The Age of Handheld Devices - Research Paper Example

It is unimaginable today to think of the kind of dependency people have on smartphones in this time and age. Cell phones are no longer a luxury. They are treated as a common man’s complete answer to his emailing, social networking, communication, profiling, and corporate needs. From simple calls to text messages when it was launched, today cell phones can do hundreds of other vital tasks. It has woven the younger generation into complete interconnectivity and keeps the older generation well informed and updated. In simple words, mobile computing makes use of different high technology gadgets and devices, it has helped make communication easy and the lives of people more convenient by keeping them well informed about the current happenings. (Talukdar, 2010 )

Before we delve further into how mobile computing has made life easy, let's take a look at a short history of mobile computing. Mobile computing hit during the 1990s. That was when laptops were a rising phenomenon. They had become the mainstream device that people used to keep with them to keep everyone connected. That was just the beginning as since then innumerable devices have ventured into the market that has brought about a sense of wireless communication and have given an extra edge to everyone’s communication dilemma. Communication has become a very powerful entity today in both personal and professional lives.

Before mobile computing could be introduced in the market of the wireless business, communication was largely dependent on static networks. At that time, radio transmitters used to operate from a stable base. The transmitters had large antennas which used to connect. An example would be the two-way radios that police and army men used back then. Today, everyone has access to an infinite number of high-end devices that can easily connect to the internet. These devices are offered by different technology companies and are installed with Bluetooth, wireless cards, or infra-red interfaces.
Since it started in the 1990s, mobile computing has evolved very rapidly and persistently. It has become so convenient and so much in sync with everyone’s daily lives that it is difficult to disassociate with it in any part of the world. The convenience of wireless connectivity is not a rare phenomenon and is being used by everyone. Hundreds of other solutions are being offered by different mobile computing companies.
The mobile phones are fully embedded with features that allow the user to access the internet wirelessly, through Bluetooth interfaces or wireless cards. Smartphones are the in-thing. Apple and Blackberry have a huge role to play in the way smartphones integrated themselves into the mainstream life of people. Blackberry’s introduction of BBM, a free messaging service for BB users took the world by storm. Friends, families, and relatives rush to buy blackberry because of this service. It has made communication on the go so easy to the point of turning it into a full-blown addiction. iPhone has made its way into the world of touch interface mobile computing with a storm. It all started with the iPods and the next thing became the iPhone, a touch-based smartphone with all the glamor and luxury of owning a mobile computing device. Personal digital assistants and modern laptops similarly have also become the commonly used gadgets. These PDAs and laptops can be accessed anywhere in the world, wherever they are used. The facility of wi-fi hotspots has made it, even more, cost-effective for people today. Now they can tap their gadgets wherever they are to take advantage of free internet connection.
The irony is that today, there is more software developed for handheld devices than was ever developed through desktops. Then there are pocket PCs, which are another very popular device that completely taps the potential of mobile computing. In many ways, it is similar to personal digital assistants and it is a smaller version of desktops/laptops in the way it works and functions. The first breakthrough in this arena was through the palm pilot but nowadays many companies have introduced notebooks like HP, Toshiba, Dell, etc. The Pocket PCs are very portable and easy to use. They have a very handy desktop and mobile computing interface which is accessible via Internet Explorer, Google, and other ISPs. It is easy to do and offers one the mobility to download, play games, access mp3 songs, electronic books, and various other useful applications. (Guy, 2009 ) Read More