when did push button phones come out in the uk
Push-button telephone In the UK, a brief excursion from standards, GPO telecoms introduced in 1968 their first push-button telephone, the GPO 726 (Ericsson N2000 series [22]), that used neither pulse dialing nor DTMF tones. It used a DC signalling system comprising a number of rectifier diodes[23] arranged in different polarity configuration according to the button pressed. The 726 also requires a ground wire as well as the usual A and B wires. The irony was that with the few installations, the dial signal still had to be converted to pulses in the host PABX. It is now a rare device.
Smartphone The first commercially available device that could be properly referred to as a "smartphone" began as a prototype called "Angler" developed by Frank Canova in 1992 while at IBM and demonstrated in November of that year at the COMDEX computer industry trade show.[5][6][7] A refined version was marketed to consumers in 1994 by BellSouth under the name Simon Personal Communicator. In addition to placing and receiving cellular calls, the touchscreen-equipped Simon could send and receive faxes and emails. It included an address book, calendar, appointment scheduler, calculator, world time clock, and notepad, as well as other visionary mobile applications such as maps, stock reports and news.[8] The term "smart phone" or "smartphone" was not coined until a year after the introduction of the Simon, appearing in print as early as 1995, describing AT&T's PhoneWriter Communicator.[9][non-primary source needed]