Over the years mobile phones have evolved to the point where the taking and receiving of phone calls is their least exciting function. With companies such as Apple and Samsung focusing upon the accompanying bells and whistles they can attach to their smartphones, using these devices as actual phones has almost become an afterthought. With that being said, a new study has found that some major phone manufacturers appear to be actively overlooking this function, so much so that phones over a decade ago are better at making calls than the devices we have in our pockets today.
The study, carried out by UK industry regulator Ofcom, compared a variety of smartphones and non-smart phones in controlled lab experiments, with their findings revealing that old mobiles operating on a 2G network were much better at picking up weak signals than their 4G counterparts.
According to the research, some of the smartphones included in the test required a minimum signal that was 10 times stronger than non-smart phones in order to function, with the smartphones tested requiring on average a 2G signal that was seven times stronger than what was required by non-smart phones. These findings have added further credibility to the claims that mobile operators aren’t providing adequate coverage, with Ofcom also suggesting that plastic phones are better at picking up signal than their high-end, premium successors.
Unfortunately, Ofcom would not provide specifics in regards to the smartphone manufacturers nor the smartphone models that were used to conduct the study, but it could lead to pressure being placed upon mobile operators in the region to increase the reach of their networks in the future, given that rural areas of the UK notoriously struggle with network signal and this study has now placed a spotlight on this problem. It also highlights how the design of new smartphones, with them frequently employing steel and glass in their design, may naturally have more difficulty in connecting to weak signal strength as opposed to non-smart phones and the cheaper materials used in their design.
