A
mobile phone is a portable
telephone that can make and receive
telephone call over a
radio frequency link while the user is moving within a telephone service area. The radio frequency link establishes a connection to the switching systems of a mobile phone operator, which provides access to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Modern mobile telephone services use a
cellular network architecture, and, therefore, mobile telephones are often also called
cellular telephones or
cell phones. In addition to
telephony, 2000s-era mobile phones support a variety of other
GSM services, such as
text messaging, MMS,
email,
Internet access, short-range wireless communications (infrared,
Bluetooth), business applications, gaming, and digital photography. Mobile phones which offer these and more general computing capabilities are referred to as
.
The first handheld mobile phone was demonstrated by John F. Mitchell[ John F. Mitchell Biography][ Who invented the cell phone?] and Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighing c. 2 kilograms (4.4 lbs).
History
A handheld mobile radio telephone service was envisioned in the early stages of radio engineering. In 1917,
Finland inventor
Eric Tigerstedt filed a patent for a "pocket-size folding telephone with a very thin carbon microphone". Early predecessors of cellular phones included
analog signal radio communications from ships and trains. The race to create truly portable telephone devices began after World War II, with developments taking place in many countries. The advances in
mobile telephony have been traced in successive "generations", starting with the early zeroth-generation (0G) services, such as
Bell System's Mobile Telephone Service and its successor, the Improved Mobile Telephone Service. These 0G systems were not
Cellular network, supported few simultaneous calls, and were very expensive.
The first handheld mobile phone was demonstrated by John F. Mitchell
and Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighing c. 4.4 lbs (2 kg).
The first commercial automated cellular network was launched in Japan by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone in 1979. This was followed in 1981 by the simultaneous launch of the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) system in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.
[ ] Several other countries then followed in the early to mid-1980s. These first-generation (1G) systems could support far more simultaneous calls but still used analog cellular technology. In 1983, the
Motorola DynaTAC was the first commercially available handheld mobile phone.
In 1991, the second-generation (2G) digital cellular technology was launched in Finland by Radiolinja on the GSM standard. This 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.
By 2009, it had become clear that, at some point, 3G networks would be overwhelmed by the growth of bandwidth-intensive applications, such as streaming media.
Types
Smartphone
have a number of distinguishing features. The International Telecommunication Union measures those with Internet connection, which it calls
Active Mobile-Broadband subscriptions (which includes tablets, etc.). In the developed world, smartphones have now overtaken the usage of earlier mobile systems. However, in the developing world, they account for around 50% of
mobile telephony.
Feature phone
Feature phone is a term typically used as a
retronym to describe
mobile phones which are limited in capabilities in contrast to a modern
smartphone. Feature phones typically provide
voice calling and
text messaging functionality, in addition to basic
multimedia and
Internet capabilities, and other services offered by the user's wireless service provider. A feature phone has additional functions over and above a basic mobile phone which is only capable of voice calling and text messaging.
[ feature phone Definition from PC Magazine Encyclopedia][Todd Hixon, Two Weeks With A Dumb Phone, Forbes, November 13, 2012] Feature phones and basic mobile phones tend to use a proprietary, custom-designed
software and
user interface. By contrast, smartphones generally use a mobile operating system that often shares common traits across devices.
- Kosher phone
There are
Jewish orthodox religious restrictions which, by some interpretations, standard mobile telephones overstep. To deal with this problem, some rabbinical organizations have recommended that phones with text-messaging capability not be used by children.
Phones with restricted features are known as
kosher phones and have
approval for use in Israel and elsewhere by observant
. Although these phones are intended to prevent immodesty, some vendors report good sales to adults who prefer the simplicity of the devices. Some phones are approved for use by essential workers (such as health, security, and public service workers) on the
Shabbat, even though the use of any electrical device is generally prohibited during this time.
Hardware
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. These are a keypad for feature phones and for most smartphones.
-
A screen which echoes the user's typing displays text messages, contacts, and more.
-
Basic GSM 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 an 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 and offer basic telephony. Handsets with more advanced computing ability through the use of native software applications are known as .
Sound
In sound, smartphones and feature phones vary little. Some audio-quality enhancing features, such as Voice over LTE and
HD Voice, have appeared and are often available on newer smartphones. Sound quality can remain a problem due to the design of the phone, the quality of the cellular network and compression algorithms used in long distance calls.
Audio quality can be improved using a
VoIP application over
WiFi.
Cellphones have small speakers so that the user can use a
speakerphone feature and talk to a person on the phone without holding it to their ear. The small speakers can also be used to listen to digital audio files of music or speech or watch videos with an audio component, without holding the phone close to the ear.
SIM card
GSM require a small microchip called a Subscriber Identity Module or
SIM card, in order 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 K
i 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, provided that this is not prevented by a
SIM lock. The first SIM card was made in 1991 by Munich smart card maker Giesecke & Devrient for the Finnish wireless network operator
Radiolinja.
A hybrid mobile phone can hold up to four . SIM and R-UIM cards may be mixed together to allow both GSM and CDMA networks to be accessed. From 2010 onwards, such phones became popular in emerging markets,[[5] ] and this was attributed to the desire to obtain the lowest on-net calling rate.
Infrastructure
Mobile phones communicate with cell towers that are placed to give coverage across a telephone service area which is divided up into 'cells'. Each cell uses a different set of frequencies from neighbouring cells, and will typically be covered by 3 towers placed at different locations. The cell towers are usually interconnected to each other and the phone network and the internet by wired connections. Due to bandwidth limitations each cell will have a maximum number of cell phones it can handle at once. The cells are therefore sized depending on the expected usage density, and may be much smaller in cities. In that case much lower transmitter powers are used to avoid broadcasting beyond the cell.
As a phone moves around, a phone will "hand off"- automatically disconnect and reconnect to the tower that gives the best reception.
Additionally, short-range Wi-Fi infrastructure is often used by smartphones as much as possible as it offloads traffic from cell networks on to local area networks.
Software
Text messaging
A common data application on mobile phones is SMS (SMS) text messaging. The first SMS 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 "on-demand" and "instant" news services by SMS. Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) was introduced in 2001.
Sales
By manufacturer
|
| + Market share of top-five worldwide mobile phone vendors, Q2 2016 |
|
| 22.3% |
| 12.9% |
| 8.9% |
| 5.4% |
| 4.5% |
| 46.0% |
Note: Vendor shipments are
branded shipments and exclude
OEM sales for all vendors |
From 1983 to 1998, Motorola was market leader in mobile phones. Nokia was the market leader in mobile phones from 1998 to 2012.[ Nokia - The rise and fall] In Q1 2012, Samsung surpassed Nokia, selling 93.5 million units as against Nokia's 82.7 million units. Samsung has retained its top position since then. In Q2 2016, the top five manufacturers were Samsung (22.3%), Apple (12.9%), Huawei (8.9%), Oppo (5.4%), and Xiaomi (4.5%).
By mobile phone operator
The world's largest individual mobile operator by number of subscribers is China Mobile, which has over 500 million mobile phone subscribers.[Source: wireless intelligence] In 2014, there were more than seven billion mobile phone subscribers worldwide, a number that is expected to keep growing.
Use
General
Mobile phones are used for a variety of purposes, such as keeping in touch with family members, for conducting business, and in order to have access to a telephone in the event of an emergency. Some people carry more than one mobile phone for different purposes, such as for business and personal use. Multiple SIM cards may be used to take advantage of the benefits of different calling plans. For example, a particular plan might provide for cheaper local calls, long-distance calls, international calls, or roaming.
The mobile phone has been used in a variety of diverse contexts in society. For example:
-
A study by Motorola found that one in ten mobile phone subscribers have a second phone that is often kept secret from other family members. These phones may be used to engage in such activities as extramarital affairs or clandestine business dealings.
-
Some organizations assist victims of domestic violence by providing mobile phones for use in emergencies. These are often refurbished phones.
-
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.
-
Mobile telephony also facilitates activism and public journalism being explored by Reuters and Yahoo!
-
The United Nations reported that mobile phones have spread faster than any other form of technology and can improve the livelihood of the poorest people in developing countries, by providing access to information in places where 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 such work as selling airtime on the streets and repairing or refurbishing handsets.
-
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. This can now be avoided in areas with mobile phone coverage, which are usually more extensive than areas with just 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.
-
In some 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 mobile phones among their members. There are obvious economic benefits, but often familial customs and traditional gender roles play a part.
[Donner, Jonathan, and Steenson, Molly Wright. "Beyond the Personal and Private: Modes of Mobile Phone Sharing in Urban India." In The Reconstruction of Space and Time: Mobile Communication Practices, edited by Scott Campbell and Rich Ling, 231–250. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2008.] It is common for a village to have access to only one mobile phone, perhaps owned by a teacher or missionary, which is available to all members of the village for necessary calls.
Content distribution
In 1998, one of the first examples of distributing and selling media content through the mobile phone was the sale of
by
Radiolinja in Finland. Soon afterwards, other media content appeared, such as news, video games, jokes, horoscopes, TV content and advertising. Most early content for mobile phones tended to be copies of
legacy media, such as banner advertisements or TV news highlight video clips. Recently, unique content for mobile phones has been emerging, from ringtones and
ringback tones to
mobisodes, video content that has been produced exclusively for mobile phones.
Mobile banking and 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 can be deposited or withdrawn from M-PESA accounts at Safaricom retail outlets located throughout the country and can be transferred electronically from person to person and used to pay bills to companies.
Branchless banking has also been successful in South Africa and the Philippines. A pilot project in Bali was launched in 2011 by the International Finance Corporation and an bank, Bank Mandiri.
Another application of mobile banking technology is Zidisha, a US-based nonprofit micro-lending 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 borrowers in rural Africa who have mobile phones and can use the Internet.
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 country's first commercial mobile payments systems with mobile operators Globe Telecom and Smart.
Some mobile phones can make via direct mobile billing schemes, or through contactless payments if the phone and the point of sale support near field communication (NFC).[
]
Mobile tracking
Mobile phones are 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 mobile 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 governments. Both the SIM card and the handset can be tracked.
China has proposed using this technology to track the commuting patterns of Beijing city residents.
Hackers are able to track a phone'
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While driving
Mobile phone use while driving, including talking on the phone, texting, or operating other phone features, is common but controversial. It is widely considered dangerous due to distracted driving. Being distracted while operating a motor vehicle has been shown to increase the risk of accidents. In September 2010, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that 995 people were killed by drivers distracted by cell phones. In March 2011, a US insurance company, State Farm Insurance, announced the results of a study which showed 19% of drivers surveyed accessed the Internet on a smartphone while driving.
A 2011 study reported that over 90% of college students surveyed text (initiate, reply or read) while driving.[ Text messaging not illegal but data clear on its peril]
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 when attempting to distinguish one usage from another in drivers using their devices. This is more apparent in countries which ban both handheld and hands-free usage, rather than those which ban 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 for a phone call when, in fact, they were using the device legally, for example, when using the phone's incorporated controls for car stereo, GPS or satnav.
A 2010 study reviewed the incidence of mobile phone use while cycling and its effects on behaviour and safety.[de Waard, D., Schepers, P., Ormel, W. and Brookhuis, K., 2010, Mobile phone use while cycling: Incidence and effects on behaviour and safety, Ergonomics, Vol 53, No. 1, January 2010, pp 30–42.] In 2013, a national survey in the US reported the number of drivers who reported using their cellphones to access the Internet while driving had risen to nearly one of four.[ Drivers still Web surfing while driving, survey finds] A study conducted by the University of Illinois examined approaches for reducing inappropriate and problematic use of mobile phones, such as using mobile phones while driving.
Accidents involving a driver being distracted by talking on a mobile phone have begun to be prosecuted as negligence similar to speeding. In the United Kingdom, from 27 February 2007, motorists who are caught using a hand-held mobile phone while driving will have three penalty points added to their license in addition to the fine of £60.[ Drivers face new phone penalties] This increase was introduced to try to stem the increase in drivers ignoring the law.[ Careless talk] Japan prohibits all mobile phone use while driving, including use of hands-free devices. New Zealand has banned hand-held cell phone use since 1 November 2009. Many states in the United States have banned texting on cell phones while driving. Illinois became the 17th American state to enforce this law.[ ]
Public Health Law Research maintains a list of distracted driving laws in the United States. This database of laws provides a comprehensive view of the provisions of laws that restrict the use of mobile communication devices while driving for all 50 states and the District of Columbia between 1992 when first law was passed, through December 1, 2010. The dataset contains information on 22 dichotomous, continuous or categorical variables including, for example, activities regulated (e.g., texting versus talking, hands-free versus handheld), targeted populations, and exemptions.
In 2010, an estimated 1500 pedestrians were injured in the US while using a cellphone and some jurisdictions have attempted to ban pedestrians from using their cellphones.
Health effect
The effect of mobile phone radiation 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
epidemiology and experimental, in
animal model and in humans. The majority of this research 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,
Some recent studies have found an association between mobile 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 "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".
One study of past mobile phone use cited in the report showed a "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)".
In May 2016, preliminary findings of a long-term study by the U.S. government suggested that radio-frequency (RF) radiation, the type emitted by cell phones, can cause cancer.[ "“Game-Changing” Study Links Cellphone Radiation to Cancer"][ "Report of Partial Findings from the National Toxicology Program Carcinogenesis Studies of Cell Phone Radiofrequency Radiation in Hsd: Sprague Dawley® SD rats (Whole Body Exposures) - Draft 5-19-2016"]
Educational impact
A study by the London School of Economics found that banning mobile phones in schools could increase pupils' academic performance, providing benefits equal to one extra week of schooling per year.
Electronic waste regulation
Studies have shown that around 40-50% of the environmental impact of mobile phones occurs during the manufacture of their printed wiring boards and integrated circuits.
The average user replaces their mobile phone every 11 to 18 months,
Apple Inc. had an advanced robotic disassembler and sorter called Liam specifically for recycling outdated or broken iPhones. 350
Theft
According to the Federal Communications Commission, one out of three robberies involve the theft of a cellular phone. Police data in San Francisco show that half of all robberies in 2012 were thefts of cellular phones. An online petition on Change.org, called
Secure our Smartphones, urged smartphone manufacturers to install
in their devices to make them unusable if stolen. The petition is part of a joint effort by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón and was directed to the
of the major smartphone manufacturers and telecommunication carriers.
[ Adams, Mike "Plea Urges Anti-Theft Phone Tech" San Francisco Examiner Friday, 7 June 2013 Page 5] On Monday, 10 June 2013, Apple announced that it would install a "
kill switch" on its next iPhone operating system, due to debut in October 2013.
["Apple to add kill switches to help combat iPhone theft" by Jaxon Van Derbeken San Francisco Chronicle Tuesday, 11 June 2013 Page 1]
All mobile phones have a unique identifier called IMEI. Anyone can report their phone as lost or stolen with their Telecom Carrier, and the IMEI would be blacklisted with a central registry.
Future
5G is a technology and term used in research papers and projects to denote the next major phase in mobile telecommunication standards beyond the 4G/
IMT-Advanced standards. The term 5G is not officially used in any specification or official document yet made public by telecommunication companies or standardization bodies such as 3GPP,
WiMAX Forum or
ITU-R. New standards beyond 4G are currently being developed by standardization bodies, but they are at this time seen as under the 4G umbrella, not for a new mobile generation.
Conflict minerals
Demand for metals used in mobile phones and other electronics fuelled the Second Congo War, which claimed almost 5.5 million lives.
In a 2012 news story,
The Guardian reported: "In unsafe mines deep underground in eastern Congo,
Child labour to extract minerals essential for the electronics industry. The profits from the minerals finance the bloodiest conflict since the second world war; the war has lasted nearly 20 years and has recently flared up again. ... For the last 15 years, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been a major source of natural resources for the mobile phone industry."
The company
Fairphone has worked to develop a mobile phone that does not contain conflict minerals.
See also
-
Cellular frequencies
-
Customer proprietary network information
-
Field telephone
-
List of countries by number of mobile phones in use
-
Mobile broadband
-
Mobile Internet device (MID)
-
Mobile phone accessories
-
Mobile phones on aircraft
-
Mobile phone use in schools
-
Mobile phone form factor
-
Optical head-mounted display
-
OpenBTS
-
Personal Handy-phone System
-
Prepaid mobile phone
-
Two-way radio
-
Professional mobile radio
-
Push-button telephone
-
Rechargeable battery
-
Smombie
-
Surveillance
-
Tethering
-
VoIP phone
Further reading
-
Agar, Jon, Constant Touch: A Global History of the Mobile Phone, 2004
-
Ahonen, Tomi, m-Profits: Making Money with 3G Services, 2002,
-
Ahonen, Kasper and Melkko, 3G Marketing 2004,
-
Glotz, Peter & Bertsch, Stefan, eds. Thumb Culture: The Meaning of Mobile Phones for Society, 2005
-
Gerard Goggin, Global Mobile Media (New York: Routledge, 2011), p. 176.
-
Jain, S. Lochlann. "Urban Errands: The Means of Mobility". Journal of Consumer Culture 2:3 (November 2002) 385–404. .
-
Katz, James E. & Aakhus, Mark, eds. Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance, 2002
-
Kavoori, Anandam & Arceneaux, Noah, eds. The Cell Phone Reader: Essays in Social Transformation, 2006
-
Kennedy, Pagan. Who Made That Cellphone?, The New York Times, 15 March 2013, p. MM19
-
Kopomaa, Timo. The City in Your Pocket, Gaudeamus 2000
-
Paul Levinson, Cellphone: The Story of the World's Most Mobile Medium, and How It Has Transformed Everything!, 2004
-
Ling, Rich, The Mobile Connection: the Cell Phone's Impact on Society, 2004
-
Ling, Rich and Pedersen, Per, eds. Mobile Communications: Re-negotiation of the Social Sphere, 2005
-
Home page of Rich Ling
-
Nyíri, Kristóf, ed. Mobile Communication: Essays on Cognition and Community, 2003
-
Nyíri, Kristóf, ed. Mobile Learning: Essays on Philosophy, Psychology and Education, 2003
-
Nyíri, Kristóf, ed. Mobile Democracy: Essays on Society, Self and Politics, 2003
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Nyíri, Kristóf, ed. A Sense of Place: The Global and the Local in Mobile Communication, 2005
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Nyíri, Kristóf, ed. Mobile Understanding: The Epistemology of Ubiquitous Communication, 2006
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Sadie Plant,
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> on the mobile – the effects of mobile telephones on social and individual life, 2001
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Howard Rheingold, Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution, 2002
External links
