Feature phones

Feature phone is a term typically used as a retronym to describe mobile phones which are limited in capabilities in contrast to a modern smartphone. Feature phones typically provide voice calling and text messaging functionality, in addition to basic multimedia and Internet capabilities, and other services offered by the user's wireless service provider. A feature phone has additional functions over and above a basic mobile phone which is only capable of voice calling and text messaging. Feature phones and basic mobile phones tend to use a proprietary, custom-designed software and user interface. By contrast, smartphones generally use a mobile operating system that often shares common traits across devices.

Feature phones were the top-selling devices in a wireless carrier's lineup from 2000 to 2010 due to their assortment of features for retail customers, when smartphones were meant primarily for enterprise users. However, in 2006-07, the advent of the iPhone and Android ushered in the consumer-focused smartphone with major encouragement for app development, plus the iPhone and Android devices were considerably more powerful than existing feature phones and smartphones on the market.

Since mid-2012, in reference to the literal opposite of the term "smartphone", the term dumbphone has been increasingly used in order to refer to any mobile phone other than smartphone, and applies today to most of featurephones that do not offer a combination of touch screen, wireless internet and/or mobile OS support.

In contrast to smartphones which run rich-featured operating systems that can rival that of personal computers and have widespread support for third-party apps, feature phones run on proprietary firmware with third-party software support through platforms such as Java ME or BREW. The proprietary operating systems were not designed in mind to develop nor handle the intensive applications found on iPhone and Android, the latter which specifically cater to third-party application development which became increasingly important.

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