Mobile Network Comparison

A novel scientific study in Holland has been using mobile phone signal strength to track and measure rainfall. The physics that cause the trial to work is that rain fairly uniformly observes the radio frequencies used by mobile phones. Basing the attenuation of the measure signal can give a good indication of how much rainfall there is. The test is particularly useful because there is already a good infrastructure in place – mobile phone signal has excellent coverage in many Western countries so very large areas can be assessed at once without the need for roll out out specialised and very expensive equipment.

Traditionally rainfall has been measure by low tech rain gauges that simply measure the height of rainfall in a certain area. But these need to be manually placed across a large area and individually read. Because of these requirements, the number of in-place rain guages has been rapidly falling in recent years. Other methods include using radar absorption but mobile phone signal has the significant advantage in that it’s much more widespread across most countries.

Using mobile phone radio waves was first tried out in 2006. Scientists from the University of Tel Aviv published in renowned journal Science claiming that their technique proved to be more accurate that measurements used by normal weather services. They found that rain is particularly good at weakening the strength of electromagnetic waves meaning it’s perfect for being measured by mobile signal strength. Usually mobile phone masts already use this information to automatically boost signal strength when they notice rainfall or other causes has produced a drop in coverage.

The Netherlands was a perfect country to test in as although it is quite small at approximately 35,000 square kilometres, it has about 2,400 mobile phone masts linked together to provide valuable data. The test were conducted on T-Mobile’s masts over two 12 day periods and the scientists were able to generate real-time rainfall data from their readings. The novel method has proved its value and may well turn out to be even more useful in countries with a good mobile phone network but more meteorological infrastructure.

O₂ has made a plea for mobile retailers to cut down on waste by not automatically bundling chargers when selling new handsets. Since all the mobile manufacturers in the world agreed that all mobile phones should use a common micro-USB charger, more and more people are able to forgo a new charger as they already own a compatible one. O₂‘s request comes after a three month long pilot on the HTC One X+ handset which has been sold through O₂ stores with only a USB cable included.

The company has previously said it will phase out new chargers with handsets sold in 2015. This noble effort could result in a significant reduction is waste as it will not require manufacturers to produce millions of duplicate chargers.

In the HTC One X+ trial, O₂ had predicted that only 30% of customers would want to buy a charger with their new phone. However, results actually turned out to be much better than predicted. In fact, only 18% of O₂‘s customers wanted a charger too.

Figures published by O₂ estimate that there are about a hundred million unused chargers in the UK. That takes up about the same size as 2000 elephants! O₂ has also claimed that if all retailers were to follow their lead and not bundle chargers with new phones, about 25 million fewer chargers would have to be manufactured each year for the UK market.

The only thing that will hamper further adoption of this eco-friendly plan is Apple. In 2009 all the leading phone manufacturers signed an EU resolution to use a single standard charger for all handsets. Apple has since reneged on their promise to support a common charger and introduced a proprietary Lightning connector on its range of iPhones. To use a standard micro-USB charger, customers have to fork out for an overpriced adaptor. As a result, most people don’t bother and Apple’s stubbornness is contributing to a significant amount of waste at the expense of the environment.

Still we support O₂‘s work on testing this out and promoting the savings that can be made. They have asked other mobile phone retailers in the UK to follow their lead and we would encourage this too.

How many phone chargers have you got at home? Does your current phone use a standard micro-USB connector? Do you think Apple should be forced to use one? And what do you think of O₂‘s proposal?

In a recent interview with CBS, Bill Gates has admitted that Microsoft missed a trick with the popularity of smartphones. Gates, ex-CEO of Microsoft and the founder and funder of the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world was probably referring to quotes made around the time the iPhone originally launched.

Back in 2007, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the following in an interview:

There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It’s a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I’d prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get.

It’s pretty clear now that Ballmer turned out to be completely wrong on all counts. And Gates admitted in a recent interview that Microsoft made a “mistake” by not foreseeing the influence and importance smartphones would play. Microsoft had invested quite a lot in tablets and normal mobile phones but was left floundering by the success of Apple’s iPhone. Even now, with the advent of the new Windows Phone 8 operating system, Microsoft still trails behind Android, iOS and BlackBerry in global phone sales.

At the time of the iPhone launch, Microsoft was pushing software called Windows Mobile. This was way before the advent of the modern Windows Phone OS and it paled in comparison to offerings from Apple and Google. Microsoft finally gave up on it in 2008 and took two more years to introduce Windows Phone. In the meantime, the smartphone market has exploded and, after initial gains by Apple, is now dominated by Google’s Android as well as Apple’s iOS.

The strategy Microsoft has used for mobile phones since hasn’t helped it gain much traction. They seem mainly concerned about making money from mobile rather than making the best possible experience for end users. While we applaud the fact that Bill Gates has admitted the mistake several year later, it remains to be seen whether Micrsoft’s position in the mobile market can ever recover especially after mocking the iPhone back in 2007.

Bill Gates recently revealed that he uses a Surface Pro to use the web when at home but he hasn’t said anything about what phone her personally uses even if it should be safe to assume he runs a Windows Phone.

And in case you haven’t got enough Bill Gates yet in this article, here’s a little something to leave you with: