Starting with the late 19th century, man’s activity has become more and
more intertwined with machines and devices that were created to make
this life easier. The changes have been so profound that our lifestyles
have literally changed. We can confidently affirm that technology is the
hallmark of evolution. The progress has developed in exponential rates
in way that the more we create the more we push this giant snowball of
technological evolution.
We started with boats and trains followed by cars, planes, radio,
television, cell phones and then computers. At the end of the last
millennia, the technology reached a dead end in the mobile phone sector.
There was a need for a different handset that will boost the utility of
cell phones and this need has been meet with the launch of the first
mass produced smartphone around the year of 2000. But a couple more
years had to pass until this new handset got inside the mainstream
consciousness and now we cannot think “mobile phone” without immediately
associating the term with a smartphone mobile device.
The smartphone is a beautiful technological innovation that is the
result of incorporating computer technology into a cell phone. You can
still use the handset as a cell phone, but now this is by far its only
purpose. Besides making calls and sending SMS message, you now have
access to the internet from your smartphone. The internet makes the
smartphone what it really is. The power of this piece of technology is
given by its utility in conjunction with the internet capabilities.
The ancestor of today’s smartphones is the Personal Digital Assistant
(PDA) which was launched back in the 90s, but these gadgets were
relatively simple, and their usability didn’t really scale at that time.
It’s initial utility was to organize data and schedule meetings and
once the internet became popular, it then transcended towards a mobile
e-mail machine. This gadget was several times bigger than a cell phone
and some ingenious mind decided to incorporate the same technology into a
handset. Manufacturers like Research in Motion, Palm/Handspring of
Apple began to develop the technology to manufacture smartphones. The
first device was launched back in 2000 and it was more of a
business-oriented gadget till 2007 when Apple released their first
iPhone which changed the whole perception of a smartphone as a business
device only. The iPhone was a consumer’s device, offering a lot of
multimedia features and less business features. If you wanted to turn
your handset into a business gadget, you had access to download a wide
range of applications designed for this sector and make your iPhone a
business gadget.
Generally speaking, a smartphone has the following features:
Operating System
If it doesn’t have an operating system than it’s not a smartphone. An
operating system is a very complex application that allows you to run
other applications on your device, it’s the middle man between the apps
and the cell phone’s hardware system. Some examples of OS: Android, iOS,
Blackberry OS, Windows Mobile, Meego, webOS.
Apps
Since all these gadgets have operating systems running them, they all
have the capability to run different types of applications to
facilitate your work as well as your entertainment experience. Apps like
web browser, organizer, games, music player and many others are what
gives you that experience.
Web Access
What would all these amazing tools be without Internet? Internet
connects everything and all apps make a lot of sense when they are
connected to the world wide web. Instant messaging, e-mail, social
networking sites, all of them need the internet connection so you can
get the most out of your smartphone.
Advanced Input/Output
There is no smartphone out there that still uses the old dial pad.
All of them use some sort of full QWERTY. Some are using touch screen
virtual keyboards like iPhone, while others use physical keyboards like
Blackberry Torch and Nokia N8.
So there you have it. A simple and generic description of what makes a
smartphone different than a cell phone. More and more people are
starting to recycle old cell phones
and by doing that they are transitioning towards the high end
smartphones. At this moment, it’s not really necessary to own a gadget
like this but with time it becomes less and less of an option.
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