Cell Phones to Avoid

CNET Reviews has published a quick guide to cell phone radiation. Most interesting of the review, however, is the top 10 list of cell phones with the most radiation. Oddly enough, Motorola dominates the list with 9 phones. Every cellular phone in this top 10 highest-radiation emitting phone list has a SAR, or specific absorption rate, of over 1.5W/kg just shy of the FCC maximum of 1.6W/kg. In comparison, the models with the lowest radiation are around 0.33 and lower.

The thing that shocked me the most was that the Treo 650 was among the phones with the most radiation. That particular Treo is also among the most popular smartphones, with several people in my family owning one. I remember having watched something on DateLine years ago (back with Motorola's StarTac was the rage) that discussed the advantages of a flip-phone for radiation absorption. They concluded that since the antenna was at an angle to your head as opposed to right next to it, the radiation emitted by the cell phone was less intrusive. However, it seems as though Motorola's flip-phones just emit a massive amount of radiation so that it does matter what the angle of the antenna is to your head. I think I will be avoiding Motorola when it comes time to purchase my next cell phone. That's a shame because I have really had my eye on the Motorola Q.