Mobile technology, specifically the type of technology found on mobile phones, has increased at breakneck speeds over the past several decades. Today's phones are capable of using GPS receivers, various forms of Internet connections and numerous data connectivity types. Most of today's phones also come with different keyboard form factors and several types of touchscreen use. When examining mobile phone technology, the options listed above are some of the newest and most important mobile technologies available.
Mobile GPS Receiver Technology
There are two types of GPS technology found on modern mobile phones. The first technology is a built-in GPS Receiver. Built-in receivers typically use a SIRF III chipset that allows phones to find up to 20 GPS satellites at one time, allowing for pinpoint accuracy. Built-in receivers are also low-power systems, ensuring no interference with the devices calling and other functions. The second piece of GPS technology, known as "Assisted GPS" or more commonly "A-GPS," uses the phone's cellular towers to triangulate the user's location to within several feet. A-GPS is much faster in determining a user's exact location than standard GPS and is often used by itself and in conjunction with GPS receivers to provide quick directions almost instantaneously.
Mobile Internet Connections
There are currently four commonly used types of mobile Internet connections. The first option, known as GPRS, is the slowest of available connections at 60kbps. The second type of technology, known as EDGE service, can run at speeds up to 473.6kbps, while 3G speeds are able to reach speeds up to 7.2mbps when used with a technology known as HSDPA (High speed Downlink Packet Access). The final type of technology known as 4G (4th Generation) is currently used in the United States with the names WiMax and LTE (Long Term Evolution) and currently (as of May 2010) features speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G; however, 4G technology is still in the stages of infancy, and download speeds are more commonly closer to 3G technology rates.
Mobile Technology Data Connection Types
Mobile phones can connect to various devices through the use of Bluetooth and USB ports and several different types of headset jacks. Bluetooth technology allows phones to connect Bluetooth headsets, printers and other Bluetooth-enabled devices from up to 30 feet away. It should be noted that Bluetooth technology uses up to three times more power than traditional infrared ports (which are no longer used). Bluetooth-enabled phones can often connect to several devices at one time once "paired" to those devices and require no wires. A second type of connection is USB. USB ports include mini, micro and standard USB 2.0 options, each of which vary in size. USB ports can be used to transfer information between devices (phone-to-phone, computer-to-phone and phone-to-computer) and for charging purposes on many devices. Some USB-enabled phones that do not offer headset jacks also allow for USB-enabled headsets to be used. For audiophiles, users can also find headphone jacks on many popular mobile phones. Headphone jacks come in two sizes 2.5mm (non-standard) and 3.5mm (standard). However, if you are using the wrong size headphone jack, adapters are available to convert your headphone to the correct size.
Keypad and Keyboard Types
Mobile phones currently offer several types of keypad layouts. The standard phone keypad features a standard phone output such as the keypad found on the Motorola Razr; however, many phones also offer full QWERTY keypads, which offer the same keys found on a PC keyboard, placed in the same order as a keyboard. Blackberry also offers a technology known as "SureType" in which two letters are placed on each key and those letters are located in the same QWERTY keyboard locations. The Blackberry Flip line of cell phones are an example of SureType based phone technology. Keyboards may also be featured on the front of the phone or they may offer sliding keyboards that slide or tilt out of the way when not in use, revealing only the phone's screen. An example of a sliding QWERTY keyboard would be the HTC Tilt2, while a front-side keyboard would be the Blackberry 7800.
Resisitive Vs. Capacitive Touchscreen Technology
Resistive technology is an older yet still-used form of mobile touchscreen technology. Resistive screens rely on pressure to determine where a user has touched on a screen; most typically, a stylus is used to provide pinpoint pressure tapping. Resistive technology works because the screen uses several layers of screen depth, as the first layer is pressed it pushes upon another layer, causing a circuit to be completed which notifies the phones OS as to where the user has pressed. Capacitive touchscreen technology is most commonly used with the user's fingertip and uses electrodes to sense when a conductive object has touched the screen (such as a body part). Once the screen has been touched the Capacitive screens X and Y axis senses where the circuit was broken and then tells the phone's OS where the touch occurred. Capacitive technology does not rely on hard screen pressing and will not work with standard plastic or metal stylus pens due to the conductive nature of the screens.
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