Which cell phones are the most radioactive?
November 3, 2009 by Valerie HelmbreckPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Security
It’s long been known that mobile phones emit low levels of radiation, but there’s no consensus on whether they’re actually harmful. Scientists do know one thing: Some phones emit more radiation than others.
The Federal Communications Commission sets the acceptable U.S. radiation standards for cellphones. Radiation effects depend on the rate the rate at which energy (in this case, radiation) is absorbed by a mass of tissue — the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR). It’s measured in watts per kilogram (W/kg).
Cellphone makers hire private certification companies to test their device’s SAR.
The FCC limits SAR levels for partial-body exposure (including head) to up to 1.6 W/kg, and whole body exposure to up to 0.08 W/kg. For hands, wrists, feet, and ankles, the limit is up to 4 W/kg, averaged over 10 grams of tissue. But remember this: These levels are set based on advice from the industry group that represents the folks who make the phones.
Curious about your phone or the phones you give employees?
Since smartphones have become the most popular tool for business users, here’s the list of top smartphone radiation emitters (courtesy of TechRepublic editor Jason Hiner):
- T-Mobile MyTouch 3G (1.55 W/kg)
- Blackberry Curve 8330 (1.54 W/kg)
- Palm Treo 600 (1.53 W/kg)
- T-Mobile Shadow (1.53 W/kg)
- Palm Treo 650 (1.51 W/kg)
- Blackberry Curve 8300 (1.51 W/kg)
- Blackberry Bold 9000 (1.51 W/kg)
- Sony Ericsson P910a (1.50 W/kg)
- HTC SMT 5800 (1.49 W/kg)
- BlackBerry Pearl 8120/8130 (1.48 W/kg)
And the lowest?
- Nokia 9300i (0.21 W/kg)
- Nokia 7710 (0.22 W/kg)
- T-Mobile MDA Wiza200 (0.28 W/kg)
- Samsung Impression SGH-a877 (0.35 W/kg)
- Nokia 9300 (0.44 W/kg)
- Samsung Propel Pro SGH-i627 (0.47 W/kg)
- Samsung Gravity SGH-t459 (0.49 W/kg)
- BlackBerry Storm 9530 (0.57 W/kg)
- Nokia E90 (0.59 W/kg)
- Nokia N96 (0.68 W/kg)
For information about other models, check out the database that’s been assembled on emissions by the Environmental Working Group.
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October 28th, 2009 at 9:12 am
What about iPhone?
October 29th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Are you kidding? This story was paid for by IPhone! For longest time I always wondered why my Blackberry caused feedback on my Desktop every time it updated. Guess I know why now.
October 29th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
That’s funny. My iPhone creates the same noises from my PC when I lay it too close to the PC on my desktop. I don’t think the iPhone is immume to the problem either if that noise is an indication.
October 29th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Just interviewed with RIM/Blackberry today. I really wanted to bring this subject up but decided to let it slide. Guess I need a job.
October 29th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Are we the only people that read this crap???
November 4th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
between Verizon Wireless and AT&T, the AT&T phones are the ones that interfere with electronics. The Verizon phones don’t bother any of my equipment. Oh…I have a DJ service and as far as I can tell….only AT&T stuff does this!
November 11th, 2009 at 9:14 am
All the phones with internet access capability from any carrier cause the interference to some degree. I haven’t found any that won’t do it.
November 11th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
The headline and copy are very much in error. Cell phones are NOT radioactive. The frequencies at which they operate are 1000 times less than those required to create Alpha, Beta, or Gamma ray ionizing radiation (radioactivity). They do however emit RF radiation an entirely different thing, and that is what is being reported on.
Next time do a little research on the radiation spectrum or take a high school physics class.
Verizon and AT&T use entirely different radio and encoding technologies which may explain the experience of having interference only with some carriers phones. In the case of Verizon, it is CDMA, which is only used in about 8% of cell phones worldwide and is not backwardly compatible with emerging 4G.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Well! Now that we have that all cleared up, thanks to the resident expert, this subject, which started out to be a humorous observation, can now be closed. Some poeple take themselves WAY TOO SERIOUS!
November 12th, 2009 at 10:26 am
The iPhones were not intentionally left off. They just were not in the top 10 of bottom 10.
For the record … iPhone (0.97 W/kg) and iPhone 3G (1.39 W/kg)
Valerie (author of this article) mentions techrepublic as a souce so I found this on their website.
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=2888&tag=content;leftCol
November 13th, 2009 at 3:51 am
One respose talks about these devices (especially Blackberries) interfering with other devices. It is very common for them to interfere with microphones (wired and wireless) and that is because the Blackberries (and similar devices) also product LOW frequency interference which is very difficult to shield against. It is very common, in a boardroom or conference call, for people to put their Blackberries on the table right next to the microphone they will be using. So at least one major microphone manufacturer is working on new designs of boardroom or conference-call microphones to reduce or eliminate this problem. We (Belden) already make microphone cables to reduce/eliminate this effect. They are called “Starquad” microphone cables and we make three different sizes.