Once there were mobile phones. You could telephone people, or send them text messages: then you could take photos… then came the “smartphones” These are multi-function mobile phone handsets with a whole new range of features. Not just a phone and camera, but also a web-browser and touchscreen display allowing a whole range of services to be accessed with a swipe and touch of the fingers. Smartphones are powered by advanced operating systems and potential smartphones users need to consider the pros and cons not only of the phone manufacturer but of the operating system powering it. The most popular operating systems are currently iPhoneOS, Blackberry, and Google’s Android , though there are number of other operating systems available.
User can get a range of applications for their smartphones. Called apps, these add functionality such as a calendar, games, links to Facebook, Movies or TV Guides, Favourite stores. Apps can be downloaded online from the operating system store – there are hundreds of thousands of apps for the Apple iPhone and almost as many for the Android.
If those upgrading from an “ordinary” mobile are keen to use a wide range of functions and applications ( we can assume that knowledgeable and really “techie” people have been early adopters and already have one) then they should look carefully among the widely growing market. Prices and services available vary widely, and you should be careful about jumping into an expensive long-term contract for the lure of a “free” phone. Nothing is free and you will pay for the cost over the period. If the idea of hundreds of apps and technical specifications make you want to lie down in a darkened room, then there are simpler options. If you are only likely to use a few functions and unlikely to want to play games and need large downloads, consider a cheaper pay as you go option.

We’ve come a long way with our mobile phones.  The days of the “phone box” seriously numbered, even school children … and babies(?) have their own handsets.  The UK started using some kind of “Radiophone system” as far back as in 1958.  The phone was a big black box that was kept in the boot of a car which also housed all the other electronic components. 

Today’s mobile phones connect to a terrestrial cellular network of base stations or cell sites.  These are then connected to the “public switched telephone network” or PSTN.

These days once you’ve purchased the all-important hand set with all the whizz bang techno apps etc; you have to decide to which of the many mobile phone networks you will register.  It’s purely a matter of opinion of course, but if you want to be able to send texts from wildly out-of-this-world areas at any time of the day or night or make a connection from a valley to a mountain top, this appears to be a possible ranking:

No 1.  O2
No 2.  Three
No 3.  Vodafone
No 4.  T-Mobile
No 5.  Orange (worst)
the above is based on signal strength really. 

A few years ago I was amazed when my son made a call from his iPhone (yes I bought it for him in a weak moment) from the USA to the UK from inside a T-Shirt shop to ask his friend what size he was.  My phone would do nothing.  I was on Vodophone and it wouldn’t even let me text.  The world is not a fair place.

Well, I have used the Orange network for a while now and I can’t really say I’m disappointed at all. Every network has their faults, but Orange on the whole have been rather good. In my household signal on most networks is hard to go by, the worst being Vodafone, when my friend who uses Vodafone , pops round he tends to be frustrated with the lack of signal he gets. O2 is OK (when stood in certain positions). But Orange, with its addition of T-Mobile signal works a treat and it’s very rare that my signal bars are down to nil. Obviously signal isn’t the only reason that makes a network a success or a flop, without a doubt Vodafone, O2 and others are great successes but for me Orange is top of the pile for now.

I always think another important thing about a network is getting hold of the customer service team when something goes wrong, and just how helpful are they? I can’t comment on other networks services but I can tell you Orange, when I rang just recently (due to a lost phone) were really helpful and got my sim card blocked and the new one sent back to me in good time. Getting through didn’t take long, so overall it was an easy enough process to ring, block and request a new sim within 5-10 minutes.

The last thing I’m going to comment on is the prices; I’m on a 24 month contract with a bill or 36 pound a month. The phone is a Samsung Galaxy S, with unlimited internet, 600 minutes and unlimited texting. I found O2 was a little cheaper but for the signal in my house I felt it was worth the few extra pounds.

The latest research does seem to confirm that using mobile phones does not increase the user’s risk of brain tumours, or, indeed, any other form of cancer. The largest study, undertaken in Denmark and covering some 420,000 subjects found no link between the use of mobile phones and the later development of brain cancers, leukaemia, or any other form of cancer. Other studies have not found that brain cancer is any more common among mobile phone users. There were some studies where some people with brain cancer had the tumour on the side of their head where they said they held their phone to, though there were problems in the research which asked them report their behaviour many years ago.

Cancer research UK  also point out that though the use of mobile phones has greatly increased since the 1980s the incidence of brain cancer has not changed very much – and this fact is also true for all then other countries that have undertaken such studies. Cancer Research UK does add the rider, though, that as brain cancers take a long time to develop any increase may not yet be noticed. One of the reasons for believing that mobile phones do not cause cancer is that they do not have anything in their technical specification that is likely to cause cancer. They transmit and receive microwave radiation which is very weak and does not have enough energy to damage human DNA and so that could not be a factor.

Altogether it appears that the use of mobile phones is unlikely to cause cancer, though studies need to be followed up over time. People who are concerned can always use hands-free sets, though this is not necessary according to the experts.

The world is full of mobile phones (though Americans call them cells) and more and more of them are now smartphones, these are grown-up mobiles with a screen full of little coloured objects called apps. People site on the train, in buses, restaurants and at parties that are going off the boil, and whisk their fingers to and fro over the screens in a strange ritual. Sometimes they stare intently but briefly at the screen, sometimes they poke their fingers in the process of making a message. This is communication. But it is not communication with you. Even if you sighed heavily with your last breath and slumped to the floor you would probably not be noticed. You no longer need to work to avoid eye contact with your fellow computers as you can check the app for the Hubble Space Telescope (oh? Not one of those yet?) or the stock exchange prices (if you’re a masochist that is).

It’s all right carping about how the ubiquitous mobile has become welded to the ears of young people unable to be out of touch with anyone at all, and how all this communication does not seem to have generally contributed to face-to-face communication skills or clarity of speech, but it is a lost cause. Modern communications and social media and networking has been let out of Pandora’s box and will not go back again. It’s a new and fascinating world of communication and we do well to join it and work with the advantages.