hp Terminology

Related non-mobile-phone systems

Car phone
A type of telephone permanently mounted in a vehicle, these often have more powerful transmitters, an external antenna and loudspeaker for handsfree use. They usually connect to the same networks as regular mobile phones.
Cordless telephone (portable phone)
Cordless phones are telephones which use one or more radio handsets in place of a wired handset. The handsets connect wirelessly to a base station, which in turn connects to a conventional land line for calling. Unlike mobile phones, cordless phones use private base stations (belonging to the land-line subscriber), and which are not shared.
Professional Mobile Radio
Advanced professional mobile radio systems can be very similar to mobile phone systems. Notably, the IDEN standard has been used as both a private trunked radio system as well as the technology for several large public providers. Similar attempts have even been made to use TETRA, the European digital PMR standard, to implement public mobile networks.
Radio phone
This is a term which covers radios which could connect into the telephone network. These phones may not be mobile; for example, they may require a mains power supply, they may require the assistance of a human operator to set up a PSTN phone call.
Satellite phone
This type of phone communicates directly with an artificial satellite, which in turn relays calls to a base station or another satellite phone. A single satellite can provide coverage to a much greater area than terrestrial base stations. Since satellite phones are costly, their use is typically limited to people in remote areas where no mobile phone coverage exists, such as mountain climbers, mariners in the open sea, and news reporters at disaster sites.
WiFi Phones
A relatively new type of mobile phone. These phones deliver calls over wireless internet networks as opposed to traditional CDMA and GSM network. Witel developed a WiFi phone in June 2009 that it retails for $59.99 making global calling affordable.

Usage

The cell-phone novel is the first literary genre to emerge from the cellular age via text messaging to a website that collects the novels as a whole.[16] In virtual online computer games, readers can put themselves into first person in the story. Cell phone novels create a personal space for each individual reader. Paul Levinson, in Information on the Move (2004), says "...nowadays, a writer can write just about as easily, anywhere, as a reader can read" and they are "not only personal but portable".

Privacy

Cell phones have numerous privacy issues associated with them, and are regularly used by governments to perform surveillance.

Law enforcement and intelligence services in the U.K. and the United States possess technology to remotely activate the microphones in cell phones in order to listen to conversations that take place nearby the person who holds the phone.[17][18]

Mobile phones are also commonly used to collect location data. The geographical location of a mobile phone can be determined easily (whether it is being used or not), using a technique known multilateration to calculate the differences in time for a signal to travel from the cell phone to each of several cell towers near the owner of the phone. [19][20]

Health risks
Main article: Mobile phone radiation and health

Because mobile phones emit electromagnetic radiation, concerns have been raised about cancer risks that may pose when used for long periods of time.[21] This radiation is non-ionizing, but localized heating can occur. The current consensus view of the scientific and medical communities is that health effects are very unlikely to be caused by cellular phones or their base stations.[22][23][24]

Cellular phones became widely available only relatively recently, while tumors can take decades to develop. For this reason, some health authorities have urged that the precautionary principle be observed, recommending that use and proximity to the head be minimized, especially by children.[25][26]

Controversial raw materials

Mobile phones and other electronic products have high quality capacitors in them, which contain Tantalum. A major source of Tantalum is the coltan ore from some illegal mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo operated by rebel groups to get money to fund their civil war.[27] A typical mobile phone has 40 milligrams of Tantalum. A conflict-free source of Tantalum are mines at Wodgina in the Pilbara region near Perth, Australia.[27]

Banning

Many places limit or restrict the use of mobile phones. Many schools has set restrictions on the use of mobile phones because of the use of cell phones for cheating on tests, harassing other people, causing threats to the schools security, and causing gossip and other drama in school. Many mobile phones are banned in school locker room facilities and in public restrooms. New camera phones are required to have a shutter effect when a photo is taken.[citation needed]

Cell phone use is banned while driving in some states, either for adolescent drivers or everyone. Text messaging and wireless internet is banned while driving in most areas because of safety precautions.