Quanta Monitor
is a free Android app that measures the SAR (Specific Absorption Rate)
output, power density, and cumulative exposure to radiofrequency
emissions from your phone. Quanta Guard
takes things a step further by automatically cutting off your data
connection if safe SAR limits are exceeded. We tried both apps out to
see how they work and learn just how much radiation we’re exposed to on a
daily basis.
Is cell radiation dangerous?
There’s still a great deal of controversy about how dangerous cell phone radiation really is. The last time the World Health Organization’s
International Agency for Research on Cancer reviewed the available
evidence on radiofrequency electromagnetic fields it classified them as
“possibly carcinogenic to humans.”
That was in
2011, and new evidence is emerging all the time. There’s a growing
movement that’s convinced of the cancer risk and actively campaigning
for a new assessment, but it’s a difficult topic to pick through. People
on both sides of the debate can sound hyperbolic. At the extremes, it’s
compared to smoking on the one side, but then it’s presented as
completely harmless on the other. The truth probably lies somewhere in
between. If you’re interested in the subject, you can read our full interview with an expert on the effects of cell radiation.
What’s
lacking for most consumers is accurate information on exposure. The FCC
has set a limit for public exposure from cell phones as a SAR level of
1.6 watts per kilogram.
“There are legal SAR
limits, like the U.S. limit of 1.6w/kg, but no one is making sure that
these levels are not exceeded when the phone is next to your skin or in
your pocket,” explained Pasi Ala-Mieto, COO of Cellraid.
Cellraid’s apps track radiation levels
The
Quanta Guard app is designed so that it automatically cuts your data
connection if the SAR level of 1.6w/kg is exceeded. It actually has a
few different guard modes, so you can also set it up to cut the data
connection when the SAR level is exceeded and the phone is in your
pocket, next to your ear, or in your hand, but not when it has been left
on the table.
Cellraid was founded by
experienced mobile phone industry veterans, including COO, Pasi
Ala-Mieto, who worked at Nokia, then the wider telecom industry, for two
decades. The company also offers the Quanta Pro app which, is aimed at
operators and telecom authorities to measure the total level of RF
exposure from the phone, the network, Wi-Fi, and other sources.
“Most
telecom authorities and operators only measure downlink (antennas),”
explains Ala-Mieto. “Which is not significant for the consumer at all.
As you will see, the main source is the phone itself, not antennas.”
Currently,
the Quanta Guard app only works with Android phones up to version 4.4,
more recent Android releases don’t support data toggling and neither
does iOS, so the app can’t cut your connection if safe levels are
breached. Ala-Mieto is keen to work directly with Apple and Google to
reduce RF exposure levels on all iPhones and Android phones in the
future.
You can still use Quanta Guard to get
an idea of what levels your device is operating at. The accuracy of the
readings also depends to some extent on the phone manufacturer, but
Ala-Mieto claims the margin of error is less than 1.0 SAR for 95 percent
of the phones out there, and falls to 0.5 SAR for the 40 percent that
offer more accurate reporting.
Can this app protect you from your phone?
I
tried the Quanta Monitor app out with my Samsung Galaxy Note 5, and the
results were erratic. While connected to Wi-Fi, the SAR levels stayed
firmly in the green, but as soon as I turned Wi-Fi off and switched to
the mobile data connection, every few seconds the SAR meter would jump
into the red, reporting a reading anywhere from 3.0 w/kg up to 6w/kg. I
found the same results with my wife’s Sony Xperia Z1 Compact.
“Power
density and SAR levels jump every now and then,” says Ala-Mieto. “They
depend on how good coverage you have, or how congested the network is.
Also, the SAR level jumps when sending or receiving information, and
depending on how close the phone is your body. There are operators that
push users onto poor quality 4G networks with very high SAR levels, even
when there are better 3G networks with low SAR levels available.”
We
do live in an area with patchy reception. Whether these jumps are
actually going to cause harm is difficult to say. If it’s on the table
or in my hand, then perhaps there’s nothing to worry about, but what if
it’s in my pocket or pressed up to my ear? More than double the FCC
limit certainly seems like cause for concern.
The
Cellraid apps are designed to run in the background, constantly
monitoring your phone, but it’s also worth noting that Quanta Monitor
had a significant impact on battery life, when I tried it. In theory,
Quanta Guard will actually extend your battery life, because it reduces
exposure by cutting the data connection when the limit is exceeded. It
could also liberate network resources, potentially improving the
connection quality for more customers by limiting traffic. If it only
cuts out when the phone is your pocket, there shouldn’t be a major
impact on usability.
“Hopefully, regulators
will take action and realize that smartphone usage has changed
considerably since 1996, when the existing regulations were established
and people just used their phones for calls,” says Ala-Mieto. “20
year-old RF exposure regulations don’t account for the data-hungry way
we use smartphones today, when even schoolkids have phones in their
pockets 24/7. This is a sensitive topic for the industry, but I strongly
believe that the first operators and phone manufacturers to take action
will benefit greatly; customers understand the value of being on the
safe side.”
If you want to test your own phone, then you can try out Quanta Monitor for free, but Quanta Guard will cost you $4.29.
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