A smartphone is a portable device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, which facilitate wider software, internet (including web browsing over mobile broadband), and multimedia functionality (including music, video, cameras, and gaming), alongside core phone functions such as voice calls and text messaging. Smartphones typically contain a number of metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit (IC) chips, include various sensors that can be leveraged by pre-included and third-party software (such as a magnetometer, proximity sensors, barometer, gyroscope, accelerometer and more), and support wireless communications protocols (such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or satellite navigation).

A typical smartphone has a high-resolution touch screen display, WiFi connectivity, Web browsing capabilities, and the ability to accept sophisticated applications.

Another Definition: Smartphones are small computers with Wi-Fi and mobile phone connectivity to allow them to make phone calls and access the internet. They also include features of other devices such as cameras, media players and hand-held games consoles. They have a more advanced operating system than other mobile phones. Applications (or apps) can be downloaded onto the smartphone, which allow users to customise their smartphones with entertainment, educational and business features. Most smartphones use a touch screen to allow users to input information. A virtual keyboard is used to enter text, numbers and other characters. Because they combine so many features, smartphones use more power than other types of mobile phone. This means that they have a shorter battery life and need to be charged more regularly than other mobile phones.

Digital cameras and camcorders use light sensors to capture images formed by light passing through the device’s lens. Traditionally, cameras are used to capture still images and camcorders are used to capture moving images.

However, most digital cameras can now film moving images and most camcorders can photograph still images.

The quality of the image captured by the camera depends on the quality of the lens, the image processor and the resolution of the sensor.

◾◾ A good lens allows light to travel through it without introducing any defects. It also allows the user to choose how much light can travel through it, which affects the final image.

◾◾ A good image processor can compensate for poor lighting conditions.

◾◾ Digital images are made up of small dots called pixels. Better-quality sensors can capture more detail and produce images with a greater number of pixels. The sensor resolution of a camera is expressed as the number of pixels that can be captured, as shown in Table 1.1. Some cameras use more than one sensor, each dedicated to a different colour or wavelength of light.

Blu-ray and DVD players connect to televisions in order to play films and other content that is stored on DVD or Blu-ray disks (see page 39 for more on Blu-ray media). Blu-ray players will usually play DVD disks, but DVD players will not play Blu-ray disks.

Blu-ray disks can store HD movies, which have higher-quality picture and sound. Newer 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray players can play 4K content on 4K televisions.

Media players provide video and audio content to a television. This content could be streamed directly from the internet or accessed from networked or local storage. Media players can be connected to a television directly or using a wired or wireless network. They are controlled using a remote control or, in some cases, a smartphone app. Some media players offer output in 4K.

Personal media players are compact, portable devices with local storage to hold media files for playback. They are useful when travelling or exercising due to their small size and long battery life. They often use solid state flash memory storage (see page 62), which is not affected by being moved or shaken.

▲ Figure 1.19 Have you used any other examples of media players?

Navigation aids (such as Sat-Nav) can calculate the best route between two or more locations and can provide updates to the route if it is not followed accurately. They are commonly used in cars, delivery vans and ships.

They provide visual prompts and alerts to help drivers take the correct route, such as by taking a particular turning. Specialist devices with audio alerts and waterproof and shockproof cases are available for walkers, cyclists and runners.

Navigation aids use information from GPS satellites to determine the exact location of the device on Earth. Navigation aids also use orientation sensors to know which way the device is currently pointing, and the device will display the user’s position and orientation on a map. Maps are either stored permanently on the device or downloaded from the internet when they are needed.

GPS does NOT need internet connectivity in order to work. However, navigation aids need internet connectivity in order to update map data. Smartphones are now replacing specialist in-car navigation aids. There are many navigation apps for smartphones which have a range of features.

DID YOU KNOW?

GPS satellites orbit more than 20km above Earth. They are accurate to within 5 meters.

One type of emerging technology is a group of devices that can be used to create smart homes. For example, home automation devices can connect a range of digital devices which sense and control functions in the home, such as temperature and lighting.

These functions can be controlled from apps on smartphones or the internet.

A smartphone is a type of mobile phone, which means that its primary function is to make phone calls. It can also be used to take photographs or to function as a navigation aid, fitness tracker, music player or handheld games console.

Because a smartphone can perform such a range of different functions, it is classed as a multifunctional device.

As they develop, devices like smartphones often adopt technologies and features from other types of device. This is called convergence.

Convergence blurs the distinction between different types of device. For example, smartphones and tablet devices are very similar. They are different in that a smartphone has mobile phone network connectivity and is smaller than a tablet device. However, newer smartphones are getting bigger to look more like tablets (and are known as ‘phablets’), while tablet devices can now connect to mobile phone networks. Similarly, most smartphones have digital cameras, while some digital cameras have Wi-Fi and mobile phone network connectivity.

In the busy market of buzzwords, technology convergence doesn’t have a place, at least not yet. Maybe, what may come out of the conjunction of these two words isn’t yet that apparent to the human mind.

What our reality makes obvious is that technology, notably the one based on bits, microchips and tons of data, is evolving at breakneck speed and already defining what comes next for individuals, businesses and society as a whole (but we may not know it yet).

Generally speaking, technology convergence is the combination of two or more different technologies to create a new product, one that has the potential to disrupt established markets, and, if successful, create new ones. However, when we refer to technology convergence in this article, we think of “The Essential 8” mingling among them, working in tandem, more powerfully. Think of blockchain together with artificial intelligence and IoT working seamlessly, resulting in something new.

History gives us a few good examples of this phenomenon, one of them being the car. It’s, in fact, the merging of a horse carriage with a steam engine, which results in a horseless and fast carriage. Another conspicuous example is the mobile phone.

We may be living the prequel of an era where the most promising digital technology solutions will arrive, conquer and reign because of their transforming possibilities to do business better, create new markets and advance societies.

What technology have meant to us

Since the dawn of humanity, technology has been key to us. However, what digital technology is managing to do—become an intimate element of our lives, one that’s making us more vulnerable and dependent —is unsettling for many individuals and businesses alike.

During the times of pandemic, digital technology has become an indispensable support to human lives, and it continues to be so.

Habit changes we’ve gone through due to technology over the past decades are almost countless: looking for a job online instead of in a newspaper; calling from a mobile phone instead using a home phone; watching a series when we want and on the device we want, broadcasted by streaming services and not by traditional TV channels. All these apparently “little” developments have had a major impact on our way of living. And now, the era of robots has come, creating a trepidation feeling when we think of them walking among us.

According to the PwC Hopes and Fears Report 2020, 53% of workers believe that technology will significantly change their jobs –or make them obsolete– within 10 years.

Solutions coming out of any technology convergence have no intention to erase “the human factor” and take over. On the contrary, it’s about using technology for the better of humans, to enhance their life and the environment they live in, to create solutions to solve both local and global problems such as global warming.