Mobile Phone Ringtones

Mobile phone ringtones are a recent phenomenon. Back in the old days people were happy to just have a ringing sound for their phone. A ringer in old phones was an actual metal bell that went "drrring". When electronic became more widespread a speaker replaced this which amplified a preset series of tones. Phones only came with one pre programmed sound that was heard when the phone was called

Digital technology enables ringtones

With advent of digital technology in the 1980's came more varied ringers. Many home phones that work off a landline still only had one type of ringer. The 1980's saw the beginnings of usable mobile phones in the UK. These were often brick sized and limited only to the "YUPPIES" who could afford them but they introduced a new concept - ringtones. A ringtone is a sound that's played when a phone rings, it's a simple as that.

Early phones allowed only simple ringing sounds and basic tunes to be played. Many of the ringing sounds mimicked those used on landline phones. The tunes were monophonic (mono ring tones) this meant only one note could be played at once. Songs were recognisable but sounded pretty awful and a bit cheesy.

In the last few years mobile phone ringtone has come on in leaps and bounds. The first technology to be introduced was Polyphonic Ringtones. Poly means more than one (as opposed to mono meaning one). A polyphonic ringtone comprises of more than one note being played at once, but it gets better than that Polyphonic phones play synthesized instruments so you get a much more pleasant and authentic sound. Many polyphonic ringtones sound just like the records they are copying.

Sound samples on your phone

Now realtones are available which are actual samples of sounds and songs that work as mobile phone ringtones. These sound exactly like the sound that's sampled! At the moment not many songs are available as realtones - one reason for this is that many realtone capable phones have a built in sound recorder that enables you to record songs straight off your sound system or using software that comes with the phone to transfer realtones onto it.

Ringtones website

This website offers a large range of mobile ringtones for UK mobile users. Have a browse around you're sure to find something that you would like to have as you ringtone. Ringtones add presonallity to your phone and allow you to pick out when it's your phone ringing in a crowded room.