Tag Archives: Cell Phone

The Phones Emitting the Most Radiation

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For most people nowadays, their smartphone is within arm’s reach 24 hours a day. It’s in their pocket while they’re at work, it’s in their hand on the train ride home and it’s on their bedside table as they go to sleep. With this level of proximity and usage, many can’t quite shake the niggling feeling that they might be risking damage to themselves in the long run. While conclusive longitudinal research on the effects of cell phone radiation is still hard to come by, for those looking to hedge their bets, this infographic shows the phones that emit the most radiation when held to the ear while calling.

The German Federal Office for Radiation Protection (Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz) has a comprehensive database of smartphones – new and old – and the level of radiation they emit. Following the criteria set for this chart (see footnotes), the current smartphone creating the highest level of radiation is the Mi A1 from Chinese vendor Xiaomi. In fact, the top list is dominated by handsets made by Chinese companies, with Xiaomi, OnePlus, Huawei and ZTE accounting for 12 of the 15 phones with the largest values. It must be said though, that premium Apple phones such as the iPhone 7 and the recently released iPhone 8 are also here to be seen.

While there is no universal guideline for a ‘safe’ level of phone radiation, the German certification for environmental friendliness ‘Der Blaue Engel’ (Blue Angel) only certifies phones which have a specific absorption rate of less than 0.60 watts per kilogram. All of the phones featured here come in at more than double this benchmark.

Smartphone Infographic

How Often Do Smartphones “Phone Home”?

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As most of you probably know, smartphones have the ability to gather a lot of information about its users. But how often do our favorite mobile devices actually “phone home” and share information with Google and Apple, i.e. the companies behind Android and iOS?

According to a new study conducted by Professor Douglas C. Schmidt, Professor of Computer Science at Vanderbilt University, and published by Digital Content Next, Google in particular likes to keep tabs on its users. The study analyzed how often Android phones and iPhones send information to Google’s and Apple’s servers during a 24-hour period, distinguishing between the amount of data collected in idle mode and during normal use. The results are pretty clear: even when not used, Android phones send information to Google around 40 times per hour, compared to just 4 times iPhones send info to Apple’s servers. During normal use, that total rises to 90 information requests per hour for Android phones compared to 18 for iPhones. Interestingly Google even collects more data from iPhone users than Apple itself does. This however, only works when the phone is used. In idle mode iPhones very rarely communicate with Google’s servers.

While these results seem consistent with Google’s reputation as a data hog, the company has already challenged the findings, calling them “wildly misleading” and suggesting the author had a conflict of interest because he served as a witness against Google in a copyright case between the company and Oracle. The fact is, that the search giant has repeatedly faced criticism over the way it collects data in the past. Just this month, an AP investigation uncovered that Google stores the location of Android and iPhone users even if the users’ privacy settings say otherwise.

Smartphone Infographic

U.S. 4G Networks Are Improving Across the Board

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While the United States is one of the leading countries in the world in terms of smartphone penetration, the country’s mobile networks haven’t always been up to speed. According to a global comparison conducted by OpenSignal in Q4 2017, U.S. 4G networks were lagging in terms of average download speed. With an average download rate of 16.3 Mbps, U.S. smartphone users reached less than half the speed of mobile internet users in countries such as South Korea, Norway or Singapore.

While still not on par with the world’s best, a more recent OpenSignal report on the state of mobile networks in the U.S. shows that 4G speeds are improving across all major networks. As the following chart shows, T-Mobile and Verizon have passed the 20 Mbps mark in Q2 2018, with both companies’ customers finding a 4G connection 93.7 percent of the time. AT&T and Sprint both lag behind the national average in terms of download speeds, but both have made significant improvements over the past 12 months.

4G Network Infographic