[varrock]

> For historical reasons we now call hand computers phones

Recently, I've been wondering why the name "phone" has stuck around for a device that has evolved with many more features than that of a telephone. I'm not going to pretend I know a lot about the history of these technologies, but I just find it fascinating that we've kept this identification to something that really provides so many core utilities. I'm curious to know more about the historical implications you alluded to.

Alternatively (and maybe quite a stretch), could I argue that our smartphones are just providing telecommunications to other services, namely, the APIs that they interact with to serve us things like GPS functionality, audio, etc., hence the name "phone"?

[stolenmerch]

It's a legacy term that made the leap each new generation. Apple's decision to name their device the iPhone helped solidify it.

[latexr]

Agreed. From a marketing perspective, it makes sense Apple called it a phone. People already had mobile phones on them so you had nothing to lose with the switch. Had they positioned it as a PDA¹ it might’ve been seen as an extra unnecessary device for business people. They’d need to waste effort assuring people it made calls and sent SMS messages so it could be used instead of the phone. An improvement to your current device is an easier sell than a replacement.

¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_digital_assistant

[justsomehnguy]

And one company who boasted about capabilities of their 'mobile computers' almost ceased to exist.

[neogodless]

Phones connect us to people. Landline, cellphone or smartphone, they connect us. The underlying technology is not as important, nor the additional features.

You use the phone to talk, chat, post, share, get directions to see other people, take photos of people, etc.

[smeej]

I'd guess it's because it evolved by adding features to phones, not adding telephony to something else.

[bitwize]

It has to do with how nontechnical people perceived things pre-smartphone.

To technical folks, a computer is a device with a CPU that can process data and make decisions based on that data. So smartphones are computers.

To nontechnical folks before the late 2000s, a computer was a device that ran Windows or macOS with a screen and keyboard, and you use it to do spreadsheets, word processing, and such. A phone was a device that connected you to your social world via voice and later text communications. So when smartphones emerged, to nontechnical folks they looked and behaved more like phones -- social connectors -- than like computers, or information crunchers. So they got called phones.

It's like how the ancient Hebrews called whales and dolphins fish, despite those animals being classified as mammals under modern taxonomy. The Hebrews were going by how the animals looked and behaved and how people related to them, rather than genetic inheritance

[jeremyjh]

> they looked and behaved more like phones -- social connectors -- than like computers, or information crunchers. So they got called phones.

They were marketed as a replacement and upgrade for the non-smart mobile phone you already had in your pocket. People had already adopted wireless devices that could make calls, send texts, play games and even access the internet in limited ways and those devices were called phones.

[alanbernstein]

I agree it's a funny historical name. But the distinction between devices with/without cell service is somewhat significant.

[int_19h]

Same reason why we have counties without counts?