Specifications of Smartphones - The Platform (OS)

Platform (The Operating System)

Every mobile device runs an Operating System. 

The most popular OS's for mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) are:

• Apple's iOS
• Google's Android

Down the ranks there are:

• RIM's BlackBerry OS
• Microsoft's Windows Phone.
• Symbian

Symbian held its top position for years but its market share has been slowly fading away ever since touch-operated smartphones became the norm and Symbian failed to deliver an intuitive touch UI (User Interface).

Almost ten years ago, Microsoft's Windows Mobile was a strong player too, offering the first touchscreen smartphone experience with the PocketPCs powered by their OS.

Today mobile devices with a proper OS are called smartphones and users have a wide choice of applications, such as games, productivity apps, communication or social media apps, digital maps, etc.

Standardized operating system platforms make it possible to provide a consistent user interface (and experience) across devices from different hardware manufacturers.

Yet, Android smartphone manufacturers like to customize the user experience so each offers a slightly modified version of the stock Android UI.

While the major players these days are clear, over the years we've seen the emergence of numerous mobile OS projects including but not limited to:

• Palm's webOS
• Samsung's Bada OS
• Nokia's Maemo OS
• Nokia's MeeGo OS
• LiMo OS, Tizen
• BlackBerry's Playbook OS
• Jolla's Sailfish OS and
• Mozilla's Firefox OS.

Android Versions History:

• Cupcake (1.5)
• Donut (1.6)
• Eclair (2.0–2.1)
• Froyo (2.2–2.2.3)
• Gingerbread (2.3–2.3.7)
• Honeycomb (3.0–3.2.6)[a]
• Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0–4.0.4)
• Jelly Bean (4.1–4.3.1)
• KitKat (4.4–4.4.4, 4.4W–4.4W.2)
• Lollipop (5.0–5.1.1)
• Marshmallow (6.0–6.0.1)

Apple IOS Version History:

• iPhone OS 1
• iPhone OS 2
• iPhone OS 3
• iOS 4
• iOS 5
• iOS 6
• iOS 7
• iOS 8
• iOS 9

Credit : GSMArena and Wikipedia

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Specifications of Smartphones - The Display Unit

The Display

There are lot of display types used in mobile phones. They can be either color or monochrome. Monochrome displays on the other hand can be alphanumeric or graphic.
Alphanumeric displays can show only symbols with a constant size, while graphic displays can show fonts of different sizes and animations.

The color displays usually are

• CSTN - Colour Super Twisted Nematic, 
• TFT - Thin Film Transistor
• TFD -  Thin Film Diode
• LCD - Liquid Crystal Display
• SLCD - Super Liquid Crystal Display
• OLED - Organic Light Emitting Diode
• AMOLED - Active-Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode
• IPS - In Plane Switching
• Retina

There are also two types of touchscreen displays - capacitive and resistive, which are both based on TFT technology.

The Touchscreen

CAPACITIVE OR RESISTIVE

CAPACITIVE touchscreens work by sensing the electrical properties of the human body, while RESISTIVE ones operate by sensing direct pressure applied by the user.

Capacitive touch sensors are used either as buttons or on touchscreens. They work by sensing the electrical properties of the human body instead of pressure and generally they don't work with a stylus so they don't allow handwriting recognition.
However, capacitive touchscreens feel more sensitive than their resistive counterparts.
Capacitive touch screens are also considered more durable than resistive touch screens.


The RESISTIVE type can be activated by pressing not only with human skin but also with a stylus and thus allow handwriting recognition input.
Resistive touchscreens operate by sensing direct pressure applied by the user. It can be activated by pressing it not only with a finger but also with a stylus.

A resistive touch screen consists of a touch layer placed on top of a standard display. The touch layer normally includes two transparent electrical layers separated by a small gap.
Pressing the display's surface causes the two separate layers to come into contact, which creates an electrical connection that can be sensed and located.

Display Types

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)

A liquid crystal display is the most common display type among mobile phones because of its low power consumption and good image quality. LCD is made up of an array of liquid crystals that get illuminated by a back-light. They are generally easy to read, even under direct sunlight.

However, this back-lighting means that blacks tend to appear gray and LCDs therefore have less contrast than other display technologies.

Some of the types of LCD displays are STN, TFT and TFD.
STN offers low cost and low power consumption, but low image quality.
TFT features greater image quality and response time, yet its displays are more expensive and need more power.

Three other types of LCDs are Transmissive, Reflective, or Transflective.
Transmissive displays offer nicer image quality in low or medium ambient light, while
Reflective ones work best in bright ambient light.
Transflective displays combine the best of both.


Super LCD (SLCD)
Super LCD (SLCD) is a display technology used by numerous manufacturers for mobile device displays. It is mostly used by HTC, though Super LCD panels are actually produced by S-LCD Corporation.
Super LCD differs from a regular LCD in that it does not have an air gap between the outer glass and the display element. This produces less glare and makes the user feel "closer" to the display itself. Super LCD's benefits also include lower power consumption and improved outdoor visibility. Super LCD has been succeeded by the newer Super LCD2 displays.


CSTN - Color Super Twisted Nematic
Super Twisted Nematic (STN) is a type of LCD display technology. STN is black and white while CSTN is the color version. (C)STN displays are used on lower end devices.
Typically an STN display has worse image quality and response times than a TFT LCD, but is cheaper and more energy efficient.


Thin Film Transistor
TFT is one of the best Liquid Cristal Display technologies in terms of image quality and response time. However, it also consumes more power and is more expensive.
TFT, like TFD, is an active-matrix technology. This means a transistor is located next to each pixel, allowing it to be turned on and off individually. This ensures faster response time and greater contrast.


Thin Film Diode
TFD is a kind of Liquid crystal display (LCD) technology. It is an active-matrix technology which means that a diode is situated next to each pixel making it possible for the pixels to be turned on and off individually. This allows a quicker response time and more contrast than passive-matrix technologies.
TFD takes the excellent picture quality and the fast response of TFT displays and combines them with the low power consumption and cost of the STN ones.


Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED)
A display technology that consists of small dots of organic polymer which emit light when charged with electricity.
OLED displays have several advantages over the LCDs. They are thinner, lighter, brighter, need less power, have better viewing angles, contrast and response time for video and animation. OLEDs are also cheaper and easier to manufacture.
On the other hand, LCDs offer better legibility in bright ambient light.

As opposed to LCD panels, which are back-lit, OLED displays are 'always off' unless the individual pixels are electrified. This means that OLED displays have much purer blacks and consume less energy when black or darker colors are displayed on-screen. 

Active-Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode
Active-matrix OLED displays provide the same performance as their passive-matrix OLED counterparts, but they consume significantly less power.
This advantage makes active-matrix OLEDs well suited for portable electronics where battery power consumption is critical.
AMOLED displays have a very fast refresh rate but on the down side are not as visible in direct sunlight.

Screen burn-in and diode degradation due to their organic nature are other factors to consider.

On the positive side, AMOLED screens can be made thinner than LCDs as they don't require a back-lit layer and they can also be made flexible.

Difference between AMOLED and Super AMOLED

Super AMOLED displays reduce the thickness of the screen by integrating the touch response layer with the display itself.

Super AMOLED displays handle sunlight better than AMOLED displays and are also better on power consumption. 

In-Plane Switching
IPS (In-plane switching) is a screen technology for liquid crystal displays (LCDs).
IPS is a further improvement on TFT LCDs whereby the way the crystals are electrically excited is different and the orientation of the crystal array is rotated. This orientation change improves viewing angles, contrast ratio and color reproduction which were the limitations of TFT LCDs. 
Energy consumption is also reduced compared to TFT LCDs.
Although IPS is better than TFT LCDs they are also more expensive when put on a smartphone.

Retina

Retina is another marketing term, this time from Apple. A Retina display is not defined by any particular characteristic, other than that it is supposedly of sufficient resolution that the human eye can't discern pixels at a normal viewing distance.

This measurement obviously changes depending on the size and resolution of the display.

credit : Gsmarena and Wikipedia

Specifications of Smartphones - SIM

What Is The SIM type?

The SIM is a small circuit board which is placed in any GSM phone in order to identify it to the carrier. A SIM card is internationally identified by its Integrated circuit card identifier (ICC-ID) which is engraved on the body of the card. They are also identified by the carrier from its International mobile subscriber identity (IMSI).

A Subscriber Identity Module or Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card contains

• a unique serial number (ICCID – Integrated Circuit Card Identifier),
• International Mobile Subscriber identity (IMSI) number,
• security authentication and ciphering information,
• temporary information related to the local network,
• a list of the services the user has access to, and
• two passwords: a Personal Identification Number (PIN) for ordinary use, and a Personal Unblocking Code (PUK) for PIN unlocking.

A subscriber identity module (SIM) is a removable smart card for mobile phones. SIM cards store the required information to identify the mobile device. It also contains data required for voice encryption to make listening in on calls almost impossible (except when the wireless carrier itself is doing the eavesdropping).

In this way the customer ID (and personal number) is tied to the SIM card and not to a certain mobile phone. This allows for a seamless interchange of the same SIM card between different GSM mobile phones.

SIM cards also serve as storage for SMS messages and the user's contacts. Current SIM cards can store up to 250 name/number pairs and up to 50 SMS text messages.

The SIM card cannot store multiple numbers per contact or other more complex information. This means that if you copy your contacts info from the phone memory to the SIM memory, contacts get broken up into as many entries as there are numbers for each individual contact and discards the other information.

All GSM phones and most iDEN phones require a SIM card to operate. There are certain types of phones (CDMA, TDMA, AMPS) that do not use a SIM. Instead, the required data is programmed directly into the phone.

The SIM cards come in four standard sizes:

· Full-size (85.6mm × 53.98mm × 0.76 mm)

· Mini-SIM or standard sim (25mm x 15mm x 0.76mm)

· Micro-SIM (15mm x 12mm x 0.76mm)

· Nano-SIM (12.3mm × 8.8mm × 0.67mm)

The first to appear was the full-size or 1FF (1st Form Factor), the size of a credit card (85.60 mm × 53.98 mm × 0.76 mm). 

It was followed by a mini-SIM or 2FF (2nd Form Factor), which has the same thickness but is 25 mm long by 15 mm wide, with one of its corners cut to prevent misinsertion. 

Next came micro-SIM or 3FF (3rd Form Factor), with dimensions of 15 mm × 12 mm.

In 2012 the nano-SIM or 4FF (4th Form Factor) was introduced, which measures 12.3 × 8.8 × 0.67 mm. 

Nano-SIM cards can use adapters to gain compatibility with devices with Micro-SIM and Mini-SIM slots.

A Micro-SIM card can also be fitted in Mini-SIM slot with an adapter.

There are two numeric passwords associated with a SIM card. One is the Personal Identification Number (PIN) that the user must input each time they start the device (this can be turned off via the phone settings).

When entering the PIN number the user has only three input attempts. If all three are incorrect, the card gets locked and a PUK (Personal Unblocking Key) must be entered in order for the card to work again. Only ten attempts to enter the PUK are permitted before the card is permanently locked and made unusable.

Credit : Wikipedia and Gsmarena

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Specification of Smartphones - Network Types - Part 2

3. SPEED

An upgrade for UMTS is High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) which is in two forms:

1. HSDPA

2. HSUPA

HSDPA only handles the downlink while the uplink is handled by a related technology called HSUPA. The combination of both technologies is usually called  (HSPA).

HSDPA

High Speed Data Packet Access is an upgrade for UMTS networks that doubles network capacity and increases download data speeds by five times or more.

The service was initially deployed at 1.8 Mbps but upgrades to the networks and new user devices led to increased rates of 3.6 Mbps, followed by 7.2 Mbps and further down the road, 14.4Mbps and even 21Mbps.

HSUPA

An upgrade for UMTS/HSDPA networks that increases upload data speeds up to 5.76 Mbps. The standard is backwards compatible with UMTS and HSDPA and will work with devices supporting only those standards.

LONG TERM EVOLUTION

LTE is the next-step of the evolution of UMTS (3G) and HSDPA (3.5G). It's the only wireless network technology that's correctly called 4G. Some carries may market their high-speed HSDPA+ networks as 4G, but that's not technically correct.

Some of the improvements LTE brings along over the currently used wireless mobile radio technologies are a better spectral efficiency, lower costs, higher transfer speeds, improved services, etc.

Theoretically, LTE networks should provide wireless data downlink speeds of up to 300Mbps and uplink speeds of up to 75Mbps.

Originally, LTE was conceived as an IP-based wireless system used purely for carrying data traffic. Network carriers were supposed to provide voice communication via their concurrent 2G/3G networks or by using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). 

By popular request however, Voice over LTE (VoLTE) was a standardised system for transferring voice traffic over LTE. Currently, the availability of Voice over LTE (VoLTE) depends on the carrier implementation.

LTE networks throughout the world can be seen utilizing one or several different network bands such as ranging from Band 17, 700MHz to Band 7, 2600MHz.

SO THE NEXT TIME YOU CHOOSING A SMARTPHONE, CHECK THE NETWORK IT OPERATES ON BEFORE YOU START COMPLAINING ABOUT THE SLOW SPEED OF THE SMARTPHONE AND THE ISSUE OF YOUR NOT ENJOYING THE FULL SERVICE FROM YOUR PROVIDER.

Credit : Wikipedia and GSMArena

Users of Smartphones

WHAT TYPE OF USER ARE YOU?

Smartphone technology has become so successful that businesses and their employees have trouble imagining a day without them. 
Besides making phone calls, almost all smartphones today can: 

• provide directions through GPS (Global Positioning System), 
• take pictures, 
• play music and 
• keep track of appointments and contacts.

The list of possible smartphone uses multiplies by tens of thousands and grows bigger everyday through the installation of apps (applications).
Although the uses of smartphone are endless, we can classify the uses in terms of users and their wants into:

The Browsers
The Browsers are basically the users who normally use their smarphones to browse (surf) the web for information. They only want information on the go.
The Browsers are normally not worried about screen but the speed of the network and the rate at which the smartphone can bring the info they are looking for.
The Browsers will look at the internet speed of networks first and RAM. They will only download apps relevant enough to provide information for them.  


The Social Media Fanatics
We call them the Social Media Fanatics because they basically 'live' mostly every single bit of their lives on the social media chatting with friends, colleagues and loved ones.
It can even take the whole day for them.
The Social Media Fanatics can hardly stay away from their smartphone for a continuous period of 20mins.
They always have the impulse of receiving a message on social media or feeling to read some info.
The Social Media Fanatics are more interested in newtork connectivity, screen size, RAM, social media app type and battery capacity.

The Application Lovers
The Application are basically those group of users interested in any app they hear of. They want to try the app and see how it works.
Their smartphones can have over 300 installed apps.
The Application Lovers are not interest in a particular group or category of smartphone.
They are more interested in network connectivity, screen size, android version, RAM and battery capacity.

The Gamers
The Gamers as per their name, are the game lovers and players.
They love every game they can lay hands.
They are more addicted to using the smartphone often than the Social Media Fanatics.
They can spend over hours playing a game.
They are interested in screen size, android version, game apps, GPU, CPU, RAM and battery capacity.

The Camera Freaks
The Camera Freaks are the camera lovers and users.
They are likely to buy a smartphone or use one just for the camera resolution with the least being 5MP.
They will take every image if only they have the smartphone with them.
Camera Freaks are more interested in Pixels Per Inch (PPI) and battery capacity

The Voice Communicators
The Voice Communicators are mostly seen and noticed communication on the phone through calls.
They can talk upto more than 2hours at a go.
They are more interested in battery capacity.

The Smartphone lovers
The Smartphoe Lovers are the group of users that will buy any smartphone they see or watch adverts on.
They careless about the price but the feeling to hold and use the latest smartphone on the market.
They mostly watch the brand, screen size and popularity of the smartphone as well as the brand.


Although this a list of users per what they want, we can a combination of one or two or even all of teh above in one user.
Whatever kind of Smartphone User you are, we hope your choice of smartphone was influenced by factors such as:

1. Brand name
2. Phone popularity
3. Camera
4. Size of screen
5. Battery capacity

Just as all the reasons above may influence your choice of smartphone,  there are many factors that must be considered when deciding the kind and type of smartphone you want to use in relation to the kind of Smartphone User you are or will be.

Whichever user you are, you will need to understand the basic details of smartphones to enable you selected and get the most out of your smartphone.

If a Gamer chooses a smartphone with 512MB RAM, what's the implication? Will Games be really enjoyed?

Check out the other posts on Specifications of Smartphones for more info.