Cell Phone Operating Systems
The first smartphone was the IBM Simon and was designed in 1992. The phone themselves have changed. The most important changes are in the Operating System (OS)
Operating Systems The big ones: ios Android RIM Palm (Limited time) Windows Symbian
ios Apple s Mobile Operating System. Simply called iphone OS prior to June 2010. Based off of Mac OS X. iphone, ipad, ipod, all run using the ios. Currently up to 5.1
ios The user interface of ios is based on the concept of direct manipulation using multi touch gestures. Interface control elements consist of sliders, switches and buttons. The response to user input is immediate. Interaction with OS includes gestures such as swipe, tap, pinch and reverse pinch.
ios Features Home screen displays apps and has a dock on the bottom of the screen where users can pin most frequently used apps. Folders allows you to combine apps into one folder. Notification Center Lets you know when you receive a message or a text
ios Features Con t. Multitasking Starting with ios 4. Example would be listening to music while continuing to use different apps on the phone. Switching applications By double clicking the home button it activates the application switcher at the bottom of the screen. Game Center A online multiplayer social gaming network.
ios Jailbreaking Many people jailbreak the ios to allow for greater control and a larger amount of Apps. Allows Root Access of the device. Gives the user greater access to many apps that are not available through the App store. Many different jailbreaks: Redsn0w, Blackra1n, jailbreakme, and so on.
ios Jailbreak vs. Unlocked Both jailbreaking and unlocking allow you to do things your iphone does not normally have the ability to do. An unlock allows you to use other carriers SIM cards, and a jailbreak allows you to use unofficial apps and software on the iphone.
ios Jailbreaking: Jailbreaking refers to the process of modifying your iphone firmware. If you want to unlock your iphone to use on another carrier, you will need to jailbreak the phone first before installing an unlock.
ios Unlocking: An unlock removes the carrier restrictions on your iphone s cellular modem, allowing an iphone owner to move and use their phone on another competing cellular carrier. In many countries, most notoriously the USA, nearly all cell phones and smartphones are sold with what is called a carrier lock which only allows the device to be used on the network for which it was purchased. Source: OSXDaily.com
Android Developed in 2003. It s a Linux based operating system. Developed by the Open Handset Alliance led by Google. Acquired by Google in 2005 Used on many devices including phones and tablets.
Android Android also keeps releasing a new OS Update once in every 6 months. Version 1.0 debuted in September 2008. The most recent version is Ice-cream sandwich (expected in April 2011)
Android Android Versions v. 1.0 v. 1.1 v. 1.5 Cupcake v. 1.6 Donut v. 2.0/2.1 Enclair v. 2.2 Froyo v. 2.3 Gingerbread v. 3.0 Honeycomb v. 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
Android Various Android Versions:
Android Android has a large community of developers writing applications. Developers write primarily in a customized version of Java. Apps can be downloaded through third party sites or through online stores such as Google Play (formally Android Market). As of February 2012 there was more than 450,000 apps available for Androids.
Android Android was listed as the best selling smartphone operating system world wide in Q4 2010 with over 300 million Android devices in use by February 2012. According to Google s Andy Rubin, as of February 2012 there are over 850,000 Android devices activated every day.
Android Rooting Similar to ios devices, many people want more control, and therefore root the device. Rooting is often performed with the goal of overcoming limitations that carriers and hardware manufacturers put on some devices. This results in the ability to alter or replace system applications and settings, run specialized apps that require administrator-level permissions, or perform other operations that are otherwise inaccessible to a normal Android user.
Android One of the potential downsides to rooting is some phone makers consider it to be "modifying" the phone, which may void the warranty. However, if the phone is un-rooted before the user tries to use his or her warranty, there is no easy way for the warranty provider to know that the phone was previously rooted.
Android Rooting basically allows the user of the phone administrative access to the device. The term "bricking" is used to describe a device which has had its software modified improperly to the point where it is no longer functioning.
RIM Blackberry OS is a proprietary mobile operating system. It was developed by Research In Motion (RIM) out of Waterloo, Canada.
RIM The operating system provides multitasking and supports specialized input devices that have been adopted by RIM for use in its handhelds. In particular the trackwheel and trackball, and most recently the trackpad and touchscreen
RIM The Blackberry OS is perhaps best known for its native support for corporate email which allows complete wireless activation and synchronization with Microsoft Exchange email, calendar, tasks, notes and contacts. Very secure devices. Have many U.S. Government contracts despite not being an American company.
RIM The operating system is Java based. The initial version 1.0 for Pager Blackberry 580 in January 1999 Version 3.6 was the first version made for a handheld device (Blackberry 5810) in March 2002. The latest version is 7.1 which was released in May 2011 and used on the Blackberry Bold 9930
RIM On September 27, 2010, RIM announced a new unrelated QNX based platform, Blackberry Tablet OS to run on its recently released Blackberry Playbook tablet. QNX is a Unix based (Open Source) operating system aimed primarily at the embedded systems market. QNX is currently included in the Blackberry Tablet OS and will power the next generation Blackberry 10 OS, which is expected to be released in the second half of 2012
RIM In March of 2012, RIM related that they are considering ceding the consumer market to other manufacturers. State that they will concentrate on the corporate market.
Palm Started in 1992 designing software for PDA devices. Became well know for the Palm Pilot. webos was introduced by Palm in January 2009 as the successor to PalmOS. After years of partnerships with various different companies, they were acquired in April 2010 by HP (Hewlett Packard). They then released webos.
webos The webos is based on the Linux Kernel, and was originally designed by Palm. After HP acquired Palm, they released the HP webos as a new entry into the smartphone market. In late 2011 HP let HP webos become Open Source.
webos Devices The Palm Pre, Palm Pre Plus, Palm Pixi and Palm Pixi Plus run webos version 1.4.5 The Pre 2, Pre 3 and the Veer run webos version 2.X The HP TouchPad runs webos version 3
webos Features Interface webos uses multi touch gestures to navigate on the touchscreen. The interface uses cards to manage multitasking and represent apps. The user switches between running applications by a flicking gesture from left and right on the screen. Applications are closed by flicking a card up and off the screen.
webos Features Synergy WebOS integrates information from many sources. Users can sign in to multiple email accounts from different providers and integrated all of these sources into a single list. Similar capabilities pull together calendars and also instant messages and SMS text messages from multiple sources.
webos Features Notifications webos features an unobtrusive notification area located on the bottom portion of the screen on phones, and on the top status bar area on tablets. On phones, when a notification comes in, it slides in from the bottom of the screen. After the notification slides away, it usually remains as an icon. The user can then tap on the icons to expand them. Notifications can then be dismissed (sliding off the screen), acted upon (tapping), or left alone.
webos Features Synchronization webos uses a cloud based approach rather than using a desktop sync client. The first version of the webos shipped with the ability to sync with Apple s itunes software by masquerading as an Apple device. However, this feature was disabled by subsequent software updates from Apple.
webos Features Third Party Applications Third party apps are accessible from the device for wireless download by using the App Catalog. Another source of apps is know as Homebrew. Homebrew is not directly supported by HP
Windows Mobile Developed by Microsoft for smartphones. It s based on the Windows CE kernal and first appeared as the Pocket PC 2000. It is supplied with a suite of basic applications developed with the Microsoft Windows API, (formerly WinAPI, Microsoft's core set of application programming interfaces) and is designed to have features and appearance somewhat similar to desktop versions of Windows.
Windows Mobile Common Features Most versions of Windows Mobile have a set of standard features such as multitasking and the ability to navigate a file system similar to that of Windows 9x/Windows NT, with support for many of the same file types. It comes bundled with a set of applications to perform basic tasks.
Windows Mobile Common Features Continued Internet Explorer Mobile is the default internet browser. Windows Media Player is used for media playback, such as video and music. Microsoft Office Mobile, the mobile version Microsoft Office applications, including Outlook Mobile is the default office suite.
Windows Mobile There are three main versions of Windows Mobile for various hardware devices Windows Mobile Professional runs on smartphones with touchscreens. Windows Mobile Standard runs on mobile phones without touchscreens. Windows Mobile Classic which runs on personal digital assistant (PDA s) or Pocket PCs.
Windows Mobile History (versions) Windows CE Pocket PC 2000 Pocket PC 2002 Windows Mobile 2003 Windows Mobile 2003 SE Windows Mobile 5 Windows Mobile 6 Windows Mobile 6.1 Windows Mobile 6.5
Windows Mobile Successor Windows Phone Windows Phone was launched in Europe, Singapore and Australia in October 2010 and released in US and Canada in November 2010 with the rest of the world following in 2011. Microsoft had originally planned to continue the Windows Mobile line to Windows Mobile 7, but that has been scrapped. Windows 8 is slated to have similar properties of Windows 7 phone. Microsoft has since renamed the operating system from Windows Phone series to Window Phone.
Symbian Symbian is a mobile operating system designed for smartphones and currently maintained by Accenture. The Symbian platform is the successor to Symbian OS and Nokia Series 60. The latest version of Symbian is Symbian^3 was released in the 4 th quarter of 2010 and first used in the Nokia N8 phone.
Symbian In May 2011 an update, Symbian Anna, was officially announced followed by Nokia Belle in August 2011. Proprietary OS Programmed in C++ Accounted for 29.2 percent of worldwide smartphone market in Q1 of 2011.
Symbian History The Symbian platform was created by merging and integrating software assets contributed by Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Sony Ericsson and Symbian Ltd. In December 2008 Nokia bought Symbian Ltd. The company behind Symbian OS. In February 2011 Nokia announced a partnership with Microsoft which would see it adopt Windows Phone 7 for smartphones.
Symbian Symbian^3 (latest version) Allows for multiple home screens with a widget manager to help you customize each panel with the information you want such as email, weather, social networking, news and more. A simple swipe gesture will help you navigate between the screen. Multitouch support enables gestures such as pinching to zoom and flicking to scroll.
Symbian Offers HDMI support letting you plug your phone into a TV and watch a HD movie at 1080p quality without a Blu-ray player. Symbian^3 implemented a one click connectivity for all applications. This allows you to set global settings for how the phone connects to the Internet. Therefore it doesn t ask you each time whether you want to connect via cellular network or Wi-Fi.