The evolution of mobile devices

Chris Green
June 2004 Technology Editor
Computing
In the beginning…...

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And when we were on the road…..

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We also carried computers in our
pockets…….

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Original applications for mobile
devices
 Word processing
 Spreadsheet data entry
 PowerPoint presentations!

 Voice phone calls

 Filofax replacement (diary, address book, memo

pad, useful information)

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1990s changes to mobile technology

 Emergence of digital GSM mobile phone

technology
 First practical use of mobile phones for wireless
data (albeit at 9,600kbps)
 Emergence of Windows 95 - the beginning of more
practical Windows computing on laptops
 Mobile gaming (Nintendo Gameboy, games on
mobile phones such as Worm - simple but
effective)

 Introduction of SMS into the UK by One2One and

Orange

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1990s changes to mobile devices

 Cheaper colour screen technology for laptops

 Widespread use of surface-mount PCB technology
for all devices results in reduction in size and
weight of laptops, phones, PDAs and gaming
devices
 Integrated chipsets reduce the amount of
individual chips within a device, reducing size,
weight, cost and power consumption
 Improvements in battery technology, with the move
away from Ni-Cad to Ni-MH, then later to Li-Ion

BUT BATTERY TECHNOLOGY CONTINUES TO LAG BEHIND!!!

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Laptops never really change

 Basic concept of a laptop has not changed since

their inception
 Chipset technologies such as Intel’s Centrino have
helped reduce power consumption, weight and
heat generation
 Battery technology has kept pace, but has not yet
delivered any additional run-time

 An average laptop in 1990 has a battery life from

new of 2h25m
 An average laptop in 2004 has a battery life from
new of 2h32m

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But phones and PDAs have!

 Phones and PDAs adopt colour screens, though

mono continues to play a role.
 Significant gains in battery life through move to
Li-Ion and through more conservative power use
 Shrinking size from simplification of circuitry
 Significant increases in battery technology

 PDA devices begin to merge, creating the smart

phone
 Smartphones feature the ‘best’ bits of both
platforms, all integrated to share information and
voice/data capability

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Changing applications for mobile
devices
 Wireless networking and Internet access
 Email
 Web browsing
 Shared calendar and group scheduling
 High-performance PC gaming
 Desktop publishing
 Audio/Video editing
 DVDs

 Fading divide between desktop and laptop PCs

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Changing applications for mobile
devices
 Replication of desktop email, calendar and group
scheduling clients
 Direct Internet connection for remote email access
 Wireless networking for basic file sharing and
Internet access
 Gaming
 Audio/Video playback (streaming, MP3s etc)
 GPS positioning and route planning
 Fashion accessory

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Changing applications for mobile
devices
 Voice calls
 Video calls (3G)
 Text messaging
 Picture messaging and use of phone as a digital
camera (phone cameras now at 1MP and rising)
 Voice memo recording
 MP3 playback
 FM Radio
 Email
 WAP and Web access
 Short-range wireless networking
 Streaming video and audio

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Mobile wireless

 Emergence of GPRS over GSM for data transfer

equal to a bad dial-up landline modem connection
 Emergence of 802.11b from access-points for
11Mbit networking and Internet access for laptops
and PDAs
 Infrared and Bluetooth for short-range networking
and cable-replacement

 3G and GPRS data services for laptops via

dedicated PCMCIA access cards

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Future trends

 Growth in 3G service take-up and video calling as

handsets and user interfaces imrove
 Demand for online-capable digital music players
 Streaming TV to mobile devices for on-demand
news and entertainment
 Continuing growth of SMS, and huge demand for
mobile 2-way email

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Future trends

 Eventual decline of traditional PDA as demand for

mobile internet and wireless networking increases
 Larger screens to accommodate spreadsheets,
PowerPoint, fixed-font email etc
 Decline of stylus as primary input mechanism
 PDA to grow as a reader platform for eBooks and
online/offline content
 Growth of mini-hard drives in PDAs over flash
memory to store audio and video content

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Future trends

 Growth of laptop/tablet PC devices at the high-end

 Demand for mid-point device between laptop/tablet
and PDA/smartphone
 Mid-point device to feature 6-8inch screen, mini-
keyboard, WLAN and Cellular, and full version of
Windows/Linux/MacOS etc on 1-inch hard drive

L a p to p P C T a b l e t D e vi c e S l a te D e vi c e PDA M o b ile P h o n e
P D A S m a rtp h o n e M o b i l e P h o n e S m a rtp h o n e

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 The End

http://www.computing.co.uk

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