The latest report from the US Environmental Working Group (EWG) contains radiation rankings for top brand mobile phones, including those from Motorola, BlackBerry and iPhone. And the report makes grim reading for RIM, with handsets from that firm joining those from Motorola and T-Mobile (US) in the top ten worst phones in terms of radiation exposure. To be fair, all models tested are within current international limits, but the EWG warns that consumers should try to buy phones with the lowest level of radiation emission, to be on the safe side.  

The test measures the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) for different handsets. SAR is a means by which the amount of radiation passed from a device to a human body is assessed. The internationally-accepted safe limit of exposure to the head and trunk of a body is SAR 2W/Kg. Some say this should be set lower. It’s not all good news for Apple – the iPhone 3G secured a maximum score of 1.19 W/kg, putting the device outside the top ten least ‘radiating’ phones. However, news is worse for the competition: the ten devices with the highest radiation levels are:

  1. Motorola MOTO VU204 – 1.55 W/kg 2. T-Mobile myTouch 3G – 1.55 W/kg 3. Kyocera Jax S1300 – 1.55 W/kg 4. Blackberry Curve 8330 – 1.54 W/kg 5. Motorola W385 – 1.54 W/kg 6. T-Mobile Shadow – 1.53 W/kg 7. Motorola C290 – 1.53 W/kg 8. Motorola i335 – 1.53 W/kg 9. Motorola MOTO VE240 – 1.52 W/kg 10. Blackberry Bold 9000 – 1.51 W/kg And the ten devices with the lowest radiation levels are:
  2. Samsung Impression (SGH-a877) – 0.35 W/kg 2. Motorola RAZR V8 – 0.36 W/kg 3. Samsung SGH-t229 – 0.38 W/kg 4. Samsung Rugby (SGH-a837) – 0.46 W/kg 5. Samsung Propel Pro (SGH-i627) – 0.47 W/kg 6. Samsung Gravity (SGH-t459) – 0.48 W/kg 7. T-Mobile Sidekick – 0.50 W/kg 8. LG Xenon (GR500) – 0.52 W/kg 9. Motorola Karma QA1 – 0.55 W/kg 10. Sanyo Katana II – 0.55 W/kg Via: The Ecologist