Mobile Phones Essay

â€Å"Cell Phone† redirects here. For the film, see Cell Phone (film). For the Handphone film, see Handphone (film). The Qualcomm QCP-2700, a mid-1990s candybar style phone, and an iPhone 5, a current production smartphone. A mobile phone is a device that can make and receive telephone calls over aradio link while moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile phone operator, allowing access to the public telephone network. By contrast, a cordless telephone is used only within the short range of a single, private base station. In addition to telephony, modern mobile phones also support a wide variety of other services such as text messaging, MMS, email, Internet access, short-range wireless communications, business applications, gaming and photography. Mobile phones that offer these and more general computing capabilities are referred to as smartphones. The first hand-held mobile phone was demonstrated by John F. Mitchell[1][2][3] and Dr Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighing around 2.2 pounds (1 kg).[4] In 1983, the DynaTAC 8000x was the first to be commercially available. From 1990 to 2011, worldwide mobile phone subscriptions grew from 12.4 million to over 6 billion, penetrating about 87% of the global population and reaching the bottom of the economic pyramid. ————————————————- History Main article: History of mobile phones An evolution of mobile phones Before the devices that are now referred to as mobile phones existed, there were some precursors. The development of mobile telephony began in 1918 with tests of wireless telephony on military trains between Berlin – Zossen.[9] In 1924 public trials started with telephone connection on trains between Berlin – Hamburg.[9] In 1925 Zugtelephonie A. G. is founded to supply train telephony equipment[9] and in 1926 telephone service in trains of theDeutsche Reichsbahn and imperial post on the route between Hamburg and Berlin is approved and used.[9] This phone service was only offered to 1st class travelers, but in 1918, some 5 years after the invention of Meissnerischen tube based transmitters, the German Reichsbahn in Berlin led experiments with telephony via radio. [10] The first mobile telephone calls were made from automobiles in 1946. The Bell System’s – Mobile Telephone Service – inaugural call was made on 17 June of that year in St. Louis, Missouri, followed by Illinois Bell Telephone Company’s car radiotelephone service in Chicago on 2 October. [11] The MTS phones were composed of vacuum tubes and relays, and weighed over 80 pounds (36 kg).[12][13] There were initially only 3 channels for all the users in the metropolitan area, increasing later to 32 channels across 3 bands. This service continued into the 1980s in large portions of North America. Due to the small number of radio frequencies available, the service quickly reached capacity. In 1956, the world’s first partly automatic car phone system, Mobile System A (MTA), was introduced in Sweden. John F. Mitchell, Motorola’s chief of portable communication products in 1973, played a key role in advancing the development of handheld mobile telephone equipment. Mitchell successfully pushed Motorola to develop wireless communication products that would be small enough to use anywhere and participated in the design of the cellular phone.[14][15] Martin Cooper, a Motorola researcher and executive, was the key researcher on Mitchell’steam that developed the first hand-held mobile telephone for use on a cellular network.[16] Using a somewhat heavy portable handset, Cooper made the first call on a handheld mobile phone on 3 April 1973 to his rival, Dr. Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs.[17][18] As I walked down the street while talking on the phone, sophisticated New Yorkers gaped at the sight of someone actually moving around while making a phone call. Remember that in 1973, there weren’t cordless telephones or cellular phones. I made numerous calls, including one where I crossed the street while talking to a New York radio reporter – probably one of the more dangerous things I have ever done in my life. —Martin Cooper, [19] The new invention sold for $3,995 and weighed two pounds, leading to the nickname â€Å"the brick†. The world’s first commercial automated cellular network was launched in Japan by NTT in 1979, initially in the metropolitan area of Tokyo. In 1981, this was followed by the simultaneous launch of the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) system in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.[20] Several countries then followed in the early to mid-1980s including the UK, Mexico and Canada. On 6 March 1983, the DynaTAc mobile phone launched on the first US 1G network by Ameritech. It cost $100m to develop, and took over a decade to reach the market.[21] The phone had a talk time of just half an hour and took ten hours to charge. Consumer demand was strong despite the battery life, weight, and low talk time, and waiting lists were in the thousands.[22][23] In 1991, the second generation (2G) cellular technology was launched in Finland by Radiolinja on the GSM standard, which sparked competition in the sector as the new operators challenged the incumbent 1G network operators. Ten years later, in 2001, the third generation (3G) was launched in Japan by NTT DoCoMo on the WCDMA standard.[24] This was followed by 3.5G, 3G+ or turbo 3G enhancements based on thehigh-speed packet access (HSPA) family, allowing UMTS networks to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity. By 2009, it had become clear that, at some point, 3G networks would be overwhelmed by the growth of bandwidth-intensive applications like streaming media.[25] Consequently, the industry began looking to data-optimized 4th-generation technologies, with the promise of speed improvements up to 10-fold over existing 3G technologies. The first two commercially available technologies billed as 4G were the WiMAX standard (offered in the U.S. by Sprint) and the LTE standard, first offered in Scandinavia by TeliaSonera. ————————————————- Read more:  Uses and Abuses of Mobile Phone Essay Features Main article: Mobile phone features See also: Smartphone A printed circuit board inside a Nokia 3210 All mobile phones have a number of features in common, but manufacturers also try to differentiate their own products by implementing additional functions to make them more attractive to consumers. This has led to great innovation in mobile phone development over the past 20 years. The common components found on all phones are: * A battery, providing the power source for the phone functions. * An input mechanism to allow the user to interact with the phone. The most common input mechanism is a keypad, but touch screens are also found in some high-end smartphones. * Basic mobile phone services to allow users to make calls and send text messages. * All GSM phones use a SIM card to allow an account to be swapped among devices. Some CDMA devices also have a similar card called a R-UIM. Individual GSM, WCDMA, iDEN and some satellite phone devices are uniquely identified by an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. Low-end mobile phones are often referred to as feature phones, and offer basic telephony. Handsets with more advanced computing ability through the use of native software applications became known as smartphones. Several phone series have been introduced to address a given market segment, such as the RIM BlackBerry focusing on enterprise/corporate customer email needs; the Sony-Ericsson ‘Walkman’ series of music/phones and ‘Cybershot’ series of camera/phones; the Nokia Nseries of multimedia phones, the Palm Pre the HTC Dream and the Apple iPhone. Text messaging Main article: SMS The most commonly used data application on mobile phones is SMS text messaging. The first SMS text message was sent from a computer to a mobile phone in 1992 in the UK, while the first person-to-person SMS from phone to phone was sent in Finland in 1993. The first mobile news service, delivered via SMS, was launched in Finland in 2000, and subsequently many organizations provided â€Å"on-demand† and â€Å"instant† news services by SMS. SIM card Main articles: Subscriber Identity Module and Removable User Identity Module Typical mobile phone SIM card GSM feature phones require a small microchip called a Subscriber Identity Module or SIM Card, to function. The SIM card is approximately the size of a small postage stamp and is usually placed underneath the battery in the rear of the unit. The SIM securely stores the service-subscriber key (IMSI) and the Ki used to identify and authenticate the user of the mobile phone. The SIM card allows users to change phones by simply removing the SIM card from one mobile phone and inserting it into another mobile phone or broadband telephony device. The first SIM card was made in 1991 by Munich smart card maker Giesecke & Devrient for the Finnish wireless network operatorRadiolinja.[citation needed] In general Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants 1997–2007 A cellphone repair kiosk in Mumbai, India Mobile phones are used for a variety of purposes, including keeping in touch with family members, conducting business, and having access to a telephone in the event of an emergency. Some people carry more than one cell phone for different purposes, such as for business and personal use. Multiple SIM cards may also be used to take advantage of the benefits of different calling plans—a particular plan might provide cheaper local calls, long-distance calls, international calls, or roaming. The mobile phone has also been used in a variety of diverse contexts in society, for example: * A study by Motorola found that one in ten cell phone subscribers have a second phone that often is kept secret from other family members. These phones may be used to engage in activities including extramarital affairs or clandestine business dealings.[38] * Some organizations assist victims of domestic violence by providing mobile phones for use in emergencies. They are often refurbished phones.[39] * The advent of widespread text messaging has resulted in the cell phone novel; the first literary genre to emerge from the cellular age via text messaging to a website that collects the novels as a whole.[40] * Mobile telephony also facilitates activism and public journalism being explored by Reuters and Yahoo![41] and small independent news companies such as Jasmine New in Sri Lanka. * The United Nations reported that mobile phones have spread faster than any other technology and can improve the livelihood of the poorest people in developing countries by providing access to information in places where landlines or the Internet are not available, especially in the least developed countries. Use of mobile phones also spawns a wealth of micro-enterprises, by providing work, such as selling airtime on the streets and repairing or refurbishing handsets.[42] * In Mali and other African countries, people used to travel from village to village to let friends and relatives know about weddings, births and other events, which are now avoided within mobile phone coverage areas, which is usually greater than land line penetration. * The TV industry has recently started using mobile phones to drive live TV viewing through mobile apps, advertising, social tv, and mobile TV.[43] 86% of Americans use their mobile phone while watching TV. * In parts of the world, mobile phone sharing is common. It is prevalent in urban India, as families and groups of friends often share one or more mobiles among their members. There are obvious economic benefits, but often familial customs and traditional gender roles play a part.[44] It is common for a village to have access to only one mobile phone, perhaps owned by a teacher or missionary, but available to all members of the village for necessary calls.[45] While driving Main article: Mobile phones and driving safety Texting in stop-and-go traffic in New York City Mobile phone use while driving is common but controversial. Being distracted while operating a motor vehicle has been shown to increase the risk of accident. Because of this, many jurisdictions prohibit the use of mobile phones while driving. Egypt, Israel, Japan, Portugal and Singapore ban both handheld and hands-free use of a mobile phone; others —including the UK, France, and many U.S. states—ban handheld phone use only, allowing hands-free use. Due to the increasing complexity of mobile phones, they are often more like mobile computers in their available uses. This has introduced additional difficulties for law enforcement officials in distinguishing one usage from another as drivers use their devices. This is more apparent in those countries which ban both handheld and hands-free usage, rather than those who have banned handheld use only, as officials cannot easily tell which function of the mobile phone is being used simply by looking at the driver. This can lead to drivers being stopped for using their device illegally on a phone call when, in fact, they were using the device for a legal purpose such as the phone’s incorporated controls for car stereo or satnav. A recently published study has reviewed the incidence of mobile phone use while cycling and its effects on behaviour and safety.[48] In schools Some schools limit or restrict the use of mobile phones. Schools have set restrictions because of the use of cell phones for cheating on tests, harassment and bullying, threats to the school’s security, distraction of students, and the facilitating of gossip and other social activity at school. Many mobile phones are banned in school locker room facilities, public restrooms and swimming pools due to the built-in cameras that most phones now feature. Mobile banking and payments Main articles: Mobile banking and Mobile payment See also: Branchless banking and Contactless payment In many countries, mobile phones are used to provide mobile banking services, which may include the ability to transfer cash payments by secure SMS text message. Kenya’s M-PESA mobile banking service, for example, allows customers of the mobile phone operator Safaricom to hold cash balances which are recorded on their SIM cards. Cash may be deposited or withdrawn from M-PESA accounts at Safaricom retail outlets located throughout the country, and may be transferred electronically from person to person as well as used to pay bills to companies. Branchless banking has also been successful in South Africa and Philippines. A pilot project in Bali was launched in 2011 by the International Finance Corporation and an Indonesian bank Bank Mandiri.[49] Another application of mobile banking technology is Zidisha, a US-based nonprofit microlending platform that allows residents of developing countries to raise small business loans from web users worldwide. Zidisha uses mobile banking for loan disbursements and repayments, transferring funds from lenders in the United States to the borrowers in rural Africa using the internet and mobile phones.[50] Mobile payments were first trialled in Finland in 1998 when two Coca-Cola vending machines in Espoo were enabled to work with SMS payments. Eventually, the idea spread and in 1999 the Philippines launched the first commercial mobile payments systems, on the mobile operators Globe and Smart. Some mobile phone can make mobile payments via direct mobile billing schemes or through contactless payments if the phone and point of sale support near field communication (NFC).[51] This requires the co-operation of manufacturers, network operators and retail merchants to enable contactless payments through NFC-equipped mobile phones.[52][53][54] Tracking and privacy See also: Mobile phone tracking Mobile phones are also commonly used to collect location data. While the phone is turned on, the geographical location of a mobile phone can be determined easily (whether it is being used or not), using a technique known as multilateration to calculate the differences in time for a signal to travel from the cell phone to each of several cell towers near the owner of the phone. The movements of a mobile phone user can be tracked by their service provider and, if desired, by law enforcement agencies and their government. Both the SIM card and the handset can be tracked.[55] China has proposed using this technology to track commuting patterns of Beijing city residents.[57] In the UK and US, law enforcement and intelligence services use mobiles to perform surveillance. They possess technology to activate the microphones in cell phones remotely in order to listen to conversations that take place near the phone. [58][59] Thefts According to the Federal Communications Commission, one out of three robberies involved the theft of a cellular phone. Police data in San Francisco showed that one-half of all robberies in 2012 were thefts of cellular phones. An online petition on Change.org called Secure our Smartphones urged smartphone manuacturers to install kill switches in their devices to make them unusable in case of theft. The petition is part of a joint effort by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon and was directed to the CEOs of the major smartphone manufacturers and telecommunication carriers. [60] On Monday, June 10, 2013, Apple announced it would install a kill switch on its next iPhone operating system, due to debut in October 2013. [61] ————————————————- Health effects Main article: Mobile phone radiation and health Further information: Mobile phones on aircraft The effect mobile phone radiation has on human health is the subject of recent interest and study, as a result of the enormous increase in mobile phone usage throughout the world. Mobile phones use electromagnetic radiation in the microwave range, which some believe may be harmful to human health. A large body of research exists, both epidemiological and experimental, innon-human animals and in humans, of which the majority shows no definite causative relationship between exposure to mobile phones and harmful biological effects in humans. This is often paraphrased simply as the balance of evidence showing no harm to humans from mobile phones, although a significant number of individual studies do suggest such a relationship, or are inconclusive. Other digital wireless systems, such as data communication networks, produce similar radiation. On 31 May 2011, the World Health Organization stated that mobile phone use may possibly represent a long-term health risk,[62][63] classifying mobile phone radiation as â€Å"possibly carcinogenic to humans† after a team of scientists reviewed studies on cell phone safety.[64] Mobile phones are in category 2B, which ranks it alongside Coffee and other possibly carcinogenic substances.[65][66] At least some recent studies have found an association between cell phone use and certain kinds of brain and salivary gland tumors. Lennart Hardell and other authors of a 2009 meta-analysis of 11 studies from peer-reviewed journals concluded that cell phone usage for at least ten years â€Å"approximately doubles the risk of being diagnosed with a brain tumor on the same (‘ipsilateral’) side of the head as that preferred for cell phone use.† [67] One study of past cell phone use cited in the report showed a â€Å"40% increased risk for gliomas (brain cancer) in the highest category of heavy users (reported average: 30 minutes per day over a 10†year period).†[68] This is a reversal from their prior position that cancer was unlikely to be caused by cellular phones or their base stations and that reviews had found no convincing evidence for other health effects.[63][69] Certain countries, including France, have warned against the use of cell phones especially by minors due to health risk uncertainties.[70] However, a study published 24 March 2012 in the British Medical Journal questioned these estimates, because the increase in brain cancers has not paralleled the increase in mobile phone use. Dis-advantages : * Some people (especially teens) get so much addicted to cell phones for talking, video, messaging, games, etc that they forget the real purpose of the phone and waste large part of their time in unnecessary interaction over their cell phones. * Nothing more can be a distraction for a teached in the classroom, when a student’s phone rings. Cell phones are increasingly becoming a problem for the schools during classroom hours and are becoming a means of cheating during examinations and other kinds of ability tests. All this is really bad and does hurt the future of the student, who doesn’t realize that he/she is him/her-self responsible for it. * Health of those living in the vicinity of cell phone towers is becoming a growing concern. Towers result into an area with concrete development along with destruction of natural features (vegetation etc) around the place. The towers also emit strong electromagnetic signals, which can be health hazard for those living nearby and who are getting exposed to strong radiations continuously during a good span of their lives. * While remaining in touch is good thing but sometimes it becomes annoying to have to deal with continuous incoming phone calls. You are on a vacation and your boss calls up, how does that sound! * Cell phone monthly bills are usually more than a landline bill. Sometimes, we may not require to have a cell phone but we still buy one and start paying monthly bills; so it increases our monthly/recurring expenses. * Use of hands-free (wired/blue-tooth) can at times pass on loud sounds to our ears which can result in weakening of ear-drums. Nowadays, one can download lot’s of songs, so keeping the hands-free glued inside your ears for long hours can really affect the sensitivity of ears in the long run of life. * There have been cases of cell phone blasts, due to the excessive heating up of it’s battery. This can be a fatal issue; although rare. * No joke, the surface of a cell phone has millions of bacteria and virus on it and that can be a strong reason of immediate skin p roblem on face or can result into other internal infections wherein the microbes creep inside the body through mouth or other openings. * Some use the keypad excessively; due to size restrictions the buttons and keypad of the cell phone are not natural for human hands; so excessive and prolonged typing can be an issue for fingers and finger joints. * The continuous exposure of signal to and from our cell phone can be a cancer concern, although to a meagre amount- research is still going on. However, the mobile phone industry has long resisted any suggestion of a link to cancer, though it accepts that mobile phone radiation does affect the electrical activity in the brain. * The battery parts and other electonic parts of a cell phone can be environmental hazard if not disposed off properly through approved means. * A cell phone can be helpful while driving and talking in case of urgent matters but increasingly it is becoming cause of accidents because it deviates the attention of a driver; human brain can do only one thing at a time (however small span of time it may be). * It can be a big time distraction and nuisance in calm and silent places like libraries, cinemas, restaruants, etc. Some cell phone users lose the sense of deciding when and where they can talk on the cell phone and where they can’t, without slightest consideration for the fellow beings around. * The mobile phone advertisements through messages are becoming a pain for the cell phone users. * Your SIM can be exploited as tracking device and if you’re an important person then that can be a big concern for you. Advantages : * The more you talk, the more you know how to talk and the better your communication skills become. This is applicable if you’re a sensible person and keep note of your interacting habits over the phone. It can be a communication tutorial! * Nothing more than a cell phone comes to great help in emergency. You are driving by the freeway and the vehicle jams and cell phone comes to your rescue. You are stuck in a lone place, again call somebody and ask for directions. * Parents can be a little less worried about their kids by being in constant touch with them. * If you’re a net-savvy, you can have Internet handy all the time and anywhere the signal of your cell phone provider can reach. * Trendy and stylish cell phones can be used as a bait to receive attention. It can be part of fashion and styling. * From the industy and economy point of view, cell phone companies (communication industry) is flourishing with market capital in billions. This is a good thing for the economy to be smooth and healthy. * Companies find it yet another medium to advertise their products; so another medium to reach the consumers. * Nowadays, cell phones are not just phone calls; they’re about messaging, video, songs, games, alarm clock, notes, calendar, reminder, etc. So one equipment, lots’ of uses! * Although cell phone use can be dangerous while driving but sometimes it can be a time-saver – you are driving and simultaneously discussing some urgent matter as well. A sensible and only urgent usage during driving can be a great help at times.