones have quickly climbed up the popularity ladder for all people.


Sources:
http://www.dictionary.com
http://www.howstuffworks.com