A new smartphone accessory made from the same material as NASA spacecraft claims to reduce antenna radiation and improve performance. But how do we know if it works?
It's still unclear as to exactly how bad the problem of cellphone radiation really is – but recent studies show that just 50 minutes of cellphone use affects activity in the area of the brain closest to the phone, and the World Health Organization have reclassified cell phone radiation as “potentially carcinogenic for humans.”
A company called Pong, however, claim that they’ve developed a solution, in the form of a phone case.
The problem Pong claims to be solving is that mobile devices emit microwave energy, and the majority of it is absorbed by the heads and bodies of phone users while making calls.
The Pong case, which is available for a variety of different smartphones, claims to redirect radiation away from the user and reduce exposure by up to 95 percent.
But given that it could take decades for the harmful effects of radiation to manifest, how do we know whether it’s actually working?
Pong’s chief technology officer, Ryan McCaughey, says that they’ve done rigorous testing.
“The scale we base our research is the industry standard of SAR, or specific absorption rate. All cell phones are measured to this standard, and what we do is compare the effect of a cellphone on SAR with and without the Pong case.”
“Our lab tests, including independent lab tests, which we feel are a very important validation, show that we reduce SAR by up to 95 percent below current safety limits.
But even Mr McCaughey admits that the Pong isn’t a complete solution, because not enough known is yet known about how safe even small levels of radiation are.
“There’s so far no known safe limit. We can’t say that someone using the Pong is going to be completely safe from radiation, but we’re of the feeling that less exposure to radiation is better, and that’s what Pong is providing.”