GPRS Mobile Phones – Connectivity throughout the day
Mobile phones inception was seen as a boon to communicate with friends, family, colleagues and others through voice calls and messages but they have begun solving more problems now with more technology usage. Entertainment features are being added in the form of video recording, image capturing, sound recording, video viewing, music listening, FM radio broadcasting etc. Organising features are also being added such as calendar events, alarm, calculator, reminders etc. Another aspect which has grown over the years is the online presence being made available through a mobile phones. Internet connectivity has become one of the most sought after and a highly used tool in latest mobile phones. One uses the Internet for checking mail, sending mail, playing small online games, surfing websites, accessing social networking sites and also viewing mobile phone based WAP sites. Many other third party applications also use the Internet connection to retrieve information or connect to their own server. Messengers also use Internet connectivity which further help you in interacting with colleagues, friends, family and business clients. This Internet connectivity is achieved with the most basic and highly common tool of GPRS which comes in various classes and that alters its speed levels as well.
GPRS or General Packet Radio Service is a packet oriented mobile data service available to the users of 2G GSM cellular connection users as well as to 3G system users. GPRS speeds on the 2G network system is between 56kbps and 114kbps. This service allows users to transfer data at much faster speeds and have data transmission at large speeds too. It is also not very expensive to use and is easily available on many networks. It is also much faster than the basic GSM connection therefore data can be accessed quicker without wasting time and taking a lot of efforts and patience. Charges for GPRS usage are dependent on the data transfer and not on the time spent logged on therefore making it a cheap measure of Internet access.
GPRS connection is also used in sending multimedia messages, push to talk services, point to point service where inter networking between separate Internet protocols (IP) is done. The speed of GPRS can be understood when SMS are being sent by using data access then nearly 30 messages can be sent in a minute. This same feat is underachieved by GSM which can only send six to ten SMS a minute.
GPRS services come in three classes which are used in mobile phones. Class A allows GPRS and GSM services to be used at the same time. Class B and one of the most common one is where both are allowed but cannot be used at the very same time. If a call/message is in use then GPRS session is suspended and resumed when the call is over or message is sent. Class C also incorporates both GSM and GPRS services but if one is in use then the other needs to be manually restarted as it won't restore automatically.
Some of the GPRS mobile phones handsets which have GPRS connectivity enabled are BlackBerry Bold 9700, Nokia 6300, Sony Ericsson C905, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic etc. All these phones would allow the user to access the Internet and its related services if provided by the network provider.