A cellular telephone with information access. It provides digital voice service as well as any combination of e-mail, text messaging, pager, Web access, voice recognition, still and/or video camera, MP3, TV or video player and organizer (see PDA).
Introduced in 1994 by IBM and BellSouth, the Simon Personal Communicator was a combination phone and PDA. Often mentioned as the first smartphone, the Simon was costly and heavy (see personal communicator). It took another decade before smartphones became widely used, and Apple's iPhone caused a frenzy when it came out in 2007 (see iPhone).
Smartphone Operating Systems
The major smartphone environments are Symbian, Blackberry, Palm and Windows Mobile. Microsoft branded the term "Smartphone" (capital S) within its Windows Mobile platform, and the iPhone uses a version of the Mac OS X operating system. See Pocket PC, BlackBerry, iPhone, smartphone virus, WAP, photo messaging and Internet appliance.
One of the First
One of the first smartphones, in 2002, this Treo cellphone used the Palm OS for organizer applications and offered 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. Packing many functions in a 2.4x4.5\" case .46\" thick, the iPhone has only one physical button for the main menu. The rest is all touch screen. (Image courtesy of Apple Inc.)
A Lot of Innovation Followed
Packing numerous functions and features, innovative touch screen smartphones 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)
Introduced in 1994 by IBM and BellSouth, the Simon Personal Communicator was a combination phone and PDA. Often mentioned as the first smartphone, the Simon was costly and heavy (see personal communicator). It took another decade before smartphones became widely used, and Apple's iPhone caused a frenzy when it came out in 2007 (see iPhone).
Smartphone Operating Systems
The major smartphone environments are Symbian, Blackberry, Palm and Windows Mobile. Microsoft branded the term "Smartphone" (capital S) within its Windows Mobile platform, and the iPhone uses a version of the Mac OS X operating system. See Pocket PC, BlackBerry, iPhone, smartphone virus, WAP, photo messaging and Internet appliance.
One of the First
One of the first smartphones, in 2002, this Treo cellphone used the Palm OS for organizer applications and offered 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. Packing many functions in a 2.4x4.5\" case .46\" thick, the iPhone has only one physical button for the main menu. The rest is all touch screen. (Image courtesy of Apple Inc.)
A Lot of Innovation Followed
Packing numerous functions and features, innovative touch screen smartphones 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) 1981-2008 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
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