12-12-2012, 04:59 PM
A smartphone
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A smartphone is a mobile phone built on a mobile operating system, with more advanced computing capability and connectivity than a feature phone. The first smartphones combined the functions of a personal digital assistant (PDA) with a mobile phone. Later models added the functionality of portable media players, low-end compact digital cameras, pocket video cameras, and GPS navigation units to form one multi-use device. Modern smartphones also include high-resolution touchscreens and web browsers that display standard web pages as well as mobile-optimized sites. High-speed data access is provided by Wi-Fi and Mobile Broadband.
The most common mobile operating systems (OS) used by modern smartphones include Google's Android, Apple's iOS, Nokia's Symbian, RIM's BlackBerry OS, Samsung's Bada, Microsoft's Windows Phone, Hewlett-Packard's webOS, 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.
History
Origin of the term
Although devices combining telephony and computing were conceptualized as early as 1973 and were offered for sale beginning in 1994, the term "smartphone" did not appear until 1997, when Ericsson described its GS 88 "Penelope" concept as a "Smart Phone".[4][5][6][7][8]
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[9] 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.[1] 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.
Some manufacturers use the term "superphone" for their high end phones with unusually large screens and other expensive features.[10][11] Other commentators prefer "phablet" in recognition of their convergence with low-end tablet computers.[12][13]
Early Years
In 1973, Theodore George “Ted” Paraskevakos patented the concepts of combining intelligence, data processing and visual display screens with telephones, outlining the now commonplace activities of banking and paying utility bills via telephone.[4][14]
The first cellular phone to incorporate PDA features was an IBM prototype developed in 1992 and demonstrated that year at the COMDEX computer industry trade show. A refined version of the product was marketed to consumers on 16 August 1994 by BellSouth under the name Simon Personal Communicator. The Simon was the first device that can be properly referred to as a "smartphone", even though that term was not yet coined.[5][15] In addition to its ability to make and receive cellular phone calls, Simon was also able to send and receive facsimiles, e-mails and pages through its touch screen display. Simon included many applications including an address book, calendar, appointment scheduler, calculator, world time clock, games, electronic note pad, handwritten annotations and standard and predictive touchscreen keyboards.
In 1996, Nokia released the Nokia 9000, part of the Nokia Communicator line which became their best-selling phone of that time. It was a palmtop computer-style phone combined with a PDA from HP. In early prototypes, the two devices were fixed together via a hinge in what came to be described as a clamshell design. When opened, the display of 640×200 pixels was on the inside top surface and with a physical QWERTY keyboard on the bottom. Email and text-based web browsing was provided via their GEOS V3.0 operating system.
In the late 1990s though, the vast majority of mobile phones had only basic phone features so many people also carried a separate dedicated PDA device, running early versions of operating systems such as Palm OS, BlackBerry OS or Windows CE/Pocket PC.[1] These operating systems would later evolve into mobile operating systems and power some of the high-end smartphones.
In early 2001, Palm, Inc. introduced the Kyocera 6035, the first smartphone in the United States. This device combined the a PDA with a mobile phone and operated on the Verizon Wireless network. It also supported limited web browsing.[16] The device was not adopted widely outside North America
Symbian
The Nokia 9210 Communicator (introduced November 21, 2000)
Main article: Symbian
Symbian is a mobile operating system designed for smartphones originally developed by Symbian Ltd. but currently maintained by Accenture.[19] The Symbian platform is the successor to Symbian OS and Nokia Series 60. The latest version, Symbian^3, was officially released in Q4 2010 and first used in the Nokia N8.[20]
The first Symbian phone the touchscreen Ericsson R380 Smartphone was released in 2000[21][22] and was the first device to be marketed as a 'smartphone'.[23] It combined a PDA with a mobile phone.[24]
Later in 2000, the Nokia 9210 communicator was released, also with Symbian. The later 9500 was Nokia's first camera phone and first Wi-Fi phone. The 9300 was smaller, and the E90 Communicator included GPS. In 2007, Nokia launched the Nokia N95 which integrated various multimedia features: 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 was a 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.[25] Its megapixel camera able to record HD video in 720p.[26] It also featured a front-facing VGA camera for videoconferencing.
Some estimates indicate that the number of mobile devices shipped with the Symbian OS up to the end of Q2 2010 is 385 million.[27] Symbian was the number one smartphone platform by market share from 1996 until 2011 when it dropped to second place behind Google's Android OS.
In February 2011, Nokia announced that it would replace Symbian with Windows Phone as the operating system on all of its future smartphones.[28] This transition was completed in October 2011, when Nokia announced its first line of Windows Phone 7.5 smartphones, Nokia Lumia 710 and Nokia Lumia 800.[29] Nokia committed to support its Symbian based smartphones until 2016, by releasing further OS improvements, like Nokia Belle and Nokia Belle FP1, and new devices, like the Nokia 808 PureView.
The HTC Touch Pro2 smartphone (introduced May 2009)
Windows
In 2001, Microsoft announced its Windows CE Pocket PC OS would be offered as "Microsoft Windows Powered Smartphone 2002."[30] Microsoft originally defined its Windows Smartphone products as lacking a touchscreen and offering a lower screen resolution compared to its sibling Pocket PC devices.
Palm OS
In early 2002, Handspring released the Palm OS Treo smartphone, utilizing both a touch screen and 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.[31]
BlackBerry
Main article: BlackBerry
In 1999, RIM released their first BlackBerry devices, making real-time email communications possible on wireless devices. The introduction of Blackberry devices with Voice, Data, Browser, SMS and organizer applications in 2002 marked the first true smartphones.. Services such as BlackBerry Messenger and the integration of all communications into a single inbox allowed users to access, create and share and act upon information instantly.