CELL PHONES

• Bell Labs conceived the idea of the cellular phone in 1947.

• Citizens of Norway can submit their tax forms by SMS.

• Catholics in the Philippines are not allowed to confess their sins via text messaging because the Bishops feel that e-mail and fax confessions are not secure enough.

• The Nokia 5160 series included an edition with Disney characters Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald.

• Cell phones went public in 1977, when Chicago began public cell phone trials with 2000 customers. Japan began testing cellular phone services in 1979.

• Dr. Mahlon Loomis of Virginia, a dentist, may have been the first person to communicate through wireless via the atmosphere.

• Nearly 45 countries, including India, have banned the use of cell phones while driving. In Ireland, you can be fined $380 and/or face imprisonment for three months.

• Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology was originally developed for miltary use in the late 1960s.

• Japanese telecom carrier NTT DoCoMo launched the world's first 3G mobile phone services in Japan in October 2001.

• The WHO says there is still no evidence to prove that cellular phones pose any health risks, but further research is needed.

• Mobile phone ringtones was the most searched-for technology term in Yahool's annual survey, followed by digital cameras and mobile phones.

• Cellphones are more popular in European and Asian coun-tries than they are in the United States-more than 90 percent of Europeans own a cell phone, compared to about 50 percent of Americans.

• On December 3,1992, an engineer named Neil Papworth sent the first SMS-"MERRY CHRISTM-AS"-to his colleagues at Vodafone in Britain.

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