Much confusion has arisen over the level of support for GPS in Apple’s iPad 2, introduced in 2011. There are two reasons for this confusion. The first source of confusion is that there are two types of iPad 2. There is a 3G-capable model (which can use the cellphone network), and a WiFi-only model. Apple’s [more...]
Apple’s iPhone 4 and Nokia’s N900 are both advanced mobile phones with web browsers and music players, yet they are very different products. Apple’s iPhone offers a streamlined but controlled user experience, while Nokia’s N900 is unconstrained and powerful but perhaps somewhat uneven and unrefined. For many purchasers their preference will depend on the included [more...]
Two display technologies are commonly mentioned in cellphone specifications: LCD and AMOLED. How do they differ? Is one better than the other? An LCD is a Liquid Crystal Display. The molecules of a liquid crystal can line themselves up like a crystal, but they can also move like a liquid when an electric charge is [more...]
Towards the end of 2009, high-end smartphones were released by Nokia and HTC. Although they both have large, high-resolution screens they are two very different devices. What’s the comparison between Nokia’s N900 and HTC’s HD2? Both are convergence devices, but the most striking differences are that the N900 is a chunky side-slider with a hardware [more...]
When a new device incorporates the functionality of two or more earlier devices, it is a converged device. The development of a convergence device occurs when miniaturization or economics makes it possible to cram extra functionality into an existing device, or when technology common to two devices is factored out to make a more efficient [more...]
Maemo is a trademark of Nokia, used to describe some of their products and services. Hmm, that doesn’t explain much, does it? Maemo is described by Nokia themselves as “an advanced Linux-based operating system designed to run on high-end Nokia mobile computers”. Even that description doesn’t help much—until you learn that what Nokia calls a [more...]
Amongst mobile phones, the king of the displays is currently (as at September 2009) Toshiba’s TG01 with its 4.1 inch screen (cellphone screens are measured diagonally). Waiting in the wings are phones with even larger displays from HTC and Archos. The Nokia E90′s display is only slightly smaller at 4.0 inches, but this phone is [more...]
In June 2009, most of the big mobile phone makers decided to adopt the micro-USB connector as the standard for their chargers. Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, LG, Samsung, NEC and others have agreed to use this connector. Apple is going to keep their proprietary connector for the iPhone, but will produce a micro-USB adapter so [more...]
The form factor of a mobile phone is a general description of its shape and mechanical function, and can have a big impact on the usability of the cellphone. The most basic shape is the candybar which is at least as long as a Mars Bar, almost as thick and somewhat wider. This provides space [more...]
It’s easy to lose the stylus from a touchscreen device such as a mobile phone, internet tablet or PDA. What can you use as a replacement? It needs to be pointed enough to activate a precise location on the screen, yet soft enough that it won’t scratch the screen. One possibility is to take some [more...]
A modern cellphone must of course include a cellular radio transmitter and receiver. But many feature-phones and smartphones contain other kinds of radio. A basic GSM phone such as the Nokia 3120 contains a cellular transceiver capable of operating on multiple frequency bands, three in this case: 850MHz, 1800MHz and 1900MHz. For maximum connectivity around [more...]
Most countries have a short phone number to contact the police, fire or ambulance services. In the United Kingdom the emergency call number is 999, and was introduced in 1937. But why was 999 chosen? Back then, the digits from 2 to 8 were used at the start of regular telephone numbers. The telephone dial [more...]
The terms HSPA, HS*PA, HSDPA and HSUPA all relate to the high speed data access provided by high-specification cellphones and the cellular networks to which those phones are attached. These are “high speed” technologies over and above that provided by “third generation” (3G) cellphone technology. HSDPA stands for “high speed downlink packet access” and is [more...]