History of Computers - Smartphones
This page was created by Christian Segner
A smartphone is a high-end phone that is a combination of a personal digital assistant (PDA) and a mobile phone. Today's smartphones include media players, web browsers, cameras, as well as touchscreens. In addition, smartphones have built-in GPS navigation and can connect to Wi-Fi and mobile broadband access.
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Contents
Overview
The combination of a cellular telephone with built-in applications and internet access creates a mobile computer known as the smartphone. In 1994, IBM and BellSouth introduced the Simon Personal Communicator which is often called the first smartphone. The combination phone and PDA was extremely costly, and it was not until a decade later that smartphones were small enough for wide usage. In 2002, the Blackberry emerged as the popular corporate smartphone due to its focus on e-mail. However, in 2008, the iPhone 3G S and application platform greatly altered the history of smartphones. The iPhone, Blackberry, and Android took smartphones to an unprecedented level of computing. [2]
The smartphone runs on its respective operating systems. For the past decade, the Symbian OS has been one of the most commonly and widely used operating systems for the smartphone. In 2010, the Symbian OS was embedded in over 330 million devices worldwide.[3] More recently, the Apple iPhone OS has emerged as one of the easiest and most popular. The iPhone OS allows its user to multitask and zip between tasks with consistency unlike competing operating systems. Successful competitors include the Google Android and the Blackberry RIM.[4]
Significance
The smartphone is extremely significant in the history of computers because it compacts all of the essential features of a laptop or desktop computer into a reliable pocket-sized device.
References
- ↑ http://www.techonary.com/news/gadget-5-most-popular-smartphones-in-europe/
- ↑ http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=Smartphone&i=51537,00.asp
- ↑ http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/02/symbian-operating-system-now-open-source-and-free/
- ↑ http://www.pcworld.com/article/153503/smart_phone_os_smackdown.html
Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone
http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=Smartphone&i=51537,00.asp
