Get Smart!

What is a smartphone and why would you want one? Rob Bridgman explores the ever evolving world of the smart device...

Sometimes it’s tough being an IT journalist (strike that, it’s always tough – ed) and never more so than when trying to tidily define a technology subset that’s constantly evolving. If we had asked the ‘what is a smartphone?’ question a few years ago for example, most people would have said it was a mobile phone that could access the internet and send and receive email. But today, the vast majority of mobile phones can do that without necessarily being all that smart. So in today’s market, perhaps the best way to define a smartphone, is as a piece of technology that has many of the attributes of a desktop computer, and the functionality of a mobile phone, all in the one device. So by definition then, a phone is a ‘smartphone’ if it is running a third party operating system and is able to install additional 3rd party software applications that can further enhance its functionality, beyond whatever it left the factory with.

To use the desktop computer comparison, they’re made by a range of manufacturers – HP, Acer, Dell etc – but HP, Acer and Dell don’t make operating systems. Instead they install a third party operating system (Windows) on their PCs that presents a familiar interface to computer users. Software manufacturers, in turn, then develop software applications to Windows standards, so their software can be installed on these computers, and people can then use their PCs for a range of specialised tasks – from architecture to flight simulation. Compare this to the early days of personal computing, when every computer ran a proprietary operating system (OS), and the PC makers often tried to go it alone in developing software for their proprietary machines. For most players, other than Apple, it was a failed system (and many would argue that Apple would have a far bigger slice of the computer pie if it had licensed its operating system).

The phones
Today the approach to the OS embraced by computer makers is also being used by phone manufacturers, with most offering some handsets in their range that run somebody else’s OS. In Australia Nokia’s ‘N’ series, for example, runs the Symbian OS, as does the Sony Ericsson P910, while IPAQ, i-mate and the Samsung BlackJack all run the Windows Mobile 5.0 OS.

Treo and Blackberry devices are also considered ‘smart’ – although Treo are the only handsets running the Palm OS (in Australia anyway), and only BlackBerry devices run the BlackBerry OS. Without doubt the two most popular smart operating systems are Windows Mobile and Symbian. In Australia, the number of smart devices is somewhat limited, but offshore most manufacturers have one – with Motorola having even offered a device (the A760) that ran the Linux OS a few years ago.

In terms of form factors, the smartphone trend has typically been to take a basic PDA, add phone functionality to it, and call it a smartphone. Often these devices come with a small QWERTY keyboard. In reality these ‘phones’ are PDAs that can make phone calls – so they are data-centric – and they typically require two handed operation (usually via a touchscreen and a stylus). Then there are true ‘phone’ form factor devices like the Nokia ‘N’ Series, and the i-mate SP and Smartflip phones, that present near PDA level functionality in standard phone bodies, but typically these devices don’t have touch screens and their functionality is limited by their smaller screens, so they are voice-centric. But not always, as the i-mate Jamin, Sony Ericsson M600i & P1i and the Nokia 9300 all fall somewhere in between – offering near PDA functionality in a mobile phone sized handset.

The software
So what should you expect to find on a smartphone, in terms of applications? Typically a smartphone’s feature set will include internet access with a reduced size HTML browser (not just a WAP browser), enhanced e-mail access, advanced scheduling software, a built-in camera and usually the ability to read and interact with ‘Office’ files such as Word and Excel documents, PowerPoint Presentations and PDF viewers. They will also be able to download and install 3rd party applications to enhance their functionality. Of course this is just the beginning, as one of the key features of a modern smartphone is its ability to download and install 3rd party applications. Some of these may be available from the manufacturers website, but for our money the best place to look for smartphone software is www.handango.com.

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