Cell Phone Cameras

These days it is hard to find a new cell phone that doesn't have a camera. Cell phone cameras are great because you can take pictures and videos whenever you want. You are able to capture things that you wouldn't normally be able to. Now on the news even when there wasn't any cameras from the news channel there to capture the event but they can still show what happened because someone was able to capture the footage on their cell phone. Cell phone pictures and videos tend to vary in quality and most aren't as good as taking pictures or videos with a camera. Cell phone cameras tend to vary in mega pixels depending on the cell phone or smart phone. Smart phones like iPhones have more mega pixels than cheaper cell phones. A lot of low end cell phones have only a bit more than a mega pixel. A lot of times even if you take a picture of something you can't make out what the picture is of. Some low end cell phones don't have the ability to zoom so this also makes it difficult to take a good picture.

Cell Service At Summit of Mount Everest

A Nepalese company is soon going to make it possible for climbers to use their cell phones at the summit of Mount Everest. The company is constructing towers to create a 3g tower on Mount Everest so soon climbers are going to be able to check the weather forecast, check emails and call family and friends. This is interesting that even at the highest point in the world you are going to be able to be connected. This will be helpful for communication so climbers can get help in case of an accident. Climbers will just have to take cell phones instead of bulky satellite phones, which don't allow the features that cell phones have such as internet connectivity. I also wonder if this would take away from the whole "Everest experience" and the feeling of not being connected to the world. I suppose it will now be possible for climbers to post and tweet while climbing Everest. The company says that only one third of Nepal has cell reception and they want to change this with erecting more towers all over Nepal. This just probes that you can be connected in even the most remote places.

GPS Tracking Apps on Cell Phones

Quite while ago google released an app so you can track your friends and they can track you. This app is quite amazing it uses either GPS, Wi-Fi or cell tower technology to determine location. This app works on google android, Blackberry, IPod touch and IPhone. You do have to sign up with google to use this app.The app does give you the option whether to show your location and how detailed the location data is like if you just want the city your in displayed. Many cell phone companies have tracking applications for parents to track there children. The ability for parents to track their children may even encourage parents to get cell phones for their children. There is definitely a lot of potential with phone tracking applications and I'm sure it will get even more popular.

The First Cell Phone, Oh How Far We Have Come

Dyna-Tac



The first cell phone was invented by in 1973 by Dr. Martin Cooper. Dr. Martin Cooper worked for Motorola and worked on inventing portable products. Dr. Cooper and his team at Motorola made handheld radios for the Chicago police department. Then ten years later Dr. Cooper and his team made the first mobile phone, which was at the time called a portable phone which made more sense due to its enormous size compared to today's cell phones. There was also another company competing to make the first portable phone this other company was Bell labs. On April 3, 1973 Dr. Martin Cooper made the first cell phone call on a Motorola Dyna-Tac near the Manhattan Hilton Hotel in New York City. The phone call was rumored to be made to his rival Joel Engel who was the leader of the Bell Labs research team. The first cell phone was bulky  it was 2.5 pound, 5 inches wide, 9 inches long and 1.75 inches thick. The phone also had to be charged 10 hours for only talking 35 minutes. The first cell phone and many models after that could not send text messages and didn't even have screens. The cell phone was invented in 1973 but cell phone's didn't become popular until the late 1990 when they weren't bulky and had screens and better battery life.

 

Dr. Martin Cooper (inventor of first cell phone) with first cell phone (Dyna-Tac)



The Dyna-Tac dwarfs modern day cell phones



Wireless Communications are the Future

Every year the number of cell phone users increases. At the end of 2008 there were approximately 4 billion mobile phones in use. Many developed countries more than 100% of their population have a cell phone this is because many people have more than one phone, often people have a work and a personal phone. Even in less developed countries cell phones use is increasing. For example in Africa the use of cell phones is increasing by 50% every year. In many places there was little or no communication now people have the ability to communicate with anyone, anytime and anywhere in the world. In a lot of developing countries the government is investing in wireless communications instead of wired communications. Countries are investing in wireless communications because it is a cheaper to build cell towers than to lay phone lines. A lot of the population of these countries is rural and would make it even more expensive to lay phone lines. Cell phones not to long use to be just a mobile phone without the ability to send text messages (SMS) or browse the internet. Now people can have access to the internet anywhere and anytime. The ability to access the internet anywhere and anytime has benefited business people so they can receive important emails anytime and anywhere. There is also now mobile internet sticks that work with laptops so you can use the internet almost anywhere.