Dec 07/Jan/08

You can easily confuse the latest smartphones with yesterday's PDAs. They have more and more of the same functionality, and their suppliers are now bidding for some of the same business market. Sharon Clancy reports

According to ABI Research, the market for GPS-enabled mobile phones is expected to grow from around 240 million units in 2008 to over 550 million handset shipments in 2012.

From the point of view of tracking and mobile computing, a particularly significant development in this market, according to ABI, is that the mobile industry has evidently reached the stage where we can now expect to see rapid growth in the GPS-enabled handset market.

This is thanks largely to the fact that chipset manufacturers now have solutions in place that will allow the integration of GPS into handsets at relatively low cost, providing significant improvements in terms of accuracy, time-to-first-fix and reception in indoor environments.

 

On the services side, mobile operators and navigation application developers are coming up with attractive location-based service (LBS) offerings. Also, handset vendors are showing greater interest not only in providing GPS-enabled handsets, but also in introducing their own GPS-centric applications and services.

Operating systems

So what is a smartphone, anyway, and how does it differ from a telephone-enabled PDA? Probably the key difference is that many smartphones use the Symbian operating system, while most PDAs use a version of Windows Mobile. Symbian has the larger market share, thanks in part to parent Nokia's dominant share of the smartphone market as a whole, and its strong relationship with Japanese giant NTT DoCoMo. Motorola, Samsung, LG and BenQ are also Symbian users.

But Microsoft's Windows Mobile is gradually gaining market share in the smartphone world, extending its already established presence in the PDA and ruggedised PDA market, where developers are more famliar with Windows OS.

Research in Motion has its own operating system for BlackBerrys, and some devices operate on Palm OS or Linux Phone.

Convergence

One reason it is dififcult to distinguish between PDAs and phones is that smartphones now incorporate many of the features once unique to other forms of handheld device. This includes Internet access, calender, word processing and contact lists. Some of the latest top-range models even include QWERTY keyboards.

Features such as colour screens, touchscreens and Wi-Fi access can also be found in both types of device, along with scroll wheels and touch-screen capability.

PDAs for business use, including the BlackBerry and Palm Treo, have full keyboards and scroll wheels or thumb wheels to facilitate data entry and navigation, in addition to supporting touch-screen input. Both also have removable memory cards.

Memory cards

Although many early PDAs didn't have memory card slots, now most have an SD (Secure Digital) or a CompactFlash slot. Although originally designed for memory, SDIO and CompactFlash cards are also available for such uses as connecting to

Wi-Fi and webcams. Some PDAs also have a USB port, mainly for USB flash drives.

As more PDAs include telephone support, many now offer miniSD or microSD slots instead of full-sized SD slots - a move that helps to keep the size down.

Most modern PDAs have Bluetooth wireless connectivity, an increasingly popular tool for mobile devices. It can be used to connect keyboards, headsets, GPS and many other accessories, as well as sending files between PDAs. Many mid-range and superior PDAs also have Wi-Fi/WLAN/802.11-connectivity, which is used for connecting to Wi-Fi hotspots or wireless networks.

Synchronisation

An important feature of most PDAs is their ability to synchronise data with a PC. This allows up-to-date contact information stored on software such as Microsoft Outlook or ACT! to be imported to the PDA, updating a database stored locally on it, and for locally stored data to be transferred back to the host.

The synchronising helps guard against the risk of loss of information if the portable device should be lost, stolen or destroyed. Another advantage is that data input is usually a lot quicker on a PC, since text input via a touch screen is still far from optimal. Transferring data to a PDA via the computer is therefore a lot quicker than having to input all data on the handheld device manually.

Rugged PDAs

For many years businesses and government organisations have relied upon rugged PDAs for mobile data applications. Typically such organisations might use them for supply-chain management in warehouses, package delivery, van sales, medical treatment and record-keeping in hospitals, facilities maintenance and management, parking enforcement, access control and security, capital asset maintenance, meter-reading by utilities, and 'wireless waitress' applications in restaurants and hospitality venues

The question is, how viable might it be to use smartphones in some of these situations?

Smartphones come in all shapes and sizes, with no standard set of features, so you need to decide what you actually want from your device: arguably a more challenging situation than with PDAs, where the basic operating system is likely to be a version of Windows CE, and the main differences will be in connectivity options and installed software.

So what should you look for in a smartphone? Well, if you regularly work away from the office, the ability to connect to the Internet at reliable speeds is crucial. If you need to write long documents, send long emails or enter large amounts of data, then you'll probably appreciate a full QWERTY keypad.

Keyboard

However a full QWERTY keyboard does add to a handset's size. A compromise is to use a touch-screen keyboard, but phones that rely on this are less than ideal for entering data, though they are generally more portable. Numeric mobile phone keypads are even smaller, but can also be awkward for data entry.

Although smartphones have larger memories than regular mobiles, they're still limited. If you plan to take lots of photographs or save a lot of data, look for models with a memory card slot. A free 64MB to 1GB card may be included with your handset.

Camera

As part of their mobile phone set of features, most smartphones incorporate a digital camera. The typical camera resolution is between 1 and 2 megapixels, which is a long way short of the 5 or 6 megapixels found nowadays in standard mid-range digital cameras, though it's still a big step forward from early camera-equipped phones. And resolutions are improving; some models have already even broken through the 3 megapixel barrier.

Music players might seem 'consumer-ish' for business applications, but often they're included by default in smartphones, and can help gain acceptance for the device among employees.

As for mobile data download speeds, anyone used to fast fixed-broadband speeds may feel frustrated with the rather slower performance of smartphones using a GPRS or 2.5G network. In relative terms they're infinitely faster than those almost-forgotten WAP phones of yesteryear, but expectations constantly rise. EDGE technology enhances 2.5g performance, but availability is limited, and a 3G network would be faster. Some mobile phone network operators are now starting to offer HSDPA in some areas (this may also be referred to as 3.5G).

Wireless connectivity, or Wi-Fi, is far from standard on smartphones yet, but is fairly widely available. It can provide cheaper Internet access than a standard mobile phone tariff, though of course it's constrained by the availability of Wi-Fi networks. But that's improving all the time.

Most smartphones allow you to read Microsoft Office documents from applications such as Word or Excel. However, different models have different capabilities. Some are not compatible with Powerpoint and PDF file formats, and some only allow very limited editing functionality.

Push email

Most smartphones can send and receive emails. The choice here is between 'push' email system, first popularised by the BlackBerry series, and more conventional email access. 'Push' means that messages are delivered to the phone as soon as they are sent. Other systems only check for messages periodically, or when you request it.

Operating systems

Inevitably, any development by Microsoft is significant where mobile computing is involved. Windows Mobile 6, the latest incarnation of its embedded operating system for mobile devices, brought a number of advances. For instance, it adds calendar and contact applications, a new email search function and HTML support.

The naming can be tricky to get your mind around. Classic is the name for old Pocket PC edition; Standard is the smartphone edition; and Professional is the Pocket PC phone edition. Windows Mobile 6 Standard now has the full Microsoft Office Mobile Suite.

Email is a lot smarter on Windows Mobile 6. First, all devices are shipping with Microsoft's Direct Push technology, so you get real-time email delivery and automatic synchronisation with your Outlook calendar, tasks and contacts via Exchange Server.

Users do complain about the number of steps it takes with Windows to complete tasks such as closing a program. That said, Microsoft has also added nine new one-click shortcuts in version 6, which are handy; and you get more of the true 'Outlook experience'.

Symbian has also been busy upgrading its OS for the smartphone era to include touch-screen software, GPS, browsing and mapping. The Symbian version of Google Maps for Mobile is now available in C++ free, which should enhance its appeal to developers.

All this development means that smartphones are getting the functionality associated with PDAs, including integrated GPS and browsers. Samsung, for example, now offers GPS navigation on its Samsung i550. Based on Symbian 0S 9.2, this incorporates HSDPA 3.6Mbps for fast downloading.

The role of the networks

Sometimes choice of device can be determined by network. O2's deal for initial exclusivity for the Apple i-phone is an example of this.

Increasingly networks are also offering additional services to business customers, which include applications that previously they would have bought from a third-party. Now that voice traffic has been commoditised, all the networks are looking for services that will appeal to both consumer and business users.

Location-based services are data-heavy, but despite business users' qualms about the need to pay per download for, say, navigation information, there is already evidence that these services are generating extra traffic for the networks.

The mobile Internet is gaining momentum. Orange, for example, reports that mobile data traffic is already responsible for 22 per cent of its income. The Orange World mobile portal receives 2.34 million visits a month.

Vodafone has introduced a service simply called 'Mobile Internet', which it says allows customers to replicate on handsets what they do on their PC, whether that be sending email, browsing or selling on eBay. Such a system has become feasible without the need to upgrade phones thanks to the emergence of browser-based application software that will compress pages designed for the computer and transform them into mobile-friendly content. Vodafone even displays its version of the Google search engine on screen for browsing.

To access this service, users buy a 'data pack' for £7.50, which provides up to 120MB of data for mobile Internet use per month (equivalent to viewing 160 Internet pages a day each month, the company claims, or checking and replying to emails 10 times a day). There are no downloading or streaming costs.

Real-time mobile Internet services are also making it possible for smartphone providers to offer applications such as CoPilot Live 7 satellite navigation.

Integrated business applications

The networks are adopting other tactics, too, to enhance their appeal to business users. O2, for example, is just one which has teamed up with various third-party providers to offers solutions for workflow management, sales force automation and health and safety of lone workers. Features include electronic signature capture, asset tracking and job scheduling.

Last December, Vodafone flagged up its focus on the mobile business market when it acquired Aspective, the systems integration and applications supplier. This complementary acquisition allows Vodafone to benefit from Aspective's extensive experience in delivering CRM, field service automation and business intelligence solutions.

The system works by connecting the user's device across the Vodafone network to its 'Applications Service' server, which in turn is connected securely across the Internet, or via a configured connectivity route, through the customer's firewall to their enterprise applications. Pricing is set at £29 per month for one application.

Meanwhile, the networks have not forgotten that some of the largest corporate customers sometimes need help in mobilising corporate applications.

Orange Business Services has launched a Secure My Device system for SME business customers wanting to ramp up security for both fixed and mobile systems, aiming to provide enhanced network security without the need for extra server space or expensive IT overheads.

Vodafone's Applications Service is designed to help businesses roll out enterprise applications on mobile 'smart' devices. It is implemented and supported by a team of enterprise mobility solutions specialists, who evaluate specific customer needs and develop solutions for large-scale enterprise applications that have not been specifically designed for the mobile environment. They can also provide mobile access to legacy or bespoke applications on a project basis.

The client interface is designed in each case to provide only the necessary functions of the application that the user needs, optimising efficiency and keeping data transfer to a minimum. An intuitive user interface is also designed for the form factor and navigation of the device to be used.

What next?

Clearly smartphones are going to gain yet more functionality, posing an ever greater challenge to other mobile devices - which means the dividing lines between different types of system will probably become even more blurred than they are now.

That can only be good for users - though if there's anything to beware of in all this, it's the price you pay for data charges. This is where the network providers make their money, so in future, any business adopting this technology in a big way will have to keep as careful an eye on data charges as it once did on the cost of voice calls.