The Impact of Technology on Society

The efficiency and capabilities of mobile phones has increased tremendously over the past years. This a result of the advancement of technology used to create these mobile phones. Mobile phones are no longer limited to making and receiving calls, they are now performing task that could only be done with the use of a computer. Some of the technology and features mobile phones have today are; touch screen, wireless built in adapters, USB ports, additional storage, memory cards, radio, full operating systems and GPS. These technologies have made the possibilities of mobile phones almost endless.

The first mobile phones, referred to as First Generation or 1G, were introduced in 1983 by the Motorola Company. They were bulky and weighed up to 4lbs and had a battery life of approximately 20 minutes. They were made using analog technology and could be used for voice calls only. These first mobile phones that used analog technology were much less reliable than the digital technology used today. The analog phones had a great deal more static and noise interference than we are accustomed to today. The main use for analog phone was for voice traffic, but customers felt insecure about other people listening in on their conversations and these phones were rather expensive. They were more of a status symbol during their time, rather than a means of convenience.

During the 1990s, great improvements were made in the telecommunication and industry and mobile phone technology. These phones used Second Generation (2G) technology. The developments of these mobile phones emerged using the Global system for mobile Communication (GSM) standard. The Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards were also introduced with GSM mobiles and have become a key part of the mobile phones. For the first time mobile phones were created using purely digital technology. These phones were faster, quieter and more reliable than their predecessors, this was made possible through technological improvements such as advanced energy efficient batteries and smaller hand-held devices weighing between 100 and 200 grams.

The most significant technological development that was introduced with 2G mobiles was the allocation of non voice traffic features on mobiles phone. Some these features were text messaging, camera, Bluetooth, internet access and media contents such as ringtones, mp3 music, video games, pictures and video. These enhancements made mobile phones more entertaining and appealing to customer they were also more affordable than their analog predecessors.

As the use of phones became more extensive and people began to utilize mobile phones in their daily lives, it became clear that the need for faster data services was growing, a third generation of mobile phones were developed; these are the mobile phones that are available today. They support a much higher data transmission rates and offers increased capacity, which makes them suitable for high-speed data