Mobile phone

Mobile phones or cell(ular) phones are small portable telephones that use a radio signal rather than wires to connect to the telephone network. These are increasingly popular around the world and their use has seen dramatic growth in Africa.

Mobile phones are also in a broader class of small portable devices, including PDAs, some of the most powerful of which may function as small computers, and smartphones?, which in effect combine the features of mobile phones and PDAs. Most mobile phones these days have the capacity to send and receive short "SMS" messages.

Localisation of mobile phones and the service they provide may be on at least 4 levels:

  • Recorded messages from the service provider
  • Menus (commands) on the phone
  • SMS capacity of the phone (mainly an issue of input for extended-Latin and non-Latin)
  • Predictive text capacity for SMS

Mobile phone localisation in Africa

Several companies have localized interfaces (menus) for one or more of their mobile phone models :

  • CCT (interface)
  • Nokia (interface, some SMS)
  • (information as of 2007, needs updating & expansion)

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