Mobile tracking application Alcatel 1

Recently, unique content for mobile phones has been emerging, from ringtones and ringback tones to mobisodes , video content that has been produced exclusively for mobile phones. In many countries, mobile phones are used to provide mobile banking services, which may include the ability to transfer cash payments by secure SMS text message.

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Kenya's M-PESA mobile banking service, for example, allows customers of the mobile phone operator Safaricom to hold cash balances which are recorded on their SIM cards. Cash can be deposited or withdrawn from M-PESA accounts at Safaricom retail outlets located throughout the country and can be transferred electronically from person to person and used to pay bills to companies.

Branchless banking has also been successful in South Africa and the Philippines. Another application of mobile banking technology is Zidisha , a US-based nonprofit micro-lending platform that allows residents of developing countries to raise small business loans from Web users worldwide. Zidisha uses mobile banking for loan disbursements and repayments, transferring funds from lenders in the United States to borrowers in rural Africa who have mobile phones and can use the Internet. Mobile payments were first trialled in Finland in when two Coca-Cola vending machines in Espoo were enabled to work with SMS payments.

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Eventually, the idea spread and in , the Philippines launched the country's first commercial mobile payments systems with mobile operators Globe and Smart. Some mobile phones can make mobile payments via direct mobile billing schemes, or through contactless payments if the phone and the point of sale support near field communication NFC. Mobile phones are commonly used to collect location data.

While the phone is turned on, the geographical location of a mobile phone can be determined easily whether it is being used or not using a technique known as multilateration to calculate the differences in time for a signal to travel from the mobile phone to each of several cell towers near the owner of the phone. The movements of a mobile phone user can be tracked by their service provider and if desired, by law enforcement agencies and their governments. Both the SIM card and the handset can be tracked. China has proposed using this technology to track the commuting patterns of Beijing city residents.

Mobile phone

They possess technology that enables them to activate the microphones in mobile phones remotely in order to listen to conversations which take place near the phone. Hackers are able to track a phone's location, read messages, and record calls, just by knowing the phone number. Mobile phone use while driving, including talking on the phone, texting, or operating other phone features, is common but controversial.

It is widely considered dangerous due to distracted driving. Being distracted while operating a motor vehicle has been shown to increase the risk of accidents. In March , a U. In Egypt, Israel, Japan, Portugal, and Singapore, both handheld and hands-free use of a mobile phone which uses a speakerphone is banned. In other countries, including the UK and France and in many U. A simulation study at the University of Utah found a sixfold increase in distraction-related accidents when texting. Due to the increasing complexity of mobile phones, they are often more like mobile computers in their available uses.

This has introduced additional difficulties for law enforcement officials when attempting to distinguish one usage from another in drivers using their devices. This is more apparent in countries which ban both handheld and hands-free usage, rather than those which ban handheld use only, as officials cannot easily tell which function of the mobile phone is being used simply by looking at the driver. This can lead to drivers being stopped for using their device illegally for a phone call when, in fact, they were using the device legally, for example, when using the phone's incorporated controls for car stereo, GPS or satnav.

A study reviewed the incidence of mobile phone use while cycling and its effects on behaviour and safety. Accidents involving a driver being distracted by talking on a mobile phone have begun to be prosecuted as negligence similar to speeding. New Zealand has banned hand-held cell phone use since 1 November Many states in the United States have banned texting on cell phones while driving. Illinois became the 17th American state to enforce this law.

This database of laws provides a comprehensive view of the provisions of laws that restrict the use of mobile communication devices while driving for all 50 states and the District of Columbia between when first law was passed, through 1 December The dataset contains information on 22 dichotomous, continuous or categorical variables including, for example, activities regulated e.

In , an estimated pedestrians were injured in the US while using a cellphone and some jurisdictions have attempted to ban pedestrians from using their cellphones. The effect of mobile phone radiation on human health is the subject of recent [ when? Mobile phones use electromagnetic radiation in the microwave range, which some believe may be harmful to human health. A large body of research exists, both epidemiological and experimental, in non-human animals and in humans.

The majority of this research shows no definite causative relationship between exposure to mobile phones and harmful biological effects in humans. This is often paraphrased simply as the balance of evidence showing no harm to humans from mobile phones, although a significant number of individual studies do suggest such a relationship, or are inconclusive.

Other digital wireless systems , such as data communication networks, produce similar radiation. On 31 May , the World Health Organization stated that mobile phone use may possibly represent a long-term health risk, [75] [76] classifying mobile phone radiation as "possibly carcinogenic to humans" after a team of scientists reviewed studies on mobile phone safety. Some recent [ when? Lennart Hardell and other authors of a meta-analysis of 11 studies from peer-reviewed journals concluded that cell phone usage for at least ten years "approximately doubles the risk of being diagnosed with a brain tumor on the same 'ipsilateral' side of the head as that preferred for cell phone use".

In May , preliminary findings of a long-term study by the U. A study by the London School of Economics found that banning mobile phones in schools could increase pupils' academic performance, providing benefits equal to one extra week of schooling per year. The average user replaces their mobile phone every 11 to 18 months, [90] and the discarded phones then contribute to electronic waste. Mobile phone manufacturers within Europe are subject to the WEEE directive , and Australia has introduced a mobile phone recycling scheme. Apple Inc.

According to the Federal Communications Commission , one out of three robberies involve the theft of a cellular phone.

All mobile phones have a unique identifier called IMEI. Anyone can report their phone as lost or stolen with their Telecom Carrier, and the IMEI would be blacklisted with a central registry. There are, however, a number of ways to circumvent a blacklist. One method is to send the phone to a country where the telecom carriers are not required to implement the blacklisting and sell it there, [95] another involves altering the phone's IMEI number.

Demand for metals used in mobile phones and other electronics fuelled the Second Congo War , which claimed almost 5. The profits from the minerals finance the bloodiest conflict since the second world war; the war has lasted nearly 20 years and has recently flared up again. For the last 15 years, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been a major source of natural resources for the mobile phone industry. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

For the film, see Cell Phone film. For the film, see Handphone film. For the modern mobile phone, see Smartphone.

Portable device to make telephone calls using a radio link. Main article: History of mobile phones. Mobile subscriptions per people [18]. Main article: Smartphone. Main article: Feature phone. Main articles: Cellular network and WiFi. Main article: Mobile phone features. Main article: Display device.

Main article: Mobile operating system. This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. October Main article: Mobile app. Main article: List of digital distribution platforms for mobile devices. This section needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Last update: Statistics until mid is needed for some parts of this section. August See also: List of best-selling mobile phones and List of mobile phone makers by country.