When a new cellphone comes out, we are all concerned about whether it will give the iPhone a run for its money or not. But instead of worrying about if your next phone has multi-touch or if it can multitask, we all seem to have neglected to consider how high the Specific Absorption Rate, AKA SAR values are on these wonderful new devices. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) recently undertook a 10-month research review to understand the risks, and what they found was a bit disturbing due to the fact that they concluded that these phones do emit radiation, and that the existing research on cell phone radiation is still very muddled. Fortunately, they put together a radiation chart, charting about 1000 cellphones which incorporates the newest, best, and lowest cellphones and their SAR values. Their research reveals that many of the hottest smartphones on the market today are in the top 10 list for highest SAR values – and that includes the Motorola Droid, iPhone 3G S, BlackBerry Bold 9700 and Nexus One, to name a few.
Newest cellphones and radiation levels:
| Tech Expert Rank * | Phone Model | Service carrier(s) |
Radiation | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # 1 |  |
Motorola Droid | Verizon Wireless | 1.50 W/kg |  |
| # 2 |  |
Apple iPhone 3G S | AT&T | 1.19 W/kg |  |
| # 3 |  |
HTC Nexus One by Google | T-Mobile | 1.39 W/kg |  |
| # 4 |  |
Blackberry Bold 9700 | AT&T, T-Mobile | 1.55 W/kg |  |
| # 5 |  |
Samsung Instinct HD (SPH-M850) | Sprint | 1.16 W/kg | |
| # 6 |  |
Motorola CLIQ with MOTOBLUR | T-Mobile | 1.10 W/kg |  |
| # 7 |  |
Motorola Brute i680 | Sprint | 0.86 W/kg |  |
| # 8 |  |
Pantech Impact | AT&T | 0.92 W/kg | |
| # 9 |  |
LG Chocolate Touch (VX8575) | Verizon Wireless | 1.46 W/kg | |
| # 10 |  |
Samsung Mythic (SGH-A897) | AT&T | 1.08 W/kg | |
To read more about EWG’s study, and to see the list of cell phones for 2010 with the lowest SAR Values, visit http://www.ewg.org/cellphone-radiation