Cellular Phones: How
They Changed the World and Where Do We Go Now?
In the recent years, cellular
phones have rapidly become a staple and necessity in American society and
around the globe. Since its humble
beginnings as an uncommon, big and bulky device, the cell phone has now become
an everyday item that is sleek and pocket-sized. The cell phone was conceptualized in 1947
when researchers realized that small cells, or ranges of service area, could be
used to increase the traffic capacity of the basic mobile phone by a sufficient
amount. It was not until 1973 though
that Dr. Martin Cooper, who was a former general manger at Motorola made the
first call on a cellular phone. Cooper
is considered the inventor of the first modern portable phone device. Thanks to Cooper’s invention and following
advancements made upon the cell phone, citizens of American society have been
able to contact one another from almost everywhere necessary.
While the original cell phones
were solely used for contacting other individuals, cell phones today can serve
a wide variety of needs besides being just a phone. Cell phones can be used to store contact
information, make to-do lists and reminders, and have a simple math calculator
built into the device. These are only
the simplest of amenities. Most recent
cell phones can send and receive e-mails, are able to retrieve information
through internet connection that is available, use a portable GPS system, or
possibly watch TV or listen to music on the built in MP3 player. With all of these incredible functions, the
cell phone has become somewhat of a mobile computing device that can fit in
your pocket. All of these additions have
made the cell phone that much more intricate, yet even more helpful. They have added convenience to the lives of
those who have access to them, which is a large population. An estimated 82% of Americans own a cell
phone.(
http://www.switched.com/2007/11/14/82-of-americans-own-cell-phones/) This proves just how many people have been
affected by the invention of the cell phone.
Cell phones are not only in use in
the United States. People around the
globe have been affected by the invention.
In areas of developing industries, the purchasing and use of cell phones
has increased very much. For example,
both China and India, show much growth in the use of
cell phones, mostly due to the large populations the influence these nations
have begun to play on the world scale.
Even some underdeveloped countries around the globe have increased their
use of cell phones. In Africa, cell
phones have been so popular that more people have a cell phone then a fixed
line based from home. This is just one
illustration of the world-wide impact that cell phones have made. They play an intricate part of everyday life
and are now an important instrument in society.
History of cell
phones
Cell phones today are very compact, advanced, and some of them are
smart but back in the 1980’s when they were introduced to the consumer market
they were very different. The cell phones of the early 80’s were large, heavy,
and hard to talk on. In 1983 the first cell phone was sold on the market; the
Motorola DynaTac 8000x. The DynaTac
was a monster of a phone; it weighed 28 ounces and was 10 inches in height. The
antenna stands permanently up and adds to the phones height. The Motorola DynaTac was a very expensive phone and not very many people
could afford the phones high price tag. The phone’s cost was a staggering 3,500
dollars and it took a few years for a lot of people to get on board with
getting a wireless phone. It took about 7 years to have a million registered
wireless users. In the 80’s DynaTAC was the cell
phone that was leading the market but there was a different mobile phone system
that people also liked. The car phone was popular in the 1980’s because it was
a little bit cheaper than the expensive Motorola and it was more easy to use
because it was smaller. The car phone is like a normal wired phone line because
it is permanently installed into a vehicle. The system uses external antennas
and high powered transmitters.
The mobile phone in the 80’s could only call in so many places but there was another invention that
made it possible to use satellites to call from pretty much anywhere on the
face of the earth. The satellite phone is a type of mobile phone that connects
to orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites. The satellite phones
of the time period were about the same size and shape of normal mobile phone
from the 1980’s. These satellite phones became very popular because it can be
used pretty much anywhere in the world. They were used by expeditionary forces
and ships just to name a few examples. Some countries that had oppressive
governments band them from use because they were not able to be censored or tapped.
During the 80’s the mobile phone industry was coming into its own.
As the decade was coming to a close the cell phone market was going to explode
into the 1990’s.
As time went on new phones were being put out on the market and in
the very early 90’s the cell phone took on a new look, in a bag. The bag phone
was introduced by Motorola in 1992. The bag phone consisted of a hand set, a
very large battery, and a long antenna. The bag phone was very popular when it
came out because it was very durable and was relatively inexpensive. The bag
phone was a hit in America and Europe as well. They power they put out truckers
and people who lived in rural areas preferred them because they made good calls
when cell towers were very far away.
In the early 90’s after the bag phone had come out to the market
the second generation of cell phone system was being introduced. It was called
the 2G network. The new system would allow phones to be smaller, have longer
battery lives, and more powerful transmitters. During the second generation of
the cell phone system sms text messages were able to
be sent form phone to phone. At first text messages were no very popular but
eventually they grew and people started to catch on and they really liked it.
After a couple of years the 2G network was getting old and the mobile phone
companies began working on a 3G network. The 3G network is the fastest network
to date.
Today cell phones are very advanced and have the fastest networks
and data streaming ever. In today’s high technology world the new phones are
cooler and faster than ever. Phones like the Apple Iphone
and the Blackberry Storm have taken the cell phone market to a new level. These
touch screen phones have come a very long way from the brick phones of the
1980’s. They have cool features such as email, downloadable applications, and
internet browsers that look like you are on an actual computer.
The cell phone has been getting smaller and smarter since they Motorola DynaTac. Since the
early 1980’s phones have also been getting cool features as well. The original
features of the cell phone were to make phone calls. Throughout the last 25
years phones have been getting new add on’s such as
cameras, GPS navigation, radio receivers, WIFI, video cameras, and personalized
ringtones.
Today the satellite phone is still a popular item to own. They are
a lot more reliable than previous older models and are cheaper to get too.
Aside from being used by people who are traveling where there are no cell
towers, disaster response teams use them when something happens and cell phone
lines are tied up. There are a few examples of people using them in disasters
such as the September 11th attacks on America, Hurricane Katrina,
and the Minnesota bridge collapse. The other reason that responders tend to use
satellite phones is that if there was a natural disaster and cell towers were
knocked down, they could still easily make a phone call to another emergency
team. The reason that emergency responders use satellite phones is satellites do
not get damaged by or from natural disasters from earth. They are high up in
space and that keeps them safe, so using a satellite phone is pretty reliable
and that it why emergency teams tend to use them when it come to responding to
a very large scale emergency.
The cell phone has evolved from the large bulky brick like object
that could only be on an analogue network to the phones of today that have
touch screens and a million cool different things that can be done with the
phone besides just talking on it.
Current Technologies
In the 1880’s Nikolai Tesla
invented the radio which is the basis of wireless communication. A cell phone
is in essence a radio. There are two types of wireless talking devices out
there; full-duplex and half-duplex. Walkie-talkies and CB radio are both half
duplex devices which mean that only one person can talk at a time. Full duplex
means that both people can talk at the same time due to the fact that one
frequency is used for talking and the other is used for listening. The next
important term is a channel. A walkie-talkie usually only has one channel, a CB
radio has about 40, and a cell phone can have 1,664 channels or more. The range
of a cell phone is dependent on the phone and carrier,
however, they can operate smoothly for hundreds of miles. Cell phones operate
within cells which allow them to move around and not loose service. CB radios
only have a range of about 5 miles for comparison. In the United States, cell
carriers typically have about 800 frequencies to use around a city. The company
then chops up the city into cells which are about 10 square miles each. Each
cell has a base station that consists of a tower and a small building that
contains the radio equipment.
Cell phones that used analog
signals used to have 7 channels per cell. That system was called 1G and only
allowed 7 simultaneous calls at once. Currently, there are about 168 channels
available with the digital system. This system is called 2G. Cell phones are
low powered transmitters. What this means is that the towers can reuse the
frequencies because the signal does not travel very far. This also means that
the battery can be small enough to fit in your pocket.
When you first turn on a cell
phone it listens for a SID (system Identification Code). The phone uses a
special control channel to compare the SID programmed into the phone. If it
matches the carrier’s information then it knows it is communicating with the
home system. If it cannot find the control channel, then it states no service.
If its towers are not in range and they are using another carrier then you are
roaming. Along with the SID, the phone
also transmits a registration request. The reason for this is because if the
phone is to receive a call, then the company needs to know where to send the
call request.
The cell technologies involved
with 2G phones are very complex. The three main ones are Frequency Division
Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), and Code Division
Multiple Access (CDMA). The first word
describes what the access method is and the words after that describe how the
calls are split on the channels. The first type, FDMA, broadcasts each phones
transmission on a different frequency. This is mainly used for analog
transmission because it is not an efficient way of sending data. The second
type, TDMA, is a narrow band that is 30 kHz wide and 6.7 milliseconds long and
split into three time slots. The call is
digital so the voice data is compressed and sent in one of the “channels”. This
system is three times the capacity of the analog system with the same amount of
channels. TDMA operates in the 800 MHz or 1900 MHz frequency bands. There is a
system called GSM (global system for mobile communications) which implements
TDMA in a different way. GSM uses encryptions and is the standard in Europe and
Asia. GSM in the United States uses a different frequency then the European
version so US cell phones cannot be used abroad. The third system, CDMA,
digitizes the signal and then spreads it out over the available bandwidth.
Calls are overlaid on each channel and then assigned a unique sequence code.
CDMA needs an accurate time-stamp on each packet of information so it accesses
a GPS system for it.
Phones can be “multiple band” which means it can switch frequencies. A quad-band
phone can get service in four frequencies so it would work in Europe and
America. A multiple mode phone would support analog and digital transmissions.
This is helpful in areas that might not have digital service yet.
High speed cell networks are
called 3G. These run at speeds comparable to a cable modem or a DSL line. You
can receive streaming video and music downloads at fast speeds. The EV-DO
(Evolution-Data optimized) network has speeds between 144 Kbps to 2 Mbps for
CDMA cell phones. Sprint and Verizon use this type of high speed network. The second types are called UMTS (Universal
Mobile Telecommunications System) and HSDPA (High-speed Downlink Packet Access)
provide DSL and cable like speeds to cell phones. HSDPA is faster than UMTS so
it is sometimes referred to as 3.5G. Currently AT&T and T-Mobile offer
these services however T-Mobiles 3G network only extends to a few large cities.
There are also networks that run
slower then 3G and are referred to as 2.5G networks. They are comparable to
dial up which is good for email and web browsing but not very good for
streaming videos. 1xRTT (1 times Radio Transmission Technology) has speeds of
around 30 Kbps to 90 Kbps. The non 3G phones use this on Sprint and Verizon’s
networks. GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) and EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for
GSM Evolution) provide data that runs in the same 30 Kbps to 90 Kbps rage as
1xRTT however Edge is slightly faster than GPRS. T-Mobile and AT&T both use
these networks on their non 3G phones.
Cell phones contain a battery
which has been developing from suitcase size to credit card size. The first
main type is a NiCad battery. This battery has the shortest usage time and is
affected by memory effect which is what happens when a battery is charged
before it is empty. This shortens the life of the battery so therefore no
longer used. NiMH batteries are smaller than NiCad
batteries and hold a charge 50 to 100 percent longer. Their downfall is a
shortening of life in extreme temperatures. These batteries are also no longer
used. The third type is called LiIon batteries and
they offer the longest amount of talk time. They are much smaller and hold a
charge better then NiCad however LiIon batteries are
much more expensive. Batteries recharge in an average of one to two hours.
Social issues
As time has progressed, the mobile
phone has the main means of communication for many people throughout the
world. Part of this can be attributed to
the development of cell phones as Mobile Internet Devices (MID’s). This simply means that a mobile device can be
used to surf the internet. Each day,
thousands more people are surfing the internet, checking their email and
listening to music on their cell phones.
It is feasible today to live without a television, telephone or computer
at home and still indulge in the luxuries provided by all three, all in the
palm of your hand. Some cell phones now
can tune to cable television, be used for internet surfing and can be used to
place calls. In today’s world of
convenience and having everything at your fingertips, many of today’s cell
phones can be used for all of your needs.
One of the most popular brands of
MID’s is Blackberry. Invented in 1999 as
a two way pager, the company was at the forefront of developing new technology. They began to rise to the forefront when they
focused on adding email capabilities to their phones. Unlike the normal mobile phone, the normal
Blackberry is wider, with a full Qwerty keyboard and
an above average sized screen. BY
December 2008, there were around 21 million users worldwide. It is very popular with professionals who
depend on timely communication. In fact,
Barack Obama was under fire at the beginning of his term when he continued to
use his device, despite security concerns.
Is he a part of the “Crackberry” generation as
well? The nickname has stuck with many
of its users, as the device can be highly addictive.
Another example of a MID is the iPhone. A new
fashion statement, Apple has succeeded yet again after the success of the
iPod. With a 3.5 inch screen, the iPhone’s is relatively large compared to other MID’s, which
provides more detail when surfing the net.
In January of 2009, Apple announced the sale of 17.4 million sales since
its inception two years prior. People were
waiting outside Apple stores for hours before the first version came out, with
everyone eager to try out Apple’s new product.
Amazingly, their third generation phone, which came out recently, has
also sold very well. Apple officials
assumed that iPhone users would wait until their
contracts were up to upgrade, but there was a lot of demand to upgrade
immediately, terminating their old contracts and beginning new ones. As the sole provider of service for the iPhone, AT&T Mobility (formerly Cingular Wireless) has
profited greatly. This was in exchange
for Cingular’s help developing the technology, but the right to exclusivity
ends in 2010.
Cell phones have also led the way
to controversy. In January 2009, six
students at Greensburg Salem High School in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, were
arrested for child pornography after taking pictures and texting sexual
pictures to each other. This practice
was coined “sexting”.
This has led to much debate, as people question whether these kids
should have been arrested. This charge
could lead them onto the sex offenders list, even though they never sexually
offended anybody. The local authorities
said later that they wanted to prove a point, but they also realize that they
cannot monitor all cell phones in their jurisdiction. The concern is the fact that there are nude
pictures of children available now, and they hope that they wouldn’t find their
way to actual sex offenders. Also, many
people have questioned as to why these teens were taking nude pictures in the
first place. The convenience factor with
new technology has led to much debate, especially when concerning the law. The problem is that, according to a recent
survey, twenty percent of teens have posted semi-nude or nude photos on the
internet or on their phones. The only
solution, according to police is for parents to watch their kids closely and
check their internet and cell phone usage.
The new cell phone technology has led to many ethical dilemmas, other than the “sexting”. One prime
example is cell phone use at movie theaters. Almost every theater in the
country asks you to turn off your device, but no one actually seems to.
Usually, people still text and sometimes even talk in the theaters during a
movie, which is quite distracting to the rest of the audience. In a dark
theater, it can be very distracting if the light of the person’s cell phone
next to you is glaring in your eye during a crucial scene. In 2006, Regal
Entertainment group, the largest cinema owner in the United States, created a
call button for ushers if your neighbor’s conversations become
disruptive. Chief Executive Officer Michael Campbell said, “Cell phones
drive us crazy….We’ve had people assaulted with knives, bats, guns”. The
problem is blamed on teenagers as they tend to be a group who always needs to
be multi-tasking, and respect for the theater-going experience has declined,
according to Campbell.
Another problem is cell phone use
at restaurants. It is a common habit of many cell phone users,
particularly the less technologically savvy, to talk at an unreasonably high
volume into their phones. It happens in public places, and it gets to the
point where their conversation includes everyone around them, whether they want
to be or not. A quick poll of friends showed the debate on this
topic. One said that he did not care one way or another if they use the
phone, as long as the talker keeps quiet. Another one of my friends said
that they think it’s okay to answer but you should try
to keep it brief. Another said that they should be banned because there’s
nothing worse than listening to a neighboring table’s cell phone
conversation. The San Fransisco Chronicle found
that just 21 percent of people think that cell phones should be answered in
restaurants, but people continue to regardless.
Also, churches and places of
worship present a problem. Listening to cell phone interference with the
microphone during the sermon is more than a minor annoyance. Same goes
for concerts, lectures, public transportation, and a host of other public
places.
The common solution to these
social issues is to be respectful, watch your volume and prioritize. If
it is a very important call, then take it. If not, then don’t answer or
keep it short. If you’re at a wedding and the bride and groom are about
to tie the knot, they don’t want to hear your new ring tone.
Current Cell Phone Costs
Cell phone companies will continue to grow far into the future with their products, services and deals. From starting out with the mere basics in wireless technology to providing society with some of the most advanced technology, the cost of owning a cell phone has followed the productivity. Cell phones were originally designed for cars, government officials and the people who could afford them. The earlier cellular phones reached into thousands of dollars. However as cell phones progressed, the prices did as well.
In today’s market, cell phone costs and plans are predicted to drop in order to become more affordable for the consumers. Verizon’s Blackberry Storm has developed strategies in order to attract new customers, providing a “buy one get one” deal during a new contract. However, if the market starts to improve and grow again the prices will also begin to grow. The cell phone industry was known not to have major problems during bad economic times. However, when the cell phone industry began to take a huge hit, the leading mobile companies made drastic ramifications. After twenty-five years of impressing growth, the industry has recently faced enormous challenges. Device manufacturers, semiconductor manufacturers and mobile operators have taken huge changes and setbacks within cellular companies.
Today, consumers are paying over 200 dollars in order to have a wireless connection. The question of whether or not it is worth the cost to keep a connection has crossed the minds of many consumers. The cell phone industry is a fierce competition between service companies. The most common data application used by consumers today is SMS messaging or, text messaging. Over the past few years, SMS messaging has produced over 100 billion dollars in revenue among cell phone companies. The world-wide SMS message cost in order to send a single text message is 2.6 cents. Most companies currently offer an unlimited text messaging service.
Most consumers are more scared of the actual price per phone. The price of a cellular phone depends on the contract, company and type of phone. AT&T provides phones ranging from ten dollars to hundreds of dollars. One of the most popular phones in the market today is the iPhone, provided by AT&T. The iPhone with a new contract only costs about two-hundred dollars; however, buying an iPhone without a new contract are costing consumers over five-hundred dollars for a single phone.
Although the industry has been affected by the poor economic events, the technology among different countries has flourished. 3G has become a very popular type of communication. 3G stands for Third Generation telecommunication. 3G was first advertised in Japan. The 3G network is still in its early years, so the price is relatively high because of high fees for frequency licensing and the cost of employing many teams of engineers to implement a nationwide network and then to maintain it.
Throughout Europe, the GSM or Global System for Mobile communications is used. GSM currently has over 475 million users in over 130 different countries which makes it one of the most dominant mobile service worldwide. Cell phone technology continues to be one of the fastest growing technologies in the market today. The cell phone has provided us with the World Wide Web, television and many more technologies in the palm of our hands. Cellular service is competing in two main network technologies, GSM and CDMA. In the United States, GSM phones use sim cards which is a removable card that allows instant access. For the most part, both networks provide similar service in the major areas like cities although GSM has a slight advantage in more rural areas. Cell phones are starting to allow developing countries “leap frog” technology. Cell phones are allowing developing nations to leap frog technology by providing the country with a reliable communications network. In parts of Africa, cell phones are providing a medical outlook with diseases such as AIDS. Medical officials are able to enter information in cell phones equipped with special data and technology. The technology allows medical officials to look up certain AIDS patients, prescription supply and other useful information. Among the developing countries, Africa has recorded the highest growth rate with a quarter of the population using a mobile form of communication. In the year 2000, only fifty Africans had a cellular phone while currently twenty-eight percent of Africans have a cellular service. India is another good example of a country that is deeply affected by cell phones. India is a rapidly moving country and their economy has erupted with cell phone usage. India’s economy grew so rapidly it is currently up to par with some of the most advanced countries. The cellular phone boosted India’s economic technology. One of the reasons cell phone technology is helping developing countries is because it is boosting business in different countries. Cell phone usage has helped business to decrease setbacks, reach certain goals and connect with other high-end board officials at other locations. One of the main reasons that cellular phones are allowing nations to leap frog technology is because of the internet access among cell phones. Most developing nations are unable to purchase computers because of the expense, so internet access among cell phones provide instant access at a much cheaper rate. Cell phones is a good example of technology that benefits three main groups of people. Entrepreneurs are affected because they make money by selling phones to different villages. Sellers of the “pre-pay” method benefit highly by developing countries because it is a cheaper type of method to use. Finally, users who generate business through cell phones benefit in developing countries because of employment opportunities. Cell phone usage in developing countries has increased so much it is estimated that ten more mobile phones are produced per one-hundred population in that last few years. The cell phone industry does not only provide us with some of the most advanced technology, but it is a very important industry toward making developing nations one step closer toward a competing economy.
Daily Use
Cell phones have become more than
just an accessory for the masses; they have become an imagined necessity in
countries all across the world. In the United States, studies show that over
fifty percent of children own their own personal cell phones. In the United
Kingdom, there are now more mobile phones than people in the country. The
Russian market is up 89% in cell phone use while Italy, Sweden, Hong Kong and
Great Britain have shown an increase of 100%. China has over 400 million
subscribers, while Indonesia is expected to have over 50 million subscribers by
the end of 2007.
With the excessive use of cell
phones and increased number of cell phone subscriptions, society faces an
etiquette issue. People are now using their cell phones in doctor's offices,
movie theaters, restaurants and even weddings. The cellular phone etiquette
debate will likely carry on for many more years as people get used to this
relatively new technology and learn where it is acceptable to use it and where
it is not.
Cell phone accessories are wide
and varied. With the advent of Bluetooth technology, some of the phones we use
seem antiquated. However, you may still be able to use Bluetooth technology
with your old phone provided there is an adapter. There are just about as many
accessories as there are different cell phones. Hands free devices are becoming
more and more commonplace that there are even laws being passed requiring you
to use them in your vehicle. If you are caught using your cell phone in your
car without one, chances are you'll get pulled over and ticketed by the police.
The good news, however, is that there are enough accessories for you now that
makes hands free telephone service very, very easy.
There was a time when the cell
phone was designed for one purpose only: to make telephone calls when away from
a landline phone. As technology has grown and changed, cell phones have become
much more than simply voice call machines. Even many low-end cell phones of
today offer cameras with video recording capability, Internet connectivity, and
features that make the phones more similar to Personal Digital Assistants
(PDAs) or even small computers than to the landline phones that cell phones now
replace.
As any computer user is well
aware, one of the primary lures of the home computer is the ability to play
games. Today's cell phones offer the same ability and modern advances in
technology now allow cellular services to offer a dizzying array of game
choices. Most cell phones come with a few simple games pre-loaded, along with
demo versions of downloadable games. Downloading games costs money, but
generally the price is low. Many services offer their games for a small
repeating charge each month, billed directly to your cell phone bill, rather
than an upfront cost to purchase.
Depending on the type of phone you
own, you can even purchase face plates to change the color of your phone. Some
of these face plates are personalized, which means you can add your own picture
to them. How's that for showing off the family photos? Some phones are even
small PDAs, which means it's like having a small computer in the palm of your
hand. With technology growing at that speed it is, it won't be long until the
whole cell phone will look like the little earpiece you use with blue tooth
technology now.
Accessories for cell phones nowadays range from changing the face plates to linking with your PC at home. E-mail, text messaging, voice
recording, digital camera, and even Mp3 players are coming standard on cell
phones. As the technology grows so will the accessories that come with the cell
phones. SMS Technology from Australia already has a wrist watch phone with a
1.1 inch touch screen that doubles as a key pad.
The new iPhone
has so many magnificent features that it is no wonder why people are sitting on
the edge of their seats awaiting its arrival. The iPhone
is a combination of three products: a phone, an Internet device and a touchpad
system. No Apple device would be complete without an iPod attachment. With the iPhone, you can listen to all of your music, audiobooks and still watch your television programs on the iPhone's crystal clear 3.5 inch widescreen. You can also
synchronize and download music from your Mac or PC onto your phone whenever you
want. Another feature that seems to be central to the cell phone of today is
the camera. The iPhone has a camera and allows you to
browse through your images and email them on the spot. The phone also has a
navigation system that will give you maps and turn-by-turn directions in an
instant.
The phone feature allows you to
choose a name or address out of your phonebook by touching on a name with your
finger. You may synchronize your address book from your PC or Mac and then drag
two names together to create a conference call. When you receive voicemail
messages, the iPhone will let you touch the message
that is the most urgent for you to hear and leaving the other ones for later.
It is the first phone that will allow you to listen to your voicemail out of
order and delete messages without having to listen to them first. iPhone also uses a SMS application
system that works like your spelling and grammar check on your computer. By
fixing mistakes for you, the phone will allow you to save more time when trying
to instant message or text someone.
In a general sense, cell phone
usage will be on the rise for many years to come. The notion of cellular phone
usage as being akin to a fad or a trend has quickly worn away; the cell phone
is here to stay. As many people learn new ways to communicate, however, the
cell phone that we all know and love today may well turn into a new piece of
technology by tomorrow.
Future tech
A cell phone is one of the most
unique forms of technology that has been created within the past one hundred
years. Over the years we have gone from
huge, junky cellular phones about the size of someone’s forearm, to cell phones
that if you were not paying attention you wouldn’t even notice were there. To say the least, this form of technology has
changed over time and keeps changing as the years go by. What is so unique about this technology
though is not the fact that its appearance is rapidly changing before our eyes,
but the fact that it has become the fastest growing technology ever. The number of cell phone users has increased
drastically just in the past ten to fifteen years.
According to the CITIA website,
which is a research center that mainly manages research and development, the
percent of the United States population with wireless went from 13% in 1995 to
33% in 2000, and then in 2005 it reached to 69% and went to 84% in 2007. Also, the number of people who strictly only
have wireless in their homes (meaning they have no landlines) was zero in 1995
and 2000, but then in 2005 in increased to 8.4% and then in 2007 it increased
again to 15.8%. To go along with these
statistics, CITIA found that from 1995 to 2007, which is only a little more
than ten years, the number of minutes used and text messaging have more than
doubled. Also, there was no such thing
as text messaging in 1995, which might seem odd considering it is such a
prominent form of communication these days, and the number of people using also
had increased from 2000 to 2007.
Another reason that cell phones are a unique form of communication is the fact that it is not a single medium. Meaning, there is not just one use for cell
phones anymore like there was when they were first put on the market. Many different mediums have merged together
into a single technology. Some of these
mediums are things such as an alarm clock, calculator, the internet, news, GPS,
accessory, music, PDA, games, e-mail, and of course calling and texting people.
No one has to really carry around a number of different gadgets in order to get
all the information they need, because everything is now on your own cell
phone. Also, another advantage to cell
phones are that they a mobile. You can
be just about anywhere in the world and be able to access all of these mediums
that I mentioned above. You do not have
to be at home or where there is a landline anymore in order to receive an important
phone call from your friends, family, or business. Being mobile gives us more options and allows
us to be the multi-tasking people that we truly are.
So, where are cell phones going to
go from here? There are still a lot of
things that could be embedded into a cell phone to make them even more high
tech than they already are. Some ideas
of what will come next came from a research report written in 2008 by Harris
Interactive and CTIA. They believe that
things such as an emergency transmitter, being able to translate any language
instantly, to view 3D holographic displays, to be able to control things in
your house, the ability to vote, to be able to text order to a restaurant, and
some things such as using your cell phone to pay for things and to record TiVO television shows which has already been put to use by
cell phone companies. It is remarkable
to think that this report was written less than a year ago in September 2008,
only seven months ago, and some of the things they predicted actually came true
rather quickly. Pretty soon we are going
to have companies texting us their advertisements instead of having us watch
them on TV to get us to by their products.
All of these ideas seem to be extreme for people today, but think about
ten or twenty years from now when we do have all of this access, it will not be
weird for the next generation to be able to text order to a restaurant or
receive advertisements on their phone because that will be the norm for
them.
So, the real question is, will
technology ever stop changing? Will
there always be a new cell phone that is better or faster than our old cell
phones that will come out? When will
enough be too much? According to the
Harris Interactive and CTIA report in 2008, most people would use all of their
predictions for what will come next on cell phones. Whether they would use it sometimes, most of
the time, or all of the time, at least 50% of people would be using these new
mediums on their cell phones. Of course
there are some options that would be more popular than others and they might
not be successful with everything, but the fact of the matter is that there are
always going to be people who want the newest and best cell phone that comes
out. There is always going to be a
market for cell phones, or whatever the more improved version of a cell phone
is, in the world because there are these kinds of people who are obsessed with
these different mediums within a cell phone.
The cell phone has change the way
we access the world and everything in it, and that is
why it has made such an impact on the people in the world, and has become such
a necessity. If cell phones were to
disappear after having them for so long people wouldn’t know what to do or how
to contact people, because we are so used to it. Cell phones are used all around the world,
and it has become a common thread that connects every single country whether
you live in the United States, Australia, London, or China. Being able to be connected with one another
by a small piece of technology makes the cell phone very unique and further
more makes it all the more important in our world.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://files.ctia.org/pdf/HI_TeenMobileStudy_ResearchReport.pdf
http://www.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone.htm
http://www.switched.com/2007/11/14/82-of-americans-own-cell-phones/
http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0712-rhett_butler.html
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone.htm
http://www.allbusiness.com/technology/telecommunications-cell-phones/1125-1.html
http://tech.yahoo.com/blog/patterson/1108
PICTURES
http://pro.corbis.com/search/Enlargement.aspx?CID=isg&mediauid={A811EB1F-4E1A-4927-A14C-7D59F26D6285}
http://cellphones.techfresh.net/nokia-n810-internet-phone/
http://www.pocketberry.com/tag/os-download/