A smartphone is
a cellular telephone with
an integrated computer and other features not originally associated with
telephones such as an operating system, web browsing, and the ability to
run software applications. Smartphones can be used by individuals in
both a consumer and a business context, and are now almost
integral to everyday modern life.
Popular uses
- Many consumers use their smartphones to engage with friends, family and brands on social media.
- Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn all have mobile apps that a user can download from their phone's app store. These apps make it possible for smartphone users to post personal updates and photos while on the go.
- Another common use for smartphones is health and wellness tracking. The Health app for iOS, for instance, can keep track of sleep behavior, nutrition, body measurements, vital signs, mental health exercises and more.
- Third-party wearable devices, such as smartwatches, can connect with a smartphone to monitor an individual's health statistics, such as heart rate, and send information to be aggregated on the phone.
- Mobile payment is another widespread use for smartphones. Wallet features allow users to save credit card information on their phones to use when purchasing items at retail stores. Apps such as Apple Pay also enable users to pay other iOS users directly from their phones.
Smartphone use in the enterprise
BlackBerry devices were the first
popular smartphone many organizations offered to their employees for business
use due to BlackBerry's history with strong security. As smartphones added more
advanced productivity features, security techniques and integrations with IT
management tools, they began gaining popularity in the enterprise.
IT professionals in many
organizations today support employees that want to use their smartphones for
work. Businesses can adopt enterprise mobility management (EMM) tools to control this
use, and can develop a bring your own device (BYOD) policy to govern what users can do with
their devices. Apple and Google have both worked to improve the enterprise
capabilities of their mobile operating systems (OSs), enabling IT to better support iPhone and
Android devices in businesses.
Because the smartphone form factor is
typically smaller than a desktop computer, business users typically use it for
quick tasks, such as sending an email. Tablets and 2-in-1 devices have also joined the
mobile device market as alternatives to both smartphones and PCs for enterprise
use.
Important features
One of the most important elements of
a smartphone is its connection to an app store. An app store is a
centralized portal where users can search for and download software
applications to run on their phones. A typical app store offers thousands
of mobile apps for productivity, gaming,
word processing, note-taking, organization, social media and more.
The following are some of the other
key features of a smartphone:
- Internet connectivity.
- A mobile browser.
- The ability to sync more than one email account to a device.
- Embedded memory.
- A hardware or software-based QWERTY keyboard.
- Wireless synchronization with other devices, such as laptop or desktop computers.
- The ability to download applications and run them independently.
- Support for third-party applications.
- The ability to run multiple applications simultaneously.
- Touchscreen.
- Wi-Fi.
- A digital camera, typically with video capability.
- Gaming.
- Unified messaging.
- GPS.
A smartphone also has the ability to
support accessories, including Bluetooth headphones,
power charging cables and extra speakers. Because of the fragile outer casing
of most smartphones, users often also purchase screen protectors and more
durable cases to put their phones in.
Because they run an OS and applications,
smartphones get consistent software updates. Vendors update their mobile OSs a
few times a year. Individual mobile apps in an app store also
get constant software updates that users can either choose to install or
ignore.
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