Test Your Knowledge

The Evolution of the Handheld Mobile Device

• A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone functions and computing functions into one unit.
• Smartphones have stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems that facilitate wider software, internet access, and multimedia functionality.
• Smartphones typically contain a number of MOS integrated circuit (IC) chips and various sensors that can be leveraged by pre-installed and third-party software.
• In 2022, 1.43 billion smartphone units were shipped worldwide, and 75.05 percent of the world population were smartphone users as of 2020.
• Early smartphones were marketed primarily towards the enterprise market, attempting to bridge the functionality of standalone PDA devices with support for cellular telephony.
• The first commercially available device that could be properly referred to as a "smartphone" was marketed to consumers in 1994 by BellSouth under the name Simon Personal Communicator.
• The term "smartphone" was first used by Ericsson in 1997 to describe a new device concept, the GS88.
• In the mid-to-late 1990s, many people who had mobile phones carried a separate dedicated PDA device.
• The late 2000s and early 2010s saw a shift in smartphone interfaces away from devices with physical keyboards and keypads to ones with large finger-operated capacitive touchscreens.
• The iPhone was notable as being the first device of its kind targeted at the mass market to abandon the use of a stylus, keyboard, or keypad typical of contemporary smartphones.
• The iPhone's operating system was also a shift away from older operating systems to an operative system powerful enough to not require using a limited, stripped-down web browser that can only render pages specially formatted using technologies such as WML, cHTML, or XHTML.
• Android is based around a modified Linux kernel, providing more power than mobile operating systems adapted from PDAs and feature phones.Smartphone Evolution: Navigation Keys, Operating Systems, and Camera Advancements

Navigation Keys:

• Physical navigation keys on smartphones have been replaced by nonphysical touch keys and virtual on-screen navigation keys.
• Virtual keys offer more customizability, but their location may be inconsistent among systems and software used.
• Bezel-less types have their screen surface space extended to the unit's front bottom to compensate for the display area lost for simulating the navigation keys.

Operating Systems:

• Multiple vendors attempted to update or replace their existing smartphone platforms and devices to better compete with Android and the iPhone.
• Palm unveiled a new platform known as webOS in late-2009 to replace Palm OS.
• BlackBerry introduced BlackBerry OS 6 in 2010 and replaced it with a revamped, QNX-based platform known as BlackBerry 10 in 2013.
• Microsoft unveiled Windows Phone in 2010 and partnered with Nokia for all its future smartphones.
• Despite attempts to compete with Android and iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and other operating systems eventually stagnated to little or no measurable market share.

Camera Advancements:

• The Kyocera Visual Phone VP-210 was the first commercial camera phone released in Japan in May 1999.

• By the mid-2000s, higher-end cell phones commonly had integrated digital cameras.

• By 2010, 5.0-megapixel cameras were common, and some smartphones had 8.0-megapixel cameras.

• In 2012, Nokia announced the Nokia 808 PureView, featuring a 41-megapixel 1/1.2-inch sensor and a high-resolution f/2.4 Zeiss all-aspherical one-group lens.

• Since 2012, smartphones have become increasingly able to capture photos while filming.

• In 2019, 108-megapixel sensors were first implemented.

• Mobile video resolution and frame rate have caught up with dedicated consumer-grade cameras over the years.Advancements in Smartphone Video, Display, and Multi-Tasking: A Summary

• Mobile phones with sufficient computing performance and image sensor resolution have enabled 4320p (8K) filming, introduced in 2020 with the Samsung Galaxy S20 and Redmi K30 Pro.

• Mid-range smartphones initially delayed higher video resolutions compared to flagship counterparts, with 720p widely adapted in 2012 and 1080p in 2013.

• Slow-motion video has been available on smartphones since the 2009 Samsung i8000 Omnia II, with more recent phones offering greater versatility for video editing.

• HDR video recording on smartphones was first introduced in early 2013 by Sony Xperia Z and mid-2013 Xperia Z Ultra, followed by the early 2014 Galaxy S5.

• Front-facing cameras on smartphones have reached resolutions as high as typical rear cameras, with the LG V10 introducing a dual front camera system and Samsung implementing a front-camera sweep panorama feature.

• Displays on smartphones began to include taller aspect ratios and a high screen-to-body ratio in 2017, allowing for larger diagonal measurements with a slimmer width than 16:9 displays.

• Other design trends in smartphone displays include the "notch" and "hole-punch" camera, and displays supporting refresh rates higher than 60 Hz.

• An early implementation of multiple simultaneous tasks on a smartphone display were the picture-in-picture video playback mode and "live video list," with later implementations including split-screen mode and desktop and laptop-like windowing.

• Foldable smartphones were first introduced by Royole FlexPai in 2018, with Samsung and Motorola following suit in 2019.

• Other smartphone advancements in the 2010s include the introduction of fingerprint readers, retrofittable wireless charging, and socially ethical and security-focused smartphones.Smartphone Features and Functions Summary

• Smartphones have seen advancements in virtual and augmented reality experiences, USB-C connectors, and LTE technologies.

• Adjustable screen resolution and variable screen refresh rates were introduced for power saving in 2016 and 2020 respectively.

• Fingerprint readers embedded within OLED displays were first introduced in 2018.

• Most smartphones released in 2019 have multiple cameras, are waterproof, and unlock using facial recognition or fingerprint scanners.

• Apple has introduced design features that have been replicated by other vendors, such as a sealed body and the exclusion of a charging wall adapter.

• High-speed 5G network capability was introduced in 2020.

• Smartphones have been shipped without accessories like power adapters and headphones to reduce environmental footprint.

• Efforts have been made to make open source GNU/Linux for smartphones a major alternative to iOS and Android.

• Satellite connectivity has been integrated into smartphones for use in remote areas.

• Smartphones contain MOS integrated circuit chips and CPUs optimized for low power environments.

• Smartphones have screens with varying sizes and aspect ratios, and are equipped with sensors and alternative input methods.

• Memory storage can be expanded using MicroSD memory cards, and file transfer is done through Media Transfer Protocol.