Mobile industry aims for greener phones
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(InfoWorld) - If just a small portion of the world's mobile phone users unplugged their charger when the battery is full, it could save enough electricity to power thousands of homes. So said Nokia on Thursday, as it unveiled a new industry group that aims to make mobile phones more environmentally friendly. The group also includes Motorola, France Telecom, Vodafone Group, TeliaSonera, and others. It was created as part of a European Commission project aimed at uniting members of different industries to work on reducing the environmental impact of their products. Members of the new group will try to educate people more about how they can reduce the environmental impact of using their cell phones. For example, manufacturers will start displaying a reminder on phones to unplug chargers once the battery is charged. If only 10 percent of phone users did that, they would save enough energy to power 60,000 European homes each year, Nokia estimates. The companies will alsoÂ reduce the hazardous materialsÂ they use beyond what current legislation requires. One example is Nokiaâs decision to stop using any components in its phones that contain a certain type of environmentally harmful chemical flame retardant. The operators will also increase the number of used phones that are returned for recycling. Theyâll examine existing recycling schemes around the world and identify successful ones. They also plan to try out incentive initiatives to determine if they might improve recycling rates. Environmental organizations including World Wildlife Fund, the Finnish Environmental Institute, the European Consumersâ Organization and the U.K.âs Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are also part of the new initiative. The European Union recently instituted new regulations on the types of hazardous materials that can be included in electronic devices. Most manufacturers were able to alter their products to comply with the new laws, but Palm in July stopped shipping what was its latest smart phone, the Treo 650, to Europe because it didnât meet the regulations.
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Power consumption, parallelism, and the rapidly-expanding world of mobile communications are among the leading areas of research and development currently being investigated within some of the IT world's largest companies.
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Early next month, a small company called Cubic Telecom will release what itâs calling the first global mobile phone.
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The rapid uptake of smartphones around the world has ensured the future of DRAM (dynamic RAM) in mobile handsets, where the chips are used in every unit shipped.
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From a cell phone with just six buttons to one that lets users dictate text messages and another that delivers the results of a breathalyzer test, mobile handset makers put their most eye-catching gadgets on display at this week's wireless industry conference.
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Those who don't mind carrying a paperweight already have plenty of options for "smart" phones that do more than just make calls. The rest of us are stuck with a sad compromise between size and function.
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It should be easier for mobile users to discover the amount of radiation generated by their handsets,  a leading expert says.
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The Mobile World Congress is seeing the introduction of a wealth of gadgets to meet needs and desires.
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And the bromine business fights back Eco-oriented non-governmental organisation Greenpeace has tacitly admitted it's been focusing its criticism of the mobile phone industry on Apple's iPhone because it gets more headlines.â¦
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Investor's Business Daily - Cell phone makers used this month's 3GSM industry gathering in Barcelona to recharge the market for handsets with advanced applications such as mobile television, music downloading and location services.
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By Andrew Murray-Watson There was deja vu in the air at 3GSM, the annual get-together for the global mobile phone industry. The event in Barcelona is used by mobile executives to discuss the future of their sector and to unveil new products and services.
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Vodafone is to kick-start a global push into 3G with an array of mobile phones that is likely to outstrip the range of handsets being sold by many of its rivals.
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Handsets get even thinner, more versatile.
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Nokia (NOK1V.HE) said on Thursday it  and other mobile industry players have agreed on measures to  reduce pollution from the manufacture and disposal of mobile  phones.
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For many of us, the latest mobile telephones on the market are simply cool gadgets for making calls, with a few nifty electronic extras -- MP3, agenda, e-mail, image capture -- tacked on.
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Hectare for green and pleasant hectare, mobile phone towers are a very profitable crop. That is why farmers could be the only people excited about the prospect of more metal masts in the meadows. By contrast, many mobile phone operators are embracing agreements that combine networks, share infrastructure and reduce the number of towers dotted across the countryside.
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The race is on to come up with the world's thinnest cell phone screen.