What is Smartphone?

A smartphone (or smart phone) is a mobile phone with an advanced operating system.Smartphones typically include the features of a phone with those of other popular mobile devices, such as personal digital assistant, media player and GPS navigation unit. Most have a touchscreen interface and can run third-party apps, and are camera phones. Later smartphones add broadband internet web browsing, Wi-Fi, motion sensors and mobile payment mechanisms.

In February 2014, 93% of mobile developers were targeting smartphones first for app development.In 2014, sales of smartphones worldwide topped 1.2 billion, which is up 28% from 2013.

Early years

The first caller identification receiver

Devices that combined telephony and computing were first conceptualized by Theodore G. Paraskevakos in 1971 and patented in 1974, and were offered for sale beginning in 1993. He was the first to introduce the concepts of intelligence, data processing and visual display screens into telephones which gave rise to the "smartphone." In 1971, Paraskevakos, working with Boeing in Huntsville, Alabama, demonstrated a transmitter and receiver that provided additional ways to communicate with remote equipment, however it did not yet have general purpose PDA applications in a wireless device typical of smartphones. They were installed at Peoples' Telephone Company in Leesburg, Alabama and were demonstrated to several telephone companies. The original and historic working models are still in the possession of Paraskevakos.

Forerunners

IBM Simon and charging base (1993))

The first mobile phone to incorporate PDA features was an IBM prototype developed in 1992 and demonstrated that year at the COMDEX computer industry trade show. A refined version of the product was marketed to consumers in 1994 by BellSouth under the name Simon Personal Communicator. The Simon was the first cellular device that can be properly referred to as a "smartphone", although it wasn't called a smartphone in 1994. In addition to its ability to make and receive cellular phone calls, Simon was also able to send and receive faxes and e-mails and included several other apps like address book, calendar, appointment scheduler, calculator, world time clock, and note pad through its touch screen display. Simon is the first smartphone to be incorporated with the features of a PDA

The term "smart phone" appeared in print in 1995, for describing AT&T's "PhoneWriter(TM) Communicator" as a "smart phone".

iPhone & Android

In 2007, Apple Inc. introduced the iPhone, one of the first mobile phones to use a multi-touch interface. The iPhone was notable for its use of a large touchscreen for direct finger input as its main means of interaction, instead of a stylus, keyboard, or keypad typical for smartphones at the time. 2008 saw the release of the first phone to use Android called the HTC Dream (also known as the T-Mobile G1).Android is an open-source platform founded by Andy Rubin and now owned by Google.Although Android's adoption was relatively slow at first, it started to gain widespread popularity in 2010, and now dominates the market.

These new platforms led to the decline of earlier ones. When Microsoft, for instance, started a new OS from scratch, in the form of Windows Phone, Nokia abandoned Symbian and partnered with MS to use Windows Phone on its smartphones. Windows Phone then became the third-most-popular OS. Palm was bought by Hewlett-Packard, turned into webOS which became Open webOS and later sold to LG Electronics. Research in Motion also made a new system from scratch, BlackBerry 10.

The capacitive touchscreen also had a knock-on effect on smartphone form factors. Before 2007 it was common for devices to have a physical numeric keypad or physical QWERTY keyboard in either a candybar or sliding form factor. However, by 2010, there were no top-tier smartphones with physical numeric keypads.

The future

In 2013, the Fairphone company launched its first "socially ethical" smartphone at the London Design Festival to address concerns regarding the sourcing of materials in the manufacturing.

In late 2013, QSAlpha commenced production of a smartphone designed entirely around security, encryption and identity protection

In December 2013, the world's first curved-OLED technology smartphones were introduced to the retail market with the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Round and LG G Flex models. Samsung phones with more bends and folds in the screens are expected this year.

Foldable OLED smartphones could be as much as a decade away because of the cost of producing them. There is a relatively high failure rate when producing these screens. As little as a speck of dust can ruin a screen during production. Creating a battery that can be folded is another hurdle.

A clear thin layer of crystal glass can be added to small screens like watches and smartphones that make them solar powered. Smartphones could gain 15% more battery life during a typical day. The first smartphones using this technology should arrive in 2015. This screen can also work to receive Li-Fi signals and so can the smartphone camera. The cost of these screens per smartphone is between $2 and $3, much cheaper than most new technology.

Near future smartphones might not have a traditional battery as their sole source of power. Instead, they may pull energy from radio, television, cellular or Wi-Fi signals.

In early 2014, smartphones are beginning to use Quad HD (2K) 2560x1440 on 5.5" screens with up to 534 ppi on devices such as the LG G3 which is a significant improvement over Apple's retina display. Quad HD is used in advanced televisions and computer monitors, but with 110 ppi or less on such larger displays.

As of 2014, Wi-Fi networks are much used for smartphones. As Wi-Fi becomes more prevalent and easier to connect to, Wi-Fi phones service will start to take off.

Since 2013, water and dustproofing have made their way into mainstream high end smartphones instead of specialist models with the Sony Xperia Z continuing through the Sony Xperia Z3 and also from other manufacturers with the Samsung Galaxy S5.

One problem with smartphone cameras is still the focus, but LG G3 Beat with Laser Focus has 8 points of focus. To focus what appears in the LCD, touch the object on screen to focus on it and the other positions will be 'bokeh'.

Some smartphones can be categorized as high-end point-and-shoot cameras with large sensor up to 1" with 20 Megapixels and 4K video. Some can store their pictures in proprietary raw image format, but the Android (operating system) 5.0 lollipop serves open source RAW images.

Modular smartphones are projected, in which users can remove and replace parts.