Website rates best and worst cellphones by radiation output levels -- how does yours stack up?
By Laura June 
posted September 27th 2009 8:27AM
posted September 27th 2009 8:27AM
You're surely aware that your cellphone bleeds radiation into your face the whole time you're on the phone with your mom, best friend or lover, right? Yes, it's a fact we try not to think about most of the time, but now there's a tool out there on the internets for the more reality-facing folks among us. The Environmental Working Group's launched a website dedicated to rating cellphones on their radiation output alone. Ranking highly (meaning they put out the lowest levels of radiation) are the Motorola RAZR V8, and AT&T's Samsung Impression. In fact, it seems that Samsung is cranking out the healthiest phones these days! Phones with poor showings includes T-Mobile's myTouch 3G and the Blackberry Curve 8830. So hit the read link and tell us, how does your phone rate?
[Via bookofjoe]
[Via bookofjoe]
did anyone notice that on the Palm Pre rating the carriers are Verizon AND Sprint?
I'm interested as to how many people have their iphones up to their head anyways....I use a BT headset because the few times I have used the iPhone without a headset my face ended up touching the mute button, then I couldnt unmute because the screen becomes unresponsive during phone calls IF the call isnt going thru a BT headset.... for NO REASON at all I have to keep pressing the lock button to hang up to see anything on the screen
Unless you're a robot, I don't see how you could press the iPhone's mute button with your face, as the proximity sensor shuts off the touchscreen when the phone is near skin, and turns it back on when you move the phone away, specifically to prevent the exact problem you just described.
so that explains WHY the screen goes black(damn shame it gets stuck that way)...but I have still muted the phone while having it to my ear.....
doesn't apple campaign about being most enviromentally safe? Cuz the 3G emits a lot of radiation.
Without values or some kind of scale between no bars and 5 bars, this chart is worthless. Are the bars a scale or just a range? Can one of you smart people explain to me what this chart is actually saying? This reminds me of dubious marketing techniques like putting "Asbestos Free" on something even though it never did and never will have asbestos in it.
If the mytouch3g puts out .02% of enough radiation to be harmful and the impression comes in at .01, what are we really talking about here? Its practically meaningless.
Did you go to the website, or just look at the picture at the top of the article?
You guys thought I was crazy for wearing a foil hat.... Who's laughing now?!
damn! i kinda figured my moto ve240 was kicking out something funky... i set the alarm and sleep with it on my chest... won't be doing that anymore...
Wow. My Impression is the best from the looks of that graphic at the top of the post. Good day for me. lol
But does 'worst' mean anything? Haven't we not seen any conclusive research on this?
Samsung FTW!!
I have a G1 im just going to assume i wont be getting cancer as soon as the people with the mytouch3g
This link on research for cellphone radiation seems relevent.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090925/cellphone_report_090927/20090927?hub=Health
You guys left out the iphone 3g. Also one of the worst. No problem taking a stab at RIM though, huh?
"Phones with poor showings includes T-Mobile's myTouch 3G and the Blackberry Curve 8830." The 3g has the same rating.
Can you guys pull Steve's pud outa your collective asses long enough to write a non biased article?
I suppose if you did though, my daily laugh at you bunch would cease to exist. Keep up the trash journalism boys and girls... get Murph to write more. He's such a moron; always a good read.
I think all of that BlackBerry radiation is going to your brain. The iPhone 3G had a 1.39 rating. The 3GS a 1.19 rating. The BlackBerry Curve had a 1.54 rating, 2nd highest. How is that biased, again?
Well, considering that radiation from a cellphone is not ionized and thus can NOT cause CANCER, should we care?
No, we shouldn't.
engadget it said, 8330, then u put a link to an 8830? :/
Glad I wasn't the only one that noticed this...
Bah, I already know not to keep my iPhone in my pocket, but where else should I keep it? In a little wagon that I pull behind me?
You know, standing under a 60W lightbulb irradiates you more. We're constantly bombarded by EM radiation, and your cell phone plays a very minor part. It's not the radiation you need to be concerned with.
My enV2 isn't so good...my parent's cell phone hasn't been tested yet either.
It's bias. Simply put, the difference is negligible. Sure, yes, the BB is still higher... but the iphone is right up there with it. The fact that they left out, what is one of the most popular phones, was done purposely.
The only radiation I'm exposed to, is from your Mom's chemo when she goes down on me.
This is all a load of crap - no one knows what the baseline for radiation and the true risk potential is. Yes, you are quite smart to recognize that .29 is less than 1.29 - but unless you know what level is hazardous, these numbers mean absolutely nothing.
Generally, when people say 'radiation' they are referring to ionizing radiation. Cell phones obviously emit non-ionizing radiation. If you are concerned about this, make sure you wear your lead underwear and foil hat. There are radio waves everywhere! Stay in the dark (light is EMR) and don't go outside. Sunlight has many millions of times more radiation - so much that it can actually burn your skin!
Doesn't it bother anyone that there are billions of people using cell phones (for decades now), and no one has had an illness that has traced back to the phone?
You're probably more likely to get some problem from the near continuous handling of the plastic case than from the EMR.
You guys do realize at anything that uses electric puts out radiation, right?
Look at a Tube tv, or a CRT monitor, the glass is filled with lead particles. An LCD screen doesn't have that despite putting out more radiation; with a range of about twelve feet. To care about a little cell phone while you are sitting about two to three feet from a computer monitor reading this is just stupid.
If there really is a connection between radio waves and cancer or some tissue damage, then we're going to have to rewrite a lot of science books.
An unidentified dead body was found: short, bald, with a limp small d|ck and a cellphone strapped around his head. I am so worried, tell me that you're still alive.
If this means that since my phone has a high radiation level, it gets better reception in buildings and areas where other phones can't, I'm all over it.
high output power is not necessarily a bad thing. that means better chance of uplink reaching the base station. You might need to thank it for less dropped calls.
well, low radiation is very important of our health.
however, the price is not related to this standard.
you may found the specification of the cell phones in detail at here:
http://www.buyusing.com/cell-phones/
you can narrow by Brand.
just name a few:
http://www.buyusing.com/list.php?keyword=SGH-a877
http://www.buyusing.com/list.php?keyword=CelluarOne
http://www.buyusing.com/list.php?keyword=T-Mobile
http://www.buyusing.com/list.php?keyword=Kajeet
etc.
if you want to buy a cell phone,
my opinion is to compare the prices and radiation level.
It's RF not ionizing radiation. Worst effect at such a low power level is a little heating.
Fortunately, I had a HTC Magic but since Vodafone Spain is such a crap, I gave it back.
ALSO
Engadget doesn't thank people giving them tips. Next time I'll give it to Giz.
This is pretty ridiculous. I wish somebody would do an article explaining the difference between the cancer/geiger counter/godzilla kind of radiation and the radio/light/microwave kind of radiation, because apparently nobody understands this.
That, and go back and time and warn the scientists who decided not to come up with a different term for both that they were dooming us all to endless posts of "OMG yur cell phone givs u d1ck cancer" and articles about how it's not safe to microwave your food because it can get "contaminated with radiation".
I'm a Palm Pre user, which seems like a very safe phone.
I won't consider an iPhone until they get their radiation numbers way, WAY down.