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A smartphone is a mobile phone that can do more than other phones. They work as a computer but are mobile devices small enough to fit in a user's hand.
Uses include:
- Sending and receiving emails, text, photographs and multimedia messages
- Registering contacts
- calculator, currency, alarm, etc. functions
- Browsing the Internet using a mobile browser
- Playing games
- Video chat
- point of sale terminal when paying for goods or services
- barcode scanning
- creating high quality photographs or video
- Determining user's exact location utilizing GPS (global positioning system) satellites
Another way to think of them is that they are PDAs that can make voice calls like any other mobile phone. Older phones also used computer technology, but lacked many of the parts of a computer that were too big to fit into a phone. Modern phone makers have been able to use smaller parts. Most smartphones are also GPS receivers and digital cameras.
Because smartphones are small computers, they run an operating system that is often common between devices to ensure compatibility. The majority of smartphones run on Apple iOS or Google Android but others use Windows Phone or BlackBerry OS. Most can do multitasking, running more than one program which helps the user do things quicker and easier. Users can get more programs, called mobile apps, from the manufacturer's app store, such as the Apple App Store and Google Play which can help them complete special tasks.
Data communication has become faster. Smart phones can send and receive data much faster than older phones. The industry uses different standards to label the data transmission rates. 2G was introduced in 1991. 2G means 2nd Generation. 2G phones transmit data at about the same speed as a 56kbit/s (kilobits per second) dial-up modem would get.
3G was introduced in 2002. Depending on where they are, 3G phones vary in speed between about 200kbit/s to 14Mbit/s (megabits per second). This is comparable to a DSL or low end cable modem speed. Most smart phones use 3G technology to make them fast enough to practically use internet and other data features. Faster 4G networks operate in many places, with speeds estimated as fast as 100Mbit/s to 1Gbit/s (gigabit per second). This would be as fast as some computer networks that use ethernet. Many smart phones introduced after 2010 use 4G technology including the later, even faster version of 4G known as LTE. 5G is planned.
Related pages
Images for kids
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Two smartphones: a Samsung Galaxy J5 (left) and an iPhone 6S (right)
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IBM Simon and charging base (1994)
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The Nokia 9000 Communicator (right) and the updated 9110 model (left)
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Several BlackBerry smartphones, which were highly popular in the mid-late 2000s
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The original Apple iPhone; following its introduction the common smartphone form factor shifted to large touchscreen software interfaces without physical keypads
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The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 features three rear-facing camera lenses and a ToF camera (only 10+ version).
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The iPhone X
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An example of a flexible display
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A smartphone touchscreen
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A high-capacity portable battery charger.
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Several smartphones running Google's Android OS
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A Palm Treo 300 smartphone (2002)
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A Nokia N70 smartphone (2005) running Symbian OS, which was highly popular in Europe and Asia in the 2000s
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Mobile payment system.
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A New York City driver holding two phones
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A sign along Bellaire Boulevard in Southside Place, Texas (Greater Houston) states that using mobile phones while driving is prohibited from 7:30 am to 9:00 am and from 2:00 pm to 4:15 pm
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