Cell Phone Operating Systems Background

Cell Phone Operating Systems

Background mobile phone, also known as a cellular or cell phone, is an electronic telecommunications piece of equipment with the same fundamental capability as a conventional fixed-line telephone, but which is totally convenient and does not have a need of a wire connection to a network. Most mobile phones hook up to a network using a wireless radio wave transmission technology rather than a wired system. The mobile phone communicates by the use of a cellular network of base stations, also known as cell sites, which are in turn linked to the conventional telephone network. In addition to the customary voice function of a telephone, a mobile phone can maintain many additional services such as SMS for text messaging, packet switching for access to the Internet, and MMS for sending and receiving photos and video.

The concept of cellular communications was developed in response to the limitations of conventional radio services. Although the concept of cellular radio was conceived as early as the 1940s for military applications, the first truly cellular commercial systems were not installed until the late 1970s, with the implementation of the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) system in Europe in 1979. The AMPS was implemented in the United States in 1982, and the Total Access Communications System (TACS) followed in the United Kingdom in 1983 (Miceli, 2003).

Evolution

The first-generation mobile systems was introduced to the public market in 1983 by the Motorola Company. These first mobile phones used analog technology which was much less reliable than the digital technology we use today. The analog phones also had a great deal of static and noise interference than we are accustomed to today. They offered mainly speech and related services and were highly incompatible with each other. Thus, their main limitations were the limited services offered and incompatibility (Mishra, 2004).

The second generation mobile phones which came out in the 1990's was much faster and quieter than its analog predecessor. The size became much smaller and the efficiency of the battery was much better. In the third generation, transfer of other types of data aside from voice data such as emails, information and instant messages is already available. There are plans to pursue with the fourth generation technology which will make information transfer and internet capabilities faster and more affordable for cellular phones. Also, there will be an availability of high quality audio and video that will render mobile phone a portable entertainment centre (Team Digit 2006).

An operating system (OS) is the computer program which translates user input into instructions for the hardware components of a computer or other www.mahalo.comtechnological device. An OS provides a graphical interface through which a user can manage file systems, maintain hardware and install additional programs. At least, three mobile phone operating systems are widely used nowadays. They are Microsoft Windows Mobile, Symbian OS and the Palm OS. Windows Mobile is Microsoft's operating system for mobile devices which include PDAs, Smartphones, palm and pocket PCs, and automobiles and due to its widespread use, Windows Mobile can be found on nearly every major Internet-connected device.

On the other hand, Symbian OS is an operating system specifically designed to be implemented in smartphones. Although the operating system is developed and licensed by Symbian, Ltd., www.mahalo.com/Special:Createpage?term=SDKsystem developer kits (SDKs) are available for users to create and modify applications within the Symbian OS. Lastly, Palm OS utilizes touchscreen technology to allow users to easily move around the application to access a variety of options.