Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant(PDA) and a mobile phone or camera phone. Today's models also serve to combine the functions of portable media players, low-end compact digital cameras, pocket video cameras, and GPS navigation units. Modern smartphones typically also include high-resolution touchscreens, web browsers that can access and properly display standard web pages rather than just mobile-optimized sites, and high-speed data access via Wi-Fi and mobile broadband.
The most common mobile operating systems (OS) used by modern smartphones include Apple's iOS, Google's Android, Microsoft's Windows Phone, Nokia's Symbian, RIM's BlackBerry OS, and embedded Linux distributions such as Maemo and MeeGo.Such operating systems can be installed on many different phone models, and typically
each device can receive multiple OS software updates over its lifetime.
each device can receive multiple OS software updates over its lifetime.
The distinction between smartphones and feature phones can be vague and there is no official definition for what constitutes the difference between them. One of the most significant differences is that the advanced application programming interfaces (APIs) on smartphones for running third-party applications can allow those applications to
have better integration with the phone's OS and hardware than is typical with feature phones. In comparison, feature phones more commonly run on proprietary firmware, with third-party software support through platforms such as Java ME or BREW.
An additional complication in distinguishing between smartphones and feature phones is that over time the capabilities of new models of feature phones can increase to exceed those of phones that had been promoted as
smartphones in the past.
have better integration with the phone's OS and hardware than is typical with feature phones. In comparison, feature phones more commonly run on proprietary firmware, with third-party software support through platforms such as Java ME or BREW.
An additional complication in distinguishing between smartphones and feature phones is that over time the capabilities of new models of feature phones can increase to exceed those of phones that had been promoted as
smartphones in the past.
History of Smart Phones
The first smartphone was the IBM Simon; it was designed in 1992 and shown as a concept product that year at COMDEX, the computer industry trade show held in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was released to the public in 1993 and sold by BellSouth. Besides being a mobile phone, it also contained a calendar, address book, world clock, calculator, note pad, e-mail client, the ability to send and receive faxes, and games. It had no physical buttons, instead customers used a touchscreen to select telephone numbers with a finger or create faxes and memos with an optional stylus. Text was entered with a unique on-screen "predictive" keyboard. By today's standards, the Simon would be a fairly low-end product, lacking a camera and the ability to download third-party applications. However, its feature set at the time was highly advanced.
The Nokia Communicator line was the first of Nokia's smartphones starting with the Nokia 9000, released in 1996. This distinctive palmtop computer style smartphone was the result of a collaborative effort of an early successful and costly personal digital assistant (PDA) by Hewlett-Packard combined with Nokia's best-selling phone around that time, and early prototype models had the two devices fixed via a hinge. The ommunicators are characterized by a clamshell design, with a feature phone display, keyboard and user interface on top of the phone, and a physical QWERTY keyboard, high-resolution display of at least 640×200 pixels and PDA user interface under the flip-top.The software was based on the GEOS V3.0operating system, featuring email
communication and text-based web browsing. In 1998, it was followed by Nokia 9110, and in 2000 by Nokia 9110i, with improved web browsing capability.
communication and text-based web browsing. In 1998, it was followed by Nokia 9110, and in 2000 by Nokia 9110i, with improved web browsing capability.
In 1997 the term 'smartphone' was used for the first time when Ericsson unveiled the concept phone GS88, the first device labelled as 'smartphone'.
Symbian
In 2000, the touchscreen Ericsson R380 Smartphone was released. It was the first device to use an open operating system, the Symbian OS. It was the first device marketed as a 'smartphone'. It combined the functions of a mobile phone and a personal digital assistant (PDA). In December 1999 the magazine Popular Science appointed the Ericsson R380 Smartphone to one of the most important advances in science and technology. It was a groundbreaking device since it was as small and light as a normal mobile phone. In 2002 it was followed up by P800.
Also in 2000, the Nokia 9210 communicator was introduced, which was the first color screen model from the Nokia Communicator line. It was a true smartphone with an open operating system, the Symbian OS. It was followed by the 9500 Communicator, which also was Nokia's first cameraphone and first Wi-Fiphone. The 9300 Communicator was smaller, and the latest E90 Communicator includes GPS. The NokiaCommunicator model is remarkable for also having been the most costlyonemodel sold by a major brand for almost the full life of the model series, costing easily 20%
and sometimes 40% more than the next most expensive smartphone by any major producer.
and sometimes 40% more than the next most expensive smartphone by any major producer.
In 2007 Nokia launched the Nokia N95 which integrated a wide range of multimedia features into a consumer-oriented smartphone: GPS, a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash, 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity and TV-out. In the next few years these features would become standard on high-end smartphones. The Nokia 6110 Navigator is a
Symbian based dedicated GPS phone introduced in June 2007.
Symbian based dedicated GPS phone introduced in June 2007.
In 2010 Nokia released the Nokia N8 smartphone with a stylus-free capacitive touchscreen, the first device to use the new Symbian^3 OS. It featured a 12 megapixel camera with Xenon flash able to record HD video in 720p, described by Mobile Burn as the best camera in a phone, and satellite navigation that Mobile Choice described as the best on any phone. It also featured a front-facing VGA camera for videoconferencing.
Symbian was the number one smartphone platform by market share from 1996 until 2011
when it dropped to second place behind Google'sAndroid OS. In February 2011, Nokia announced that it would replace Symbian with Windows Phone as the operating system on all of its future smartphones. This transition was completed in October 2011, when Nokia announced its first line of Windows Phone 7.5 smartphones,
Lumia 710 and 800.
when it dropped to second place behind Google'sAndroid OS. In February 2011, Nokia announced that it would replace Symbian with Windows Phone as the operating system on all of its future smartphones. This transition was completed in October 2011, when Nokia announced its first line of Windows Phone 7.5 smartphones,
Lumia 710 and 800.
Palm, Windows, and BlackBerry
In the late 1990s the vast majority of mobile phones had only basic phone features and many people who needed functionality beyond that also carried PDA and/or pager type devices running early versions of operating systems such as Palm OS, BlackBerry OS or Windows CE/Pocket PC. Later versions of these systems started integrating cell phone capabilities with their PDA and messaging features and support of third-party applications. Today, high-end devices running these systems are often branded smartphones.
In early 2001, Palm, Inc. introduced the Kyocera 6035, the first smartphone to be deployed in widespread use in the United States. This device combined the features of a personal digital assistant (PDA) with a wireless phone that operated on the Verizon Wireless network. For example, a user could select a name from the PDA contact list, and the device would dial that contact's phone number. The device also supported limited web browsing. The device received a very positive reception from technology publications, but the product line never became widespread outside North America.
In 2001 Microsoft announced its Windows CE Pocket PC OS would be offered as "Microsoft Windows Powered Smartphone 2002." Microsoft originally defined its Windows Smartphone products as lacking a touchscreen and offering a lower screen resolution compared to its sibling Pocket PC devices.
In early 2002 Handspring released the Palm OS Treo smartphone, utilizing a full keyboard that combined wireless web browsing, email, calendar, and contact organizer with mobile third-party applications that could be downloaded or synced with a computer.In 2002 RIM released their first BlackBerry devices with integrated phone functionality and
shifted the positioning of their products from 2-way pagers to email-capable mobile phones. The BlackBerry lineevolved into the first smartphone optimized for wireless email use and had achieved a total customer base of about 32 million subscribers by December 2009.
In 2007, Apple Inc. introduced its first iPhone. It was initially costly, priced at $499 for the cheaper of two models on top of a two year contract. The first mobile phone to use a multi-touch interface, the iPhone was notable for its use of a large touchscreen for direct finger input as its main means of interaction, instead of having a stylus, keyboard, and/or keypad, which were the typical input methods for other smartphones at the time. The iPhone featured a web browser that Ars Technica then described as "far superior" to anything offered by that of its competitors Initially lacking the capability to install native applications beyond the ones built-in to its OS, at WWDC in June 2007 Apple announced that the iPhone would support third-party "web 2.0 applications" running in its web browser that share the look and feel of the iPhone interface. As a result of the iPhone's initial inability to install third-party native applications, some reviewers did not consider the originally released device to accurately fit the definition of a smartphone "by conventional terms." A process called jailbreaking emerged quickly to provide unofficial third-party native applications. The different functions of the iPhone (including a GPS unit, kitchen timer, radio, map book, calendar, notepad, and many others) allowed consumers to replace all of these items.
In July 2008, Apple introduced its second generation iPhone with a lower list price starting at $199 and 3G support. Released with it, Apple also created the App Store, adding the capability for any iPhone oriPod Touch to officially execute additional native applications (both free and paid) installed directly over aWi-Fi or cellular network, without the more typical process the time of requiring a PC for installation. Applications could additionally be browsed through and downloaded directly via the iTunes software client on Macintosh and Windows PCs, rather than by searching through multiple sites across theInternet. Featuring over 500 applications at launch, Apple's App Store was immediately very popular, quickly growing to become a huge success.
In June 2010, Apple introduced iOS 4, which included APIs to allow third-party applications to multitask, and the iPhone 4, which included a 960×640 pixel display with a pixel densityof 326 pixels per inch (ppi), a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash capable of recording HD videoin 720p at 30 frames per second, a front-facing VGA camera for videoconferencing, a 1 GHz processor, and other improvements.[35] In early 2011 the iPhone 4 became
available through Verizon Wireless, ending AT&T's exclusivity of the handset in the U.S., and allowing the handset's 3G connection to be used as a wireless Wi-Fi hotspot for the first time, to up to 5 other devices. Software updates subsequently added this capability to other iPhones running iOS 4.
available through Verizon Wireless, ending AT&T's exclusivity of the handset in the U.S., and allowing the handset's 3G connection to be used as a wireless Wi-Fi hotspot for the first time, to up to 5 other devices. Software updates subsequently added this capability to other iPhones running iOS 4.
The iPhone 4S was announced on October 4, 2011, improving upon the iPhone 4 with a dual
core A5 processor, an 8 megapixel camera capable of recording 1080p video at 30 frames per second, World phone capability allowing it to work on both GSM & CDMA networks, and the Siri automated voice assistant. On October 10, Apple announced that over one million iPhone 4Ss had been pre-ordered within the first 24 hours of it being on sale, beating the600,000 device record set by the iPhone 4, despite the iPhone 4S failing to impress
some critics at the announcement due to their expectations of an "iPhone 5" with rumored drastic changes compared to the iPhone 4 such as a new case design and larger screen. Along with the iPhone 4S Apple also released iOS 5 and iCloud, untethering iOS devices from Macintosh or Windows PCs for device activation, backup, and synchronization, along with additional new and improved features.
core A5 processor, an 8 megapixel camera capable of recording 1080p video at 30 frames per second, World phone capability allowing it to work on both GSM & CDMA networks, and the Siri automated voice assistant. On October 10, Apple announced that over one million iPhone 4Ss had been pre-ordered within the first 24 hours of it being on sale, beating the600,000 device record set by the iPhone 4, despite the iPhone 4S failing to impress
some critics at the announcement due to their expectations of an "iPhone 5" with rumored drastic changes compared to the iPhone 4 such as a new case design and larger screen. Along with the iPhone 4S Apple also released iOS 5 and iCloud, untethering iOS devices from Macintosh or Windows PCs for device activation, backup, and synchronization, along with additional new and improved features.
There are about 35 percent of Americans that have some sort of smartphone. This shows that
the market is spreading fast and there are also more capabilities for smartphones because of this spread.
the market is spreading fast and there are also more capabilities for smartphones because of this spread.
Smartphones are also mainly valuable based on the operating system. For example, theiPhone runs on the iOS and other devices run different operating systems which makes the functionality of these systems different.
Android
The Android operating system for smartphones was released in 2008. Android is an open-sourceplatform backed by Google, along with major hardware and software developers (such as Intel,HTC, ARM, Motorola and Samsung, to name a few), that form the Open Handset Alliance. The first phone to use Android was the HTC Dream, branded for distribution by T-Mobile as the G1. The software suite included on the phone consists of integration with Google's proprietary applications, such as Maps, Calendar, and Gmail, and a full HTML web browser. Android supports the execution of native applications and a preemptive multitasking capability (in the form of services). Third-party apps are available via the Android Market (released October 2008), including both free and paid apps.
In January 2010, Google launched the Nexus One smartphone using its Android OS. Although Android has multi-touch abilities, Google initially removed that feature from the Nexus One, but it was added through a firmware update on February 2, 2010.
Concerning the Xperia Play smartphone, an analyst at CCS Insight said in March 2011 that "Console wars are moving to the mobile platform". In the same month, the HTC EVO 3D was announced by HTC Corporation, which can produce 3D effects
with no need for special glasses (autostereoscopy).The HTC EVO 3D was officially released on June 24, 2011.
with no need for special glasses (autostereoscopy).The HTC EVO 3D was officially released on June 24, 2011.
Smartphone Advantages:It has all the features and aspects of the ordinary mobile phones, able of normal voice call, text messaging and further mobile applications. With the PDA features, including the PIM system (personal information management), multimedia applications, program notes, tasks, browse the Web, arrangements. With the open operating system, on this system platform, a person can install various applications, thus facilitating the smart wholesale mobile phones tasks can be achieved non- limited development. With the human side, this machine can expand various functions of personality needs.Powerful, third-party software supporting, extended performance more. The facility of internet with the wireless access in web, which need to carry and support GPRS, CDMA, or GSM network under the 3G network or CDMA 1X network.Smartphone Disadvantages:Usually, higher prices, beginners need to familiar with the features, less simplicity of use. People have to study more for long time to know how to install every of those applications, which is set up in the Smartphone. Those things related with the computers are not very easy or familiar to the non-expert people. If a person fun to the stylish wholesale mobile phone, should not take time to properly examine into studying about this, which is not sufficient, after all, these Smartphones is like the miniature PC.
Smartphone Advantages:
Smartphone Disadvantages: