Four Random Things Every Mobile User Should Know

The world is slowly shifting to mobile. People use mobile phones for more reasons than you think: to call their loved ones, to send text messages, to access social networking sites, and maybe read and reply to a few emails or so from work. But mobile is becoming increasingly powerful: thanks to WiFi, you can now browse sites, do some online shopping, catch up on your favorite blogs, and stream some music or videos while you’re at it.

Here are four more random things about mobiles and contracts that every user should know:

The best deals aren’t always bundled. A lot of people I know got their mobile phones because they were bundled with a contract by their network. It’s true that you’ll be getting the handset cheaper, but you might want to switch to a cheaper plan by the time your contract’s over. If you’re still on the fence about making the switch, then at least check out SIM only deals that might give you more bang for your buck.

Mobiles will outnumber the entire human population soon. A recent report by Cisco has revealed that by 2016, the number of mobile devices in the world would outnumber the entire human population. The report lists the following milestones to be surpassed in the next five years:

• Monthly global mobile data traffic will surpass 10 exabytes in 2016.
• Over 100 million smartphone users will belong to the "gigabyte club" (over 1 GB per month) by 2012.
• The number of mobile-connected devices will exceed the world's population in 2012.
• The average mobile connection speed will surpass 1 Mbps in 2014.
• Due to increased usage on smartphones, handsets will exceed 50 percent of mobile data traffic in 2014.
• Monthly global mobile data traffic will surpass 10 exabytes in 2016.
• Monthly mobile tablet traffic will surpass 1 exabyte per month in 2016.
• Tablets will exceed 10 percent of global mobile data traffic in 2016.
• China will exceed 10 percent of global mobile data traffic in 2016.

Making payments on the go is now possible. Soon, you will be able to make payments simply by swiping your phone. Likewise, it can also function as a payment processor by connecting credit card scanning attachments. This is made possible with Near Field Communications (NFC), which is a set of standards that let devices establish a radio communication by bringing them in close contact or by lightly touching the related devices with each other. 

Smartphones are giving digital cameras a run for their money. Most mobile phones nowadays come equipped with their own cameras. And not just the kind that give you VGA or SVGA -quality images either. Sony’s CyberShot cellphones revolutionized mobile photography since users can now take, share, and print out quality images even with the use of their mobile phones.