In this section:
- Definition of a Smartphone
- Locked and Unlocked Smartphones
- QWERTY, Thumbboards, and Other Input Options
- 3rd Party Software
Definition of a Smartphone
There are a number of definitons as to what a smartphone is, but for the purposes of the guide, we will stick to this:
A mobile device with a cellular radio and mainstream operating system that allows for the creation and manipulation of information, has a web browser capable of viewing most websites, and has the ability to download 3rd party software which is developed using advanced programming languges and scripting functions.
Using this definition, we can designated smartphones being those phones that utilize the following operating systems: Windows Mobile, Symbian S60, Symbian UIQ, Palm OS, Access Linux, BlackBerry OS, and iPhone OS.
Locked and Unlocked Smartphones
Smartphones fall into two broad categories: locked and unlocked. Locked phones are traditionally sold through carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Orange, Rogers, DoMoCo, etc.) and the softawre and use is locked to that network's use only. Because carriers subsidize the cost of mobile devices, this ability to lock smartphones to their network allows them to recoup the costs of supporting the device.
CDMA phones (Verizon, Sprint-Nextel, Alltel, and a few others) are sold locked to the carrier and network. Until recently, you were not able to take a (for example) Sprint-Nextel phone to the Verizon network and activate it for use on that network. This has now changed. However, CDMA phones are not compatible with GSM networks. 3G for CDMA phones is spoken of in some variant of the term EVDO.
GSM phones (Orange, AT&T, TMobile, DoMoCo, etc.) are usually sold locked if purchased from the carrier. However, they are also in more abundance and sold unlocked because GSM carriers are much more in number than CDMA ones. The ability to take a GSM phone from one carrier to another is as simple as switching the SIM card. The SIM card holds your account information and ability to use that network. In the case that putting the SIM card in another phone does not work, a request for a SIM unlock code is usually all that is needed to have the phone work on another network. 3G data speeds for GSM phones is associated with the terms HSDPA and UMTS (expect to hear LTE added to this in a year or so)
In some cases, do use a locked phone on an unlocked phone, you will have to terminate your contract in order to fully purchase your mobile. In these cases, you normally have to ensure that you are not violating the terms of service for the manufactuer of the phone in addition to the phone carrier for moving to another network (this depends also on your country's rules for using phones on various networks).
Purchasing an unlocked phone usually means the phone does not come with a contract, and therefore also does not come at a lower price. The carrier subsidy which is added into the cost of the contract is not a part of purchasing an unlocked phone. Unlocked phones can be purchased from a carrier - but the cost is usually at or slighty above market value.
GSM and CDMA phones, whether locked or unlocked, might also have additional facilities such as Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth use that might be subject to the branding needs of the carrier. Check with the carrier and manufactuer for the differences here and plan your use accordingly.
I wrote a bit more about locked and unlocked phones here.
QWERTY, Thumbboards, and Other Input Options
Smartphones are characterized also by input options. QWERTY (or QWERTZ) keyboards, various forms of thumboards, and touchscreens with other types of input options such as handwriting and customized keyboards are distinctive features of smartphones. There are smartphones with normal numeric keypads, but they might not be the best for all users for responding to email and writing documents.
Smartphones also have the ability to utilize external keyboards such as those that connect to a connector at the bottom of the device, or use Bluetooth wireless keyboards. The use of these is determined by a driver that is downloaded to the device. After the said driver is downloaded, the external keyboard is usable for inputing text.
3rd Party Software
The final distinguishing feature of smartphones is the availability of third party software. A careful distinction here is made between custom written software and widgets. Some phones, called feature phones, might be able to download weather and calculator applicatoins, but these are usually widgets - designed only to give surface level functionality and do not integrate with the core system software.
Smartphones not only have the ability to use widgets, but also can use software written in a native code (C++, VB, etc.) that accesses low level system functions to enable a look, feel, and function that is consistent with the rest of the operating system.
Some smartphones are also able to use web applications (such as Google Docs) due to their more advanced web browsers. The ability to use web applications is dependent on the browser and the hardware of the mobile device. While some smartphones can view the data within web applications, not all are able to also be editing stations.
Conclusion and Next Section
Here, we talked about the basics of a smartphone. In the next section, we will look at how to choose a network, carrier, and phone plan that best fits the smartphone that you would like to purchase. There are several variables that go into each of these and you should be aware of as much as possible before going into any retailer or purchasing something online.
If you have any questions on this section here, please place those in the comments, and to the best of my ability, I'll answer what I can.
Labels: MMM Smartphone Guide, purchasing, smartphone
