A cellphone or mobile phone is a wireless phone that is used worldwide and has revolutionized the world of communication. Dr. Martin Cooper of Motorola demonstrated the fist hand-held phone in 1973. The fist cellphone was made in Chicago in the year 1977. Since 1983, cellphones have progressed enormously both in design and function. NTT in Japan launched first cellular network in 1979 and became the fist nationwide first generation (1G) network.
Coming to the second generation (2G) network, it was launched in 1991 in Finland. The third generation (3G) network was launched by the NTT, Japan in 2001. All cellphones have common features but to make them attractive to customers, manufactures include attractive features and functions. The common features found in all cellphones are:
- A rechargeable battery
- Keypads
- Basic services for calling and messaging
- SIM Card
Mobile phones at present support various services such as multimedia messaging, emailing, gaming, photography, bluetooth, etc. They have some attractive features/functions such as video calling, touchscreen, GPS navigation, GPRS, WiFi, camcorders, MP3/MP4 and much more. Cellphones have a become a part of our life without which we feel incomplete. It’s quite convenient and handy to carry. Earlier, it used to be a status symbol and a craze but now-a-days it has become essential and a necessity of our life. Cellphones are no exception i merits and demerits.
Advantages
1. Cellphone can be of great help in an emergency.
2. We can be in constant touch with our near and dear ones.
3. They can help us to organize our daily plans, i.e., with the help of alarm clocks, reminders, notifications, calendars we can plan our day.
4. It can be of some help in providing entertainment we can play games, and listen to music.
5. If we are internet savvy, we can connect to the internet via cellphone, which is quite useful
6. Companies use cellphones as one of their medium to advertise their products. This is a faster medium to reach to the masses as compared to others mediums.
Disadvantages
1. Electromagnetic waves released by the cellphone can cause various health problems such as cancer.
2. Its more costlier than land line phones.
3. Continuous usage of cellphone can lead to the weakening of ear drums.
4. There have been cases of cellphone blast due to excessive heating of battery. This has become a major concern.
5. Talking while driving can result in fatal accidents as it may deviate the attention of the driver.
Past, Present, and Future of Cellphones
The history of cellphones dates back to the year 1843 when Michael Faraday studied the concept whether space could conduct electricity or not. The first generation (1G) was introduced by NTT in Japan in 1979. They offered analogue signals and used for voice calls only. These devices were heavy and extremely expensive. In the year 1990, the second generation cellphone came into existence in Finland. They offered much faster digital signals than analog signals. They were smaller in size and weighed 100–200 gms. The cellphones also had the extra feature of SMS text messaging. It enabled customers to download ring tones directly to their cellphones.
3G has been launched recently and is used almost in all smartphones such as iphone, Blackberry, etc. It has a high downloading and browsing speed. 3G offers greater bandwidth and supports many diverse applications. Nokia Morph has designed a future phone which is flexible and has a self cleaning surface, uses solar energy, has integrated sensors and many more features.
Experts believe that in future cellphones will be capable of performing certain tasks which are mentioned below
- Handsets may have a flash memory of 10 GB or 20 GB hard disk.
- A new technology named ‘near field communications’ will turn cellphones into Debit or Credit cards. With the help of a chip embedded in the phone we will be able to make payment.
- Instead of playing games with someone online we can play games against someone in near future with the help of 3G.
‘In 2025, your mobile could be much more than just a communication device – more like a remote control for your life” (Webb, 2007). Scientists say that an implanted phone could be available as soon as 2015, that isn’t so long.
Soon we can see the future cellphone replacing every other gadget in the market.