What is the answer to LinkedIn Pinpoint #678?
The answer is Words that come before phone because Camera, Smart, Pay, Touch-tone, and Cellular all form familiar phone phrases.
Permanent Pinpoint answer & analysis (Pinpoint Today archive)
Published on 03/09/2026
Updated on 03/09/2026
This Pinpoint answer guide asks what shared idea links Camera, Smart, Pay, Touch-tone, and Cellular. Follow the spoiler-safe hints one by one, then see how each clue clicks into the final answer.
Hover (desktop) or tap (mobile) each clue before you reveal the Pinpoint answer
Detailed Pinpoint answer breakdown continues just below - keep scrolling
Camera and Smart already suggest consumer tech, but they do not yet prove the shared noun by themselves. Pay and Touch-tone add older telecom language, which is what makes the board look more scattered than it really is. Smart is the clue that tightens it.
Smartphone is such an automatic phrase that phone shows up right away, and once it does, the rest of the board becomes easy to check.
Camera phone, pay phone, touch-tone phone, and cellular phone all land cleanly after that.
The answer was Words that come before phone.
This puzzle works because it mixes modern and older telecom vocabulary under one durable everyday noun.
Words that come before phone
| Clue | Early read | Resolved read | Why it works |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camera | general technology terms | "camera phone" | "Camera phone" works because it names a specific mobile feature rather than photography in general. |
| Smart | general technology terms | "smartphone" | "Smartphone" is the turning clue because it is the most common and immediate phone compound on the board. |
| Pay | general technology terms | "pay phone" | "Pay phone" broadens the answer across generations and proves the board is about the shared noun rather than modern tech only. |
| Touch-tone | general technology terms | "touch-tone phone" | "Touch-tone phone" confirms the same object in older telecom language. |
| Cellular | general technology terms | "cellular phone" | "Cellular phone" closes the set with a formal term that keeps the same connector working cleanly. |
Mixing eras is often a signal, not a problem
When a board combines older and newer terms from the same broad field, a shared noun often explains both at once.
Lead with the most modern everyday phrase
Smartphone is easier to reach than touch-tone phone, so it makes a better entry point for the connector.
Old telecom language still counts
A dated clue like touch-tone can be a perfectly valid confirmation if it forms a standard phrase with the same noun.
The answer is Words that come before phone because Camera, Smart, Pay, Touch-tone, and Cellular all form familiar phone phrases.
The connection is one shared ending noun. The board resolves into camera phone, smartphone, pay phone, touch-tone phone, and cellular phone.
Smart is the turning clue because smartphone is the quickest and most familiar phrase on the board, which makes phone appear immediately.