A ring tone is a sound made by a phone to indicate an incoming call. The term most often refers to mobile phones. Ring tones were originally invented so that people would know when their phone was ringing when in the company of other mobile phone users. Older telephones used a pair of bells for the ringer, but today modern ring tones have become completely customisable and personalized. New mobile phones also allow each phonebook entry to have its own personal ring tone to identify who is calling.
Polyphonic is a type of ring tone. Most mobile phones are compatible with polyphonic ringers. Polyphonic ring tones are recordings of various sounds such as music, speech, or other sounds. These types of ring tones are also often called “realtones” or “truetones” when it is playing a song. The creation of polyphonic ringers allows users to have a wide selection of ringers, as well as customisable options.
Originally cell phones were only capable of playing monophonic ring tones. Monophonic means that songs could only be composed by simple tones being played one at a time, hence the term ‘mono’. Monophonic ring tones are able to play on all cell phones, and are still offered today, but polyphonic ringers have virtually replaced the monophonic ringers.
A ringback tone is the sound that is heard on the phone line by the calling party. Most phones have a typical ring, but now there is the option of using a song, message, or special effect as the ringback tone. This allows even more personalization to mobile phones. Verizon wireless was one of the first mobile phone companies to offer ringback tones to its customers, but the personalized ringback tone was first started in Korea.
A singtone is an all new ringtone that is offered through various mobile phone companies. A singtone allows the mobile phone user to record their voice over music replacing the original singers voice with the users. The music and voice are perfectly synced and play when someone calls. This is similar to karaoke, but through a cell phone.
Voice ringers are also another type of ring tone available to mobile phone users. This is a polyphonic ringer, but instead of playing sound effects or a song, the ringer is a voice. You can download various celebrity voices onto your phone, or record your own voice to be your ringer. This can also be used as a ringback tone if desired. |