The lobbying arm of the wireless industry is stepping up the attacks on the recent ordinance out of San Francisco. The ordinance will require that cell phone retailers in the city display the SAR of every handset being sold in their store. The SAR is the specific absorption radiation rate of the handset.
Less than a month after the CTIA has stated that they’re no longer going to hold their trade show in the city now, the CTIA has now filed suit in order to block the enforcement of the cities legislation.
The suit was filed in the San Francisco United States District Court and accuses the city of unlawful interference in the FCCs exclusive authority, derived from Congress, over the cell phones emissions of radio frequencies as well as other wireless devices. You can find a copy of the suit here. The lawsuit states that if not enjoined the ordinance is something that will cause irreparable harm to not only the plaintiff and its members but also the public.
The press secretary for the DA stated that at the time of this writing his office hadn’t had the opportunity to completely read the suit yet but the ordinance is something that gives the consumer an easier access to the information that’s already available to them on carrier and manufacturer websites and in the phone’s user manuals, nothing more, nothing less. He talks about how the cell phone lobby, the CTIA, is arguing that the improved information access is somehow illegal. He states that they think it’s a rather “novel” legal concept.
The CTIA issued a statement through their public affairs VP which states that the law actually misleads consumers through the creation of false impressions that the FCCs current standards are somehow insufficient. The standard is currently 1.6 watts per kilogram and the FCC has stated that any cell phone that’s within that standard is compliable. He went on to state that through the display of the phone’s SAR and the pos actually leads the consumer to believe that there’s some sort of consequential distinction in safety between that of FCC amenable devices that have the different levels of SAR.
The CTIA has argued for a long time that using a cell phone doesn’t hold any danger to the user. Although, the years of research don’t suggest any sort of a consensus any way harmful or not in regards to cell phone radio frequency. Even the largely funded studies have still come in inconclusive. One of these studies, the Interphone study, came out in May.
The legislation was enacted back on June 15th by the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco. This was done over the concerns over the potential long-term radiation exposure from cell 14 phones. The enacted law is twofold:
•    First it mandates that all cell phone retailers have a list posted of both the actual and the maximum SAR for every cell phone that they cell
•    Second it mandates that customers have access to educational materials about radiation from cell phones when they make their purchasing decisions

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The internet is losing its wires as people are going nuts for more and more handsets enabled with Wi-Fi. Currently Wi-Fi isn’t a very common feature on mobile phones, only being available on the more advanced handsets.
In an increasingly mobile world the introduction of Wi-Fi to mobile handsets is a noteworthy achievement. Mobile technology continues to evolve and do so quite extensively. Over the past decade mobile technology has been going through an amazingly radical phase. Mobile phones are getting equipped with:
•    Touch-screens
•    Cameras
•    Video cameras
•    Music players
•    Much more
One of the most significant of these is the addition of Wi-Fi. There are so many important changes that have been made in the performance, features and the design of handsets. The presence of Wi-Fi is increasing the value of these enabled handsets in the market.
Mobile phones work over the same popular wireless technology that is used for computers, video games, home networks and MP3 players. The Wi-Fi mobile handsets use radio waves in order to offer the high speed internet network, internet without wires. In addition to mobile phones the PDAs are also Wi-Fi enabled and are able to be connected to the internet anytime they’re within WLAN or Wi-Fi range.
PDA users are able to check out their important emails if they’re on the road. Wi-Fi allows for easy video and picture sharing. The Wi-Fi mobile phone has its own network. The Wi-Fi enabled phones allow for a high speed transfer of data. This can be from anywhere but it has to be within the range of a hotspot. The user can exchange data up to 300 foot away from a local WLAN.
The Wi-Fi networks allow for the costs of cables to be cut down through the setup of wireless LAN connections. LAN connections are the perfect outlet where there are places where someone can’t expand or install a network, like historical monuments, outdoor places and so forth.
There’s a difference between the connections of those of Wi-Fi and those of Bluetooth. Bluetooth is very short in range so it only works in small areas like rooms and there’s no data transfer beyond that specific area. Wi-Fi on the other hand can transfer data from a floor of an apartment building to another floor. Bluetooth transfer speeds are quite a bit slower at only 800 kbps while Wi-Fi transfer speeds will give you much faster speeds of up to 54 mbps. Internet without wires is becoming a real reality.

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T-Mobile has made the announcement that they’re going to be further expanding their exceptionally quick mobile broadband system. The expansion is going to make it available to more than eight-five million in the United States. It’s with this move that T-Mobile is going to be able to deliver the HSPA + speeds in one hundred of the main urban areas. The back-haul is expected to be in place before the end of the year.
The SPA + network services are currently available in almost fifty of the main urban areas throughout the country. Expanded coverage is expected to come to:
•    Washington D.C.
•    New York
•    Los Angeles
This is going to be an addition to sixteen of the current T-Mobile 3G devices. This includes over a dozen of their smartphones which are all going to be able to take advantage from the improved network speeds.
It was stated from the T-Mobile United States Chief Network Office that the HSPA + network is going to now be able to offer the 4G speeds to additional people, more so than any other wireless network in the country. The forceful swiftness of the HSPA + network rollout is something that means that the T-Mobile customers are going to be able to enjoy a much improved broadband experience in many more places and many more devices than they can today.
The expansion of the network is going to also offer a much wider accessibility to the web connect broadband service products of T-Mobile, in their retail locations and in all of their HSPA + areas which includes the:
•    Web connect rocket USP laptop stick (the very first HSPA + capable device from an United States wireless carrier)
•    Dell Inspirion Mini 10 along with the T-Mobile web connect (this is T-Mobiles first netbook)
These are exciting times for mobile consumers, especially the consumers of T-Mobile. With the rumors of them getting an iPhone and the increased speeds in general, it’s definitely a good time to be a T-Mobile customer.

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The website Cult of Mac states that T-Mobile is going to be hosting the iPhone 4 on their network in September of this year. The launch of the T-Mobile iPhone 4 is going to be followed by the Verizon iPhone 4. This is a rumor that’s plagued the internet news and forums for many months. The reports of Apple giving access to the iPhone contract to other carriers besides just AT&T has come in the wake of decline in popularity of the AT&T services.
The antenna issues that the iPhone 4 has went through lately has put an additional burden to Apple and has caused them to start looking for additional options. The most notable fact is that, unlike in the past, Apple is saying nothing, no confirmation nor rejection of any of these reports. Whether it is coming this year or early next year it looks like this time it might actually be happening.
With Verizon being the biggest network for wireless service within the United States, it puts them automatically towards being one of the very best and first choices for the iPhone. The experts think and it’s hard to deny that an Apple and Verizon union would definitely be very beneficial for both companies.
Apple would definitely get a revenue spurt when their iPhone would be incorporated with the better quality of Verizon’s services. There were previous reports that claimed that Jobs, Apple’s CEO, isn’t happy at all with AT&T. Other reports claim that Jobs had tried to sack AT&T up to as many of six times but on all of those locations AT&T managed to get away.
The experts think that the upper hand could actually go to T-Mobile instead of Verizon even though they’re only the fourth largest wireless provider in the country. The reason for this is that T-Mobile runs on the same technology which is supported by the iPhone 4, GSM technology; however, conversely, Verizon supports the CDMA technology.
With that in mind there are some people that believe Verizon is soon going to be launching a CDMA version of the iPhone. The CDMA concept of an iPhone is very good as many of the experts have already given the go ahead to the possibility of the project. So more endless hope or is it an actual reality? Keep your hopes up even though T-Mobile is probably going to be the first.

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As the concerns are rising over cell phone radiation and the possible health risks of them the advocates of the cell phone safety are off urging the federal regulators to do more when it comes to protecting the users of cell phones and other wireless devices.
In a American Association for Cell Phone Safety letter to the FCC chairman it was wrote that even though the fame of cell phones has soared tremendously the federal communications and health are using standards that are very outdated when it comes to the evaluations of cell phones and their safety.
What the group asked of the FCC was for it to review their role when it comes to ensuring that the radiation that’s emitted from mobile phones are emitted at safe levels. Additionally they made the request that the FCC studies how they are informing the public about the impacts of cell phone radiation when it comes to human body tissue.
Of all of the hundreds of studies that have been done on cell phones and their safety there are no conclusive results from any of them. There was a multinational study which is called Interphone which was published back in May and stated that the heaviest of cell phone users could potentially be at the greatest risk for brain tumors. It also stated that there was more research that needs to be done. I’m not sure if such inconclusive results really merit the scare tactics that some groups want imposed.
This letter comes just weeks after the city of San Francisco became the very first United States jurisdiction to pass a cell phone ordinance on the amounts of radiation that cell phone unit on stores shelves emit. Representative Kucinich is planning on introducing legislation which would promote federal research when it comes to cell phones and safety and explore the possibilities of putting warning levels on cell phones on their radiation levels.
While I agree that the standards might be outdated I don’t see any cause for alarm of people until there is more conclusive evidence one way or the other. For now, wait and see.

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The Droid 2 is likely to be the first of cell phones to be launched with Froyo. The Droid Life team got a hold of a photo (pictured above) that looks like it’s a pre-release version of the Droid 2 and it’s running Froyo aka Android 2.2. Should the device arrive on schedule within the next month and have Froyo it’d be the very first of the Android handsets to launch with this latest Android platform version.
There’s been a fair share of leaks when it comes to the Droid 2 lately. One of the most recent of them was in the summer device catalog of Verizon. Even though neither of the two, the carrier (Verizon) or the manufacturer (Motorola) has announced the release of the phone, basically everything that you would or could want to know about the phone has managed to already find its way online.
You can look for the Droid 2 to have a:
•    1GHz processor
•    8 gigabyte memory card
•    5 megapixel camera
In regard s to pricing it’s most likely that this phone is going to have the seemingly popular price tag of $200. Hopefully the demands that have been created by their ad campaign will mean that both Motorola and Verizon are looking to and working hard to be sure that they’re able to meet the consumer demands.
After the expectations to have more than enough handsets for the launch the brand new Droid X finds itself already on backorder. The Droid Incredible has also been overwhelmed with shortages since it made its debut back in May.
Hopefully the lesson has been learned and there will be plenty of handsets available when it makes its official debut. I know that I’ll certainly be one of those people in line to get one; after all of the releases of Android phones this is easily the most anticipated.

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The Droid X seems to be a runaway success with reports coming in that it was completely sold out at a large amount of the Verizon stores. If you’re not as familiar a quick recap is in order. The Droid X is the newest in the high end Motorola smartphones which allows its user to create a wireless hotspot. This is comparable to the same access point that allows a patron to connect when they are in, for example, a Starbucks. The one exception is that it’s a private connection and it won’t be as fast as your typical hotspot due to the fact that it’s not DSL, T1 or cable, it’s a 3G connection.
What this phone does is completely raises up the bar when it comes to smartphones and feature integration. A prime example of this is when manufacturers began to include cameras built-in to the majority of cell phones on both the high and low end. The Droid X gets their 1GHz OMAP processor through Texas Instruments. Texas Instruments also supplies the silicon which allows the Droid X to have the Wi-Fi hotspot built-in. The reason that Motorola was able to get this feature into the Droid X is in large part due to the silicon.
There are some of the earlier reviews that to suggest that putting what is basically a completely serviceable Wi-Fi access point in a smartphone is something that can actually draw the battery down relatively quickly.
The problem is the same with any smartphone that is completely packed with features and all functions have the potential to taking a very big toll on the battery life. You want more features that are simply the trade-off that you have to be ready for. Moving forward as our smartphones get smarter it’s incumbent upon the silicon providers as well as the phone providers to work toward making the trade-off much less painful on the consumer.
With being the company nearest the end user Verizon has a challenge. The challenge is that the hot spot feature not simply be an extra that the owner of the smart phone gets for “free”, like a camera or video camera. The cost is $20 more per month for 2 gigabytes of data and is likely to be used mostly by professionals when they’re on the road. It is for that reason that expectations are going to be much higher for this type of feature than just a standard feature. You get this feature from the HTC EVO 4G from Sprint with no data restriction for $29 per month.
Indeed there’s so much potential. Through a smartphone which has the ability to provide mobile broadband connectivity for your laptop at anytime, no matter where you are is a feature that can be completely invaluable. The only nuance is of course you have to be in an area that there’s a Verizon 3G signal. This is a feature that’s going to get even more attractive as more and more networks are going to 4G and are able to provide the types of speeds that the users are currently used to in their home or their business.

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Windows Phone 7 is coming closer to coming to the market. Microsoft has been sending the OS for their brand of mobile phones into the carrier’s labs to get tested. They’ve additionally sent it to application developers for those phones and they are expected to hit the market before the holiday shopping season. One report states that the technical preview that was given of the Windows Phone 7 is about what Microsoft had promised earlier in the year.
After attempted creation of a unified mobile user experience with their own hardware ended in complete and total disaster Microsoft made the decision that with this mobile OS version to achieve their go through the getting tough with the software and hardware manufacturers. This has been done through making them adhere to a fundamental standards set for the new phone ecosystem. For instance, applications have to be sold only in the Microsoft Marketplace.
There are some additional hardware requirements as well. The phones have to have a bare minimum of:
•    256 megabytes of RAM
•    4 gigabytes of flash memory storage
•    Wi-Fi support
•   GPS and touch screen capacitive
Additionally, they must have an:
•    Accelerometer
•    Compass
•    Proximity sensor
•    Light sensor
Every single phone must have the same buttons in the same locations. This includes having a Bing button in order to encourage anyone that’s buying the phone to use their search engine, Bing, to find things.
With their attempts to emulate what RIM and Apple have done by the encapsulation of their new ecosystem in a silo Microsoft is hoping that they can also emulate their success within the mobile marketplace. It could be a shortsighted mission though. There are a lot of analysts that believe the reasons that the phones which are based on the Android OS by Google have actually surpassed the iPhone due to the fact that it’s an open ecosystem.
The analyst’s state that with the partially closed systems, like that of Apples, are going to have to open if they plan on staying competitive. If that proves to be true the Windows paradigm could be behind some steps in the market before it’s even out of the gate.
Additionally, regardless of how the Windows Phone 7 mobile actually turns out Microsoft is going to face some very serious and real challenges in the market:
•    They have to overcome the bumbler reputation due to the past with failures and products that have performed quite poorly
•    They are facing very formidable market leaders that have the ability to get things right the first time through (iPhone 4 not included in the getting things right department)
Microsoft’s reputation is that they need many reiterations of their products before they get it right. HP is the 800# gorilla in the room with their acquisition of the Palm platform. That’s likely to put them in as the wild card when it comes to the divvying up of the market share. It’s unclear whether or not Windows Phone 7 is actually going to save Microsoft’s mobile bacon but it should be interesting to find out.

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The one thing that proved that there is something that can happen and be exciting on a smaller display with a Sharp produced screen layer in 3D is the Nintendo 3DS. A Japanese cell carrier introduced the Hitachi Wooo last year which had used comparable 3D screen equipment as the 3DS. The technology was made by a company Master Image 3D which is a company out of Burbank, California. The added layer puts a cost of around $10 to $15 dollars for the maker but is able to be added over LCD and OLED screens and can be shut off if needed.
Don’t worry; you’re not going to need any of those annoying 3D glasses that the movie theater needs us to wear. The CEO of Master Image tells us that almost every one of the smartphone manufacturer’s major players is doing experiments with the 3D possibility for future handsets. He went on to say that as soon as next year we could start seeing 3D on an US mobile phone too.
Just one side of it is having the display in order to envisage the 3D content. The other question is what about being able to actually shoot 3D video and then process the outcome. It appears that this is something that’s being addressed as well. This is made apparent with a press release about an OMAP4 smartphone chipset from Texas Instruments. The press release touted the abilities of a system on a chip process of multiple camera images for the stereoscopic 3D recordings of 720p video on the mobile phone. Texas Instruments additionally promised there to be support for an additional front camera which would allow for touch-less gesture recognition. Additionally they hinted towards the technologies bringing a 3D interface to smartphones.
The combination of the Master Image overlay along with the dual core chipsets on a phones screen is possible soon due to the fact that both of these are technologies already in existence. Next year really looks to be a realistic timeframe for the first of a 3D smartphone to hit the United States market.
Notwithstanding of the fact that it’s currently nothing more than a simply wow factor while you’re playing some games like that on the Nintendo 3DS the 3D vision is no trick at all. The depth of field perception and stereoscopic are extremely vital, go no further than asking the trapeze artist. There are so many different features that have revolutionized their industry that started as nothing more than a gimmick. For now we’ll take the 3DHD and 3D UI for our smartphones, for now, just don’t ask us to pay more for it.

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The Droid X has a very strong focus on multimedia and that’s something that’s very much resonating with the consumers. It’s touting a:
•    Huge 4.3” display
•    8 megapixel camera
•    HDMI output
•    High definition video 720p
The one question is whether or not it’s possible for the phone to actually be a suitable replacement for a laptop, even for business.
For pretty much everyone the answer is going to be a huge NO WAY. If you happen to be someone that is bound to their desk and spend most of your day working on documents, presentations, and spreadsheets, the idea of actually using your smartphone as the primary business PC tool the question is more of a joke than anything else.
The mobile phone manufacturers tend to disagree though. The CEO of Motorola states that there’d be a 2GHz Android smartphone shipping before year’s end. To put that in contrast the fastest smartphone today only features a 1GHz processor. That even includes the Droid X, EVO 4G and the iPhone. The CEO, Jha, went on further to state that the laptop aka mobile computer would likely be replaced by the smartphone within just a few years.
There are obviously some pros and cons to a 2GHz smartphone processor chip.
The Pros:
•    More training and videoconferencing horsepower
•    Faster enterprise application access
The Cons:
•    Power hungry CPU which is likely to drain the smartphone battery even faster than the 1GHz processor of today
The Droid X as A Viable Replacement
So what about the Droid X? Could it actually cut the mustard as a laptop replacement? For someone that works in the field the answer could simply be a yes. There are some caveats to that though. The phone running Android 2.1 is going to have to have Android 2.2. This is the newest version of the Google Mobile OS. The upgrade is slated to come before the end of the summer.
Business Friendly Features
Android 2.2 is adding many features that are going to be business friendly. This is also going to include the enablement of network administrators to help secure data that’s sensitive through being able to remote wipe a user’s phone. There is calendar sync for exchange, enhanced security with lock screens which are PIN based, as well as the ability for an Android email application user to be able to search and auto complete company directory names.
Hardware Features
With regards to the hardware features the Droid X is going to likely be able to work as a laptop replacement, for at least some employees at least. The phone touts an impressive toolkit, including:
•    8 megapixel camera
•    720p video capture
Those two features especially would be very handy for the worker that spends the majority of their time out in the field. One prime example would be an insurance claims adjuster.
Online Forms
When it comes to filling out an online form the Droid X includes something called Swype. Swype is a data entry tool which allows the user to enter their text through sliding the finger across the onscreen keyboard. There’s a learning curve to it but it’s far superior to the single digit tapping. Additionally, the HDMI output port is a key for the business traveler that is frequently accessing PowerPoint presentations while on the road.
What’s it missing?
So what’s missing? The Droid X is something that could use a Pico projector built-in. An example of that would be like in the new Galaxy Beam from Samsung. What this does is projects a 50” presentation on a wall. This is something that is very convenient for product demonstrations as well as training sessions.
Any Other Smartphones
So are there any other smartphones? Not the EVO 4G as its battery life is pathetically short. In order to be effective the laptop replacing phone has to run at least one day before it dies. It’s impossible to recommend the iPhone 4, especially until Apple resolves its antenna glitches. Possibly the Galaxy Beam later on but Samsung hasn’t revealed any United States release dates.
The Droid X is the greatest and the latest in mobile phones on the market. Let’s be honest though, it’s going to be forgotten within months as there are faster and newer handsets with far more features hitting the market then and taking its place. One thing is for certain though, the Droid X points to the future where a smartphone actually replacing a laptop is a legitimate business reality.

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The Motorola Droid and Motorola Devour have gotten their notice for the end of their lives so out with the older in with the fresh mobile phones. With the upper echelon of the smartphone lineup of Verizon filled up with both the HTC Incredible along with the Motorola Droid X the now 5 month old Devour and the 8 month old Droid are now being sent packing along to hit the dusty trail.
Verizon is still going to be selling both of the handsets but they’re not going to be taking anymore shipments from the manufacturer Motorola. With that in mind if you want it make sure that you order your own before they disappear.
There are some additional handsets that are going to be also tapering off. One of the others is the Blackberry 9630 Tour – its replacement is the Blackberry Bold 9650. Also the Nokia Twist is phasing out and is currently going through a sale. Additionally, there are some Samsung phones also being phased out. These are the:
•    Saga
•    Smooth
•    Intensity
•    Knack
When it comes to the phones that are being phased out though, the Motorola ones are the big ones to be hitting the pavement.
The Droid had begun the foray of Android phones for Verizon and has since then managed to spin into an extremely flourishing ad campaign along with a large amount of phones not only from Motorola but also HTC.
Even though the Devour simply occupied a more midlevel spot it still really failed to impress most anyone but it did manage to offer a more affordable option to the Droid. With the Droid 2 coming right around the corner it should now fulfill the quota for a more landscape slider Android handset. No matter what comes we do know that although the Devour and Droid are hitting the road Motorola and Android phones and Verizon are here to stay.

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It’s very well known that one of the fastest growing markets is mobile internet but the really surprising thing is exactly the rate that it’s growing. A recent report has shown that within just five more years more users are going to be connecting to the internet through mobile devices than through their PC. The YouTube consumption rates on mobile devices are growing at considerable rates as:
•    Playbacks are up 160% for 2009 than they were in 2008
It’s an exciting thing that YouTube Mobile has now received in excess of 100 million video playbacks each and every day. This is just roughly the amount of playbacks that came daily on the YouTube website when they’d joined forces back in 2006 with Google.
The YouTube mobile device launch was back in 2007 and had about 1,000 available videos on the mobile website. This launched swiftly opened the possibilities of being able to access videos while they’re on the go. Their site and mobile browsers along with the hardware had its limitations and it prevented the true mobile experience from being able to keep pace with the desktop version of YouTube.
Predominantly, we know that people want to be able to get access to the most favorite videos while they’re on the go, no matter where that might be. It is for that reason that they released the updated site version for the mobile. 

The New Features
So you’re wondering what’s new about it, here it is:
•    It’s amazingly fast
•    The user interfaced gives much larger as well as elements that are touch-friendly which makes it much easier to access videos while on the go
Additionally, it incorporates the functionality as well as the features that people have come to expect from the main site, like the:
•    Search query suggestions
•    Playlist creation options
•    Ability to assign the likes or dislikes of videos straight from your device
As more and more improvement have been made to YouTube.com you’re now going to see them very soon onto the mobile site unlike native applications that aren’t updated near as frequently.
With the world quickly and continuing to go more and more mobile this is an amazing improvement for those users that want more a more dependable experience no matter where they are. Right now it’s an English only launch, however, in the upcoming months it will be rolled out in many more languages. You’ll be able to access the latest and the greatest mobile site from your Android browser or iPhone.

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One of the ABI reports that recently came out had very nice timing as the communications juggernaut Ericsson has just revealed that the number of cell phone subscribers just hit the number 5 billion. It is through the same Ericsson study that states that there are 2 million more additions that are made each and every day and over 500 million of the total subscribers are on 3G. Additionally, if the forecasts are correct we’ll hit the 50 billion mark by the time 2020 hits.
The major bulk of the growth is attributed by Ericsson to the new growth in the emerging Indian and Chinese markets. Even though they are very popular in China the studies are showing that the wireless data have yet to actually really spin off in India. That is something that’s going to skyrocket growth once it does. Ericsson is spitting out more and more facts that have come from other research that states that only a decade ago there were only 750 million cell phone subscribers. Furthermore, those forecasts predict that 80% of the people that go online are going to be connecting through a mobile device by the year 2015.
As our population grows and the advancements in technology go further and further it’s no shocker even though it’s a complete shock to some. With technology coming down so much in cost it will be no shock that virtually every person on the planet will soon be able to afford a cell phone and cell phone service. What a culture.
Every single day, or possibly even quarter-to-quarter, it is so easy for us to get ourselves over-involved in the vast minutiae of the mobile advancements we’re seeing. The fact though remains that there are actually 5 billion cell phone accounts that are active around the world and the fact that the population of the world is only at 6.8 billion is nothing short of complete craziness.

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Imagine an accident and you can’t speak up for yourself. How are they going to know who to call for you? How will your loved ones be notified? The idea of ICE or In Case Of Emergency was a thought that was actually developed by someone back in England, a paramedic. What he came to realize was that although most of the victims he came across didn’t carry any emergency contact information they did have cell phones. So it was with that the ICE campaign had started. The campaign focused on getting everyone that carries a cell phone to put an ICE listing in their phonebook with a number that should be called by emergency personnel if there should be an emergency.
The amount of cell phone use in the United States is reaching more closely to 200 million users. Everyone should have ICE programmed into their cell phone for those times of emergency.
It’s so simple to be able to do there is no reason that nobody should do so. Simply type the ICE acronym into your cell phones phonebook and the number of the person that you want to have as your emergency contact. It’s just like the form you fill out at work except this one follows you no matter where you might go.
In addition to that you should put a period at the end of the listing. The reason for this is that you want it to be the very first listing in your phonebook. This makes it easier if you need to call the number yourself and it makes it quick and easy for the emergency personnel should you not be responsive. You could also set it as speed dial number one. While the emergency person might not know this it’ll be easy for you to call if you need to.
Another consideration that some people will do is they’ll put the name of the person after the ICE acronym which is something that we suggest as well. This lets the person that’s making the phone call know who they are calling. So you’d list it as ICE-Bob. .
Within the United States there are numerous agencies of public safety that actually teach their first responders to look at the ICE acronym in a person’s cell phone for those people that aren’t able to communicate who they need to have called.
It’s been proven that when it comes to being able to get the vital medical and health information about the victim. This is something that can be vital for a paramedic that’s treating an unconscious patient.
Additionally, using the ICE for a child can be very important as the child doesn’t usually carry a wallet or purse that would provide the very important contact information but more and more kids are carrying cell phones with them these days. Putting in ICE-Dad or ICE-Mom is essential when it comes to providing information for an emergency contact and not just protecting ourselves but our children.

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A United States congressman is planning on proposing a new federal law which if passed and signed would require cell phones to have warning labels put on them. This information comes just as San Francisco is close to enacting a new ordinance which would than require the retailers to put information about the cell phone radiation on each of the cell phone models being sold.
This Wednesday the Congressman from Ohio, Dennis Kucinich, stated that he’s planning on introducing a bill which would require there to be warning labels put on all cell phones regarding the potential risks of using cell phones. This bill would additionally create a nationalized research project which would study health and cell phones. Without having any sort of concrete proof it seems as if this might be a little premature.
Congressman Kucinich did acknowledge in a statement that there are some studies which link using cell phones to health issues like brain tumors for example while there are others that don’t. His statement is that the studies which are funded from the telecommunications industry are obviously significantly less liable to find a linkage of the health problems and cell phones. He states that until we know for certain that there should be a labeling law to make certain that the cell phone users will be able to make their own decision on the risk levels that they’re willing to accept. He goes on further to say that people should be able to decide for themselves, not cell phone companies deciding for the rest of us.
The proposal by Congressman Kucinich would additionally make the call for an update to the SAR. The SAR is the Specific Absorption Rate and is a measurement of the radiation that cell phones emit of which the United States FCC requires all of the cell phone manufacturers to disclose. The standard of the SAR was set decades back and Kucinich states it deserves to be updated.
The bill that was passed in San Francisco by their city council is currently waiting signature from the mayor. If signed it will require retailers to display the SAR information on the cell phone display materials as well as making the stores explain exactly what SAR means and direct their consumer to further information about SAR which would be provided by the city.
The CTIA cell trade association states that this law would potentially mislead the consumer into thinking that there are some cell phones that are safer than other cell phones which is not the case. The FCC has actually already approved all cell phones that are sold in retail shops and deemed them as safe. The CTIA is right and if you did this on a national level it would potentially hammer the cell phone industry without merit nationwide.
The CTIA is going to stop holding their conferences in San Francisco after this year in order to protest the ordinance. When they were asked to comment on Congressman Kucinich’s thoughts and the proposed law they declined to comment.

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Currently the free government cell phones might be the target of all of the rage from the right wing but the fact is that they are real and they are out there and they are getting some more free minutes.
Just recently Virgin Mobile announced that Assurance Wireless which is one of the programs funded by the government to provide free cell phones. Virgin is going to be offering free Kyocera Jax phones along with 200 minutes every month to those that are poor or disabled in the following states:
•    New York
•    Virginia
•    North Carolina
•    Tennessee
That’s a significant bump from their major competitor which is the TracFone from Safelink Wireless. Safelink currently only offers 60 minutes a month and there is some variance when you go state to state.
The free services and phones are available to those people that are on Food Stamps, Medicaid or some type of temporary assistance for families in need.
Free phones are nothing new. The free phones are part of something that’s called LifeLine which began back in 1997. This followed the 1996 Telecommunications Act. The program was then enhanced a little more during the Bush years in 2005 and then SafeLink went to disburse their free phones 3 years later in 2008. There are some programs that are similar that have ran all the way since 1985.
The Universal Service Fund provides the funding to the program. This is what you see as the phone bill surcharge. The Universal Service Fund has been used for landline service subsidization for both disabled and low income people. It’s now transitioned into wireless service subsidization now too. This is something that helps those people that frequently move or who have to live out of motels, bunk with their family or are even homeless in a lot of the cases. These are the folks that are having the most struggles in America.
Up until very recently the most service for a lifeline was provided by SafeLink. SafeLink currently operates in 19 states. Their service will provide less minutes than that of Virgin but their phones could have a lot better coverage. Virgin Mobile is a Sprint subsidiary and makes exclusive use of the Sprint network to let the user make their call. Dependant on where you’re living TracFone could be a able to use many networks to provide the user with better coverage.
There are other big cell phones companies that are all participating in the LifeLine program but they just provide discounts, not free services.

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With the end of the epic series 24 finally ending on its 8th day or season one thing come to mind is, what exactly the realness of the cell phone tracking is and location technology that you see used all the time on the series. That’s just them being liberal right? Easy answer, yes it does. All of that cell phone tracking technology that you see being used on 24 is real. A little scary isn’t it?
The law is something that prohibits the use of this technology to be able to track either suspected terrorists or kidnappers domestically but we can use it in foreign countries. We aren’t able to actually talk about that though. At least I can’t speak about it on the record or even attributed. With that in mind the rest of this is completely off the record.
The technology that tracks the millions of 911 calls which are placed by cell phones within the United States each and every month is currently being used in the Asia Pacific as well as the Middle Eastern areas in order to track down terror suspects. It’s just the legal obstacles that are currently preventing this technology from being deployed on a widespread basis within the United States.
When some people had questioned the United States military officials in both Afghanistan and Iraq it was returned with a no comment or the replies were just ignored completely in regards to the cell phone tracking behind used in those areas. A source of someone at Fox News though did admit that the practice is very widely used.
This source had requested anonymity since he wasn’t allowed to speak on this matter but did confirm that he sees the cell phone tracking technology being used all of the time in both Afghanistan and Iraq. He states that he sees it being used there just as often as he sees a helicopter being in use. Frankly part of the deal is that the military officials simply don’t talk about the use of electronic warfare even if its use is wide and far.
The ones that are actually authorized to speak on the matter don’t make any comments. They say we don’t use this for anything in the United States and if legal precedent and laws are holding that actually isn’t happening. Regardless of everything you didn’t hear anything from us.

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Verizon just managed to grab the latest smartphone from Motorola. The new smartphone is called the Motorola Devour. The Devour is going to be the very first phones that will Verizon will be offering which features the Motoblur. Motoblur is the Android powered delivery system for content from Motorola. Through the Motoblur option the user will be able to have accessibility to many different types of customization and personalization options and features for the smartphone it’s on.

(more…)

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There was a man who was a travelling equipment salesman. He purchased a smartphone, the Motorola Droid to be exact, to be able to keep up on things while he was on the road. He purchased this back in November and ever since then he’s been going through what we all feel sometimes, some buyer’s remorse.
So what was the cause of his buyer’s remorse? It was specifically the Droid X.
This man, Gene Paik, stated that he thought the next big thing was the Droid. After that he then saw that there was the Droid Incredible and then finally after that the Droid X. Now he knows that things are going to just continue to rollout. Six months down the line they’re just going to come out with something else and something better. He just feels like he just “doesn’t know anymore.”
The Droid X is an extremely powerful phone which has a large 4.3 inch screen as well as a 1GHz processor and the phone is going to be available starting next month with Verizon. The Droid X is just one in the latest lines of Smartphones and it definitely goes into the higher end of the smartphone line. The phone’s actually been touted as more of a super phone which is finally capable of taking market share of people that would otherwise purchase the Apple iPhone. The latest iPhone just went on sale.
The mounting parade of all of the Smartphones hitting the market is purely indicative of the massive innovation that’s happening with the market. This is one of the highest rated sectors of growth for the cell phone carriers and the manufacturers that are making the phones. Though like Gene it’s also a headache for a lot of the consumers that are left wondering exactly when they should take the smartphone plunge.
A user of Twitter tweeted that just when he had made the decision to go with the Incredible his carrier Verizon just came out with another amazing Droid phone. Now he’s officially torn.
Let’s be honest though, the upgrades in technology are far from anything new and we’ve seen it in the past with the advancements in PC technology. The smartphone market joined the fray and has been seeing the speedy advancements over the past few years. Though in just the past 9 months of those 3 years we’ve seen the frequency go up at an alarming pace with the high end of the smartphone market. This is even more the case with the ones that are running the Google Android operating system. Believe it or not the pace has been just about monthly.
Here’s a small breakdown of what we’ve been getting:
•    November gave us the Motorola Droid
•    The Nexus One followed that in January
•    After that we got the HTC Incredible in April
•    Both the Sprint EVO 4G and the MyTouch Slide 3G just now went on sale
Coming up after this is the release of another very powerful Android phone along with the Samsung Captivate which is going to hit the market within the coming months.
It’s something that can really get the consumers confused. I know that I get more and more questions every day from the consumer asking, “What should I do?” When it comes down to it though that’s simply just the way that the market is. At any one moment you just have to make the decision and just jump in.
For the consumers of cell phones it’s going to be a little more complicated than deciding on the next TV or even your next computer. For most subscribers they will have that option to sign up for the two year contract in order to get a subsidized phone and the penalties in place is what will deter almost all consumers from jumping over to the next phone.
Frankly that’s something that can hit really tough with the consumer, seeing that their purchase was upstaged within months of their purchase.
Palick talked about how it wouldn’t be so bad if it was every year or two but now things are coming out every 3-6 months of time. Palick said it perhaps the best when he stated that, “It’s nuts now!”
One of the regional VPs for Verizon simply stated tha the manufacturers and the cell phone carriers are simply just giving the consumer what they want the most, being more and more choices. It’s a continued effort to try to keep the pace with what the market is demanding and the smartphone market is one of the largest growing sectors of anything. It’s now more than ever that people want to have choice and you can be rest assured that it’s going to continue to be given.
The VP of Motorolas consumer experience marketing, Meliss Gardner might of hit it on the head when she talked about how smartphones are becoming more and more like the shoes and clothes. They are the trendy products that are and have to constantly evolve. There’s still an amazingly high rate of growth room in the smartphone marekt as women as well as some of the more older consumers are starting to upgrade. All of this means to just cotninue to expect more and more phones and at a very rapid pace.
Unfortunately for Gene Paik and the other consumers for him new phones are going to continue to come out all of the time. You’re going to continue to see more and more innovation which is going to lead to more and more smartphones hitting the market. It’s about the latest and it’s about the greatest so you have to be sure to keep up. That’s exactly what the market is going to provide.

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Just recently the FCC’s Spectrum Task Force made an announcement that they have plans for the increases in:

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The mobile broadband market has increased significantly for transportable PCs over the past years but it’s been fairly sluggish to expand traction at the same time. It’s only within the last year and a half that the United States market has taken some considerable steps towards actually adopting some of the needs beyond that of the more customary mobile consumer.
According to a new study done by the IDC they’re forecasting that the United States mobile broadband market is going to grow from the 2009 rate of subscribers at 6.5 million will balloon to just over 30 million by just 2014. Their figures take into account an annual compounded growth rate of 36.1 percent through the forecasted period.
Through the preamble of things like tablets and netbooks within the changes to the price structure along with the beginning of 4G availability with the forthcoming LTE deployments it has really begun to increase the consumer interest of that segment on the powers of mobile broadband as a derived method of access outside that of just the normal wired broadband. While it’s an unrealistic near future that mobile broadband is going to take the role of a prime access point it’s actually not against the realm of possibility for it to happen in the future on a longer term scale.
The mobile broadband market is growing in the minds of the consumer that feels it’s important and the operators who are offering connections. The diversity in the pricing plans along with the new smartphones and other devices that are capable of utilizing a mobile broadband connection along with the 4G promise makes it a tempting proposition for the consumer that wants to be universally connected no matter the location, no matter the time.
It’s the evolving landscape of the devices that can utilize mobile broadband that are going to have a significantly positive impact on the market. As there are devices that become more available and more widely consumed being rich in the digital media experience, the hunger for the instantaneous connectivity is going to continue to rise from the consumer and is going to continue to drive the mobile broadband growth.
Throughout the rest of 2010 we’re going to see the continuing interest and adoption of services but when we’re on the threshold of a 4G world and both the LTE and Wi-MAX at full development we’ll see nothing but continued positive positions in the role of spurring growth not just in the consumer segment but also the business segment. When it comes down to it, it’s a very exciting time for mobile broadband.

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Recently the Nuron smartphone was announced through T-Mobile and Nokia. This is the most recent smartphone from the major manufacturer and T-Mobile that’s going to be marketed to the masses. The phone is dubbed as the Nokia 5230 Nuron. This smartphone is one that features things like social networking applications, maps that provide you with turn-by-turn navigating capability and many more features. This new smartphone is set for release later this year through T-Mobile. (more…)

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You can actually get a free cell phone from the United States government. If you’re not one of the people that qualifies whether it’s liked or not liked it doesn’t really matter. The government provides phones to those people that can’t afford them.
The qualifications are that you need to be on welfare or food stamps as well as a low income family. If you meet that criteria you are able to get your cell phone through good old Uncle Sam. Along with the free healthcare, food, welfare and more you’re able to get the cell phone as a service for those that meet the stated criteria.
Like stated above it’s easy and there’s not much that you’ll need, simply:
•    Be poor
•    Be on food stamps or welfare
•    Or some other type of government assistance
The first thing that you’ll need to do is make sure that you have all of your personal information available. For any program that you’re on, whether it be food stamps, Medicaid, welfare, federal section 8 housing, your kids on the national school lunch program, temporary assistance, or any other type of subsidy. Make sure that you have all of the documentation of the programs you’re on and the account numbers.
The thing to remember is you can’t have a medium or high income and you can’t be independent from the taxpayers or the government. You must be reliant on at least one government program and its taxpayers in order to qualify for a free cell phone.
There are no catches so long as you meet the requirements. It’s completely free with no string attached.
In order to enroll you need to contact Safelink Wireless.
You can visit their www.safelinkwireless.com or call them at 800/977-3768. If you need technical assistant you can call them at 800/378-1684. Written correspondence can be sent through:
SafeLink Wireless
Attention: Executive Resolution Department
9700 N.W. 112th Avenue
Miami, FL 33178

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Erring on the side of caution there was a 10 to 1 vote from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors this past Tuesday. The vote was for a requirement of the sellers of cell phones to have to post notices in the stores on the details of the levels of radiation that each of the different models emit.
This ordinance requires the posting of the information on something called the SAR. This is what you’re likely to see the rating qualified as. The SAR stands for the specific absorption rate. The rate measures the levels of radio wave absorption into the tissue of the user’s body.
Mayor Newsom has shown his support for the ordinance so he’s anticipated to sign the ordinance into law. The law would be in effect come February of next year and those that are found in violation will face a $300 fine per violation. There are some other jurisdictions that have considered this type of legislation; however, it looks like San Francisco will be the first to actually enact it.
There are some that have concerns that the prolonged cell phone radiation exposure could cause brain cancer but the simple point is that the studies are inconclusive. Although this is just a precautionary ordinance without having conclusive proof it’s a wonder if it’s really just a scare tactic to a point. The most comprehensive study, which is also the most recent one, found that there is no increase in risk using a cell phone and the two most frequent forms of brain cancer.
With the lack of link certainty for or against it poses another challenge. If the government starts issuing these warnings to be safe it could needlessly scare consumers. Though the other problem is that if the risk is actually true then the government has an obligation to alert the public to the potential harms. But without knowing the harm is there a true obligation to alert the public of something that “might” be a danger.
Cell phone safety is regulated by the FCC and the FDA. The direct quote from the FDA states that “there is no scientific evidence to date that proves that wireless phone usage can lead to cancer or a variety of other health effects. It does also state that there are continuing studies.
There’s already a regulation in place by the FCC that there is no phone to be sold within the United States that has a SAR rating in excess of 1.6 watts per kilogram. People can find the SAR information on the FCC website but in order to find out the information you need to have the FCC ID code of the phone you’re wanting to lookup.
Obviously the cell phone industry opposes this law as they state that the standard set by the FCC and the lacking of any definitive scientific proof. Unlike the tobacco lobbyists and companies this time the industry could be right. It could really mislead the consumer on the potentials of one phone being safer than another when it’s actually likely not the case.
Of course that same argument didn’t mean anything to the San Francisco lawmakers. They state that this is going to serve the public stating that is a common sense measure. I’m not sure that it really does make much sense but regardless it’ll soon be law and for now we’ll have to wait for any conclusive scientific study one way or another.

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Verizon along with HTC have announced the release of a new Android phone which is labeled as the Droid Incredible. They are going to be making another announcement next week to talk about an official release date but all signs point to a release date next month, anticipated around July 19th.
The latest in the line of Android devices is available through Verizon and has an amazing topographic design which has been made possible through the amazing precision and craftsmanship of the manufacturer.
Additionally the new line of the Droid, the Incredible is running the latest in the HTC Sense technology along with:
•    Interactive widgets
•    Seven panel home screen
•    Flawless incorporation with the Exchange Active Sync
•    Flickr access
•    Android Market access
The one thing that makes the Incredible the most fascinating is the fact that’s loaded with a superfast Qualcomm 1 gigahertz Snapdragon process. This is a very first when it comes to the phones of Verizon. Additionally, this Droid also boasts an 8 megapixel camera. This one is also another first when it comes to the stable of smartphones out of Verizon.
One of the other excellent features that is expected from the Incredible is some mobile applications of Verizon’s themselves, including a Skype mobile along with an NFL mobile.
Some of the other key specifications and features of the Droid Incredible include:
•    Optical joystick
•    Dedicated keys for home
•    Menu
•    Back
•    Search functions
•    3.7” touch screen
Furthermore it has a:
•    Proximity sensor
•    Light sensor
•    Integrated GPS
•    Digital compass
•    3.5mm jack
The Droid Incredible really seems to be just that, incredible. Although it was available for preorder since April and was supposed to be released on the 29th but unfortunately it’s been pushed back. Hopefully the release date will be in July as I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

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The company Hop-on Incorporated has just announced that their anti radiation chips are now available for purchase through their website at Hop-On.com. The cost is fairly nominal being able to purchase the chip for only $9.99.
These anti radiation chips will work for the following units:
•    Cell phones
•    Flat screen TVs
•    Regular TVs
•    Computer screens
•    Cable boxes
•    Satellite boxes
•    Other devices which emit electromagnetic radiation
Is Danger a Reality?
Back in May the MSNBC Nightly News did a segment of about the latent dangers that come with electromagnetic radiation. There still remain significant levels of uncertainty. After more than $28 million dollars in research about how specific products that emit levels of radiation could potentially cause cancer.
Although it’s going to be awhile before we really know the specific details on these devices, one of the main ones being cell phone usage, there is now an inexpensive way to help alleviate the uncertainty and feature through providing a small level of insurance against the radiation through the chip from Hop-on.
The product is able to be put on any device which emits a radio frequency radiation as well as electromagnetic radiation:
•    Cell phones
•    iPhones
•    Televisions
•    Computer monitors
•    Much, much more
The products are certified by ISO. The products validity along with the impact that these products can have on the massive market aptitude makes this one of the most exciting products not just from Hop-on but in terms of telecom products in general to hit the market to date. Hop-on intends to attack the market aggressively and bring attention to the harmful radiation levels that are caused by these devices.
Even if the dangers should turn out to be a myth there really is no reason to not take a $9.99 shot at reducing the potential risks before we really know for sure one way or another. With the length it takes for studies to be done and the only fairly recent past of exploding cell phone usage we could be years, if not decades away, from learning the true risks.
The one thing to be known is that this product is within reach but the true answers that we want seem miles away.

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Back in 1992 we were introduced to the first smartphone in Las Vegas at the computer industry trade show. The smartphone was named Simon and the features included a:
•    Touch screen
•    Calendar
•    Stylus
•    World clock
•    Calculator
•    Address book
•    Email
•    Fax
•    Notepad
•    Games
Smartphones have come so far in so little of time when you think about it. While there are so many of the original features that still come with the phones there is so much more now. There are things that have been added like GPS, digital cameras, contact management software, media software, QWERTY keyboards and more. We see so many different operating systems now too, through the Windows Mobile, to the Android from Google operating on a Linux based platform, etc…
With so much going on in the world of smartphones and the leaps and bounds we’ve made in so little time the obvious question that comes to mind is, what’s next?
Solar Panel LCD Screens
Over a year ago Apple filed for a patent on how they could incorporate solar cells into mobile phones by putting them behind the LCD screens. There is another company out of Idaho that has been working on a kinetic charger. Put those with some other green energy ideas and you’ve managed to get wireless energy for one.
You won’t have to worry about leaving your phone charge anymore. Sailors or other outdoor enthusiasts could use their smartphone as both a compass and a map on long week boat trips or hikes through just using kinetic or solar energy. Should something happen you can safely use your smartphone as a failsafe emergency beacon without having to worry about a charge.
Brain Machine Interface
There are some people that just talk about the future of smartphones being nothing more than just a bunch of gimmicks. We’re doomed to the future of the commercial sales points that anyone, even those without a marketing degree could come up with. Not likely. In the words of Wunsch-Vincent, “make the device as invisible as possible between you and what you want to do.”
Institutes and companies around the world have been doing research on something called BMI for years. BMI is a brain machine interface. There is a video from Honda floating around with their friendly Asimo. This is a humanlike robot controlled by a brain machine interface that Honda claims responds correctly to the thoughts of the human controller of 90% of the time.
There is a human brain computer interface that is being developed out of Berlin. While it’s still in its infancy it will allow you to be able to move a cursor around the screen and type a sentence in 5-10 minutes. While many of us measure ourselves in our words per minute typing speed but when it comes to ten minutes for composing a sentence for a disabled person that hasn’t been able to communicate in many years ten minutes comes in an instant.
The future is bright. We’ve come so far in so little time it’s amazing to think what’s coming down the road.

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In today’s competitive electronic marketplace, it is becoming much easier to find low priced cell phones that are actually very good. Depending on what kind of features you use regularly, you can realize some significant savings by switching to a budget model without sacrificing quality of reception or ease of use.

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Everyone has their excuse to not donate to the disaster relief funds that you see or to a favorite charity:
•    We’re broke
•    The donation process is much too complicated
•    We lack the time to write and send the check
•    So on, and so on, and so on
Mobile donation is the giving of money to an organization through text messaging. This is something that makes giving a lot easier but is it safe? Does it actually have a significant impact for the charity and the people that are in need?
Donation through cell phone is actually very quick and very easy. All you have to do is simply text a word to a number and a set amount is then charged to your cell phone bill. Your carrier will then deliver those funds to the charity.
The approach of the mobile donation has been around for years but it actually didn’t catch on that much until the earthquake in Haiti this year. More than $32 million was raised in just a month after the disaster through the American Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development Fund. This is the most successful mobile campaign to date.
Advocates talk about the mobile donation as a very appealing option due to the fact that they offer instant gratification and they are very convenient. The system opens things up to those people that otherwise might never contribute. I’ll admit I’m part of that group. Sometimes it’s just too much trouble to worry about sending a check, yeah it’s not that much work but it’s so much of an inconvenience. Younger audiences, like me, for instance, appreciate the opportunity to be able to donate through text messaging. Don’t need to write a check and don’t have to worry about pulling out a credit card. (more…)

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The new Washington law is spurring sales of hands free devices. The threat of a very stiff fine has been really good for business at the local phone stores.
A sales rep with AT&T said that he had sold over $500 worth of Bluetooth devices just in one day last Friday. All of the phones that they have on display in their store are going to all carry a tag that alerts their customers that talking on driving on the phones is illegal.
Andy the rep stated that they’ve had a lot more people starting to come in. They come in talking about how they now have to do it. From there they get taken to a rack that has a wide range of devices that range from $40-$160. He talks about how the Jawbone has been the most popular unit selling for $100 and is a noise canceling version. There are plenty of stores that will sell many other varieties that are only $20 or so. There are also some wired headsets for people that don’t want to use the wireless units. You can even find that a lot of cars have wireless units built-in.
No matter what you think about the new law you should either pull over or get a hands free device. There are so many options of hands free devices out there now that there is something to fit the tastes of just about anyone that needs to talk on the phone while driving.
There are some people like Lew Mullen that don’t plan on buying one right away after the new cell phone law is going into effect today, at least not immediately after. He talks about how he’s not really on the phone all that often and he doesn’t want to be one of those Bluetooth guys.
He was photographed last week driving while talking on his cell phone on Mission Street in Washington. He says that it looks like you’re too full of self importance to have something in your ear all of the time. Maybe he’ll use the speaker once in awhile but states that most likely he’ll just pull over.
Mullen is a chiropractor and said that talking on the phone while driving is ideal for some people that have long commute times it just isn’t really necessary for his short 10 minute jaunt to work. For the city driving he thinks that a headset is something that is just as dangerous and distracting as holding the phone up to his ear.
He realizes that he likely might change his mind in the future. Being a chiropractor he tells people that they need to get a headset as it’s really hard on the neck holding a phone up to the ear. He jokes that he should be selling the damn things.
If you’re someone like Mullen that doesn’t want to be part of the “Bluetooth Club” than there are many options of speaker hands free systems that are going to give you much more clarity than just the speakerphone on your handset. Regardless of what you go with makes sure that you go hands free in Washington, it’s the law.

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In Washington if you don’t hang up you’re now going to pay up. With the new bill signed into law using your hands to talk on your phone or type out your text message while you’re behind the wheel of a car is soon to be illegal.
Governor Gregoire signed the measures into law this past Friday. He was flanked by many children that had suffered very serious injuries after that had been hit by preoccupied drivers.
Under these new laws any driver who reads and/or writes a text or uses their cell phone without using a hands free device could be looking at a ticket of $101 dollars. The ban will take effect on January 1st, 2011 while the cell phone law has been enforced since July of 2008.
There are some exemptions though with one of these being emergencies and neither offense is going to be enough to get the driver pulled over by the cops. The parents of the children that have been injured in collisions though with those drivers still said that the law is a major improvement.
A boy named Billy and his mom was among the people that were there when the bill was signed. Billy, who is 12, has suffered a brain injury while going to the bus four years ago. The people that witnessed the crash stated that the driver was talking on their cell phone at the time. Behind this bill there are many faces, faces like Billy’s.
United States Senate
The United States Senate is working on a revised version of the S. 1938. This is something that could create a state grant program which would reward those states that enact laws that ban texting while driving. The goal of the bill is to provide monetary incentives for the states that will choose to ban texting and the use of hand held devices while they are driving.
This is something that would act like other laws regarding things like, motorcycle helmet use, drinking age restrictions, max speed limits, etc… The states that pass the legislation would then gain access to more federal money. This money has yet to be defined. There are many states that have already enacted such bans and there are others that have proposed legislation.
The month of June is National Safe Driving Month. The one hope would be that there are more laws that will enact laws like Washington with or without the Senates proposed legislation.

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The use of cell phones, including talking and texting has actually been banned in many states. If either you, your employees or someone you know use a cell phone while in the car you should know of the many state laws that there are that will affect how you can or if you can use your cell phone while you’re driving.

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Do you want to keep talking more? If so you should keep on pedaling. The largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world launched a set of lower priced handsets with a recharger that can be connected to a bikes dynamo. This is what will charge your phone as the wheels are turning.

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Nokia has announced their Nokia C1; it has a flashlight and is aimed at developing countries. The affordable handset is definitely a bargain at only $37USD.

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With humans and destruction the human race hardly ever needs help when it comes to destruction. Look no further than the young boy tearing up a toy, cutting a worm in half or many other things that are indicative of our reality. When it comes to the human race, especially males, we simply love to annihilate.

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If you are someone that owns a cell phone you should be interested and care about the future outcomes of a court case that could very well decide on whether or not your government is going to be able to use your cell phone in order to track you or not. So why is this concern? It’s because they could do it even without having to show probably cause to believe that it would turn up some evidence of a crime being committed or having been committed. That’s right, no probable cause required at all! Can you imagine the fishing expeditions that our government law enforcement agencies could go on?

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As we cell phone users look forward to the coming availability of 4G technology in their provider network let’s take a look back at the generations preceding it leading up to the modern cellular standards that we know of today. While the 1G was analog and didn’t even offer something that we couldn’t live without today, text messaging, today’s more advanced 3G and now 4G digital technology offers us features that years ago we wouldn’t have ever imagined.

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We all know that cell phones is great for making a call, sending a text message and a whole lot more with the smartphone generation. Did you know though that cell phones are actually being deployed more and more as a scientific instrument in order to fight diseases?

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Think about the following two questions:
1.    How many cell phones have you owned up to this point?
2.    How many cell phones do you think you will own in the future?
For a lot of people these numbers are fairly high. The lifespan of a new cell phone is actually fairly short these days and many of the old phones will end up at best sitting in someone’s junk drawer, or at worst end up in a landfill.
There are so many opportunities and so many reasons for an old cell phone to be recycled; however, there are so few people that actually will do it. When it comes time to buy your new phone or get your upgrade you need to consider helping out the environment and others through recycling of your phone. You could likely be helping someone that is in desperate need of a phone and can’t afford it get one of their own for emergencies.
In 1985 there were only about 500k cell phones in the United States. In just the short time leading up to 2006 there were over 233 million. So what happens to all of these cell phones after they’re replaced? (more…)

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Those cell phone users that are worried about getting brain cancer can rest a little easier but can’t eliminate their concern yet. There has been a major international study into the linkage of the use of cell phones and two different types of brain cancer have as of yet proved inconclusive.

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When it comes to talking on a cell phone and driving it amounts to almost 25% of all accidents. A total of 1/5th of all adult drivers with experience in the United States will send a text message while they’re driving.
In the year 2008 there were almost 6,000 people killed and another 500,000 that were injured directly related to crashes where the driver was distracted. In that same year at any one time during the daylight hours there were over 800,000 vehicles on the road that were being driven by someone that was using a cell phone.
The statistics are staggering, some additional ones are:
•    80% of accidents, or 4 out of every 5, are directly attributed to distracted drivers
•    In stark contrast only 33%, or 1 out of 3, accidents are attributed to drunk drivers
•    Texting and driving is 6xs more likely than drunk driving to result in an accident
•    People that text and drive are 23% more likely to be involved in a car accident
A Nationwide Insurance survey, released 2007, of dangerous driver behavior found the following statistics out of 1,200 drivers surveyed:
•    73% talk in their cell phone when driving
•    19% of drivers state that they text and drive
Back in 2005 it was found that 10% of drivers are on either a handheld or hands free cell phone at any one hour of the day. That information is according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Additionally:
•    Drivers that use their cell phones while they drive are 4xs more likely to get in an accident that is severe enough to injure themselves according to a study by the Insurance for Highway Safety Motorists
•    An older study in 2002 by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis estimated that there are 2,600 cell phone related deaths a year and another 330,000 are injured (due to the explosion of cell phones it is likely that this number is now much higher)
•
Even though almost all Americans do agree and believe that using a cell phone and texting while driving are two of the most possibly dangerous things to do from all of the behaviors from behind a wheel 81% of them still admit that they’re making calls when they’re driving.
The numbers of both crashes and near crashes that are directly linked to dialing are virtually identical to the numbers that are associated with talking or listening. Although dialing is more dangerous it occurs less often than listening or talking.
Studies show that texting and driving causes a staggering 400% increase in the time spent with someone’s eyes off of the road.
The numbers are unfortunate and the numbers also don’t lie. It’s time that something is done to get the 81% to realize that they are engaging in bad behavior. But wait, they already admit that. Unfortunately when it comes to thinking about what can actually be done there are only more questions than answers.

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The following statistics are from a study that was done by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.
Out of all of the cell phone related tasks:
•    Talking
•    Dialing
•    Grabbing for the phone
•    Texting
Texting when you’re driving is the most dangerous out of all of those tasks.
Out of all of the drivers the teen drivers are 4 xs more likely than the adult counterparts to get into near crash or crashes that are directly linked to talking or texting on a cell phone. A car driver that is dialing their phone is 2.8 xs more likely to have an accident than a driver that is not distracted.
Some additional statistics are as follows:
•    A driver that reaches for a cell phone or any other electronic device is 1.4xs more likely to be involved in a car crash
•    A driver that is speaking on their phone is 1.3xs more likely to be involved in a car crash
For every 6 seconds of time someone is driving the driver that is sending or receiving a text is spending 4.6 of those 6 seconds with their eyes off of the road. This actually makes texting the most distracting of all of the cell phone related tasks.
Truck driving statistics are as follows:
•    Truck drivers that text while they’re driving are 23.2xs more likely to get into an accident than a truck driver that is paying complete attention to the road
•    Truck drivers that are dialing their cell phone are 5.9xs more likely to get into a crash
•    The truck driver that’s reaching for their phone or another device are 6.7xs more likely to get into a trucking accident
Pennsylvania Cell Phone Car Crash Stats
Taking a look at Pennsylvania there are emerging statistics that talk about the connection of cell phone use and car wrecks. In the state of Pennsylvania there are currently no laws that regulate talking on the cell or sending a text message.
The following are some additional statistics of the state of Pennsylvania:
•    In the year 2008 there are a total of 1,298 related cell phone accidents. A total of 9 of those 1,298 accidents resulted in death
•    There were 1,093 cell phone related car wrecks and 6 of those were fatal in 2007
•    In the years 2003-2006 there were 50 deaths in the state directly related to cell phone use
•    Also in 2003-2006 the car accidents skyrocketed up 43%
•    2006 saw 241 accidents in the western part of the state
•    There were 5,715 car accidents directly linked to the use of handheld cell phones in the state from 2002-2006
•    There were a total of 367 accidents in that same period while people were using hands free devices or a Bluetooth
•    There were 1,170 car accidents in the state in just 2004 alone
You would think that these staggering statistics will lead to some type of reform in the state sooner than later.

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Eric Schmidt, who is the CEO of Google, Inc., appears to be much more concerned in being able to keep the peace with China than trying to keep with rivals, especially that of Apple Inc., within the swiftly rising smartphone market.
If that isn’t the case it’s at least the way that it sounded the past Thursday when Google had their annual shareholder meeting. Schmidt had talked about diplomatic restraint while he was discussing their tenuous position and relationship with China. He was far less prudent when he was discussing the vastly intensifying battle that Google is waging with Apple in the mobile marketplace.
Google has had a sparring match with the leadership in China for over two months before finding a way to be able to stop their search results censorship in the country without having to abandon one of the key internet markets. Since late March of this year Google has started to redirect some of the search requests that come from mainland China over to Hong Kong. The reason for that is that Hong Kong doesn’t fall under some of the same governed restrictions as other parts of China.
It goes without saying that this had investors extremely worried that it would begin to stagger the remaining business that Google has in China. Schmidt stated though that the state of affairs “seems to be stable”. Schmidt did caution though that the situation could change very quickly if the Chinese government becomes more antagonistic.
In some remarks made earlier Schmidt had taken some jabs at Apple as well as some additional phone makers which basically took shots at how parsimonious their control is over their devices.
Although while boasting about the gains that Google has made recently within the mobile market he still stressed that the company is very eager to work with all of the device manufacturers and the software developers that want to make use of the Android OS. The open attitude that Google is showing is a complete inverse to that of the rest of the competition. It’s really a case of if they say “no”, we say “yes”.
Apple more than others has recently come under a lot of criticism for their requiring of software developers to use their tools for programming and creating applications for their popular iPhone and the growing iPad. This is made even more apparent by the fact that United States regulators are planning to examine whether or not the restrictions from Apple do or don’t violate antitrust laws.
The tensions continue to rise and don’t show any chance of slowing down as both Google and Apple are competing to sell their mobile devices, advertising and services. The relationship was in the past a cordial one but the duel has destroyed that. Schmidt formerly had a seat on the board of directors for Apple but ended up resigning last year as it became more present that the two companies were on a major collision course.
Even though there are more consumers with iPhones the Android devices are doing a good job at playing catch-up. Android took 28% of all of the smartphones shipped in the United States in Q1 of this year. They only trailed the RIM Blackberry by 2% with Blackberry taking 36% of the total shipped smartphones. The iPhone came in third taking 21%. These statistics are from the NPD research group.
It’s fair to say that shareholders had little to nothing to gripe about at the meeting due to the fact that the earnings Google has brought in have been rising even through the recession. Google’s stock price has been climbing by leaps and bounds since last year’s meetings by 30%.

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Samsung made the announcement that their net profits surged massively, increasing more than six fold during Q1. This is a record high based upon the strong demand as well as higher prices for memory chips. Additionally the increased sales of the mobile phones and flat screen TVs had their hand in the growth.
Samsun made profits of almost $3.6 billion USD or $3.99 trillion won in Q1. The year prior Samsung recorded net profits of only $582 billion won to put some things in perspective. This puts the very latest figure at a record high for the company.
First quarter sales totaled a little over $34.6 trillion won which is a 20.8% rise from the almost $28.7 trillion which was reported just a year prior.
The Samsung Electronics Company is a definite major player and force in the global technology industry. Samsung ranks as the largest of manufacturers in:
•    Computer memory chips
•    Flat screen TVs
•    Liquid crystal displays
They are the number two player in the global mobile phone market only falling behind the Finland giant Nokia.
Samsung stated in a release that the sales of their semiconductor business had jumped a total of 57% within Q1. The company had stated that the tight supply along with the strong demand caused prices for the DRAM memory chips to go up. DRAMS are used in personal computers.
The company also citied that the solid demand for the NAND flash memory chips in line with the consumer purchases of the smartphones and the mobile application products. The NAND are something that is used in devices like music players, smartphones and digital cameras.
Strong demand for mobile products is something that has continued despite the weak seasonality. In the mobile phone segment Samsung sold almost 65 million of them in Q1 which is up 40% from the prior year. The demand is predicted to increase into the Q2 following right in line with the global economic recovery.
Samsung sold almost 8.5 million units of their flat screen TVs in Q1 which is a 47% increase from the year prior. Samsung is predicting that the demand is going to grow by 34% in Q2.
The results have inspired investors sending the shares up 2.9% higher.

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RIM, the market of the Blackberry, burst in to the top 5 of the cell phone makers in the period of January through March, the very first time this has happened. It was helped along by the 50% growth within the worldwide smartphone marketplace.
The worldwide phone marketplace is one that is pretty much been conquered by who are considered the 5 main players:
•    Nokia
•    Samsung
•   LG Electronics
•    Motorola
•    Sony Ericsson
This has been the case for each of the past 5 years. The trend over the past couple of years though is that two of the companies, Motorola and Sony Ericsson are ones that have really struggled with diminishing sales and have been losing market share position. Despite the very fast growth of the market, both of these firms actually had sharp sales drops in terms of the volume sales for the January to March period.
Nokia shipped a total of almost 108 million phones in the quarter with Samsung and LG selling a total of 64 million and change and 27 million and change.
Shipments of smartphones as a whole surged a whopping 50% for the quarter when compared to just a year prior up to almost 55 million and iPhone giant Apple along with Nokia taking the lion’s share of the market.
RIM making its entrance is something that really underscores the continued trend of the smartphone market growth which is motivating the entire worldwide mobile phone marketplace revival. All of the vendors combined made a smidge under 300 million cell phones within the quarter which is up a total of 21.7% from a year ago allowing the 11% market growth 2010 forecast to be stuck with. The estimates are that RIM had shipped around 10.6 million total units in Q1 which nudged them barely in front of the 10.5 million units shipped by Sony Eriksson.

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Question: What’s Available in Cell Phones for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing?
Frequent texting on your cell phone isn’t just for college students and others who use the service insatiably. For the deaf and hard-of-hearing (HOH) community, texting is the lifeblood of a cell phone’s usefulness. 

But specifically what’s available in cell phones to cater to those who are deaf or hard of hearing?
Answer: The simplest answer to this question is to say that most of today’s phones (even the most basic) serve the basic need of the deaf and HOH community: texting. Texting is often commonly referred to as sending SMS (short message system) messages. Texting for the deaf is like talking for the hearing. 

The primary benefit of texting via cell phones for the deaf and HOH is that the compact, lightweight, convenient and affordable technology easily rests in their pockets and unshackles them from being reliant on TTY (TeleTYpewriter) technology. TTY is a specialized text telephone service whereby the conversation is typed instead of spoken. 

In the past, the problem the deaf and HOH community had with their cell phone service was a lack of customization to their needs. For example, a cell phone plan might cost $50 with a certain amount of minutes and then $10 extra for unlimited texting. 

These customers, though, wouldn’t need any of the voice minutes and would only want the texting. (more…)

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The cell phone shopping and manufacturing district in Shenzhen, China is vast. Arguably the center of all things cell phone related, a visit here provides one with some real in site as to where the industry is headed. Recently, Dave Thomas of Rocket Builders visited Shenzen and was generous enough to share his photos with Cell-phone-plans.net.

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Cell phones and hearing aids are a topic that is really coming up in a lot of discussions lately as those that are deaf and hard of hearing want to get more in on the cell phone generation in terms of ease of use and emergency benefits among others.
Personally I’m not deaf or hard of hearing, though my girlfriend might disagree with that last one. The following is some information that I’ve gathered that puts a face to the problems, technology and accessibility on a smaller scale and one that we’ll delve into further over the coming weeks. (more…)

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Earlier this week RIM stated that they are going to be launching variations of two of the existing Blackberry smartphones.
One version is the CDMA for the high end Blackberry bold. The smartphone is going to ship to two companies, Sprint Nextel and Verizon. These two companies are the largest wireless carriers which run a CDMA network mentioned in the RIM statement. Carriers which operate GSM networks currently are able to carry the Blackberry Bold.
The two main types of mobile technology are both GSM and CDMA and are used by the wireless carriers throughout the world. CDMA actually lost the global dominance battle to GSM but it still manages to maintain a really strong position within certain markets.
RIM, operated out of Waterloo, Ontario Canada, is now also taking the new 3G version of the Blackberry Pearl out of the box. This is the smallest of the smartphones that are within the product range of the Blackberries. The new GSM release will lead to customers being able to get faster data downloads on the newer 3G networks.
The way the analysts are looking at it is that the software improvements being made will be able to allow RIM to get into a more competitive edge against the iPhone from Apple as well as the Droid and all of the other smartphones that are taking little bites out of the market share of RIM and their devices.
Some friendly enhancements for the consumer like putting in very powerful cameras in the phone as well as making the display a lot easier to navigate are also in the offerings. RIM states that you’ll be seeing a lot of powerful extensions coming from them. They also mention that you’re not going to have to be too patient so we can look forward to some things coming very soon.
The RIM application store, which admittedly does fall a little short of the offerings that Apple has, is really growing at a rapid pace as it’s been doubling multiple times hitting about a million per day now.
Also announced was that there is going to be an upgraded version of their mobile voice system technology. What this does is it allows for a seamless integration of the customer’s Blackberry and the office landline. The current technology will allow the devices to work together as one and the user can then route all of their outgoing calls through their office landline.
With the latest upgrade the mobile voice system will allow the user to both receive and make their phone calls from the Blackberry device through a Wi-Fi connection.

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For a moment stop thinking about the problem that everyone realizes is a problem of driving and texting at the same time. Instead though think about something that not everyone is aware of, or thinks of, and it is one that is a very interesting one that is somewhat silly but yet still dangerous. That is texting and walking at the same time.
Although it’s not as big of an epidemic over 1k people have visited the ER in the year 2008 just due to the fact that they were texting on their cell phone and walking at the same time and got distracted and then ended up tripping, falling or running into something. That’s actually double the number of people a year earlier and that was doubled from the year 2006. This was part of a study done by Ohio State University. They claim to be the first to have ever estimated the numbers for accidents like these. With the amount of injuries that are not reported the numbers reported above are likely much, much higher.
When they actually start putting a study out on it you know that the situation, in fact, has actually gotten that bad. There are abundant reports of people getting broken or sprained ankles, other broken appendages, concussions and more. That’s not even talking about the people that have not been physically hurt but have taken some major damage to their pride and never had to go to the ER. Those are just actual accidents waiting to happen.
There is actually more to know about this and a larger trend occurring and it is more than just walking and texting at the same time as that is just a small part of the equation. It goes by a lot of names but just a couple are:
•    Multitasking
•    Information overload
•   More
No matter what it is called neuroscientists as well as other professionals are beginning to study the impact of it on the gray matter. The information garnered so far, it’s bad.
When you take into account talking on a cell phone and the fact that it takes up such a large amount of our attention it’s taking away from majorly important tasks like the human survival instinct. Then you put into texting and walking at the same time and we’re not looking at what’s around us and sometimes we’re holding conversations with someone else and trying to text and walk at the same time.
This is a significant problem and even though all of the data isn’t in yet what we know so far is daunting. As people get more and more into the newer and better things and more and more people are getting cell phones it doesn’t look like the numbers will go down anytime soon.

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Cell phone technology improves at a notably faster rate than most cell phone plan contracts expire, but don’t let that hold you back from upgrading to the latest and greatest mobile handset or smartphone. Check out these money-saving ways to get a new cell phone regardless of how many months remain on your cellular service contract: (more…)

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One of the current plans from the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), among the dozens of their policy recommendations, would generate a federal mandate which would require installation of thousands of miles of new fiber-optic cable. What this would do is create a national broadband plan.
The consumer impact is going to vary and some of the following will help to answer some of the main questions that are brought up as to how this broadband manifesto would affect individuals.
Questions and Answers
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It happens. Your cell phone battery goes from being a marathon runner to a virtual plug-in phone that dies after an hour of away time from its charger. Buying a new cell phone battery is inherently painful – a new one can range from $30 to $80 and up, depending on the model. But while shopping you around, you may have noticed that they sell cheap cell phone batteries on eBay for a fraction of the retail price, which raises the question:

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Since its birth, the world of cell phones has been predominantly a man’s world. Chock-full with features and surrounded by more jargon than you could poke a stylus at, cell phones have been traditionally made as boys’ toys and items of masculine tech-envy. But things change, and now cell phones are as much a women’s accessory as a men’s gadget. But what exactly makes a cell phone a phone for women, and not men?

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Why do cell phones have to always come in the dullest of colors? It doesn’t have to be this way, you may well cry – and it isn’t. Many of the big cell phone manufacturers have cottoned on to the fact that not everyone loves black and gray, with more colorful cell phones beginning to sweep the market. And what colors make a statement more than pink and purple? Whether you’re a budding fashionista or just looking for a more feminine phone, there are a range of pink and purple cell phones which finally combine style with substance. Here are a few of the sleekest, sexiest contenders: (more…)

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We’re living in a world where we need the latest and greatest of gadgets to impress and have access to all of our favorite things. When it comes to the Samsung Knack it’s a nice change of pace to see something that has absolutely no pretentions.
The Knack is a phone that delivers solid performance with good reception and excellent call quality within a very easy to use design. In fact, according to PCMag, who gave the phone an Editor’s Choice Award, the phone runs in a very close second only to the Jitterbug in terms of its simplicity. The simplicity is what makes it an excellent choice for a child you want to be able to call you or especially for the senior or any other cell phone beginner that wants a basic, while not sacrificing quality, cell phone.
This phone isn’t going to ever get an award for being the prettiest or flashiest cell phone on the block but its size and design excel when it comes to an important thing when it comes to a cell phone for a senior, user friendliness.
The phone is 3.8/2.0/0.7 inches and comes in weighing a mere 3.6 ounces. The exterior display displays both the time and gives a caller ID. Though the exterior display is a little smaller once you flip the phone open the Knack U310 gives you a very generous keypad with backlighting and large keys with a 2.2 inch diagonal display.
One of the big selling points of the phone is the way the menu is streamlined through its six entry menu. You’re able to use the features without much forethought or training and you can use the voice dialing very efficiently with its high scores for accuracy.
Some of the other features of the phone include the following:
•    22 different ringtones to choose from
•    Speed dialing
•    Vibrate and silent mode
•    Crisp speakerphone
•    Jack for headphones
•    Clearly identifiable color coded controls
The phone comes with 32 megabytes of internal memory and will support more than enough contacts with a 500 entry phone book along with:
•    Voicemail
•    SMS messaging
•    911 dedicated dial
•    Alarm clock
•    World click
•    Stopwatch
•    Calculator
Both reviewers and users of the phone like its excellent call quality and reception but the one downside mentioned is that it doesn’t’ have the ability for a Bluetooth hands free device. The other complaints were that the “ok” button was too small and it doesn’t have the ability for remote programming of contacts like the Jitterbug does.
Though without having the “extras” the Samsung Knack still manages to excel far surpassing other phones like the Verizon Coupe, another phone touted for seniors, for usability and voice quality than LG’s VX5400. The LG VX5400 was the former winner of the PC Editor’s Choice Award.
Let’s take one final look at the pros and cons.
Pros
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When it comes to cell phones for seniors there weren’t very many to choose from in the past but for the most part this is no longer the case. The SCP 7050 from Sanyo is a very basic phone which makes it a good catch for the senior. Along with that this phone is one that is very strong and resilient.
A basic phone is a good phone for an older person due to the fact that they are very easy to use and there aren’t the extremely complex and hard to work confusing features that come with a lot of the cell phones out on the market today.
With this phone you are going to get a little more than just the most basic phone though as it has other attributes. But rather than being a hindrance these features are going to add more value to being a compatible cell phone mate for the senior citizen. Let’s take a closer look at some of those features now.
The phone as talked about initially is a phone that is very durable. The phone is actually built to military specs and can reliably resist three very important things:
•    Vibration
•    Dust
•    Shock
There was one person that owns this phone that describes it as “built like a brick”. So why is this durability so important? There is a probability that things are going to be dropped by anyone let along an older person. With the resilience of this phone and its shock resistance the 7050 stays usable even if it’s dropped many times.
The durability that comes with this phone is in part due to the coating that is over it. The design is made for that of durability so it’s fully clad in rubberized non-slip material that is. It will be able to be held much easier making it much less likely to be dropped but if it is it can still be withstood and work. (more…)

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In the past the cell phone market hasn’t been very senior friendly to say the least. The nice thing for those seniors that don’t want the typical cell phone there is a shift in process within the cell phone industry to offer compatible cell phones for the senior population.
There are a lot of phones out there but after spending some time I ran across the LG Flare LX175. This is a phone that would be a suitable companion for a senior citizen. Don’t just take my word for it; keep reading as we break down some of the elements of this phone and its suitability.
Although the flashy name is something that might turn some people off this phone is actually a very simple beginner phone. The minimalism is something that is very good. In fact minimalism is an essential element when it comes to a cell phone for the aged person as the intricate and showy features that you find with some cell phones are either confusing or simply something that they don’t want to learn. The features and the design of this phone are ones that emanate simplicity.
The Feel
The Flare is a phone that is curved on its side which offers a very pleasant feel when it’s being held. This is something that also makes it very undemanding to hold for the senior that has a poor grip or frail fingers due to arthritis or any other reason so the curves are something that is an advantageous attribute.
The Display
Unlike some of the traditional phones that you find on the market the Flare actually offers two different displays. There is both an exterior display and a larger interior display. The exterior display is one that is 1 inch diagonally and will offer information on the date, battery as well as the time and signal strength. The exterior display is one that measures a little larger at 1.75 inches which is a big enough for the senior to get a much better view than the typical cell phone.
Font Size
There is an option for an adjustable font size for the SMS messages, notepad applications and the browser if there is the feeling that they might be undersized. In order to make other things easier to see the following can also be changed:
•    The foreground which is the clock and calendar and greeting if chosen
•    The backlight time
•    Menu style
•    Incoming call screen
Keypad
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There are a lot of Sprint Nextel Direct Connect cell phones out there that are as they are increasingly popular with senior citizens. The reason for that is that there is only the need of pressing one button in order to connect to their family and friends. With that in mind we’ll take a closer look at the ic502 and wee why it’s so popular with senior citizens.
Before we explore a little more into the phone itself lets provide some background information on the service itself. The Direct Connect service is something that allows their customers to be able to connect with family, friends, co-workers, caregivers or others in literally a second. So how exactly is this done? The Direct Connect service is something that lets their users make a call to anyone they need to within the push to talk network through pressing just a single button.
The ic502 Buzz is the first handset that is a CDMA/IDEN hybrid phone. The way it works is that the IDEN is used for the walkie-talkie function and the CDMA is the one that handles the voice and data. The following talks about how the ic502 works and is a popular phone for the senior citizen.
One of the primary reasons that senior citizens like this phone is most likely due to the Direct Connect capability. The Buzz is a phone that supports the Direct Connect walkie-talkie service as well. In addition to that it supports the Group Connect option which is something that let you chat via PTT with 20 people. In addition to that it has a Direct Talk feature which is something that allows an out of network walkie-talkie chat with any other Direct Talk handset. The range for this is anywhere up to 6 miles.
In addition to this the senior will appreciate the simplicity that comes with the cell phone. They’re able to make a phone call through the simple touch of one button. When it comes to the best cell phone for a senior it is a phone that is basic or simple due to the fact that they are extremely easy to use. The wonderful thing about it is that they don’t have to go through any complicated actions in order to make a phone call. This is a benefit especially for the autonomous senior that might need help and has the potential of getting a little confused at times.
The design of the Buzz phone is a factor that makes the phone a very appropriate cell phone for the older adult. The feeling while it’s in the seniors hand is a comfortable one as the phone comes with sides that are rubberized which will add for an ease to hold as well as some additional durability.
Most important of all is its high resistance for:
•    Dust
•    Shock
•    Extreme temperatures
•    Vibration
•    Solar radiation
•    Low pressure
What this means is that it can make it through being dropped by an unsteady hand or frail fingers.
The phones features that are perfect for seniors don’t stop there. The buttons for the navigation and keypad add a lot to the phone. The phone has large buttons which are very tactile and provide an ease of use as well as the keypad. Although it wasn’t the intention it was almost like it was designed for seniors rather than just being a good phone for them.
The handsets keys are large and completely separate keys which makes the dialing easy. Adding to that the keys is raised from the phones surface. For those with poor eyesight the large numerals with the backlighting make dialing a breeze.
This phone and its design make it a perfect phone with the senior in mind to make quick and simple calls and fast, especially if an emergency should strike.

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The number of smartphone users by the year 2013 looks like it will have the ability to reach and top 1 billion users. The number of consumer’s worldwide using smartphones last year (2009) was 102 million and it will grow to be almost 974 million by the time the year 2013 comes around. This is according to a research group research2guidance.
What this new report focuses on is the corporate perspective in terms of application publishing for smartphone devices. Currently there are only 10% of the Fortune 2000 companies that are using smartphone applications to target their customer base.
Ralf Gordon Jahns, who is the Research Director for the research2guidance research group was able to provide some insight into smartphone usage. Jahns talked about that despite all of the hype that surrounds the phones like the iPhone as well as the other cutting edge devices that are out on the market that corporations are only just now starting to notice that smartphone applications can offer a direct route to channel in their customer base.
When it came time for a publishing platform for their first application basically all of what are considered the first mover companies decided to go with the Apple Application Store for this choice. Now that the years are going further we get to 2010 and the number of application stores are starting to explode any application publisher will now have to more carefully choose where they are promoting their applications.
Ralf-Gordon Jahns had the following to talk say in order to shed a little light. “Our App Store Ranking shows that there are other apps stores besides the Apple App Store that offer good publishing opportunities in 2010.”He went onto say that, “Especially independent stores like Handango or Mobihand scored high in our rankings.” Basically said competition is prospering and publishers have more and more options and now have some thought to put into decisions.
When it comes to the immense bulk of the early corporate adopters they had published their applications in order to give access to their core products. That equated to right about 91% using this for promotional purposes. The other 9%, which is a much more minor share, used the applications simply as a standalone product.
The market for application downloads is poised to explode. To put the growth into perspective in 2009 the application market was right about $1.94 billion USD. By the time 2013 comes around it is going to skyrocket from that $1.94 billion USD all the way up to $15.65 billion USD. Companies are going to begin to start focusing more on application business models. These business models are going to offer additional opportunities for revenue which would account for the monetary growth explosion.
In order to be successful within the dynamic application market the corporate publishers are going to have to use leverage with their internal asset. This is how they’ll have to work to effectively compete with the mass influx of specialized developers. These things are going to include the already existing market channels, infrastructure ads well as the service platforms. This will work to give them a key advantage over the mobile specialists. The one thing to know for sure is that when competition runs rampant the consumer wins.

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Do you remember the times when Mom would be everywhere at once, cooking dinner while getting you to your soccer game and getting Dad’s ironing done in between? Or maybe Mom was the one in the suit and Dad was doing the ironing. Whatever. Moms are busy people, some of the busiest in existence – whether they’d admit so or not. But is there a cell phone that can fit such busy, such varied lifestyles? (more…)

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Once upon a time, people would pen important dates into their diary, set their alarm clocks for the next morning, and fall blissfully asleep. Not much has changed – except that the pen is now a stylus, the alarm clock is as likely to sound like the latest pop song as a bell, and blissful sleep crumbles when you’ve got a Blackberry. We may have cell phones instead of notepads, PDAs instead of secretaries (if we ever had secretaries). But everyone still has important appointments to keep and not enough time to make a note of them. Here are 5 reminders you should always, always punch into your cell phone calendar as soon as possible: (more…)

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Attentive Cell-Phone-Plans.net shoppers have probably noticed that we have two Motorola Android phones on offer from Verizon Wireless: the Motorola Droid and the Motorola Devour. At a quick glance, these smartphones running Google’s open source operating system seem nearly identical. And they are very similar. Both have very nice touch screens, cameras with LED flash (5-megapixels for the Droid, 3 megapixels for the Devour) and a slide out QWERTY. So, what’s the difference?

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At the moment, the HTC Incredible is non-existent, but rumor has it that this phone may be pushing Google’s Nexus One into oblivion. The latest news from Verizon, well rumor, is that the HTC Incredible has taken testing precedence over the Nexus One.

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Microsoft and Apple do things differently from each other, and that’s the appeal of both tech titans. Most of these calculated departures yield differences on the magnitude of apples and oranges, with neither company coming out the clear winner (not better, just different). But Microsoft’s handling of the hype machine driving the Windows Mobile 7 platform may be one area where Apple clearly got it right.

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Greetings, Cell-Phone-Plans.net members. The short month of February is behind us and March is underway. That means more great free and discounted cell phones on offer her at Cell-Phone-Plans.net as well as more definitive, useful guides on buying cell phones for seniors, affordable smartphones and cutting down on your cell phone bills. Read on to see what’s cooking here at CPP. (more…)

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The successor to nickel-cadmium batteries, nickel-metal hydride batteries (or NiMH batteries) use a hydrogen-absorbing alloy instead of the cadmium used in their predecessors. The first nickel-metal hydride batteries were developed in the late 1980’s as variations of high-grade nickel-hydrogen batteries (used most famously in the International Space Station and the Hubble Space telescope), with the aim of bringing the low discharge rate of such batteries to the consumer sphere. Nickel-metal hydride batteries are relatively new power sources for cell phones, but are rapidly emerging as a strong rival to the dominance of lithium-ion batteries.

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If you own an old cell phone or mobile device, chances are that it’s running off a nickel-cadmium (or NiCD) battery. These batteries use nickel oxide and cadmium as electrodes to conduct charge, and have been in commercial operation since the 1940’s (the technology has been in development since as early as the 19th century). While nickel-ion batteries face competition from newer and more energy-dense technologies like lithium-ion and nickel-metal hydride batteries, they still power a sizable portion of older cell phones available worldwide.

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With all the different cell phones out there today, battery life is still one of the most critical issues to consider when buying a new phone.  Some phones can last up to ten hours on a single call, but others last barely four hours.  Why?

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For those tethered to their Blackberry, SplashData is allowing users to do even more remotely, with their SplashMoney add-on for the Blackberry Smartphone.

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Lithium-ion batteries (or Li-ion for short) are rechargeable batteries used in a variety of mobile devices, including cell phones, PDAs and laptops. Lithium-ion batteries work using the current flow that results when lithium ions move back and forth between the battery’s cathode and anode. While lithium-ion batteries were first thought up in the 1970s, the first commercial model was only produced by Sony in 1991. Since then, lithium-ion batteries have become the primary power source in consumer electronics worldwide, being especially appropriate for the needs and specifications of portable devices.

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Some will ask the question of why the cell phones for seniors would need to be any different from the more typical type of cell phone. The reason for this is actually pretty simple as for many people as they get older needs change. That goes for anything really but definitely goes for cell phone usage.
There are many cases where the senior is going to need a cell phone this is much easier to:
•    Handle
•    See
•    Hear
In other words the aging adult/senior needs a simpler cell phone.
With the thought above granted there are a lot of seniors that are able to handle the typical cell phone but the typical cell phone plan isn’t something that fits their needs any longer. Things like with the kids all grown and out of the home, full time employment is just a thought in the past, etc… The typical cell phone plans that come with the huge pools of minutes are a thought of yesterday and are extremely excessive and unneeded expense.
The nice thing though is while it wasn’t the case in the past the options are increasing greatly and there are a lot of cell phones for seniors that will meet the needs of the aging adult.
The Original in Simple Cell Phones
When it comes to cell phones for seniors the original simple senior cell phone is the Jitterbug. The Jitterbug is widely considered to be the original phone that includes basic senior friendly plans as well.
When the Jitterbug was initially in conception it was thought for and designed specifically for the older adult, the senior, in mind. The Jitterbug is also very well suited for anyone that is seeking a cell phone that has:
•    Fewer functions to have to mess with
•    Larger buttons
•    Larger print (font) on the display screen
•    A high volume for easier hearing
The J phone from the Jitterbug line is also hearing aid compatible.
The Jitterbug is an amazing phone for any person that might need to have the occasional operator assistance. The operator assistance also provides other support which can help users with just about anything to do with their phone including helping the customer program numbers into their contact list.
The Jitterbug cell phone plans offer their customers very simple options that will provide such options as calling without having any long distance or roaming charges and there is no time of day restrictions which is very convenient to not have to track the day/night time minutes.
Plans for the Jitterbug phones will start as low as $14.99 per month and there is no long term contract that has to be signed unlike many of the cell phone provider counterparts. The price per minute change is going to be a little larger than many other packages that will offer the larger time bundles but this plan is more for the person that wants a phone for more limited use and those that want something for an emergency and a call here and there. for that type of person this plan is going to be an extreme cost saver.

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Tech isn’t just for nerds anymore – moms, career women and students alike can now benefit from a little lifehacking made possible through smartphone apps for women. Without being presumptuous (we know not all women are obsessed with staying in shape and shopping), we’ve wrangled up a few top apps that women are downloading onto their smartphones, including the iPhone, the Palm Pre Plus (the “smartphone smart enough for mom”) and Android phones. Check them out:1. (more…)

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Imagine 65,000 tons of toxic waste. Now take that 65,000 tons and know that that is the amount of toxic wasted produced by discarded cell phones every single year. This is where cell phone recycling becomes so critical. Every single cell phone that is discarded can pollute as much as 132,000 liters of water.
Currently there are over 500 million unwanted cell phones that are in homes waiting for disposal or leaking the following hazardous materials into the land/environment:
•    Lead
•    Mercury
•    Brominates
•    Cadmium
•    Arsenic
With the current trend of new features coming out all of the time the average cell phone life is now down to less than 18 months which will add over 125 million cell phones and their batteries into the landfills every single year or you could put it into the figure of 2 million toxic cell phones each and every week.
There are no federal regulations in the United States regarding requirements for cell phone recycling or donating and currently people aren’t taking it upon themselves as the figure for recycling or donating cell phones is less than 1%.
There is a bright side though. Cell phone manufacturers are beginning to notice the need for cell phone recycling and are starting to step up their efforts to stop this horrible environmental threat. The way this has happened is through cell phone take back plans, accepting unwanted phones at any of their retail locations. This has been initiated by all five major cell phone carries in the United States.
A phone doesn’t even need to have a wireless plan to be used for 911. Any phone that is donated can be used for this purpose.
This is something that is as important as it can be a lifeline for just some of the examples below:
•    Seniors that are living alone
•    Senior centers
•    Seniors with limited incomes and disabilities
•    Those subject to abuse, neglect, assault, etc…
•    Domestic violence victims
•    More
Making a Difference
Before you donate your cell phone you need to make sure that you erase all of the information that you have stored in it. This is going to include your contact list, texts, incoming and outgoing dialed and received numbers, etc…
Recycling
Any cell that is just too old to be refurbished or used again should be taken to a recycling center to make sure that the toxins don’t harm the environment by being thrown away. All of the cell phones and their parts will be disposed of by the strict EPA guidelines.
Here are some of the stores that will have in store recycling bins:
•    Best Buy
•    Radio Shack
•    Staples
•    Office Depot
There are some others but these are the main ones.
Donation
You can send the unwanted cell phone the National Coalition against Domestic Violence through the following link.
Also Phones for Life which gives seniors their lifeline through providing them with a 911 capable phone. You can put them in a drop off or mail them by finding the information through the following link.
You can find additional information about donation and recycling through the following four websites:
•    The Recycling Alliance
•    Charitable Recycling
•    Collective Good
•    Wireless Recycling
Donated cell phones could literally save a life. Keep that in mind before ever throwing a cell phone away again.

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Flash memory is a type of portable data storage medium, used in both portable media devices (including cell phones and PDAs) and USB memory sticks. Flash memory uses solid-state technology, relying solely on electrical pulses to edit and rewrite data. This solid-state property means that flash memory chips have no moving parts, making them both lighter and more durable: flash memory can take high amounts of physical shock and stress without damage to data. In addition, flash memory does not consume device power and has a high data to card-size ratio, making it one of the main data storage technologies used for on-board memory in cell phones today.

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Finding the perfect cell phones for women isn’t just a matter of buying up the first pink mobile phone that hits the shelf. While rose-hued pink cell phones are statistically more popular among the fairer sex, there is more to a good cell phone for women than looks alone. Women prefer phones that are stylish enough to want to be seen with (cell phones, after all, are accessories) but sleek enough to slip into a clutch or pocket and functional enough to keep her connected to co-workers, clients, friends and family. So, for our rundown of perfect cell phones for women, we chose phones that can look good while doing it at all. (Oh, and yes, some of them do come in pink.) (more…)

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You may have heard of CDMA, but you might not have heard about CDMA2000. Are they related? They are, to an extent: CDMA is the method of data communication and transfer which underpins CDMA2000, a family of 3G standards for cell phones. In essence, CDMA is a technology, while CDMA2000 is a brand name, one applied to certain mobile standards used by the CDMA Development Group (the body which supports CDMA cell phone technology worldwide).

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DoubleTwist is the latest way that Android is making life easier. Similar to iTunes, DoubleTwist makes it possible for users to select, search, download, and store music all from the comfort of your cell phone. While Double Twist works on many different types of Android phones, it also works on various other phones and mp3 players.

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Apple was developed on April 1, 1976, by Ronald Wayne, Steve Wozniak, and Steve Jobs. The first product ever released by Apple was the Apple I personal computer. These computers appealed to a large number of people, since they were handmade – literally. It was not until January 3, 1977 that Apple turned into Apple Inc. (after Ronald Wayne sold his share of the company for $800).

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Here it is folks – the phone we’ve been talking up big time here at CPP and one of the top Android phones to date: the Motorola Droid. But don’t let this slick Verizon Google phone overshadow the rest of the newcomers – check them all out. (more…)

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The recent unveiling of the Palm Pre Plus and the Palm Pre Pixi Plus (both on the Verizon Network) had previous Pixi and Pre owners excited with anticipation. While there were a few significant changes to each phone, some users will find that these changes are somewhat disappointing.

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In a nutshell, the Palm Pre Plus on the Verizon network has more RAM and more storage capabilities than the Palm Pre on the Sprint network. Only, the fact that the Palm Pre Plus has more RAM doesn’t necessarily mean that the Plus is an all-around better phone (or that it’s faster than the Palm Pre).

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If you’re searching for the right cell phone for an older family member, then you’ve probably noticed that very few cell phone companies actually cater to elderly folks. While this trend is beginning to change, many cell phones are still geared towards a younger generation. Older people don’t usually care about gadgets and extra buttons. What older people do care about is a phone that works when needed.

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According to the latest information, Microsoft may very well have built a Zune Phone already—and the operation to build it was given the code name Pink. There have been discoveries in recent weeks and months of new code in programs that indicate program files for a phone—the Zune. When the phone is going to be released is still unclear, though.

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If you are shopping for a cell phone for a senior, then there are a couple of things that you should take into consideration before purchasing any one phone. Unlike other cell phones, senior cell phones have been specially made with seniors in mind. Take a look at this checklist before you decide upon any cell phone for a senior.

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More and more seniors have begun purchasing cell phones, and this has prompted various cell phone companies to manufacture phones that are entirely senior-friendly. If you are shopping for a phone for your favourite senior, then there are just a few things to keep in mind.

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Which of the newer cell phones is the best for viewing movies on? It is true that all cell phones come equipped with phone books, calculators, games and cameras—but, that isn’t always everything that the consumer wants. Trying to find a cell phone that accomplishes everything the user wants—including playing movies—is not always easy, so here are some cell phones to compare each other to.

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Cell phones are practical for a number of reasons, but most seniors use cell phone for emergency purposes only. This is precisely why cell phones that have been built with seniors in mind come with large buttons, displays that are easy-to-read and simple features.

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The Samsung TouchWiz (also referred to as the SGH-F480) is a completely customizable cell phone with an easily navigable user interface. Unlike a lot of other cell phones, the TouchWiz has widgets that can be dragged and dropped in order to create a custom screen. The widgets that the TouchWiz comes with include basic features such as a clock, calendar, and various other icons.

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Among this week’s new phones here at cell-phone-plans.net is the T-Mobile Sidekick Tony Hawk LX Edition. Pro skater and video game mogul Tony Hawk has been a huge fan of the Sidekick ever since it first came out and now he has one to call his own. The Sidekick Tony Hawk LX Edition is a 3G phone with video recording capabilities (great for catching evidence of Tony Hawks tricks for skate videos) and is stylized with a grip tape texture and customized Tony Hawk graphics. Also available for the T-Mobile Sidekick LX is the mobile version of Tony Hawk’s new game: Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground.

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While it’s more famous for its laptops and business computing services, Lenovo has made substantial and increasing forays into the cell phone market. The Chinese company’s cell phones have been largely aimed at the rapidly expanding demand for phones in China, including a range of camera phones like the G650 and basic models like the E307. In early January this year, Lenovo released a new smartphone model called the LePhone, aiming to make inroads into the lucrative Chinese smartphone market. There is speculation over whether Lenovo will release the LePhone in the US, with executives remaining tight-lipped about a global release.

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The most noticeable difference between the Palm Pre on the Sprint network and the Palm Pixi has to do entirely with design. While the Pre is a slider phone, the Pixi comes in candy bar form. Some users prefer the Pixi to the Pre, since the Pixi is less bulky and sleeker all-around.

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Triangulation is a tracking process used widely in the cellular network, and centers around some basic geometric principles. If you take two points (or, in the case of cell phones, two cellular towers), you can find the distance to a third point (the cell phone) by measuring the angles formed between the third point and the first two points. In slightly simpler terms, you’re drawing lines at given angles from the first two points until they both intersect at the third point – forming a triangle. Trigonometry then allows you to figure out the distance to the third point, meaning that you can calculate distances using line-of-sight angles.

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Rogers Wireless is owned by Rogers Communications Inc., which happens to be one of the largest communications companies in all of Canada. Rogers Communications is based in Toronto, Ontario, and it is one of the oldest wireless companies in the world.

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The Vodafone Group is the largest mobile telecommunication network company on Earth. Vodafone is based in Newbury, Berkshire, United Kingdom, and it currently operates in more 31 countries. Approximately 427 million people worldwide subscribe to Vodafone in approximately 31 different markets. Vodafone also owns a large percentage of Verizon Wireless (45%), which happens to be the biggest wireless network within the United States.

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When the Palm Pixi was first released, consumers flocked to this phone right away. Its sleek design and lightweight feel were unlike any other phone on the market at the time. The main drawbacks of the Palm Pixi included a small keyboard, slightly flimsy casing, lack of Wi-Fi, and a mediocre gaming experience. Enter the Palm Pixi Plus – a fully upgraded version of the Palm Pixi.

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Hey folks – you probably noticed that we posted up our February 2010 newsletter. For those of you who noticed this and wondered, “Hey, where’s the January 2010 newsletter?” then well, you’ve got to subscribe to receive it! Here’s the full text below – but if you want to get these in your inbox as soon as they are available, go ahead and subscribe to our weekly ezine. You’ll find a form on our front page in the bottom right.

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Hello, Cell-Phone-Plans.net community member – we’re back with our second community newsletter and we’ve got some great new phones, articles and reviews in store for February. Check it out:

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Many senior citizens are using cell phones these days for a variety of reasons. Not only can most cell phones be tracked via GPS, but cell phones provide an element of safety for seniors traveling away from comfort areas. While there are a variety of phones on the market, the best phones for senior citizens are those phones that have large buttons, simple functions, and high volume capabilities.

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Gone are the days of fine romance and wooing. Here to stay are texts that can be translated into booty calls and pick up lines that come in the form of text messages. If you want to get into the fine art of text seduction, then take a look at these top five text lines.

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