Mobile phones terminology in other countries

candy bar in the US, housing shape that has no hinges and resembles an oblong candy bar. Sometimes referred as simply bar.
cell phones or cell in Canada, India, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, US.
muthophone (phone in the palm) in Bangladesh. This term is used because mobile phone can be held and used in palm. This term is popular among teenagers and in the literary world of Dhaka.
celular or cel in Albania.
celulares (singular form celular) in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Puerto Rico and other Spanish-speaking countries as the Spanish word for Cellular. It is also used in Portuguese-speaking Brazil.
cep telefonu (pocket phone) in Turkey
chirp in the US, a term made popular by teenagers, as in to "chirp someone". This is regarding the sound of the Nextel walkie-talkie feature. Used 'interchangeably' with 'Beep-Beep'
clamshell in the US, a phone that opens up to reveal the keypad, microphone, and earpiece these are typically more compact than other designs. Often called "flip phones" (although 'flip phone' is a trademark of Motorola). Clamshell phones became very popular in the US after the introduction of Motorola's StarTAC in 1996.
dzhiesem (from GSM) in Bulgaria, refers only to GSM mobile phones
Di dng (mobile phone) , din thoi cm tay (handy phone) or môbai in Vietnam.
Farsími (Official for all mobile phone systems), Gemsi (means young sheep, referring to GSM), GSM-sími (For phones using the GSM System), or NMT-sími (For phones using the Nordic Mobile Telephone-system) in Iceland
fònaichean làimhe (meaning hand phone singular form fòn làimhe) or fònaichean phoca (meaning pocket phone singular form fòn phoca) in Scottish Gaelic
ffôn symudol in Welsh
telefonito (meaning little phone) in Argentina.
movicom (because of the first company to have a cell phone network) in Uruguay.
fón póca, teileafón póca ('pocket telephone') or guthán soghluaiste ('mobile telephone') in Irish
GSMs in Belgium.
hand phones or handphones in many Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea, encompassing cell phones or any wireless phones connected to telecommunication providers. In South Korea, it is also called hyudae jeonhwa or hyudaepon .
handyphone in the Philippines by Globe Telecom (used by the main mobile branch of Globe, Globe Handyphone)
Handy (plural form Handys), a pseudo-anglicism that is used in Austria, Germany and Switzerland for a mobile phone. In German, the word "Handy" has the meaning of "Hand-Telefon" or "handgehaltenes Mobiltelefon" (translated to English: "handheld mobile telephone"). The term possibly derived from the 1940s product name Handie-Talkie for a handheld military radio.
telefon-hamráh or hamráh (companion phone) in Iran
jawwal (mobile) in Saudi Arabia
(Gharzandoi) (mobile) in Pashto, Afghanistan
Keitai (, portable, short for keitai denwa, , portable telephone) in Japan semantic development is very close to words like mobile
khelyawi (cellular) in Lebanon
kinitó, short for kinitó tiléfono, which means mobile phone in Greece and Cyprus
komórki (singular form komórka) or telefon komórkowy, meaning cells/cellular phone in Poland
mahmool or Jawwal or Khelyawi or Mobile in Arabic
matkapuhelimet (literally travel-phones, singular form matkapuhelin) or kännykät (singular form kännykkä, very close in meaning to the German Handy) in Finland actually trademarked by Nokia in 1987 but fallen into generic use and would probably not be upheld any more if contested in a court of law
Meu Teu in Thailand
mobieltjes in the Netherlands
mobifon , a contraction of mobilen telefon in Bulgaria, which came into usage with the introduction of 1G mobile phones. As GSM mobile phones became more widely used, some started calling them dzhiesem as to distinguish them from 1G phones. The remaining 1G phones are still referred to as mobifon, while GSM phones are referred to by most as dzhiesem, although it is looked down upon by some.
mobil in Denmark, Hungary, Norway, Slovakia and Sweden
mobilais telefons or mobilais in Latvia
mobile, short for "mobile phone" ("cellular phone"), a term in everyday usage in some English-speaking countries such as the UK and Australia. Also commonly used by industry insiders in the US, although with a different pronunciation.
mobiles in Australia, India, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, Germany
or Mobilka as a slang term in Ukraine
mobilní telefony (singular form mobilní telefon), or simply mobily (mobil) in Czech Republic
mobilny telefon (= mobile phone), or mobilnik, mobila for short. Older names are sotovy telefon (cell phone) and trubka (handset) in Russia
mòbils in Andorra
mobiltelefon in Denmark, Germany (Mobiltelefon, formerly Mobiltelephon, is the official German term), Hungary, Norway, Sweden (sometimes nalle in Sweden, meaning teddy bear translated to English, originally referring to the term yuppie-nalle since until the late 1980s only rich yuppies could afford them and they showed them off in a way that looked as they were carrying a yuppie teddy bear, nowadays only nalle is used representing that people always carry them around and feel insecure if they misplace them, like a child missing their teddy bear)
mobilus telefonas or mobilus in Lithuania
mobitel in Slovenia. They are named after company called Mobitel which was the first national cell phone network operator. The name is made from the words for Mobile and Telephone.
/pelefon/ ( literally wonder-phone), as derived from the first such operator, or /najad/ ( mobile) in Israel
móviles (móvil) in Spanish and mòbils (mòbil) in Catalan in Spain
Natel (Nationales Autotelefon) in Switzerland
Ponsel (telepon selular, cellular phones), or HP (shortened from Hand Phone, but pronounced ha-pe, not like HP in English) in Indonesian
postelefonoj (pocket phones, pronounced poshtelefonoy) by users of Esperanto
portable (literally portable) in France
sau kei (Simplified Chinese: Traditional Chinese:),
shou ji (Simplified Chinese: Traditional Chinese:)

translated to mean hand's device or hand's device telephone, used in Mandrin speaking areas Mainland China and Taiwan.
slider, a form where the two halves slide together. This design allows the main display to be shown while the keypad is hidden. [where is it used]
sotka (short form of cellular phone in Russian language) in Uzbekistan
Telefonino (meaning small phone), or Cellulare (short form for Telefono cellulare) in Italy
Telefon Bimbit (Mobile Phone) in Bahasa Malaysia
telefon selolari (cellular phone) in formal Hebrew. Most of the Israelis say pelephone like the name of the first mobile company.
telefon mobil (pl. telefoane mobile), but the short form is more common: mobil (mobile) in Romania
telemóvel ("telefone móvel", "mobile telephone") in Portugal
telefoonka gacanta (literally "hand's phone") in Somalia
xing dong dian hua in Taiwan, literal Chinese translation of mobile phone.

mobile or cellular telephone

ringtones

Mobile phone Companies

Mobile phone Index

Mobile phone throwing

Mobile phones - cellular telephone on aircraft