Smartphone and Related Topics

Mobile operating system

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Operating system for mobile phones, tablets, smartwatches, 2-in-1 PCs, smart speakers, or other mobile devices.

Mobile devices, with mobile communications abilities (e.g., smartphones), contain two mobile operating systems – the main user-facing software platform is supplemented by a second low-level proprietary real-time operating system which operates the radio and other hardware.

IPhone

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First iPhone on display under glass at the January 2007 Macworld show

A comparison of iPhone sizes from the iPhone 5S to the iPhone 12

When making a call, the iPhone presents a number of options, including FaceTime on supported models. The screen is automatically disabled when held close to the face.

Wikipedia on the iPhone Safari web browser in landscape mode

The virtual keyboard on the first generation iPhone touchscreen

iPhone 5S shown with the SIM tray partially ejected and SIM ejector tool in the eject hole.

The iPhone is a line of smartphones designed and marketed by Apple Inc. These devices use Apple's iOS mobile operating system.

Android 12 home screen with Pixel Launcher

Android (operating system)

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HTC Dream or T-Mobile G1, the first commercially released device running Android (2008)

Eric Schmidt, Andy Rubin and Hugo Barra at a 2012 press conference announcing Google's Nexus 7 tablet

Frontal buttons (home, menu/options, go back, search) and optical track pad of an HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with Android OS.

The stack of Android Open Source Project

The first-generation Nexus 7 tablet, running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

Ouya, a video game console which runs Android

Android-x86 running on an ASUS Eee PC netbook

Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

Nokia

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Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865.

Rolls of toilet paper produced by Nokia in the 1960s, Vapriikki Museum Centre, Tampere

LV 317M military radio in the Hämeenlinna artillery museum

Jorma Ollila, who oversaw the rise of Nokia in the mobile phone market as CEO from 1992 to 2006

A collection of Nokia mobile phones from the 2000s

A flagship Nokia store in São Paulo, Brazil in 2009

A Nokia 9000 Communicator (1996) next to a Nokia E7 Communicator (2011)

Risto Siilasmaa, Nokia chairman from 2012 to 2020.

A Nokia advertising sign in Dublin, Ireland

Nokia office building in Markham, Ontario, Canada in 2016 – originally Alcatel-Lucent's office

A Nokia Flexi Zone base transceiver station (2015)

Inside the Nokia Networks office in Munich, Germany

Nokia office building in Tampere, Finland.

The former Nokia House, Nokia's head office until April 2014. The building is located by the Gulf of Finland in Keilaniemi, Espoo, and was constructed between 1995 and 1997. It was the workplace of more than 1,000 Nokia employees.

Mobira 800-NDB non-directional beacon located in the Finnish Air Force signals museum

Nokia MAC 8532 laser rangefinder previously used by Finnish coastal artillery

Hämeenlinna artillery museum display containing fire control officer with Nokia artillery calculator in Finnish artillery battalion command post

Late 1980s MikroMikko 4 TT m216 desktop computer in the Museum of Technology, Helsinki, Finland

ITT Nokia television with an ITT Nokia VCR (ITT/SEL)

For a decade beginning in 1998, Nokia was the largest worldwide vendor of mobile phones and smartphones.

Tablet computer

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Mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package.

Wireless tablet device portrayed in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Apple Newton MessagePad, Apple's first produced tablet, released in 1993

A Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook tablet running Windows XP, released in 2003

The Nokia N800, the first tablet manufactured by Nokia

Steve Jobs introducing the iPad in San Francisco on January 27, 2010

Crossover tablet device types from 2014: Microsoft Surface Pro 3 laplet and Sony Xperia Z Ultra phablet, next to a generic blue lighter for size comparison

Comparison of several mini tablet computers: Amazon Kindle Fire (left), iPad Mini (center), and Google Nexus 7 (right)

Samsung's Galaxy Note series were the first commercially successful phablets.

Microsoft Surface Pro 3, a prominent 2-in-1 detachable tablet

Asus Transformer Pad, a 2-in-1 detachable tablet, powered by the Android operating system

Nvidia Shield Tablet, notable gaming tablet

Games on a Ziosk table ordering tablet at an Olive Garden restaurant

Samsung Galaxy Tab demonstrating multi-touch

Chinese characters like this one meaning "person" can be written by handwriting recognition (人-order.gif, Mandarin: rén, Korean: in, Japanese: jin, nin; hito, Cantonese: jan4). The character has two strokes, the first shown here in brown, and the second in red. The black area represents the starting position of the writing instrument.

Modern tablets largely resemble modern smartphones, the only differences being that tablets are relatively larger than smartphones, with screens 7 inch or larger, measured diagonally, and may not support access to a cellular network.

Personal digital assistant

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Variety mobile device which functions as a personal information manager.

Apple Newton MessagePad (1993) – Computer History Museum

PalmPilot organiser on display at the Musée Bolo, EPFL, Lausanne

PDAs have been mostly displaced by the widespread adoption of highly capable smartphones, in particular those based on iOS and Android.

Mobile phone

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Portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while the user is moving within a telephone service area.

Martin Cooper of Motorola, shown here in a 2007 reenactment, made the first publicized handheld mobile phone call on a prototype DynaTAC model on 3 April 1973.

The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone.

Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992

Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003

Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.

Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1-f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference

Growth in mobile phone subscribers per country from 1980 to 2009

Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated.

A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once

A sign in the U.S. restricting cell phone use to certain times of day (no cell phone use between 7:30am-9:00am and 2:00pm-4:15pm)

Mobile phones offering only those capabilities are known as feature phones; mobile phones which offer greatly advanced computing capabilities are referred to as smartphones.

Apple Inc.

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American multinational technology company that specializes in consumer electronics, software and online services headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States.

In 1976, Steve Jobs co-founded Apple in his parents' home on Crist Drive in Los Altos, California. Although it is widely believed that the company was founded in the house's garage, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak called it "a bit of a myth". Jobs and Wozniak did, however, move some operations to the garage when the bedroom became too crowded.

Apple's first product, the Apple I, designed by Steve Wozniak, was sold as an assembled circuit board and lacked basic features such as a keyboard, monitor, and case. The owner of this unit added a keyboard and wooden case.

The Apple II Plus, introduced in 1979, designed primarily by Wozniak

The Macintosh, released in 1984, is the first mass-market personal computer to feature an integral graphical user interface and mouse.

The PenLite is Apple's first prototype of a tablet computer. Created in 1992, the project was designed to bring the Mac OS to a tablet – but was canceled in favor of the Newton.

The MacBook Pro, Apple's first laptop with an Intel microprocessor, introduced in 2006

Newly announced iPhone on display at the 2007 MacWorld Expo

Apple customers wait in line around an Apple Store in Shanghai in anticipation of a new product.

Apple Fifth Avenue, the flagship store in New York City

The Genius Bar at Apple's Regent Street store in London

The Apple store in the Carnegie Library of Washington D.C. maintains the building's historic exterior design.

Steve Wozniak and Andy Hertzfeld at the Apple User Group Connection club in 1985

Universities with the most alumni at Apple

PRISM: a clandestine surveillance program under which the NSA collects user data from companies like Facebook and Apple.

iPhone is Apple's line of smartphones that use the company's proprietary iOS operating system, derived from macOS's kernel.

Windows Phone

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A test notification of an "update available" pop-up in the Windows Phone emulator.

Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune.