Definition: mobile wireless modes

Smartphones have four or five wireless radios built in for transmitting and receiving data. Cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS radios are in every modern smartphone, and near field communication (NFC) is also standard on most phones.

Tablet Wireless
Tablets come with two to five radios built in. All tablets have Wi-Fi, and many have Wi-Fi and cellular. A few have NFC and GPS radios. See how to select a mobile device, cellular hotspot, cellular generations, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and NFC.

  BUILT-IN RADIOS
                               Wi-Fi +
                      Wi-Fi    Cellular
       Smartphones   Tablets   Tablets

  Cellular    X                  X
  Wi-Fi       X          X       X
  Bluetooth   X          X       X
  GPS         X        Few      Some
  NFC       Most       Few      Few