A smartphone is a mobile phone that offers more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a basic 'feature phone'.

[2] While some feature phones are able to run simple applications based on generic platforms such as Java ME or BREW,[3] a smartphone allows the user to install and run much more advanced applications based on a specific platform. Smartphones run complete operating system software providing a platform for application developers.[4] Growth in demand for advanced mobile devices boasting powerful processors, abundant memory, larger screens and open operating systems has outpaced the rest of the mobile phone market for several years.[5] According to a study by ComScore, in 2010, over 45.5 million people in the United States owned smartphones and it is the fastest growing segment of the mobile phone market, which comprised of 234 million subscribers in the United States. A mobile operating system, also known as a Mobile OS, a Mobile platform, or a Handheld operating system, is the operating system that controls a mobile devicesimilar in principle to an operating system such as Linux or Windows that controls a desktop computer or laptop. However, they are currently somewhat simpler, and deal more with the wireless versions of broadband and local connectivity, mobile multimedia formats, and different input methods.

Contents
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1 History 2 Issues and challenges 3 Market description 4 Mobile navigation 5 Operating systems 6 Feature phone operating systems 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External links

[edit] History
The increasing importance of mobile devices has triggered intense competition among technology giants, like Microsoft, Apple, and Nokia in a bid to capture the bigger market share pre-emptively. [1] Palm, Research In Motion and Ericsson are also significant firms in the mobile platform sector. In November 2007, Google formed a Linux-based open source alliance to make inroads into this mobile platform market, raising consumer awareness of the growing mobile platform frenzy.[2]

[edit] Issues and challenges

Open standards are gaining more ground across the spectrum of related industries[3][4][5], whereas proprietary mobile platforms, like Windows Mobile, are losing market share[6]. Sir Tim Berners-

Lee recently re-emphasized his advocacy for open mobile standards in his keynote speech at the first annual meeting of Mobile Internet World held in Boston in November 2007. He warned against a possibility that the Internet connections worldwide may turn into "walled gardens."[7] Google announced its Linux-based open source mobile platform, Android, along with the formation of the 34-member Open Handset Alliance. Nonetheless, mobile web does not necessarily mean a horizontal and spatial shift from PC-based web, but a severe structural change to identify the missing links, among other things, between the stationary web at home or in the office and mobile web on the go. Top agenda items may include:
1. Continued connectivity between home, cars and Base Stations like Wi-Fi Hot Spots and

2. 3. 4.
5.

Femtocell Interoperability of equipment and applications, and adaptability to the ever-shifting mobile multimedia ecosystem Behavioral tracking utilizing GPS data versus privacy concern Real-time links between the wireless world and physical world Financial transactions, including smart cards, SMS and Multimedia Messaging Service.

[edit] Market description

Mobile platforms are in the nascent stage, and any projection regarding the market growth is hard to make at the present time. It is noteworthy that Intel is taking the initiative to focus on portable devices other than mobile phones. They are Mobile Internet Devices (MID) and Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC). Meantime, Palm abandoned its plan to develop Foleo, which was to be a companion device for a smartphone.

[edit] Mobile navigation

Canalys has estimated that in 2009 the installed base of smartphones with integrated GPS was 163 million units worldwide, of which Nokia accounted for more than half (51%) having shipped cumulatively 83 million GPS devices. On January 22 2010, Nokia released a free version of Ovi Maps which is expected to double user amount.

[edit] Operating systems

Table showing most of the current mobile operating systems for smartphones, PDAs and netbooks in 2010

Share of Smartphone sales by operating systems in Q2/2009 by Canalys.[8] (data does not include Palm WebOS, which was introduced in June, 2009) Operating systems that can be found on smartphones include Symbian OS, iPhone OS, RIM's BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Linux, Palm WebOS, Android and Maemo. Android, WebOS and Maemo are in turn built on top of Linux, and the iPhone OS is derived from the BSD and NeXTSTEP operating systems, which all are related to Unix. The most common operating systems (OS) used in smartphones by Q2 2009 sales are: Symbian OS from the Symbian Foundation (50.3% Market Share Sales Q2 2009)[8]

Symbian has the largest share in most markets worldwide, but lags behind other companies in the relatively small but highly visible North American market.[9] This matches the success of its largest shareholder[10] and customer, Nokia, in all markets except Japan. Nokia itself enjoys 52.9% of the smartphone market.[11] In Japan Symbian is strong due to a relationship with NTT DoCoMo, with only one of the 44 Symbian handsets released in Japan coming from Nokia.[12] It has been used by many major handset manufacturers, including BenQ, Fujitsu, LG, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sharp, and Sony Ericsson. Current Symbian-based devices are being made by Fujitsu, Nokia, Samsung, Sharp, and Sony Ericsson. Prior to 2009 Symbian supported multiple user interfaces, i.e. UIQ from UIQ Technologies, S60 from Nokia, and MOAP from NTT DOCOMO. As part of the formation of the Symbian platform in 2009 these three UIs were merged into a single platform which is now fully open source. It has received some adverse press attention due to virus threats (namely trojan horses).[13] RIM BlackBerry OS (20.9% Market Share Sales Q2 2009)[8] This OS is focused on easy operation and was originally designed for business. Recently it has seen a surge in third-party applications and has been improved to offer full multimedia support. iPhone OS from Apple Inc. (13.7% Market Share Sales Q2 2009)[8] The iPhone uses an operating system called iPhone OS, which is derived from Mac OS X. Third party applications were not officially supported until the release of iPhone OS 2.0 on July 11th 2008. Before this, "jailbreaking" allowed third party applications to be installed, and this method is still available. Windows Phone from Microsoft (9% Market Share Sales Q2 2009)[8][14] The Windows CE operating system and Windows Mobile middleware are widely spread in Asia. The two improved variants of this operating system, Windows Mobile 6 Professional (for touch screen devices) and Windows Mobile 6 Standard, were unveiled in February 2007. It has been criticized for having a user interface which is not optimized for touch input by fingers; instead, it is more usable with a stylus. However, unlike iPhone OS, it does support both touch screen and physical keyboard configurations. On February 15th, 2010 Microsoft unveiled it's next-generation mobile OS, Windows Phone 7. The new mobile OS includes a completely new over-hauled UI called "Metro". It includes full integration of Microsoft services such as Zune, Xbox Live and Bing. The new OS platform has received very positive reception from the technology press.[15][16][17] Android from Google Inc. (2.8% Market Share Sales Q2 2009)[8] Android was developed by Google Inc.. Android is an Open Source, Linux-derived platform backed by Google, along with major hardware and software developers (such as Intel, HTC, ARM, and eBay, to name a few), that form the Open Handset Alliance.[18] This OS, though very new, already has a cult following among programmers eager to develop apps for its flexible, Open Source, back end.[19] Android promises to give developers access to every aspect of the phone's operation.[20] This lends many to foresee the promise of further growth for the Android platform.[21] Linux operating system Linux is strongest in China where it is used by Motorola, and in Japan, used by DoCoMo. [22][23] Rather than being a platform in its own right, Linux is used as a basis for a number of different platforms developed by several vendors, including Android, LiMo, Maemo, Openmoko and Qt Extended, which are mostly incompatible.[24][25] PalmSource (now

Access) is moving towards an interface running on Linux.[26] Another platform based on Linux is being developed by Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic, Samsung, and Vodafone.[27] Palm webOS from Palm Inc. and Palm OS/Garnet OS from Access Co. Palm webOS is Palm's next generation operating system.[28] PalmSource traditionally used its own platform developed by Palm Inc. Access Linux Platform (ALP) is an improvement that was planned to be launched in the first half of 2007. It will use technical specifications from the Linux Phone Standards Forum. The Access Linux Platform will include an emulation layer to support applications developed for Palm-based devices. bada from Samsung Electronics The bada mobile phone operating system is still in development, and Samsung expects handsets to be available in the second half of 2010.[29]The first device to run Bada is called 'Wave' and was unveiled to the public at Mobile World Congress 2010, Wave is a fully touchscreen phone running the new mobile operating system. Maemo from Nokia Maemo is a software platform developed by Nokia for smartphones and Internet Tablets. It is based on the Debian operating system. Maemo is mostly based on open source code, and has been developed by Maemo Devices within Nokia in collaboration with many open source projects such as the Linux kernel, Debian and GNOME. Maemo is based on Debian GNU/Linux and draws much of its GUI, frameworks and libraries from the GNOME project. It uses the Matchbox window manager and the GTKbased Hildon as its GUI and application framework. Limo MeeGo from Nokia and Intel At the 2010 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Nokia and Intel both unveiled 'MeeGo' a brand new mobile operating system which would combine the best of Moblin and the best of Maemo to create a truly open-sourced experience for users across all devices.

Symbian OS is an operating system (OS) designed for mobile devices and smartphones, with associated libraries, user interface, frameworks and reference implementations of common tools, originally developed by Symbian Ltd. It was a descendant of Psion's EPOC and runs exclusively on ARM processors, although an unreleased x86 port existed. In 2008, the former Symbian Software Limited was acquired by Nokia and a new independent non-profit organisation called the Symbian Foundation was established. Symbian OS and its associated user interfaces S60, UIQ and MOAP(S) were contributed by their owners to the foundation with the objective of creating the Symbian platform as a royalty-free, open source software. The platform has been designated as the successor to Symbian OS, following the official launch of the Symbian Foundation in April 2009. The Symbian platform was officially made available as open source code in February 2010.[3]

Devices based on Symbian OS account for 46.9% of smartphone sales, making it the world's most popular mobile operating system. Symbian features pre-emptive multitasking and memory protection, like other operating systems (especially those created for use on desktop computers). EPOC's approach to multitasking was inspired by VMS and is based on asynchronous server-based events. Symbian OS was created with three systems design principles in mind:

the integrity and security of user data is paramount, user time must not be wasted, and all resources are scarce. In the number of "smart mobile device" shipments, Symbian devices are the market leaders. Statistics published in February 2010 showed that the Symbian devices comprised a 47.2% share of the smart mobile devices shipped in in 2009, with RIM having 20.8%, Apple having 15.1% (through iPhone OS), Microsoft having 8.8% (through Windows CE and Windows Mobile) and Android having 4.7%.[6] Other competitors include Palm OS, Qualcomm's BREW, SavaJe, Linux and MontaVista Software. Although the share of the global smartphone market dropped from 52.4% in 2008 to 47.2% in 2009, the shipment volume of Symbian devices grew 4.8%, from 74.9 million units to 78.5 million units.[6]

On 16 November 2006, the 100 millionth smartphone running the OS was shipped.[10]

The Ericsson R380, in 2000, was the first commercially available phone based on Symbian OS. As with the modern "FOMA" phones, this device was closed, and the user could not install new C++ applications. Unlike those, however, the R380 could not even run Java applications, and for this reason, some have questioned whether it can properly be termed a 'smartphone'. The UIQ interface was used for PDAs such as Sony Ericsson P800, P900, W950 and the RIZR Z8 and RIZR Z10. The Nokia S60 interface is used in various phones, the first being the Nokia 7650. The Nokia N-Gage and Nokia N-Gage QD gaming/smartphone combos are also S60 platform devices. It was also used on other manufacturers' phones such as the Siemens SX1 and Samsung SGH-Z600. Recently, more advanced devices using S60 include the Nokia 6xxx, the Nseries (except Nokia N8xx and N9xx), the Eseries and some models of the Nokia XpressMusic mobiles. The Nokia 9210, 9300 and 9500 Communicator smartphones used the Nokia Series 80 interface. The Nokia 7710 is the only device currently using the Nokia Series 90 interface. Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Sony Ericsson and Sharp developed phones for NTT DoCoMo in Japan, using an interface developed specifically for DoCoMo's FOMA "Freedom of Mobile Access" network brand. This UI platform is called MOAP "Mobile Oriented Applications Platform" and is based on the UI from earlier Fujitsu FOMA models.

As of 21 July 2009, more than 250 million devices running Symbian OS had been shipped.[11]

Android is an operating system and software stack for mobile devices that includes middleware and key applications,[4] and uses a modified version of the Linux kernel.[5][6][7] It was initially developed by Android Inc., a firm later purchased by Google, and lately by the Open Handset Alliance.[8] It allows developers to write managed code in the Java language, controlling the device via Google-developed Java libraries.[9] The unveiling of the Android distribution on 5 November 2007 was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 65 hardware, software, and telecom companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices.[10][11] Google released most of the Android code under the Apache License, a free software and open source license.[12] On 16 February 2010 Google announced that 60,000 cell phones with Android were being shipped every day.[13] According to the NPD group, unit sales for Android OS smartphones ranked second among all smartphone OS handsets sold in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2010.[14] BlackBerry OS and the iPhone OS ranked first and third respectively. Android has seen a number of updates since its original release. These updates to the base Operating System typically fix bugs and add new features. On 30 April 2009, the official 1.5 (Cupcake) update for Android was released.[31][32] There are several new features and UI updates included in the 1.5 update:

1.5 (Cupcake) Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.27

Ability to record and watch videos with the camcorder mode Uploading videos to YouTube and pictures to Picasa directly from the phone A new soft keyboard with an "Autocomplete" feature Bluetooth A2DP support (which in turn broke Bluetooth connectivity with many popular cars and headsets. This has yet to be fixed as of December 2009)[33] Ability to automatically connect to a Bluetooth headset within a certain distance New widgets and folders that can populate the Home screens Animations between screens

1.6 (Donut) Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.29[35]

Expanded ability of Copy and paste to include web pages[34] On 15 September 2009, the 1.6 (Donut) SDK was released.[36][37] Included in the update are:

An improved Android Market experience. An integrated camera, camcorder, and gallery interface. Gallery now enables users to select multiple photos for

deletion. Updated Voice Search, with faster response and deeper integration with native applications, including the ability to dial contacts. Updated search experience to allow searching bookmarks, history, contacts, and the web from the home screen. Updated Technology support for CDMA/EVDO, 802.1x, VPN, Gestures, and a Text-to-speech engine. Support for WVGA resolutions.

Speed improvements for searching & the camera.[35] On 26 October 2009 the 2.0 (Eclair) SDK was released.[39] Among the changes are:[40]

2.0/2.1 (Eclair) Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.29[38]

Optimized hardware speed Support for more screen sizes and resolutions Revamped UI New browser UI and HTML5 support New contact lists Better white/black ratio for backgrounds Improved Google Maps 3.1.2 Microsoft Exchange support Built in flash support for Camera Digital Zoom MotionEvent class enhanced to track multi-touch events[41] Improved virtual keyboard Bluetooth 2.1 Live Wallpapers

The 2.0.1 SDK was released on 3 December 2009.[42] The 2.1 SDK was released on 12 January 2010.[43] Confirmed new features:

2.2 (FroYo)[44] Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.32[45]

Support of Application Installation to Memory Card[46] Integrated Adobe Flash 10.1 support[47] Speed improvements as JIT is fully working[48] Improved Launcher2 whith "quick links" to phone and browser [49] USB tethering and WiFi hotspot functionality [50] Support for file upload field in the Browser [51] Nexus One FroYo Build Is FRF44 [52]

After FroYo, the next update, based on Linux Kernel 2.6.33 or 34[45], will be called Gingerbread.[53] According to a recent article in the NY times they revealed that in an interview with the VP of engineering for Google, Andy Rubin, that the froyo update will include full flash support.

[edit] Features

The Android Emulator default home screen (v1.5). Current features and specifications:[54][55][56] The platform is adaptable to larger, VGA, 2D graphics library, 3D graphics Handset layouts library based on OpenGL ES 2.0 specifications, and traditional smartphone layouts. Storage SQLite, a lightweight relational database, is used for data storage purposes Android supports connectivity technologies including GSM/EDGE, IDEN, CDMA, EV-DO, UMTS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and WiMAX. SMS and MMS are available forms of messaging including threaded text

Connectivity

Messaging

messaging. The web browser available in Android is based on the open-source WebKit application framework. The browser scores a 93/100 on the Acid3 Test.

Web browser

Software written in Java can be compiled to be executed in the Dalvik virtual machine, which is a specialized VM implementation designed for mobile device Java support use, although not technically a standard Java Virtual Machine. Android does not support J2ME, like some other mobile operating systems. Android supports the following audio/video/still media formats: H.263, H.264 (in 3GP or MP4 container), MPEG-4 SP, AMR, AMR-WB (in 3GP container), Media support AAC, HE-AAC (in MP4 or 3GP container), MP3, MIDI, Ogg Vorbis, WAV, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP.[56] Additional hardware support Android can use video/still cameras, touchscreens, GPS, accelerometers, magnetometers, accelerated 2D bit blits (with hardware orientation, scaling, pixel format conversion) and accelerated 3D graphics.

Development Includes a device emulator, tools for debugging, memory and performance environment profiling, and a plugin for the Eclipse IDE. Like many phone-based application stores, the Android Market is a catalog of applications that can be downloaded and installed to target hardware over-theair, without the use of a PC. Originally only free applications were supported. Paid-for applications have been available on the Android Market in the United States since 19 February 2009.[57] The Android Market has been expanding rapidly. As of April 30, 2010, it had over 50,000 Android applications for download.[58] Android has native support for multi-touch which was initially made available in handsets such as the HTC Hero. The feature was initially disabled at the kernel level (possibly to avoid infringing Apple's patents on touch-screen technology[59]). Google has since released an update for the Nexus One and the Motorola Droid which enables multi-touch natively.[60] Support for sending files over bluetooth was added in version 2.0.

Market

Multi-touch

Bluetooth

Videocalling

Not supported by default, but as seen with the HTC Evo 4G, which runs Sense , it is possible to implement.[citation needed] Multitasking of applications is available.[61]

Multitasking

Android Market is an online software store developed by Google for Android devices. An application ("app") called "Market" is preinstalled on some Android devices and allows users to browse and download applications published by third-party developers, hosted on Android Market. The website itself, rather than the Market app, only provides details of a very limited subset of available apps, in particular those that are termed "Featured", "Top Paid" and "Top Free". BREW (Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless) is an application development platform created by Qualcomm, originally for CDMA mobile phones, but GSM is now also supported. As a software platform that can download and run small programs for playing games, sending messages, sharing photos,and the like, the main advantage of BREW platforms is that the application developers can easily port their applications between all Qualcomm devices. BREW acts between the application and the wireless device on-chip operating system in order to allow programmers to develop applications without needing to code for system interface or understand wireless applications. It debuted in September 2001.

OMNIA HD 28k 6720 35K 7610 22k 5 MP Windows OS, 800mhz