Mobile Phones – Australian Science

The Development of Mobile Phones

Martin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 07:26:48 +0000

The developement of mobile phones has become so fast that it is difficult to keep up with it. If we look back at how it looked like in the past and where it is nowadays it is incredible to see how it has changed. With all their benefits they have become an irreplacible parts of our lives.

Basics:

A mobile phone (also known as a cellular phone, cell phone and a hand phone) is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator. The calls are to and from the public telephone network which includes other mobiles and fixed-line phones across the world. By contrast, a cordless telephone is used only within the short range of a single, private base station. [1]
The history of mobile phones charts the development of devices which connect wirelessly to the public switched telephone network. Early devices were bulky and consumed high power and the network supported only a few simultaneous conversations. Modern cellular networks and microprocessor control systems allow automatic and pervasive use of mobile phones for voice and data communications. [2]
Before cellular phones existed there where several mobile solutions available for example Push to Talk(PTT) Mobile Telephone System(MTS) and Advanced Mobile Telephone Service(AMTS) to name a few. The …As far back as the late 1930’s Radiophones where a very important and vital means of mobile communication for the armed forces. When Analogue mobile phones where first launched they quickly became known as cellphones because they allowed the mobile phone user to travel between cell sites. Motorola the american corporation is widely believed to be the first manufacturer in the world to produce portable mobile phones that did not rely on a motor vehicle for its power. The first mobile phone call to be made on a portable phone was early in the 1970’s.
When did mobile phones enter the consumer market place?Once the strong far Eastern manufacturers saw how rapidly mobile phone usage was growing and being taken up by the consumer as well as being a ‘must have’ business tool, they lost no time in mounting a serious challenge including such manufacturers as Sony Ericcson, Sharp, LG. Panasonic, Samsung, NEC and many more.
Since the early 1990’s researchers have realised the potential of incorporating other devices into mobile phones. The camera was recognised as a very beneficial device to include. The first patent was filed as far back as 1994 by AT&T and it is claimed that the first mobile camera phone was invented in 1997 by Phillipe Kahn. By 2007 85% of mobile phones manufactured had a camera included and they are now referred to as camera phones. [3]
As early as 1947, it was realized that small cells with frequency reuse could increase traffic capacity substantially and the basic cellular concept was developed. However, the technology did not exist.
1953 -AT&T proposed to the FCC a broadband mobile telephone system to operate in the 800 MHz region.
1970 -FCC announced a tentative allocation of 75 MHz in the 800 MHz region and invited industry to submit proposals for achieving communication objectives and demonstrating feasibility.
1971 -AT&T responds with a technical report asserting feasibility by detailing how a “cellular system” might be composed. No other proposed systems were submitted to the FCC.
1974 -FCC makes a firm allocation of 40 MHz for mobile telephone service and solicited applications for developmental Systems to prove the feasibility of so-called “Cellular Systems” but because of the beginnings of Bell Systems divestiture proceedings, ruled that Western Electric could not manufacture cellular terminal equipment. This was because Western Electric makes the network equipment and the restriction from selling both terminal and network products was to prevent further monopolization.
1975 -AT&T applied for authorization to operate a developmental cellular system in Chicago.
1977 -License granted in March of 1977. Illinois Bell Telephone constructs and operates a developmental cellular system.
1978 -Mid 1978 the Equipment Test phase commenced. The Service Test-phase started in late 1978. Twenty-one hundred mobile sets were procured from three suppliers for the test and the system served over 2000 trial customers.
1981 -FCC issues standard rules and due to the direction already taken, In the Bell System divestiture proceedings, now rules that Western Electric is permitted to manufacture cellular terminals as well as the network equipment.
In the years between 1974 and 1981, AT&T Bell Labs worked with all other cellular terminal vendors to develop their cellular phones so that consumers would have quality products available to use on the cellular network. [4]
The definition of an approach supporting an End-User in the development of mobile applications is a hard task because of the characteristics and the limitations of mobile device interfaces. In this paper we present an approach and a tool to enable End-Users to visually compose their own applications directly on their mobile phone. To this aim, a touchable interface and an ad-hoc visual language have been developed, enabling the user to compose simple focused applications, named MicroApps. The user has not in charge the creation of the user interface that is automatically generated. [5]

Conclusion:

It is amazing to observe the development of mobile phones considering their from where they started. The technology experts’ ideas are running wild bringing us some mobile phone novelties constantly and we are left only to keep imagining what is next to come.

References:

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mobile_phones
[3] http://www.ukphoneshop.com/news/general-interest/the-history-and-the-development-of-mobile-phones-mobile-phone-networks-and-mobile-ph/829/
[4] http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.wave-guide.org/archives/waveguide_3/cellular-history.html
[5] ”MicroApps Development on Mobile Phones” Stefania Cuccurullo, Rita Francese, Michele Risi and Genoveffa Tortora

Cite this article:
Reed M (2011-11-16 07:26:48). The Development of Mobile Phones. Australian Science. Retrieved: May 11, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/technology/the-development-of-mobile-phones/

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The post The Development of Mobile Phones appeared first on Australian Science.

The Influence of Mobile Phones on Teenagers

Martin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:14:11 +0000

Mobile phones have become very popular in recent years and their development has been amazing. It is no wonder why they have become irreplacible. With all applications which go with them they have gained a huge popularity with teenagers.

Basics:

A mobile phone (also known as a cellular phone, cell phone and a hand phone) is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator. The calls are to and from the public telephone network which includes other mobiles and fixed-line phones across the world. By contrast, a cordless telephone is used only within the short range of a single, private base station. [1]
The quality of sleep of almost half of 16 year olds may be affected by text messaging on mobile phones, a study from Belgium says.
The sleep of one in four 13 year olds could be affected too, says the researchers, who looked at the effects of text messaging on sleep interruption in teenagers (Journal of Sleep Research (2003:12:263).
In the research, about 2500 first and fourth year children (aged 13 years and 16 years respectively) in the Leuven study on media and adolescent health (SOMAH) based in Flanders, Belgium, were asked how often they were awoken at night by incoming text messages on their mobile phone.
In the first year students, 13.4% reported being woken up one to three times a month, 5.8% were woken up once a week, 5.3% were woken up several times a week and 2.2% were woken up every night. In the fourth year group, 20.8% were woken up between one and three times a month, 10.8% were woken up at least once a week, 8.9% were woken up several times a week, and 2.9% were woken up every night. The teenagers were also asked to indicate how tired they felt at various times.
“These preliminary findings suggest that mobile telephones may be having a major impact on the quality of sleep of a growing number of adolescents. It affected a quarter of the youngest to almost half of the eldest children in the sample,” says Jan Van den Bulck of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, who reports the findings in a letter to the journal. [2]
Cell phones are a great invention and a popular way to communicate—half of all Americans and Europeans use one. They allow us to work on the go and stay in touch. When put in the hands of a teenager, however, they can have some effects of which adults should be aware.
Cell phones provide security for teens and parents who worry about them; help is never out of reach and parents can check on their children easily.
Young people’s ability to communicate is extended—they can reach more people (including family) on a daily basis with cell phone speech and texting.
Teens’ natural tendency to follow trends may result in an emotional attachment to a cell phone (in its latest model) that is out of scale with its actual value. Some teens may even develop an “addiction” to the device that excludes anything not viewed or heard.
Cell phones allow only verbal, disembodied relationships at a time when adolescents should be working on developing a sense of their own—and others’—physical space. [3]
The acquisition of a cell phone appears to influence the communication choices of teens. In particular, cell phone users are much less likely to choose to use email than teens without cell phones. When asked which medium teens used to send written messages to friends most often, teens with cell phones were much more likely to select instant messaging and text messaging than email, while teens without mobile phones were more likely to choose email or instant messaging as their most favored textual method of communicating with friends. And while all teens are more likely to say they most often talk on the phone when communicating with their friends, teens with cell phones are more likely than teens without to say that they most often communicate with friends by written messages rather than the phone. Sixty-seven percent of teens without cell phones say they use a phone most often when communicating with their friends, compared to 58% of teens with a cell phone. So even though they potentially have more opportunities to talk on the phone than teens without cell phones, cell phone owners prefer to communicate with friends via written communication. [4]
It is a common sight – cell phones (mobile phones) in the hands of people, especially teenagers. Literature has provided in-depth evidence of the uses, advantages, disadvantages, impact, consequences and concerns about the use of mobile phones. Why teenagers fancy this device, is an interesting observation where the experts attach its significance to teenagers’ identity factor. The usage of mobile phones has re-shaped, re-organised and altered several social facets. Particularly focussing on teenagers’ mobile phone usage, literature has provided evidence of them being used for both positive purposes and negative reasons. Teenagers possessing mobile phone/s were 96.5% (n=111). A further breakup of age groups indicated that all the 17-19 olds had mobile phones. In addition, not possessing mobile phone/s is higher in the age bracket 15-16 year olds when compared to 13-14 olds. [5]
The spread of mobile communication among Finnish teenagers has been markedly rapid during the latter half of the 1990s. Young people have created and developed a communication culture that incorporates many special features, such as a rise in the use of text-based communication channels. Teenagers’ intersecting and selective use of communication channels has generated multimedial communication. From the theoretical standpoint provided by symbolic interactionism, we can ask whether communication through new media technologies generates new forms of social interaction. If this is the case, how could we describe and analyse these new forms of interaction? The media landscapes created by teenagers serve to articulate their personal space, as well as enabling their presentation of self and defining their relationships to others.[ 6]

Conclusion:

The influence of mobile technology on our lives is huge and even greater on teenagers. In the age in which they’re developing as individuals all that mobile phones birng leaves a strong trace on their growing up. The usage of mobile phones in their age should be controlled but they shouldn’t be discouraged from using them as they bring many benefits.

References:

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone
[2] ”Text messaging is spoiling teenagers’ sleep” by Roger Dobson
[3] ”The Effects of Cell Phones on Teenagers” by Laura Reynolds
[4] ”Teens and Technology” by Amanda Lenhart, Paul Hitlin, Mary Madden
[5] ”Mobile phones and teenagers: Impact, consequences and concerns – parents/caregivers perspectives” by Ravidchandran, Shanthi
[6] ”Mobile Communication as a Social Stage Meanings of Mobile Communication in Everyday Life among Teenagers in Finland” by Virpi Oksman

Cite this article:
Reed M (2011-11-15 08:14:11). The Influence of Mobile Phones on Teenagers. Australian Science. Retrieved: May 11, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/technology/the-influence-of-mobile-phones-on-teenagers/

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The post The Influence of Mobile Phones on Teenagers appeared first on Australian Science.