
"Cell phone" redirects here. For the movie, see Cell Phone (film). Several examples of non-flip mobile phones. A woman using a cell phone.The mobile phone (also called a mobile, wireless, cellular phone, cell phone, or hand
phone(hp))[1] is a short-range, portable electronic device used for mobile voice or data communication over a network of
specialized base stations known as cell sites. In addition to the standard voice function of a telephone, current mobile
phones may support many additional services, and accessories, such as SMS for text messaging, email, packet switching
for access to the Internet, gaming, bluetooth, infrared, camera with video recorder and MMS for sending and receiving
photos and video. Most current mobile phones connect to a cellular network of base stations (cell sites), which is in turn
interconnected to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) (the exception is satellite phonesHistoryAccording to internal memos, American Telephone & Telegraph discussed developing a wireless phone in 1915, but were
afraid deployment of the technology could undermine its monopoly on wired service in the U.S.[2]
The first commercial mobile phone service was launched in Japan by NTT in 1978. By November 2007, the total number
of mobile phone subscriptions in the world had reached 3.3 billion, or half of the human population (although some users
have multiple subscriptions, or inactive subscriptions), which also makes the mobile phone the most widely spread
technology and the most common gadget in the world.[3]
The first mobile phone to enable internet connectivity and wireless email use, was the Nokia Communicator released in
1996 and created a new category of expensive phones called smartphones. In 1999 the first mobile internet service was
launched by NTT DoCoMo in Japan under the i-Mode service. By 2007 over 798 million people around the world
accessed the internet or equivalent mobile internet services such as WAP and i-Mode at least occasionally using a mobile
phone rather than a personal computer.
Mobile phones send and receive radio signals with any number of cell site base stations fitted with microwave antennas.
These sites are usually mounted on a tower, pole or building, located throughout populated areas, then connected to a
cabled communication network and switching system. The phones have a low-power transceiver that transmits voice and
data to the nearest cell sites, normally not more than 8 to 13 km (approximately 5 to 8 miles) away.
When the mobile phone or data device is turned on, it registers with the mobile telephone exchange, or switch, with its
unique identifiers, and will then be alerted by the mobile switch when there is an incoming telephone call. The handset
constantly listens for the strongest signal being received from the surrounding base stations. As the user moves around the
network, the mobile device will "handoff" to various cell sites during calls, or while waiting (idle) between calls it will
reselect cell sites.
Cell sites have relatively low-power (often only one or two watts) radio transmitters which broadcast their presence and
relay communications between the mobile handsets and the switch. The switch in turn connects the call to another
subscriber of the same wireless service provider or to the public telephone network, which includes the networks of other
wireless carriers. Many of these sites are camouflaged to blend with existing environments, particularly in scenic areas.
The dialogue between the handset and the cell site is a stream of digital data that includes digitized audio (except for the
first generation analog networks). The technology that achieves this depends on the system which the mobile phone
operator has adopted. The technologies are grouped by generation. The first-generation systems started in 1979 with
Japan, are all analog and include AMPS and NMT. Second-generation systems, started in 1991 in Finland, are all digital
and include GSM, CDMA and TDMA.
The nature of cellular technology renders many phones vulnerable to 'cloning': anytime a cell phone moves out of
coverage (for example, in a road tunnel), when the signal is re-established, the phone will send out a 're-connect' signal to
the nearest cell-tower, identifying itself and signalling that it is again ready to transmit. With the proper equipment, it's
possible to intercept the re-connect signal and encode the data it contains into a 'blank' phone -- in all respects, the 'blank'
is then an exact duplicate of the real phone and any calls made on the 'clone' will be charged to the original account.
Third-generation (3G) networks, which are still being deployed, began in Japan in 2001. They are all digital, and offer
high-speed data access in addition to voice services and include W-CDMA (known also as UMTS), and CDMA2000
EV-DO. China will launch a third generation technology on the TD-SCDMA standard. Operators use a mix of
predesignated frequency bands determined by the network requirements and local regulations.
In an effort to limit the potential harm from having a transmitter close to the user's body, the first fixed/mobile cellular
phones that had a separate transmitter, vehicle-mounted antenna, and handset (known as car phones and bag phones)
were limited to a maximum 3 watts Effective Radiated Power. Modern handheld cellphones which must have the
transmission antenna held inches from the user's skull are limited to a maximum transmission power of 0.6 watts ERP.
Regardless of the potential biological effects, the reduced transmission range of modern handheld phones limits their
usefulness in rural locations as compared to car/bag phones, and handhelds require that cell towers be spaced much
closer together to compensate for their lack of transmission power.
Some handhelds include an optional auxiliary antenna port on the back of the phone, which allows it to be connected to a
large external antenna and a 3 watt cellular booster. Alternately in fringe-reception areas, a cellular repeater may be
used, which uses a long distance high-gain dish antenna or yagi antenna to communicate with a cell tower far outside of
normal range, and a repeater to rebroadcast on a small short-range local antenna that allows any cellphone within a few
meters to function properly.
HandsetsNokia is currently the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones, with a global device market share of approximately
40% in 2008. Other major mobile phone manufacturers (in order of market share) include Samsung (14%), Motorola
(14%), Sony Ericsson (9%) and LG (7%).[4] These manufacturers account for over 80% of all mobile phones sold and
produce phones for sale in most countries.
Other manufacturers include Apple Inc., Audiovox (now UTStarcom), Benefon, BenQ-Siemens, CECT, High Tech
Computer Corporation (HTC), Fujitsu, Kyocera, Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Neonode, Panasonic (Matsushita Electric),
Pantech Curitel, Philips, Research In Motion, Sagem, Sanyo, Sharp, Siemens, Sierra Wireless, SK Teletech, Sonim
Technologies, T&A Alcatel, Huawei, Trium and Toshiba. There are also specialist communication systems related to (but
distinct from) mobile phones.
There are several categories of mobile phones, from basic phones to feature phones such as musicphones and
cameraphones, to smartphones. The first smartphone was the Nokia 9000 Communicator in 1996 which incorporated
PDA functionality to the basic mobile phone at the time. As miniaturization and increased processing power of microchips
has enabled ever more features to be added to phones, the concept of the smartphone has evolved, and what was a
high-end smartphone five years ago, is a standard phone today. 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
SonyEricsson Walkman series of musicphones and Cybershot series of cameraphones; and the Nokia N-Series of
multimedia phones. The Apple iPhone is another example of a multimedia smartphone.
Main article: Mobile phone featuresMobile phones often have features beyond sending text messages and making voice calls, including Internet browsing,
music (MP3) playback, memo recording, personal organizer functions, e-mail, instant messaging, built-in cameras and
camcorders, ringtones, games, radio, Push-to-Talk (PTT), infrared and Bluetooth connectivity, call registers, ability to
watch streaming video or download video for later viewing, video calling and serve as a wireless modem for a PC, and
soon will also serve as a console of sorts to online games and other high quality games. The total value of mobile data
services exceeds the value of paid services on the Internet, and was worth 31 billion dollars in 2006 (source
Informa).[citation needed] The largest categories of mobile services are music, picture downloads, videogaming, adult
entertainment, gambling, video/TV.
ApplicationsThe most commonly used data application on mobile phones is SMS text messaging, with 74% of all mobile phone users
as active users (over 2.4 billion out of 3.3 billion total subscribers at the end of 2007). SMS text messaging was worth over
100 billion dollars in annual revenues in 2007 and the worldwide average of messaging use is 2.6 SMS sent per day per
person across the whole mobile phone subscriber base. (source Informa 2007). 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 other non-SMS data services used by mobile phones were worth 31 Billion dollars in 2007, and were led by mobile
music, downloadable logos and pictures, gaming, gambling, adult entertainment and advertising (source: Informa 2007).
The first downloadable mobile content was sold to a mobile phone in Finland in 1998, when Radiolinja (now Elisa)
introduced the downloadable ringing tone service. In 1999 Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo introduced its mobile
internet service, i-Mode, which today is the world's largest mobile internet service and roughly the same size as Google in
annual revenues.
The first mobile news service, delivered via SMS, was launched in Finland in 2000. Mobile news services are expanding
with many organizations providing "on-demand" news services by SMS. Some also provide "instant" news pushed out by
SMS. Mobile telephony also facilitates activism and public journalism being explored by Reuters and Yahoo![5] and small
independent news companies such as Jasmine News in Sri Lanka. Companies like Monster[6] are starting to offer mobile
services such as job search and career advice. Consumer applications are on the rise and include everything from
information guides on local activities and events to mobile coupons and discount offers one can use to save money on
purchases. Even tools for creating websites for mobile phones are increasingly becoming available, e.g. Mobilemo.
Mobile payments were first trialled in Finland in 1998 when two coca cola 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. Today mobile payments ranging from mobile banking to mobile credit
cards to mobile commerce are very widely used in Asia and Africa, and in selected European markets. For example in the
Philippines it is not unusual to have your whole paycheck paid to the mobile account. In Kenya the limit of money
transfers from one mobile banking account to another is one million US dollars. In India paying utility bills with mobile
gains a 5% discount. In Estonia the government found criminals collecting cash parking fees, so the government declared
that only mobile payments via SMS were valid for parking and today all parking fees in Estonia are handled via mobile
and the crime involved in the activity has vanished.
Mobile Applications are developed using the Six M's (previously Five M's) service-development theory created by the
author Tomi Ahonen with Joe Barrett of Nokia and Paul Golding of Motorola. The Six M's are Movement (location),
Moment (time), Me (personalization), Multi-user (community), Money (payments) and Machines (automation). The Six
M's / Five M's theory is widely referenced in the telecoms applications literature and used by most major industry players.
The first book to discuss the theory was Services for UMTS by Ahonen & Barrett in 2002.
The availability of mobile phone backup applications is growing with the increasing amount of mobile phone data being
stored on mobile phones today. With mobile phone manufacturers producing mobile handsets with more and more
memory storage capabilities the awareness of the importance in backing up mobile phone data is increasing. Corporate
mobile phone users today keep very important company information on their mobiles, information if lost then not easily
replaced. Wireless backup applications like SC BackUp offer users the chance to backup mobile phone data using
advanced wireless technology. Users can backup, restore or transfer mobile data anytime, anywhere all over the world, to
a secured server.
MediaThe mobile phone became a mass media channel in 1998 when the first ringing tones were sold to mobile phones by
Radiolinja in Finland. Soon other media content appeared such as news, videogames, jokes, horoscopes, TV content and
advertising. In 2006 the total value of mobile phone paid media content exceeded internet paid media content and was
worth 31 Billion dollars (source Informa 2007). The value of music on phones was worth 9.3 Billion dollars in 2007 and
gaming was worth over 5 billion dollars in 2007 (source Netsize Guide 2008 [3]).
The mobile phone is often called the Fourth Screen (if counting cinema, TV and PC screens as the first three) or Third
Screen (counting only TV and PC screens). It is also called the Seventh of the Mass Media (with Print, Recordings,
Cinema, Radio, TV and Internet the first six). Most early content for mobile tended to be copies of legacy media, such as
the banner advertisement or the TV news highlight video clip. Recently unique content for mobile has been emerging,
from the ringing tones and ringback tones in music to "mobisodes," video content that has been produced exclusively for
mobile phones.
The advent of media on the mobile phone has also produced the opportunity to identify and track Alpha Users or Hubs,
the most influential members of any social community. AMF Ventures measured in 2007 the relative accuracy of three
mass media, and found that audience measures on mobile were nine times more accurate than on the internet and 90
times more accurate than on TV.
[edit] Power supplyMobile phones generally obtain power from batteries which can be recharged from a USB port or from mains power or a
cigarette lighter socket in a car using an adapter (often called battery charger or wall wart). Formerly, the most common
form of mobile phone batteries were nickel metal-hydride, as they have a low size and weight. Lithium-Ion batteries are
sometimes used, as they are lighter and do not have the voltage depression that nickel metal-hydride batteries do. Many
mobile phone manufacturers have now switched to using lithium-Polymer batteries as opposed to the older Lithium-Ion,
the main advantages of this being even lower weight and the possibility to make the battery a shape other than strict
cuboid. Mobile phone manufacturers have been experimenting with alternate power sources, including solar cells.
In addition to the battery, most cellphones require a small microchip, called a Subscriber Identity Module or SIM Card, to
function. Approximately the size of a one-cent postage stamp, the SIM Card is installed underneath the battery in the rear
of the unit, and (when properly activated) stores the phone's configuration data, and information about the phone itself,
such as which calling plan the subscriber is using. When the subscriber removes the SIM Card, it can be re-inserted into
another phone and used as normal.
Each SIM Card is activated by use of a unique numerical identifier; once activated, the identifier is locked down and the
card is permanently locked in to the activating network. For this reason, most retailers will refuse the return of an
activated SIM Card.
Those cell phones that do not use a SIM Card have the data programmed in to their memory. This data is accessed by
using a special digit sequence to access the "NAM" as in "Name" or number programming menu. From here, one can
add information such as a new number for your phone, new Service Provider numbers, new emergency numbers, change
their Authentication Key or A-Key code, and update their Preferred Roaming List or PRL. However, to prevent the
average Joe from totally disabling their phone or removing it from the network, the Service Provider puts a lock on this
data called a Master Subsidiary Lock or MSL.
The MSL also ensures that the Service Provider gets payment for the phone that was purchased or "leased". For
example, the Motorola Razr V9C costs upwards of CAD $500. You can get one from Bell Mobility for approximately
$200. The difference is paid by the customer in the form of a monthly bill. If, in this case, Bell Mobility did not use a MSL,
then they may lose the $300–$400 difference that is paid in the monthly bill, since some customers would cancel their
service and take the phone to another carrier such as Telus, or Verizon. This would eventually put the carrier or in this
case, Bell Mobility out of business.