A smartphone is a multifunction portable electronic device. All smartphones perform three main functions: traditional telephony, computer applications, and photography operations. Telephony functions include voice calling and SMS; computer functions include Internet access, game play, and software applications; and photography operations depend on a built-in camera and photography processing applications. A smartphone consists of both its hardware and its software.Hardware

The smartphone includes a chassis plus the internal components. Those internal components include a battery plus the circuit board. Features like the SIM card, camera, and microphone are integrated into the circuit board. All smartphones have rechargeable batteries. A cross section of an open smartphone appears as follows:

The user interacts with the smartphone in one of two ways: via hard buttons and via touch-screen. The hard buttons interact physically with the motherboard, whereas the touch-screen interface interacts with the operating system and its software. Hard buttons vary from device to device, but may include a power on/off button, volume up/down buttons, a mute button, and a "home" button. The "home" button is usually located below the touch screen, and is a multi-purpose button that interacts with the smartphone operating system.

Because there are a number of different...

However, all smartphones are purposely designed to be hand-held devices.
Software

The smartphone is characterized by its function as a miniature computer, complete with operating system and software applications. All smartphones are characterized by a touch-screen interface as seen here:

The two main smartphone operating systems include iOS for Apple smartphones and the Android operating system for most other smartphone manufacturers like Samsung. Manufacturers preload some software applications, called "native apps," to allow the new user access to the device's core functions like the telephone and camera. Users can also download software applications, commonly called "apps," from the Internet. Some software applications are free of charge.

Smartphone as Telephone

One of the functions of a smartphone is to send and receive voice calls and/or text messages via a cellular network. Alternatively, a user can send and receive calls and text messages via a VoIP service, which requires an Internet connection.

Smartphone as Computer

A smartphone functions as a miniature computer. Software applications include word processing, database systems, personal organization software, games, eBook readers, music and video players, and more.

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