Cellphone

A Cellphone is a piece of revolutionary technology in the universe of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. Functionally and appearance-wise, it is the same as cellphones of the real world, although some appear in Final Fantasy VII, some years before its mass usage in the real world.

Final Fantasy VII
The PHS, the means of switching party members at save points and on the world map, is a cellphone. Cloud receives it in Kalm from his allies after they escape Midgar. Later on in the story, if Cait Sith is not in the party at the Temple of Ancients and during the second visit to the Forgotten Capital, he will contact Cloud via the PHS to inform him of his plan to sacrifice his body and alert the party of the Sister Ray cannon's transfer from Junon to Midgar, respectively.

In the Reunion Files for Advent Children, Nomura states that PHS stands for "Party Henshu (Editing) System".

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
The phone prominently featured here and future Compilation installments is the Panasonic FOMA P900iV, which helped to market the movie and vice versa. All of the living main characters of the game (except Red XIII, Cait Sith and Vincent), as well as Rufus Shinra, the Turks and the movie's antagonists, Yazoo, Loz, and Kadaj, all seem to own a phone. It is Cloud's phone, however, that takes significance as part of his symbolism in the movie.

Cloud's phone became a symbol of his isolation from Tifa, Marlene, Denzel and practically anyone else, after learning he had contracted Geostigma, adding insult to injury for his self-imposed guilt of failing to prevent the deaths of Aerith and Zack. Cloud no longer answers his calls, forcing callers to merely leave voice messages to be listened to later on, and he rarely, if ever, calls them back. Tifa scolds Cloud for isolating himself using the phone as an example, saying "you don't answer the phone, but I don't see you throwing it away either". Later, during Cloud's scuffle against the three Sephiroth Remnants at the Forgotten Capital, he accidentally drops his phone in the lake, where two years earlier, Aerith's body was laid to rest. When Cloud realizes it had been lost, he is harshly chastised by Marlene and Vincent for his constant isolationism, which causes his change for the better. Unbeknownst to them, when Cloud's phone reaches the lake's bottom, Aerith's spirit leaves a message on it before it deactivates.

As a joke in the film, during his entrance in the battle against Bahamut SIN, Vincent asks Tifa where the cellphone store is, as he lacked one. Shortly after the events of the movie, as chronicled in Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII, he finally acquires a phone, revealed in Dirge of Cerberus to sport his trademark Dirge design. In a humorous instance, he calls Cloud to pass on a message to Yuffie to tell her that she has no right to call his phone. In fact most of the dialogue of Reminiscence are phone conversations, as none of the characters are seen outside of the Final Fantasy VII montages.

In a humorous scene, the ringtone of Loz's phone is revealed to be the beginning snippet of the Final Fantasy VII version of Victory Fanfare, as it rings shortly after Tifa narrowly "defeats" him in Aerith's church before he gets back up and answers it.

Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-
The player Turks use their cellphones to get orders from Verdot or Tseng. With these they can report emergency information or be given on-the-spot instructions on what to do.

Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-
As previously stated, by this time, Vincent has finally acquired a phone bearing his Dirge design on it, though it is thought to be destroyed during the attack on Edge. Also, in the final cutscenes, Cloud appears to have gained a new phone, identical to his original, probably as a reference to his having moved on with his life.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-
Despite taking place before the original game, the phones featured here are the same models as those of Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus. Zack periodically receives e-mail from numerous contacts, as well as important calls, throughout the game. Called "handsets", they are seen as a standard issue among SOLDIER members, to the point where Kunsel gave Zack a crash course on how to use his at the beginning of the game. Angeal, Zack and Sephiroth have been seen using these handsets, and Zack often receives calls and messages from his superiors and friends through his handset. It can be assumed that the Menu (or at least, the Missions Menu) is what Zack reviews on his mobile phone screen, as Angeal had accessed his phone in that way to abort a training session in the prologue. The phones also have a wireless connection with shops, allowing Zack to purchase or sell items.