For better or for worse, smartphones must count amongst the most impactful inventions of the last 100 years. Just as the computer and the internet revolutionised the world of business forever, the smartphone has invaded our lives.
In this post:
Required knowledge:
1. The power in your pocket
Smartphones are portable touchscreen devices that evolved from the humble cellphone. Smartphone capabilities can be enhanced by downloading and installing apps from App stores. Storage capacity can be enhanced by adding SD cards or using cloud storage.
Just like cellphones before them, smartphones need a SIM card.
2. Touchscreen
The touchscreen has become inseparable from the smartphone. The largest driving force behind the development of touchscreen technology is undeniably the smartphone and for good reason: with size being a key factor in smartphones (and other mobile devices), sacrificing space for a keyboard is senseless if the screen can act as both.
I think it would be fair to say that Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices led this development, even if their competition has now caught up with them.
3. Storage
Smartphones have internal storage. The storage capacity on many models can be increased with the addition of an SD card. Syncing to cloud storage further extends storage.
4. Voice, data
Smartphones (like cellphones before them) can connect to voice-call and data networks. We refer to mobile data connections as always on.
The smartphone must have a Subscriber Identity Module (“SIM”) card installed. The SIM card stores the account details of the user.
A smartphone with a dual SIM card can therefore be used with two different numbers, allowing a user to have a work number and a personal number using one device.
5. Battery
Battery life varies according to usage patterns. It has become fairly common for people to use power banks to supplement the battery life of their smartphones and other mobile devices.
6. Connections
Most smartphones offer a combination (if not all) of the following: USB, NFC, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi connectivity.
Many smartphones have a 3.5mm audio jack to plug into an auxiliary speaker.
7. Security
The most common method for securing a smartphone is a Personal Identification Number (“PIN“). This is almost always a 4-digit number known only to the user and used as a password to unlock the device (by default, smartphones are set to lock themselves with a screen lock after a period of inactivity).
Many smartphones now employ biometrics: fingerprint lock & facial scanning.
8. Convergence
The smartphone is a true multi-purpose device and possibly the best example of convergence we come across in the study of ICTs.