The Best Smartphones To Be Released This Year

Smartphone technology is evolving rapidly and the new year is set to bring a number of devices with better screens, smoother operating systems and individual features to make the new devices even more appealing to consumers.

First on the list is the HTC M8, which is expected to come on the market in the spring, featuring a five-inch 1080p HD screen, a Snapdragon 800 processor, a 2GB RAM, and a 2.1-megapixel front camera. The device will run on Android's Kitkat.

Samsung Galaxy S5 is another new smartphone we can anticipate this year, perhaps around April. No specific features have been yet unveiled, but sector experts bet on a 64-bit operating system, to match the 64-bit CPU. There have been rumours that the Galaxy S5 will have a 16MP camera and a 4K screen, which will make it unique among smartphones.

Nokia Lumia 1820 is the next entry on the list, set to keep its place as the smartphone with the best camera with its Lytro-style device that allows you to refocus a picture after it has been taken.

The iPhone 6, whose release is only rumoured for now, is expected to introduce some notable changes, such as a curved screen, since Apple has declared interest in the technology, or maybe gesture technology, after Apple bought the company that makes the Microsoft Kinect gesture control system. The new iPhone could be on the market in September.

Blackberry, which has been struggling recently, is betting on two new models, the Q30 and the Z50, with the latter rumoured to sport a 5.2-inch screen with 1080p HD resolution, plus a quad-core processor.

Report Claims UK Recycles More Plastics Than Official Figures Suggest

A report that was commissioned by the British Plastics Federation's (BPF) Recycling Group has suggested that the amount of plastics packaging that government figures claim enters the market every year are majorly overstated by 300,000 to 400,000 tonnes.

Compiled in response to a request for corroboration of recycling rates that came from the Advisory Committee on Packaging, the report analysed the National packaging Waste Database and came up with a total figure of 2.5 million for the amount of plastics packaging placed on the market at present. Although the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) estimates a growth rate of 2.5% for this kind of packaging, the BPF Recycling Group says this is an overstatement, with NPWD data showing almost no growth in the period 2006 to 2012, after which a decline followed.

What this means is that reports about plastics recycling in the UK that have been sent to the European Union have been understated and have led to setting business targets based on mistaken information, which could have increased costs. What's more, with the European Union planning to increase the recycling targets for member states in the next couple of years, UK businesses could be put in a disadvantaged position compared to other member states. The chairman of BPF's Recycling Group commented that giving businesses an accurate baseline, according to which recycling targets are calculated, is essential in order to avoid distorted compliance costs for enterprises.

Fonehub can help you do your part for the environment through mobile phone recycling.

UK Company Builds First Plant For Mechanical Recycling Of LCD Displays

In December, Electrical Waste Recycling Group Ltd. (EWRG) said that it had obtained the approval of the Environment Agency to build the first recycling plant in the world that will process flat screen displays mechanically. The 100,000 square foot facility will be located in Huddersfield, Recycling Today reported.

Mechanical processing will significantly reduce the time needed for the reassembling of a flat screen; currently, manual disassembling takes around 15 minutes per display, while the mechanical process will bring this down to six seconds. This, according to Electrical Waste Recycling Group, is quicker and safer than other processes.

Commenting on the news, the company's managing director, Keith Patterson, said that extensive trials were conducted to ascertain the advantages of the new processing technology, and expressed hopes that the amount of screens to be processed at the plant will justify the investment. This is very likely, taken that the number of LCD screens thrown away every month stands at around one million. EWRG is currently awaiting a patent, and there are plans to replicate the recycling process at other locations in the country as well.

Flat TV screens and computer monitors contain mercury, a hazardous material, in the fluorescent lights. If the monitors are disposed of in landfills, it could leak into the soil and underground water. Industry experts advise that electronic equipment companies should start making more durable products with fewer toxic components. Unfortunately, for the time being, things are going in the opposite direction, which calls for the design of new recycling technologies.

For more information on the mobile phone recycling services that FoneHub provide, please visit our website.

Study Warns That E-Waste Could Grow By 33% By 2017

New data gathered by the United Nations, governments and science organisations has revealed that the total amount of electronic waste across the world could rise by a third in the next four years, reaching the weight of 200 Empire State Buildings, which is the equivalent of 72 million tonnes.

The data gathered, which has been used in a new initiative named 'Solving the E-Waste Problem' (StEP), includes a map of electronic waste around the world that gives information from 184 countries with estimations of the electronic devices sold in each of them and the amount of waste this will eventually generate. The map is published online and is aimed at helping national governments, as well as the business sector, tackle the electronic waste they produce. Currently, the United States and China are the biggest e-waste producers, with 11 million tonnes and 12.2 million tonnes, respectively.

Electronic waste includes all electrical and electronic appliances, from TV sets and irons to mobile phones and tablets - anything that needs a battery or a power cord to function. In view of the huge increase in its amount over the next years, businesses, as well as individual users of electronic and electric devices, should start looking for ways to reduce the waste they produce. For individuals, recycling or donating their unused gadgets for charity to be reused are the readily available options, while businesses would do well to consider some long-term strategies such as sustainable energy solutions and lasting technology that would need increased investment but will service them over a longer period.

Fonehub offers professional mobile phone recycling services for unbeatable prices. Do your part for the environment and sell us your unwanted mobile phones!

Some Facts And Figures About Mobile Phone Recycling

Many of us are guilty of throwing our old mobile phones straight into the bin when we no longer need them. However, as the following facts and figures prove, recycling phones and any other electronic device is the best option for both ourselves and the environment.

There is around £6.9 billion worth of unused phones in the UK at the moment, which equals approximately 90 million mobiles. Shockingly, 50% of Britons are not aware of how easy mobile phone recycling is. Another possibly shocking figure is that 14% of the population keeps no less than four unused mobiles at home, while the average for the majority is two.

If we take a wider look at the whole of Europe, we'll see that the number of unused mobiles on the continent totals an estimated 160 million. To put this in some perspective: if all the gold and lead from these 160 million phones are collected, they will be worth £315 million. Globally, it has been calculated that if all the gold from unused mobiles is collected, it will reach an amount of 16 metric tonnes.

Worryingly, pollution from mobile phone batteries affects water equaling the size of 80 billion Olympic swimming pools. Perhaps the worst thing is that mobiles in landfills leak toxic chemicals which, through the soil and the water, come back to poison us. Mobiles contain lead, cadmium, mercury, bromine, and brominated flame retardants, all of them damaging for the human body. Mercury, to begin with, can cause blindness and high blood pressure. Cadmium affects the kidneys and causes permanent damage to their function. It is also a proven carcinogen, and scientists suspect that lead and bromine can also cause cancer in various organs.

So, take your old mobile to a recycling place or donate it to charity, don't let it lie around or throw it away with the garbage.

Electronics Recycling Supports Communities and Creates Jobs

Recycling old mobile phones, computers, and other electronic devices has a number of advantages, including the recovering of rare earths and conflict minerals, and protecting the environment from toxic waste. However, it also has great social implications that perhaps don't cross your mind very often. Just look at the figures: every year, around 128 million mobile phones are estimated to be replaced with new ones, and some two million tonnes of electronic equipment is discarded.

Recycling electronics supports the community in two ways: by creating new jobs, and by providing access to modern technology to people otherwise unable to afford it. The new jobs come as recycling expands and more and more businesses become engaged with it, opening new recycling facilities. It is therefore important to support this expansion by participating and promoting electronics recycling. In the United States, there is already a law prohibiting the export of electronic waste, which was earlier estimated to be conducive to the creation of around 42,000 new jobs in the recycling industry.

Recycling can also take the form of donation to charities, schools, and low-income families, allowing people who would otherwise be unable to access modern technology use things like smartphones and personal computers. A word of caution, however: don't donate very old mobile phones or desktops, as this is likely to turn into a disadvantage for the organisation you donate them to - as it would be hard for them to upgrade, make usable, or pass the old devices on, and eventually they might have to do your job: give the device away for actual recycling of the parts.

Visit the FoneHub website to learn more about selling mobile phones

Mobile Phone Recycling Cuts Use of Conflict Minerals

Did you know that your mobile phone contains a number of conflict minerals, whose mining is used to fund violent conflicts in Africa? This could be one more reason to motivate you to take your old mobile, or any other electronic device, to your nearest recycling point.

Conflict minerals are called this because their mining, which typically involves human rights abuse and child labour, are used to finance bloody conflicts; the biggest instance of which is the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The US Dodd-Frank Act lists among conflict minerals: wolframite (tungsten ore), columbite-tantalite (tantalum ore), gold, and cassiterite (tin ore). These are all used in electronic devices: gold is used to coat the internal wires of the device, tantalum is used in the batteries to ensure they hold their charge after they are disconnected from the socket, and tin is what circuit boards are mostly made of. Tungsten is used for the vibration function of mobile phones.

In the Congo, these are mined illegally by local militia groups, and the proceeds from their black market sale go towards funding the ongoing civil war. The other countries where conflict minerals are mined include South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Angola, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, and the Central African Republic. In all of them, mining of the metals is used to fuel regional conflicts.

Since recycling technology is advanced enough to make a significant portion of electronic device contents reusable, it is one of the ways that we can contribute to reducing the mining of conflict minerals. The US has legislated against the use of conflict minerals in the Dodd-Frank Act, and the UK has put in place guidelines for companies trading in conflict minerals. There is a global move to put a stop to the criminal use of these minerals, and recycling is a significant part of it.

For more information on mobile phone recycling please visit the FoneHub website 

E-waste Recycling Saves Energy

Have you ever considered the benefits of recycling your mobile phone, PC, or tablet? We all know that electronic devices contain a range of valuable materials, including rare earths and precious metals, but did you know that recycling e-waste also saves huge amounts of energy?

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, if the 100 million mobiles that are discarded every year around the world were recycled, the power saved would be enough to satisfy the energy needs of 18,500 households. Unfortunately, only a very small portion of is actually recycled.

With regard to laptops, recycling one million devices would save energy equivalent to almost 3,700 households annually, EPA figures also revealed.

Recycling e-waste also saves energy in its own right, as a process for making secondary raw materials. According to figures of Australian e-waste collector and recycler 1800eWaste, the recovery of steel, for example, takes up 74% less energy than the initial extraction of the metal from ore. The recovery of aluminium takes up 95% less energy, while the recovery of copper takes 85% less. Recycling lead uses 65% less energy than the initial extraction process, and the recycling of plastics uses 80% less power than its initial production.

With all this said, it needs reminding that many recyclable components are considered hazardous as they contain toxic chemicals, such as lead. With 20 to 50 metric tonnes of e-waste dumped into landfills every year, things start to look quite grim. Recycling, however, removes this health hazard from the environment and it does so in an energy-efficient way.