- What is a smartphone?
- Origin and history of smartphones
- differences between a smartphone and a basic cell phone
- Main characteristics of a smartphone
- Advantages and disadvantages of smartphones
We explain what a smartphone is, its characteristics and differences with other phones. In addition, we tell you about its origin and its history.
What is a smartphone?
A smartphone, also known as smartphone (of English smart, "smart and telephone, “phone”), is a portable device that combines the traditional functions of a cell phone with those of a computer pocket or touch tablet. Its name of “intelligent” comes from the fact that it is capable of executing many complex functions, in addition to simply communicating by telephone with two people.
The smartphones they are a type of cell phone, and constitute its technological evolution, its most advanced version, whose existence is possible thanks to the invention and popularization of Internet, and the calls Information and Communication Technologies (TIC). Thus a smartphone It not only allows you to make calls and send text messages, but also surf the Internet, make video calls, send emails, use social networks, drink Photographs, scan documents, and many other new features.
The appearance of smartphones It is considered a milestone of great importance in the contemporary history of the technology, which has quickly left a deep mark on the way we do things, from working and shopping to dating and entertaining.After less than 20 years of mass presence, smartphones are more popular than ever and deeply integrated into our daily lives, making them an indispensable tool of the 21st century.
As is often the case with anglicisms and foreign language loanwords, the term smartphone it is always written in italics, and academic institutions recommend the use of “smart phone” instead.
Origin and history of smartphones
The first smartphones emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s, from the integration of traditional cell phones and pocket computer devices, then known as PDAs. personal digital assistant, “personal digital assistant”).
These early “hybrid” phones offered the features of both devices in one: the ability to make phone calls and the small analog screens, which allowed the recording of names and numbers, as well as small notes and messages.
The leap forward in this type of device was brought by the OmniGo 700LX, manufactured and marketed by Hewlett-Packard in 1996. It was a hybrid telephone with a grayscale LCD screen, compatible with the DOS 5.0 operating system and capable of performing calls, create and receive text messages, and also emails and faxes. An HP 200LX and a Nokia 2110 cell phone were combined in the same device, which represented an advance on the milestone reached in 1993 by IBM with its hybrid models.
However, the first smartphone itself emerged in 1999, almost hand in hand with third generation technology (3G), which emerged in 2001 and allowed the transmission of information at high speeds, which allowed the sending of packets of data larger (photos, videos, etc.).This first properly intelligent phone was the pdQ Smartphone, from the Qualcomm company, and it combined a Palm PDA with a CDMA cell phone with Internet connectivity.
Another great quantum leap in smartphones was made in 2007 with the launch of the first iPhone by Apple, which significantly changed the standards and aesthetics of telephony forever. Their operating system (iOS) was revolutionary and its only real competitor appeared in 2008: Android. Both were the prevailing systems in smart telephony during the following decade.
From then on, the smartphones they have only gained functions and grown in complexity. The marked trend towards the miniaturization of cell phones, for example, began to reverse after the adoption of the touchscreen (touch screen), which required increasingly bulky devices to have functional, color screens, along with the large batteries needed to power the system.
To this must be added the appearance of 4G networks (from 2010 onwards) and the announcement of 5G (expected for 2025), which brought with it a huge increase in the capabilities of smartphones, hand in hand with apps downloadable from the Internet and the incorporation of ever-improving quality cameras.
differences between a smartphone and a basic cell phone
The big difference between a smartphone and a conventional cell phone has to do with the possibility of handling large amounts of data through the telephone signal, which allows the smartphone connect to the Internet, and thus send and receive emails, instant messages and other packets of software.
While traditional cell phones were attached to the idea of being a phone (and therefore used to make calls or, at most, send and receive short text messages), smartphones they took a step forward.Telephone communication is just one of the many functions of a smartphone, and it may even be one of the least used, since they are, at heart, pocket computers. Instead, a basic cell phone is committed solely to its task of making calls.
Main characteristics of a smartphone
The main technical features of a smartphone are:
- Combine the functions of communication phone with the data processing of computers.
- It allows connection to the internet and to different information transmission networks, such as GPS (Global Positioning System, “global position system”). In them you can send and receive large data packets.
- It has a screen that responds to touch and allows the Username enter information into the system, such as keyboards and pointers of ordinary computers. Generally, the screen is liquid crystal.
- It contains some kind of operating system that regulates the allocation of resources and fulfills the user's instructions.
- It has added and built-in functions like photo camera (front and back), receiver of bluetooth, microSD memory card reader, SIM Card reader, wireless connectivity through radio waves (Wifi), fingerprint recognition, among many others. It is a multitasking device.
- It also fulfills the role of agenda and personal organizer, as well as as a device for entertainment, socialization, mathematical calculation, and many other uses, depending on the software that is downloaded (apps or applications).
Advantages and disadvantages of smartphones
Like all technology, smartphones facilitate human tasks and offer great opportunities, but they also bring important challenges. Some of its advantages and disadvantages are:
Advantages of smartphones
- They centralize very different processes (telephony, personal agenda, game tools, among others) in the same device that fits in a pocket.
- They expand the possibility of human communication to levels never seen before and through different channels and tools: oral, written and audiovisual.
- They allow you to enter the purchases on-line and browse the internet with ease and practicality, which makes the smartphone a useful tool to work and also to enjoy leisure.
- The large number of apps that are generated daily allow a very versatile of the appliance, even as a work tool.
- They are relatively light and small devices that fit in a pocket and can be connected to other devices both wired and wireless.
Disadvantages of smartphones
- As with all ICTs, they can produce a certain margin of isolation and estrangement from real society, which can negatively affect the ability to socialization of the younger generations.
- The number of incorporated functions subjects the user to a state of continuous stimulation and distraction, which prevents him from valuing leisure and practicing concentration.
- They are expensive devices, with high replacement charges, compared to basic cell phones, which are much cheaper.
- They require a much higher power supply than traditional phones, which is reflected in the weight and size of the battery.
- Their enormous connectivity represents a challenge for the defense of the intimate and the private, since they are devices that go with us everywhere and continuously collect information about our life models.