(1) A cellular telephone with built-in applications and Internet access. Smartphones provide digital voice service as well as any combination of text messaging, e-mail, Web browsing, still camera, video camera, MP3 player, video player, television and organizer. In addition to their built-in functions, smartphones have become application delivery platforms, turning the once single-minded cellphone into a mobile computer. See smartphone keyboard, PDA, Pocket PC, Symbian OS, Palm, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, iPhone and Android.
It Took More than a Decade
In 1994, IBM and BellSouth introduced a combination phone and PDA called the Simon Personal Communicator. Often touted as the first smartphone, the Simon was costly and heavy (see personal communicator). It took another decade before smartphones became small and powerful enough to be widely used, but since the advent of the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry Storm, smartphones are creating a revolution (see "Smartphones - Truly Personal" in hot topics and trends).
(2) (Smartphone) Microsoft branded the term with a capital "S" within its Windows Mobile Platform.
An Early Smartphone
In 2002, this Treo model from Palm was one of the first smartphones. It used the Palm OS to run Palm's venerable PDA application along with e-mail and Web browsing. (Image courtesy of Palm, Inc.)
Apple's iPhone
No cellphone caused as much buzz as the iPhone. Introduced in 2007, people camped out overnight to be first to own one. Its touch screen caused a paradigm shift in mobile user interfaces (see iPhone). (Image courtesy of Apple Inc.)
More Innovation Followed
Other innovative touch screens soon followed the iPhone. Introduced in 2008, these HTC Touch Diamond models integrate music player, GPS, camera and high-speed Internet access. (Image courtesy of HTC Corporation, www.htc.com)
It Took More than a Decade
In 1994, IBM and BellSouth introduced a combination phone and PDA called the Simon Personal Communicator. Often touted as the first smartphone, the Simon was costly and heavy (see personal communicator). It took another decade before smartphones became small and powerful enough to be widely used, but since the advent of the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry Storm, smartphones are creating a revolution (see "Smartphones - Truly Personal" in hot topics and trends).
(2) (Smartphone) Microsoft branded the term with a capital "S" within its Windows Mobile Platform.
An Early Smartphone
In 2002, this Treo model from Palm was one of the first smartphones. It used the Palm OS to run Palm's venerable PDA application along with e-mail and Web browsing. (Image courtesy of Palm, Inc.)
Apple's iPhone
No cellphone caused as much buzz as the iPhone. Introduced in 2007, people camped out overnight to be first to own one. Its touch screen caused a paradigm shift in mobile user interfaces (see iPhone). (Image courtesy of Apple Inc.)
More Innovation Followed
Other innovative touch screens soon followed the iPhone. Introduced in 2008, these HTC Touch Diamond models integrate music player, GPS, camera and high-speed Internet access. (Image courtesy of HTC Corporation, www.htc.com)
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2009 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- Google classic homepage sports Motorola Droid ad
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- Blog posts 2009-11-06
- MobileTechRoundup show #189; Verizon DROID choices, Moblin 2.1 for netbooks
- Today is the launch of the Motorola DROID and HTC DROID ERIS on Verizon and James has the DROID in hand. Kevin is triple booting his netbook and the new Moblin 2.1 OS looks slick enough for me to give a try on my MSI Wind soon too. We also...
- Blog posts 2009-11-06
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- Blog posts 2009-11-06
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- Blog posts 2009-11-06
- News to know: Windows 7; Google Dashboard; Driving while texting; Steve Jobs; Droid
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- Blog posts 2009-11-06
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- Blog posts 2009-11-05
- Verizon's HTC DROID ERIS may be the best $100 smartphone
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- Discussion threads 2009-11-05
- Verizon's HTC DROID ERIS may be the best $100 smartphone
- Readers here know how much I enjoyed using the HTC Hero and now we see HTC coming out with its 3rd version of the Hero and IMHO the third time is the charm. I had a chance to hold and play a bit with the HTC DROID ERIS (Verizon's version...
- Blog posts 2009-11-05
- Revisiting the Motorola Droid on Verizon [Q&A]
- Why the hate for drag and drop?Almost every review I have read faults the Droid because you can't auto-sync music:"(You can dump your music on a microSD card and pop it in, but it?s a copy-paste files affair, not a ?load my music? integrated experience.)"The Droid ships with a 16...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-05
- Revisiting the Motorola Droid on Verizon
- Here's a gallery illustrating the new features of the Motorola Droid Google Android smartphone on Verizon. by Andrew Nusca
- Image galleries 2009-11-05
- News to know: Intel; Microsoft layoffs; Motorola, Palm; Oracle-Sun; MSN
- Here are today's notable headlines. You can get News To Know via email alert and RSS daily. For continuous updates see BNET's around-the-Web tech coverage.: Sam Diaz: New York AG files antitrust charges against Intel; alleges bribery, coercion Mary Jo Foley: Are the Microsoft...
- Blog posts 2009-11-05
- Revisiting the Motorola Droid on Verizon: evaluating the details
- You wanted to know more about the quirks of Motorola's new Droid smartphone. On the eve of its launch on Verizon, I address all your questions. by Andrew Nusca
- Blog posts 2009-11-04
- The iPhone is one of the best phones in the world, carriers with it are the problem
- far from perfect indeedIt's a great gadget...until it freezes and you have to wait several minutes while you reboot it. That is if you know how to reboot it, the first time is always accompanied with panic because you think the thing went dead. Don't blame the carriers,...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-04
- Q3 09 Canalys smartphone data shows RIM increasing 40% over 2008
- wowmatthew, call me impressed. you finally get it!"It seems that the consumer cares more for the experience and UI than the ability to customize and tweak their device."To tweak or not to tweak"It seems that the consumer cares more for the experience and UI than the ability to customize and...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-04
- HTC HD2 coming to major US carrier in early 2010
- I know the latest smartphone market share data shows both Windows Mobile and HTC down over the last year, but there is one HTC Windows Mobile device that has me quite excited and if it comes to the US with support for T-Mobile then I will buy it. HTC today...
- Blog posts 2009-11-04
- Q3 09 Canalys smartphone data shows RIM increasing 40% over 2008
- Canalys posted their 3rd quarter 2009 figures and as you can RIM had an amazing year going from 15.2% to 20.6% of the global market share (an increase of 40.8%). A bit surprisingly to me, Nokia actually saw a 6% increase in its market share too while Apple predictibly increased...
- Blog posts 2009-11-04
- Motorola and Palm; will 2009 be designated as a comeback year?
- wrongwell matthew, because you have been wrong consistently about the smartphone market the last few years i would argue they are both doomed, when you like them. the pre doesn't help palm as it should regardless of critical acclaim and motorola will participate in the race to the bottom (margin...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-04
- Motorola and Palm; will 2009 be designated as a comeback year?
- Many of us believed that Palm was on the ropes and getting ready to go down for the count at the end of 2008, but they came out swinging at CES with the announcement of the Pre and WebOS. Motorola was a leader in the mobile phone business for years,...
- Blog posts 2009-11-04
- Second Motorola Droid ad lands: 'What in the world is that?'
- The second Verizon advertisement for the Motorola Droid smartphone has landed, and it's a full minute of cinematic storytelling in the form of vaguely apocalyptic imagery. by Andrew Nusca
- Blog posts 2009-11-03
- Do you really want to carry another device just for Twitter?
- A Twitter Device? Hmmm... it will probably be a hit for christmas and then die a painful sudden death!never really liked their stuffNever really liked their stuff - limited devices for prices that are still too high? No thanks.Frankly, I'm [b]much[/b] more interested in devices with Wi-Fi than with cell...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-03
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