Cell phones

A cell phone is a portable device that allows you to communicate wirelessly. Or as we prefer to call it; your most personal possession. By your side day and night and great panic when you forget it. We can roughly divide today's phones into three categories; Low-end, mid-range and high-end. Which one you need we explain here.

Choice mobile phones

Low-end phones

The simplest category is low-end consisting of Low-budget phones that have quite a bit going for them despite their low price. The simplest are so-called dumbphones with no touch screen and no ability to run apps. They often cost a few tens of dollars and are ideal for those who do not want an elaborate phone. Useful as an emergency phone or for seniors.

Slightly more comprehensive are feature phones. These can already do a bit more such as take pictures, look up simple Web pages or even WhatsApp. These phones are usually under 100 euros and very suitable as festival phones. And then there are smartphones from between 100 euros to 200 euros. These are the most comprehensive but to keep costs down feature simple specifications and simple materials such as plastic.

Mid-range smartphones

By far the largest category is the mid-range phone. With this so-called mid-range smartphone, you can get by just fine without spending a fortune to do so. In terms of price, these phones are between 250 and 500 euros. Because the competition is so fierce, there are sometimes real gems among them, although we often find inferior phones. So pay special attention to reviews from other buyers.

There are also brands that focus mainly on mid-range phones, especially from China, including Honor, Xiaomi and ZTE. With these phones, pay attention to what the manufacturer promises about software updates. Usually, these models get less attention than the much more expensive high-end phones. The Android One models from this series then have a plus because they are guaranteed to get updates for several more years.

High-end flagship

And then you have the cream of the crop; high-end. These are the most comprehensive smartphones, often called flagships. These models often have many new features, the most beautiful screens and the best cameras. This is reflected in the price that starts at 500 euros and can go up to 1000 euros or even above.

Many manufacturers have a high-end smartphone in the range that is updated every year. High-end phones have a high level of gadgetry for which people sometimes even want to stand in line. For this category of phones, it can be convenient to get a subscription where you pay the purchase price in installments. Also, don't forget last year's flagships. Those have often dropped tremendously in price and probably don't lack the features you necessarily need.

Most popular phone brands

By now you would think that only Apple and Samsung still make phones but nothing could be further from the truth. Our site now counts 215 different brands. Most of them you can forget about but a few are worth checking out. Click below from the list of most popular phone manufacturers to go directly to that overview.

• Apple phones
• Samsung phones
• Xiaomi phones
• Oppo phones
• OnePlus phones
• Sony phones
• Motorola phones
• HMD phones

If you still can't figure it out despite all the help, you can always take a look at telefoon.co.uk. They may be able to help you further.

History of mobile phones

Although wireless phones were fantasized about for years, the first cell phone did not see the light of day until 1973. The prototype by Martin Cooper and John Francis Mitchell of Motorola weighed 2 pounds, mainly because of its hefty battery. It would then take until 1983 before the first commercially available cell phone hit the market. The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X was a lot lighter at 1.1 kilos, cost nearly $4,000 at the time, and you could make a call with it for half an hour. After that, it had to be on the charger for 10 hours. We've come a long way.

ATF

It would be quite a few more years before the cell phone became commonplace. That was largely due to the rollout of a national telephone network. Most national networks were rolled out in the early 1980s. In the Netherlands, that task had fallen to PTT, today's KPN. The first Dutch network was ATF; the abbreviation for car telephone. In fact, it was mainly telephones built into cars and boats that used it.

Greenpoint

The analog ATF soon ran into its limits and was succeeded by Greenpoint. This digital system had a limited range and was available at several locations in the Netherlands including gas stations. The cell phones that could handle Greenpoint were initially called Kermit, but that name was eventually replaced by Greenhopper. Greenpoints were active from May 1992 until January 1, 1999.

GSM

From then on, the GSM network was introduced which stands for Global System for Mobile Communications. GSM is considered the second generation and is therefore sometimes called 2G. GSM masts popped up all over the Netherlands and it would become the first nationwide network, not only in the Netherlands but also elsewhere. In addition to voice, data and SMS can be sent over it. SMS, which allowed messages of up to 160 characters to be sent, proved to be the reason for many people to purchase cell phones. In 1995, PTT Telecom's monopoly on telecommunications was lifted and the consortium MT2 was allowed to compete. In September 1995, they entered the market as Libertel, now known as Vodafone.

Phone network generations

Sending data became increasingly important for a cell phone but that was not where the GSM standard was strong. The introduction of packet switched data led to a host of new data standards and generations. We list them for you below.

The latter most know as 4G although officially it gets the term 3.9G. Real 4G is LTE Advanced which is offered here in the Netherlands as 4G+. Besides data, the 4G standard is also well suited for sending voice calls. Eventually we will see this so-called VoLTE (Voice over LTE) herald the end of the GSM network.