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How Smartphones Work

Isnt it great when science fiction becomes science fact? If youre a little older, you
probably wanted a communication device just like the one Captain Kirk used in the TV
series Star Trek when you were growing up. Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise
could talk over vast distances with these personal communication devices. Without the
communicator, the order to beam us up, Mr. Scott would have fallen on deaf ears,
and we all know what would have happened to Kirk if he didnt have any bars on his
device.
Now that were well into the 21st century, our communicators make the ones on Star
Trek seem like antiques. Not only can we talk to one another on our smartphones, but
we can text, play music or a game, get directions, take pictures, check e-mail, find a
great restaurant, surf the Internet, watch a movie. You get the idea. Smartphones are
cell phones on steroids. Why is that?
Unlike traditional cell phones, smartphones, with their big old memories, allow individual
users like you and me to install, configure and run applications, or apps, of our
choosing. A smartphone offers the ability to configure the device to your particular way
of doing things. The software in the old-style flip phones offers only limited choices for
reconfiguration, forcing you to adapt to the way they are set up. On a standard phone,
whether or not you like the built-in calendar application, youre stuck with it except for a
few minor tweaks. But if that phone were a smartphone, you could install any
compatible calendar application you liked.
Here's a list of some of the additional capabilities smartphones have, from intuitive to
perhaps less so:

Manage your personal info including notes, calendar and to-do lists
Communicate with laptop or desktop computers
Sync data with applications like Microsoft Outlook and Apple's iCal calendar
programs
Host applications such as word processing programs or video games
Scan a receipt
Cash a check
Replace your wallet. A smartphone can store credit card information and
discount or membership card info
Pay bills by downloading apps such as PayPal and CardStar

Allow you to create a WiFi network that multiple devices can use simultaneously.
That means you can access the Internet from your iPad or laptop without a router
or another peripheral device.
Everyone has a smartphone, or so it seems. In fact, there were an estimated 1.4
billion smartphones in the world as of December 2013 [source: Koetsier]. People
are constantly talking on them, taking pictures, surfing the Internet and doing
dozens of other things, including shopping for cars. Captain Kirk would be
jealous.
At their core, smartphones, and all cell phones for that matter, are mini radios,
sending and receiving radio signals. Cell phone networks are divided into specific
areas called cells. Each cell has an antenna that receives cell phone signals.
The antenna transmits signals just like a radio station, and your phone picks up
those signals just as a radio does.

Smartphones use cell phone network technology to send and receive data (think phone
calls, Web browsing, file transfers). Developers classify this technology into
generations. Do you remember the first generation? It included analog cell phone
technology. However, as cell phone technology progressed, the protocols became more
advanced. In 2014, cell phones are in the world of the fourth generation, or 4G.
Although most carriers are expanding their 4G technology, some companies, such as
Samsung, are developing 5G technology, which if recent tests are any indication, will
allow you to download an entire movie in less than a second. You can read more about
network technologies and protocols in the article How Cell Phones Work.
Special Considerations
Although cell phones share similarities with laptop computers, pagers and other
devices, they have some peculiarities that make their development needs unique.

When you're making a call on a cell phone, you want to have access to other
features (like an address book and calendar) at the same time.
Cell phones need to be "always on" like a standard landline phone, but efficient
enough to run on a battery charge for as long as possible.
They need to be as functional as possible whether or not they are connected to
voice and data networks at a given moment.
While a computer has pretty standard input methods -- almost all of them start
with a keyboard and mouse by default -- a phone may have a number pad, a
modified keyboard, a touch screen or some combination thereof.

Smartphone Hardware and Software

As long as we're talking details, let's have a quick look at smartphone hardware.
Some smartphones run on processors. Along with processors, smartphones also
have computer chips that provide functionality. Phones with cameras have highresolution image sensors, just like digital cameras. Other chips support complex
functions such as browsing the Internet, sharing multimedia files or playing music
without placing too great a demand on the phones battery. Some manufacturers
develop chips that integrate multiple functions to help reduce the overall cost
(fewer chips produced per phone help offset production costs).

You can visualize software for smartphones as a software stack. The stack consists of
the following layers:

kernel -- management systems for processes and drivers for hardware

middleware -- software libraries that enable smartphone applications (such as
security, Web browsing and messaging)
application execution environment (AEE) -- application programming
interfaces, which allow developers to create their own programs
user interface framework -- the graphics and layouts seen on the screen
application suite -- the basic applications users access regularly such as menu
screens, calendars and message inboxes

The Innovations of Apple

Whats the smartest smartphone? Most consumers would probably say the iPhone 5 is
the brainiest smartphone in history (until iPhone 6?) Among other innovations, iPhone 5
has an A7 64-bit chip, and a fingerprint identity sensor for security. Unlike other
iPhones, the iPhone 5 has integrated touch technology where the pixels are touchsensitive.
The most important software in any smartphone is itsoperating system (OS). An
operating system manages the hardware and software resources of smartphones.
Some platforms cover the entire range of the software stack. Others may only include
the lower levels (typically the kernel and middleware layers) and rely on additional
software platforms to provide a user interface framework. We've added some snapshots
of specific smartphone operating systems.
Designed primarily for touch-screen mobile devices,Android, or Droid, technology is
the operating system that most mobile telephones used as of Comscore's February

2014 numbers. Developed by Google, most people consider the Droid technology
revolutionary because its open source technology allows people to write program codes
and applications for the operating system, which means Android is evolving constantly.
Smartphone users can decide whether to download the applications. Moreover, Android
operating systems can run multiple applications, allowing users to be multitasking
mavens. And get this: Any hardware manufacturer is free to produce its own Android
phone by using the operating system. In fact, many smartphone companies do just that.
Android apps store has hundreds of thousands of apps.
Apple is always innovating, and iOS allows iPhone screens to be used simply and
logically. Touted by Apple as the worlds most advance mobile operating system, iOS
supports more access from sports scores to restaurant recommendations. As of
publication, its latest version iOS7 allows for automatic updates and a control center
that gives users access to their most used features. It also makes surfing the net easier
with an overhaul to the Safari browser.
Reviewers say that Windows Phone 8 (WP8) is as simple to use as iOS and as easy to
customize as Android. Its crowning achievement is LiveTiles, which are programmed
squares that users can rearrange on their screen to easily access the information they
want. WP8 works well with other Microsoft products, including Office and Exchange. For
those who do a lot of calling, connecting to Facebook and texting, WP8 may meet their
needs.
At first glance, experts say, Ubuntu 13.10 Touch might seem like an ordinary operating
system, but its not. Experts say Ubuntu Touch one of the easiest systems to use,
allowing seamless navigation with multiple scopes. There are no hardware buttons on
the bottom, for example. Instead, Ubuntu works from the edges. Developed by
Canonical, the Ubuntu Touch allows users to unlock the phone from the right edge. You
can swipe down from the top edge to access the phones indicators, including date,
time, messages (from variety of sources, ie: Skype and Facebook) and wireless
networks. The phone also makes it easy for people to organize and share photos. Every
shot is automatically uploaded to a personal cloud account, which makes it available on
all devices, including iOS, Android and Windows [sources: Ubuntu, Vaughan-Nichols].
The core services on smartphones all tie in to the idea of a multipurpose device that can
effectively multitask. A user can watch a video, field a phone call, then return to the
video after the call, all without closing each application. Or he or she can flip through the
digital calendar and to-do list applications without interrupting the voice call. All of the

data stored on the phone can be synchronized with outside applications or manipulated
by third-party phone applications in numerous ways. Here are a few systems
that smartphonessupport.
Bluetooth
This short-range radio service allows phones to wirelessly link up with each other and
with other nearby devices that support it. Examples include printers,scanners, input
devices, computers and headsets.
Some varieties of Bluetooth only allow communication with one device at a time, but
others allow simultaneous connection with multiple devices. To learn more, check
out How Bluetooth Works.
Data Synchronization
A phone that keeps track of your personal information, like appointments, to-do lists,
addresses, and phone numbers, needs to be able to communicate with all of the other
devices you use to keep track of those things. There are hundreds of possible platforms
and applications you might use for this in the course of a day. If you want to keep all of
this data synchronized with what's on your phone, then you generally have to look for
a cell phone that speaks the languages of all of the devices and applications you use.
Or you can go out and buy new applications that speak the language of your cell phone.
The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) is a collaborative organization with the following
mission:
Be the center of mobile service enabler specification work, helping the creation of
interoperable services across countries, operators and mobile terminals that will meet
the needs of the user.
The OMA formed a Data Synchronization Working Group, which continued the work
begun by the SyncML Initiative. SyncML was an open-standards project designed to
eliminate the trouble of worrying about whether your personal information manager tools
sync up with your phone and vice versa. The project is designed so that any kind of
data can be synchronized with any application on any piece of hardware, through any
network, provided that they are all programmed to OMA standards. This includes
synchronization over theWeb, Bluetooth, mail protocols and TCP/IP networks.

SyncML allows data to be synchronized from a phone to Windows, Mac

and Linux applications using Bluetooth, infrared, HTTP or a USB cable. Visit the OMA
Web site for more information.
Java
A smartphone that's compatible with the Java programming language allows the user to
load and run Java applications and MIDlets. MIDlets are applications that use a subset
of Java and are specifically programmed to run on wireless devices. Java MIDlets
include add-ons, games, applications and utilities.
Since there are millions of Java developers worldwide, and the Java development tools
are freely accessible, smartphone users can install thousands of third-party applications
on their phones. Because of the way the OS architecture of most phones is built, these
applications can access and use all of the data on the user's phone.
The Future of Smartphones
PREV NEXT
With data transmission rates reaching blistering speeds and the incorporation of WiFi
technology, the sky is the limit on what smartphones can do. Possibly the most exciting
thing about smartphone technology is that the field is still wide open. It's an idea that
probably hasn't found its perfect, real-world implementation yet. Every crop of phones
brings new designs and new interface ideas. No one developer or manufacturer has
come up with the perfect shape, size or input method yet. The next "killer app"
smartphone could look like a flip phone, a tablet PC, a candy bar or something no one
has conceived of yet.
Perhaps the most challenging consideration for the future is security. Smartphones may
be vulnerable to security breaches such as an Evil Twin attack. In one of these attacks,
a hacker sets a servers service identifier to that of a legitimate hotspot or network while
simultaneously blocking traffic to the real server. When a user connects with the
hackers server, information can be intercepted and security is compromised.
On the other side, some critics argue that anti-virus software manufacturers greatly
exaggerate the risks, harms and scope of phone viruses in order to help sell their
software. Read more in the article How Cell Phone Viruses Work.
The incredible diversity in smartphone hardware, software and network protocols inhibit
practical, broad security measures. Most security considerations either focus on

particular operating systems or have more to do with user behavior than network
security.
For lots more information on smartphones and related topics, check out the links on the
following page.