Lithium Ion is also memory efficient and longer lasting than Nickel Metal Hydride batteries but they are quite lighter. They tend to be expensive and would only fit new models of phones. Most Lithium-ion batteries apply a fast charge technique to quickly charge up your cell phone up to 80% capacity and then slowly bring it up to full power in about two hours.

Nickel Metal Hydride is also memory efficient and lasts longer than the NIM type about 40 times. This type of battery is good for people who need rapid charging and if used with a car charger can be fully charged under 1 hour. The special formula permits the concentration of energy in a single pack – sometimes about twice the power of Nickel Cadmium. This type is preferred by a lot of mobile phone users because it lasts long and is cheap. Again, they are non-toxic and appeals to environmentalists.

Nickel Cadmium are the oldest type and has a lot of memory defects. Another severe disadvantage is that they will have to be totally discharged before you can charge them again otherwise you may irreversibly damage them. Again this type is highly toxic due to the presence of Nickel Cadmium and is gradually being phased out by cell phone manufacturers.

Batteries typically have 300 to 400 charge cycles in their life span. It is so because anytime you charge your battery, the battery loses away some of its potency and thus become diminished in power.

Cell phone batteries can be pretty expensive items if you consider the fact that a Nokia 3310 battery can cost up to $24.95. Here are a few tips to prolong the life of your battery:

Dont allow materials to get stuck on the terminals as that causes the battery to lose contact with the terminals resulting in improper connection.

Keep the batteries in a cool place and allow them to adjust to room temperature before charging as the sharp rise in temperature upon charging can damage them.

The life of your cell phone depends on the potency of your battery. Knowing how they operate and how to care for them can ensure that your cellular device runs and runs well for years.

You can get between 200 and 3000 anytime minutes, 1000 night and weekend minutes and 1000 mobile to mobile home minutes. The cost for this Alltel plan ranges between $39.99 and $299.99 a month depending on the amount of anytime minutes you choose. The cost per minute for calls over your plan minutes is between $.40 and $.20, again depending on the level of anytime minutes chosen.

Alltel relies on its National Freedom Plan to provide subscribers in most medium to large cities with coverage. However subscribers in smaller cities and rural areas or making calls to these places may incur unexpected charges. The benefit, however, is more anytime minutes in the same price range as in the Total Freedom Plan. For instance the National Freedom Plan gives 450 minutes for $39.95, while “Total Freedom” gives only 200 for the same amount.

The “Greater Freedom” plan is Alltel’s offering to the casual user who doesn’t do a lot of traveling or who is considering replacing their standard home phone with an Alltel cell phone. For under $30.00 a month you can get 300 anytime minutes. At $39.99 a month you get 700 anytime minutes, 1000 night and weekend minutes and 1000 mobile to mobile home minutes. Alltel’s mobile to mobile home minutes refers to calls placed from one Alltel cell phone to another Alltel user.

Alltel cell phone plans all offer the same basic features such as voice mail, caller ID, 3-way calling, call waiting, call forwarding and 411 information. Be cautious about these features, some of them are not covered by all levels of the plans and these charges can add up quickly. Recent research by Consumer Reports show that these seemingly minor add ons can add significant charges to your monthly bill. You need to make sure you know what your coverage area is, what is considered roaming and what the charges for these services are.

If you go prepared, know what type of service you need, make sure you understand all of the features you want and the associated charges, you will be sure to get an Alltel plan that is right for you. Alltel’s corporate philosophy is that simplicity or ease of understanding, means sales. This has allowed them to become and remain a viable contender in the confusing world of cell phone carriers.

With approximately 12 million customers and an estimated 8 billion dollars in annual revenues, Alltel has fine tuned their calling plans to insure that they are easy to understand. This simplicity has been a strong catalyst for the sales and longevity of this company.

Phones offered by Alltel are among the best on the market. Alltel cell phones are made by Nokia, Kyocera, and Audiovox. They have one of the largest selections of cell phones available today. You can get all the new “bells and whistles.” Do you want web access while on the road? Alltel can provide you with a phone that has that capability. Interested in voice dialing? They can give you that. You can also get speaker phones, color displays, stock reports, picture phones, cell phones that can be used as walkie talkies, advanced graphics and a collection of Alltel ring tones including hip hop, country, classical, movie theme songs, and fight songs. Before signing any cell phone contract you should investigate the available plans thoroughly to make sure that the Alltel cell phone plan you choose will suit your needs.

One increasingly popular type of cell phone plan is pre-paid calling plans. AT&T offers the Go Phone with pre-paid plans, free unlimited night and weekend minutes, no contracts to sign, no credit check or activation fee, or deposit. They also offer Free 2 Go Wireless Solutions, also pre-paid with no contracts or credit checks. However the Go Phone plan gives you the unlimited free off prime minutes, lower per minute prices, wider choice of AT&T cell phones, and more choices of AT&T ring tones, and choices in payment options. For instance you can even set up a plan to have your credit or debit card to automatically add to your account when the minutes get low. The AT&T Go Phone plan also offers lower international dialing rates to its Go Phone customers.

Recently AT&T began to offer a new type of digital phone service known as GSM/GPRS, which provides a true 56 kilobyte per second internet connection speed for lap top computers hooked up to the GSM phone line or that use a GSM plug in cord. Remember though that the rates for this service is high with 400 voice minutes and one megabyte of data transmission can add $50.00 to your regular monthly bill. AT&T’s numerous plans, versatile payment options and TDMA and GSM technology have helped placed AT&T near the top of successful cellular phone carriers.

Some, like downloadable ring tones, are there for you if you want them. I have put accessories into groups to make them easier to describe. There are operational accessories that include battery chargers. Chargers are phone and model specific so that they are not interchangeable.

Hands free kits can be bought that are easily installed in your vehicle. These will let you talk on the phone and keep your hands on the wheel. The signal between your phone and cell tower can be strengthened with the use of antenna boosters. Where there are weak cell phone signals these are really good.

There are specific batteries from your cell phone’s manufacturer and for your specific cell phone. Until you can recharge your cell phone battery there is an attachment that will your weak battery a boost. There are speaker phone kits. Rather than drive with one hand and hold the phone with other, these attachments let you talk on the phone and keep your hands on the wheel.

Place dashboard mountable holders well within arms reach. There are a number of styles of cases and holders. The eyeglass case and horizontal case are alike. Pocket eyeglass cases are similar to vertical cases. Cell phone holsters can be worn across your shoulder like a policeman or on your belt.

Wear multi-use cases on your arm, your wrist, or your thigh. Not only will these cases hold your cell but they will hold your license and a few dollars. These types of cases will hold your cell, your license, and a few bucks. These cases hold your cell phone, your license, and maybe a few bucks.

Velcro(tm) are generally found on these cases. You can find accessories for your cell that are technical in nature. Internal accessories include downloadable ring tones and games to help you pass the time while you are waiting. These ring tones can include holiday songs, the traditional ring, or The William Tell Overture.

Cell phones are little computers that are internet ready, organizers, calendars, note recorders, and to do lists; they are no longer just phones. They now have phone directories, recordings of missed calls so you can return calls later, and they record the identity of callers.

There are antenna boosters that strengthen signals and radiation shields to reduce radiation exposure. Cell phone accessories include covers and face plates. There are front and back pieces to phone covers.

Face plates, some with designs, go over the keypad and the front of the phone. Cell phone accessories include very cute plush animal covers. They are both functional and cute, and the phone goes in the back of the animal. The animal acts as a cushion for the phone in case its ever dropped.

Prices of cell phone accessories and cell phones can vary. Most accessories are optional and some are simply fun. It is important to remember that not all cell phone accessories are interchangeable. You should learn all about your cell phone and how it operates.

Audiovox offers a full range of accessories including hands free car kits (required by law in some areas for using you cell phone while driving), desktop speaker phones, cell phone antennas and antenna boosters, holders, and cases. Spare or replacement batteries are also available, as are keypads, some of which flash.

Other accessories for your Audiovox cell phone are: USB data cables and connectivity kits. An over the ear car headset will keep your hands free for other things like driving, working at your keyboard, or even fixing dinner. Earphones and a microphone are great for those not comfortable with speaker phones. Cases and pouches will keep your cell phone safe from grime and impact and some are even waterproof.

The popular changeable faceplates and covers are also offered by Audiovox, as are a wide collection of downloadable ring tones. You can get an MP3 player for your phone, rapid chargers, they even have a double battery charger so that you can charge a spare battery as well as your primary battery.

A holster or belt clip can be a useful alternative to the pocket or purse when you are out and about.

Audiovox has a whole line of cell phones for you to choose from, some of which are the Audiovox pre-paid cell phones that can help you avoid the excesses of provider calling plans.

Cellular joysticks for gaming, an FM stereo headset and an AC/DC wall adaptor for a car charger, all of these accessories are designed to make your Audiovox cell phone even more useful and adapted to your needs.

The first category of cell phone bugs is not really a cell phone at all. It merely looks like a cell phone. It can receive calls, and it will call you automatically, but this phone is not meant to be carried with you. This bug is meant to be “forgotten” or “charging” at the home or office. It plugs into a splitter that shares a phone jack with a regular phone. When a call is made, you can listen in to both ends of the conversation by use of your bug. The bug will even call you when the subject places a call so that you can listen in.

One of the cell phone bugs that require you to take a more active role in listening is a cell phone that is equipped to pick up transmissions by cell phones around it. Cell phone calls are among the easiest to intercept, as the sound is carried on frequencies right through the air. All you have to do is be in the vicinity of your subject and then dial in to your cell phone bug. It looks as though you are talking on your cell phone, but really you are listening in on a conversation.

Finally, the most advanced of cell phone bugs let you listen in, even if you are on the other side of the country — or even the other side of the world. This type of bug works like a regular cell phone. Give it to your subject, and then you can listen in to what she or he is doing whenever you want. The phone has a standard number, that anyone can call, and a secret number that only you know. When you call the secret number, a microphone is activated and you can listen in, not only to conversations held on the phone, but also to what is going on in the same room as the cell phone.

These devices are innocuous and common. They look like what everyone today has and seems to need. You cannot go wrong when you get the information you need using cell phone bugs.

Mobile phones are basically radio sets and therefore emit energy radio signals that can penetrate the body and cause harm.

There have been several commissions on the study of the effect of mobile phone on the human body and the most pronounced has been The Stewart Report which suggested that radio waves indeed penetrate human bodies from mobile phone antennas and specially recommended that children who obviously have softer skulls be extra careful and use the device sparingly. The report further went on to state that the brain cells of children are not as fully developed as those of adults and can therefore be at greater risk as they absorb the radiation more than fully hardened adult skulls.

These hazards may exist but cell phones have become part of everyday living like cars and cannot be dispensed with. In the light of this fact, doing away with our phones may not be a practical approach to solving the health hazards issue. Rather we can adopt some habits to mitigate the effects of the radiation.

Children should not use cell phones for long calls. They should sue land lines instead so as to minimize the length of contact with the radiation emitted by the device.

Consumers should buy phones with low specific absorption rate (SAR). Mobile phones should be kept away from the body as much as possible. They can be put in the purse or bag and only brought into contact with the body when there is the need to make or receive a call.

Users should try to keep their conversations short.

If possible, SMS messages can be sent instead of calls so that there is less contact with the body especially around the skull area.

Keep switching between both ears so that one particular ear does not absorb the full brunt of the radiation all the time.

Radiation emission is at the highest when the phone is trying to connect so keep the phone away from the skull till you see the call fully connected.

Weak signal results in higher radiation so avoid making calls in areas where reception is poor as the device will try to boost its power to get you a connection and resultantly bombard you with more radiation.

We cannot do away with cellular devices looking at the convenience they have ushered consumers in. Nevertheless, we can adopt some helpful attitudes to minimize the harmful effects this technology is bringing to mankind.

So, while you can probably detect phone bugs from the likes of amateur spies, bounty hunters, and some private investigators, detecting phone taps from law enforcement is a little trickier. Part of this problem is that they use hardwired solutions for their surveillance. This means that they tap into the phone line and create a physical bridge to their location. They can listen in without being near your house.

Cell phones might be able to help you avoid phone taps, if you use them to make the important and confidential calls out of your area. However, when in the vicinity of your cell phone, these are actually the easiest calls to intercept. You should always be careful when using a cell phone to discuss sensitive information, as it is possible for nearly anyone to hear it in the right conditions, inadvertently or on purpose. In any case, it is very difficult to avoid phone taps by law enforcement or military personnel because of the nature of how they tap a phone.

But even though you may not detect bugs from law enforcement, it is still worth your while to invest in some counter surveillance bug sweepers. This way you can still avoid revealing information when someone else is trying to nail you by using phone taps.

Before buying the first prepaid or postpaid plan you see, it’s better to first find out about the different cell phone plans available. The best way to rate exactly what kind of plan you should have is to think about how much you’ll be making calls on your mobile phone. You also need to monitor the time (hour) that you often make calls. This is because most cell phone plans will be limited to ‘anytime’ minutes which mean that you can make limited calls during peak hours.

When looking at cell phone plans, you will also want to consider the amount of coverage you will get. It is important to know whether the prepaid or postpaid plan that you’re signing up for is local, regional or for nationwide coverage. If you do not travel a lot, then it doesn’t matter. But if you do, then it’s important to know what you’re getting into or you could find yourself paying a high price for ‘roaming’ charges. Take note that the cell phone plans with the best values are the ones that include free long distance calls.

A family plan is also an option when shopping for a cell phone plan. It allows you to share your monthly airtime allowance with additional lines. What’s great about postpaid packages like these is that you’ll be able to make free inter-network calling so you won’t have to pay to talk to your family members.

If you are still unsure of which postpaid plan to get, after reviewing the various cell phone plans available, then you might want to consider the prepaid option. The prepaid plan is best if you don’t have a consistent usage every month. What you do is pay a sum of money upfront and you’ll get a certain amount of time/minutes. When you’ve used up all your minutes, you’ll be able to renew it easily. One of the advantages of having a prepaid plan is that you don’t actually have to sign any contracts, although some telco providers may require you to fill in your details for security purposes. If you are unhappy about the prepaid plan at any time, you can terminate the prepaid plan without any hassles!

The best way to go cell phone shopping is to do it online. Log on, find a quality cell phone search engine and start looking. Whether or not you choose to actually buy the phone online is a different story, but researching for mobile phones is always best done online.

When you’re cell phone shopping, the important thing that you must remember is to compare the mobile phones. Don’t just look and compare the prices, but compare phone features, ratings and even reviews. All these will help you decide which cell phone you should buy.

Before you can start shopping for a cell phone, you have to first ask yourself – what kind of phone am I looking for? Learn about the types of features and functions cell phones have and find out which mobile phones have the kind of features that you like. Also take into consideration how much chatting you intend to do with your phone and pay attention when reviewers highlight the cell phone’s battery life. All these questions need to be answered before you buy your mobile phone.

Once you’re done cell phone shopping, you might want to consider ordering online. Apart from a wide selection of cell phones for you to browse through, you can also get some of the best deals online. You can actually get cheap cell phones online because there is no dealer charge. So now that you know how to go about cell phone shopping, get to it! Buying mobile phones has never been easier with online shopping.