About Smart Phones

Smart phone, which has an advanced connectivity and computing capability, is a mobile phone that is developed on a mobile operating system platform. It is more advanced than the featured or common mobile phones. The first smart phones have minimal functionalities that mainly include mobile phone and PDA (personal digital assistant).However, later models are advanced and have many features and functionalities that include mobile phones, PDA, pocket video cameras, portable media players, compact digital camera, GPS navigation units, web browsers, high resolution touch screens and GPS navigation unit.

Devices that combine computing applications and telephone functions were developed in 1973,but their offer for sale began in 1994.It was in 1997 that the term smart phone appeared when Ericsson described the GS88 notion as a smart phone. The difference between the common or feature phones and smart phones is not clear, however, one of the major difference is the presence of APIS(advanced application programming interfaces on smart phones, which enable them to support third party applications. APIs enable apt integration of hardware and phone operating systems, a feature that is absent in common phones.

The first mobile phone to support personal digital assistant feature was an IBM prototype introduced in 1992 .The phone was presented for public viewing at COMDEX computer industry trade show in 1992.In 1994, a superior version started to be marketed and sold to consumers under the name Simon personal communicator. Marketing of the Simon was undertaken by BellSouth. Although the term smart phone had not been coined by then, the Simon can be referred to as smart phone because of its advanced features that were absent in common phones. Apart from receiving and making normal phone calls, the Simon was able to receive and send emails, pages and Facsimiles through the display presented by its touch screen. Other applications in the Simon include calendar, calculator, games, handwritten annotations, touch screen keyboards, address book and appointment scheduler (Lu,2012)

In 1996,the Nokia 9000 was released by Nokia. The smart phone, which was part of Nokia Communicator line was the best selling communication device in 1996.In a design referred to as clamshell design, Nokia 9000 consisted of a PDA and palmtop computer style fixed together in form of a hinge(Lu,2012). In 2001,Kyocera 6035 was introduced by Palm Inc. The mobile device integrated mobile phone with PDA and its operations were based on Verizon wireless network. Further, it supported internet browsing(Lu,2012)

In 2004,ipaq 6315 was released by HP. the device was able to integrate HP2215, the previous PDA with mobile phone capabilities(Lu,2012). Smart phones have been undergoing numerous and hi-tech changes to suit the ever changing generational tastes. In 2013, fairphone company released its socially ethical smart phone in London. The company emphasizes on changing the strategies employed in commercial works and supply chain strategies. The mobile operating system supported by smart phones include android developed by google, Ios formulated by apple inc, window phone unveiled by Microsoft inc, Bada, blackberry, palm OS, and Symbian(Lu,2012)

In conclusion the development of smart phone is a clear evidence that technology is advancing as time go by. In future, there is a high chance that state of art smart phones will be developed.

Reference

Lu, Z. (2012). Learning with mobile technologies, handheld devices, and smart phones:

Innovative methods. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.