Cell phones, also known as mobile phones, have become a staple in our daily lives. These handheld devices have evolved greatly over the years, offering a wide range of features and capabilities beyond just making phone calls. From taking photos and browsing the internet to running apps and playing games, cell phones have become a central hub for communication and entertainment.
With so many advancements in technology and the widespread use of cell phones, it's no wonder that they have become a popular topic for trivia.
68 Cell Phone Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated for 2024)
- In 1999 Shigetaka Kurita invented what keyboard additions for cell phones that would eventually replace emoticons and even get their own movie?
Answer: Emojis
- The mobile app development company Niantic struck gold in 2016 with what smash-hit smartphone game that captured tens of millions of players within days of its release? The game became a global phenomenon with players largely playing outdoors.
Answer: Pokémon Go
- Famously, Siri is the name of Apple's voice assistant and Alexa that of Amazon. What is the name of Microsoft's voice assistant?
Answer: Cortana
- The first Android-powered device from Samsung Mobile also became the first in a long-running product line for the company. What was the name of this device?
Answer: Samsung Galaxy
- In 2014, Google partnered with Game Freak and Nintendo as part of an April Fool's Day prank to create a new version of Google Maps populated by small creatures. This prank inspired what massively popular 2016 video game?
Answer: Pokémon Go
- Since 2013, what technology company focused on payments has owned the popular smartphone cash transfer app Venmo?
Answer: Paypal
- Now appearing prophetic, what device was announced in 2007 with the following slogan? "This is only the beginning."
Answer: iPhone
- What five-letter palindrome is both the name of a water transportation vessel and a transportation-focused website that went public in 2012? At one point, this company's namesake app was featured on Travel + Leisure's list of "Best Apps and Websites for Travelers."
Answer: Kayak
- What collection of ideograms was first created by Shigetaka Kurita for the use on Japanese mobile phones in 1999? This collection quickly ascended in popularity as they were included on more and more mobile operating systems.
Answer: Emoji
- British-born geophysicist Cecil Green lived in Toronto and San Francisco growing up, and ultimately earned two college degrees from M.I.T. However, when he cofounded a company, the firm included what other state in its name? You might be most familiar with one of their products from algebra class.
Answer: Texas Instruments
- Larry Ellison co-founded a company in 1977 with the rather boring name of Software Development Laboratories (SDL). In 1983, the company introduced what word into its official name? This new word is the name of the company today and also means a person considered to provide wise counsel or prophetic predictions.
Answer: Oracle
- The 2.0 version of the Android operating system was nicknamed "Eclair" and the 2.3 version was nicknamed "Gingerbread." In between was the five-letter name of a cold dessert which exploded in popularity in the 2000s with self-serve toppings. What dessert is this?
Answer: Froyo
- With only 13 months between the phone's first release and the discontinuation of the product, the Fire phone was widely considered a commercial flop for what tech giant?
Answer: Amazon
- During the four-year production run of the V3 version, what device became the world's best-selling clamshell phone with over 130 million units sold?
Answer: Motorola Razr
- Andy Rubin is known as one of the three founders of what massively popular cell phone operating system?
Answer: Android
- How many times would you have had to hit the 4 button to text the word “Hi” on a flip phone’s non-T9 number pad?
Answer: 5
- For Cyber Monday in the US in 2019, Google "baked" Pixel 4 phones inside the pizza boxes of what fast food chain as a limited promotion?
Answer: Dominos
- In what 2008 film does a well-known scene involving a cell phone contain the line "what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career."?
Answer: Taken
- The tiny town of Green Bank, West Virginia is located within the National Radio QZ because it is home to the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope. This means that there are strict Wi-Fi and cell phone restrictions in the city. What does QZ stand for in this context?
Answer: Quiet Zone
- At 195 Broadway St in 1915, the first transcontinental telephone call was placed from New York to San Francisco by what man?
Answer: Alexander Graham Bell
- What is the seven-letter branded software standard created by Apple that enables a car radio or touchscreen to be a display and a controller for an iOS device?
Answer: CarPlay
- "Lumia" is a discontinued mobile phone franchise that was produced by two companies. Name one of those companies.
Answer: Microsoft or Nokia
- "Project Purple" was the internal company codename for what foundational cell phone product?
Answer: iPhone
- While working at Motorola in the 1970s, Martin Cooper invented what is typically considered the first cell phone. Cooper is a graduate of IIT: an Institute of Technology located in what state?
Answer: Illinois
- The U.S. National Cyber Security Division opened for the first time in 2003 and is currently housed within what Federal Department? John Kelly, Kirstjen Nielsen, and Kevin McAleenan all served as Secretary of this Department during the Trump administration.
Answer: Department of Homeland Security
- Used in electronic messages and web pages, they are similar to emoticons but are actual pictures instead of typographics. What are they?
Answer: Emojis
- The integrated circuit intended to securely store information and a key on a mobile phone is widely known as a SIM card. Name ANY of the three words that SIM stands for.
Answer: Subscriber Identity Module
- What brand released the world's first commercially available cellular phone?
Answer: Motorola
- What technology company was founded in 1993 with the vision that the next wave of computing would be graphics-based? The company took its name from the Latin word for "envy" and features product families GeForce, Quadro, and Tegra.
Answer: Nvidia
- What smartphone app and fintech company was founded by father and son duo Walter Wemple Cruttenden III and Jeffrey James Cruttenden to promote incremental and passive investing in 2014? The company's app features a light green color scheme and shares its name with a seed enclosed in a tough, leathery shell. The portfolio options the company offers were designed in part by Nobel laureate Harry Markowitz.
Answer: Acorns
- Rovio Entertainment is a Finnish company best known for creating what franchise of mega successful smartphone games?
Answer: Angry Birds
- What 7-letter term for fingerprint recognition is trademarked by Apple and used on their devices for biometric access to devices?
Answer: Touch ID
- What iOS feature allowed users to animate emojis by incorporating the user's facial expressions, as recognized by the iPhone X's camera?
Answer: Animoji
- What regal company initially released Candy Crush Saga on Facebook in 2012? The game has found massive popularity and revenue as a smartphone app.
Answer: King
- Where does the name for the "old school" form of texting called "T9" get its name (i.e. what does it stand for)?
Answer: Texting on 9 keys
- A home telephone in the physical shape of a mallard duck was a key piece of the MTV-provided furniture in the house from what reality television series?
Answer: Jersey Shore
- Popular as a standalone smartphone app, Candy Crush Saga initially debuted on what website's games platform?
Answer: Facebook
- With revenue over $700 million in 2018 and more than 20 years in the education technology market, what is the name of the privately-held DC-based company which claims more than 17,000 schools and organizations in 100 countries as customers? The company's name is likely to remind you of something you'd find in a school.
Answer: Blackboard Inc
- What "H" word is used to describe the use of touch feedback for the end user on a phone?
Answer: Haptic
- A November 1998 article titled "New CYBERSCAPE: Digital Assistants Get Sophisticated" was the first article in the New York Times's archive to use what now-ubiquitous word which, despite its name, does not necessarily refer to the IQ of a pocket computer?
Answer: Smartphone
- What is the common alphanumeric abbreviation for the "predictive text technology" developed by Tegic Communications and used on mobile phones prior to the widespread adoption of touchscreen keyboards?
Answer: T9
- Google Buzz, Google Friend Connect, and Orkut were all Google products that were retired attempts at a social media platform. The fourth attempt was named what?
Answer: Google+
- What cult British TV series focused on three members of the IT department at the fictional Reynholm Industries?
Answer: The IT Crowd
- Founded by a computer programmer and a box office expert, what company had an Electric Light Orchestra concert at the University of New Mexico as its first ticketed event?
Answer: Ticketmaster
- In 2005, the telecom giant Sprint merged with what other telecom provider with an "N" name?
Answer: Nextel
- AMD is an American semiconductor company based in Santa Clara that has been an industry-leader for developing computer processors. The company is a primary competitor to both Intel and Nvidia. What does AMD stand for?
Answer: Advanced Micro Devices
- A full-time Apple employee from 1992 to 2019, what man became Apple's first Chief Design Officer in 2015?
Answer: Jony Ive
- What communications giant goes by the stock symbol T on the New York Stock Exchange?
Answer: AT&T
- The first Apple store was opened in 2001 after years of failed "store-within-a-store" concepts at other chains. This location was located in Tysons Corner in what U.S. state?
Answer: Virginia
- What does SMS stand for in the context of cellular communications?
Answer: Short Message Service
- Japanese chemist Akira Yoshino switched from low yield polyacetylene to a carbonaceous material electrode in 1985, locking in what critical piece of cell phone tech?
Answer: Lithium-ion battery
- What is the name of the single-player sliding block puzzle game designed by Italian web developer Gabriele Cirulli in which a smartphone user tries to create a certain value by sliding and combining tiles around a grid?
Answer: 2048
- What Nordic country created mobile phone throwing as an international sport in 2000?
Answer: Finland
- Within 4 years, what year was the first cell phone sold, for roughly $4,000? Car phones were invented in the 1940's, but we are looking for the first one aimed to be sold to consumers to use outside of cars.
Answer: 1984
- What was the first iPhone model to feature a (now ubiquitous) front-facing camera?
Answer: iPhone 4
- With a single guess, name one of the two southern universities from which Apple's current CEO Tim Cook holds a degree.
Answer: Auburn or Duke
- What is the name of the online service and iOS app used for over-the-air installation and testing of mobile applications on Apple devices? This program is owned by Apple and is frequently used for downloading and testing alpha and beta versions of apps.
Answer: TestFlight
- The Spanish telecommunications company Telefónica operates under what "Hollywood"-esque name in much of Latin America, including Argentina, Mexico, and Costa Rica?
Answer: Movistar
- In what year did Apple standardize their chargers with the introduction of the Lightening cable?
Answer: 2012
- The initial unveiling of the iPhone to the public was in 2007 at the Moscone Center in what American city?
Answer: San Francisco
- The Alto computer released in 1973 was the first to feature a GUI (graphical user interface). Although Apple's far more successful Macintosh system brought the GUI to wider acclaim, what was the company that released the Alto?
Answer: Xerox
- When the first iPhone was released, how many GB's of memory was in the cheapest model?
Answer: 4
- Officially announced in February 2019, the "Mate X" folding cell phone will be manufactured and sold by what electronics giant?
Answer: Huawei
- What compound-word brand name popularly sells a product which both acts as an expanding cell phone grip and phone stand?
Answer: PopSockets
- Player reaction to a simulated disease in a computer game resembled historical records about plagues so closely that epidemiologists are using the data evaluate scenarios related to a potential future virus outbreak. What was the computer game in which this happened?
Answer: World of Warcraft
- What five-letter male name was given to the phone deemed the first smartphone? Released by IBM in 1994, the phone featured a touchscreen keyboard, email, calendars and more.
Answer: Simon
- When creating the first iPhone, Apple underwent a secretive collaboration with AT&T Mobility which was known by what name at the time?
Answer: Cingular Wireless
- According to Apple, the most popular free game downloaded on iPhones in 2018 was Fortnite. The 2nd most popular game was an "endless play style of game where you try to get a ball down a set of platforms as you avoid red platforms." What was this 2nd most popular game?
Answer: Helix Jump
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About the Author
Eli Robinson is the Chief Trivia Officer at Water Cooler Trivia. He was once in a Bruce Springsteen cover band called F Street Band.
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