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Jacklyn Rocha
BIT 25
Professor Scott
August 3, 2014
Smartphones and People
How many times do people buy the newest phone out there simply because it is new? The
company may have added minor improvements to the new phone. They may have had major
improvements. How many people know the differences? Some people buy the best phone out
there, and they do not even use it to its full potential. The phone they purchased may have
amazing capabilities and features, but the person is only using it to text and play Angry Birds. A
smartphone is more than just a device that allows people to call and text their friends.
Smartphones are high-tech devices, and it is important to know how they work, what they are
capable of, and how they affect society.
To fully understand smartphones, it is important to know what a smartphone is and what
the components are that make it up. Smartphones have gone above and beyond normal
telephony. They contain more features than just the cellular technology used to make calls.
Smartphones can be dened as a mobile phone with highly advanced features A smartphone
is expected to have a more powerful CPU, more storage space, more RAM, greater connectivity
options and larger screen than a regular cell phone. High-end smartphones now run on processors
with high processing speeds coupled with low power consumption (Techopedia,
Smartphone). Smartphones are basically handheld computers. Just like a computer, they all
have a processor, operating system, memory, input and output devices, and software.
Smartphone processors are responsible for managing plenty of tasks. According to the
book Technology in Action, the processor coordinates sending all of the data among the other
electronic components inside the phone. It also runs the cell phones OS (Evans, Martin, Poatsy
320). This small piece houses the most important elements of the smartphone. For example,
when reviewers are talking about the processors inside a smartphone they are usually referring
to the system-on-a-chip: a combination chipset that features things such as the actual processor
cores, the graphics chipset, the RAM and possibly ROM as well, interface controllers for things
such as USB and wireless tech, voltage regulators and more This reduces the size of the
component board needed inside and also can help make the device itself faster and more battery
efcient (Schiesser, Guide to smartphone hardware).
The operating system is another important component of a smartphone. Three of the most
well known operating systems are the iPhones iOS, the Android OS, and now Windows 8
mobile OS. What exactly do these operating systems do, though? According to Dave Coustan
from How Stuff Works, the operating system is there to manage the hardware and software
resources of the smartphone (How Smartphones Work). The operating system is what provides
the whole user interface. This interface allows you to change the phones settings, store data, and
play games (Evans, Martin, Poatsy 320).
Along with the operating system, smartphones come with different types of memory and
different amounts of memory. The memory is able to store all of the phones information and its
software and programs. One of the most important types of memory is the read-only memory or
the ROM. The ROM is the permanent memory that stores the phones data and the instructions
for starting it up. A smartphone will also include random-access memory or RAM. The RAM
will store critical les that are needed by the processor, waiting to be accessed. These les could
be things such as operating system components, application data and game graphics; or generally
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anything that needs to be accessed at speeds faster than other storage can provide (Schiesser,
Guide to smartphone hardware). Because this data is stored in the RAM, it can be speedily
accessed with a click. All the other phone data is stored on the internal memory chips. You can
even add extra memory to your smartphone with micro SD ash cards.
Another thing that distinguishes smartphones is their input and output devices. Two of the
main input devices of a smartphone are its touch pad and the microphone. These devices can be
used for more than just talking on the phone and texting. Touch pads can be used to play games.
The microphones can be used to record important lectures. Part of the smartphones output
devices are its screen that can provide beautiful visuals and speakers that can send out music.
Smartphones are equipped with the ability to provide basic features and tasks for people
to use. Some are so acquainted with using these tasks that they feel lost if they cannot use them.
Many of these features are at everyones disposal because with smartphones you have mobile
internet. Mobile internet can be accessed using wi or using the 3G or 4G connection.
One of the things that your smartphone will allow you to do is use the smartphone GPS.
All smartphones today come with a GPS chip. The GPS is a network that is made up of 21
satellites that are constantly orbiting the Earth. The smartphone is then able to get the signal from
the satellites and obtain the coordinates (Evans, Martin, Poatsy 327). With GPS always on the
phone, people can save themselves from being lost. It can also be used to track family members.
Using GPS on a smartphone is even better now because it is always with you and different routes
and trafc are constantly being updated.
With mobile internet, one can have access to Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. VoIP
is a fully digital phone service that allows people to use internet communications to make calls.
This can replace traditional analog telephone communication. These calls can be placed
anywhere there is internet access. Apps with VoIP services can easily be installed. This is useful
because smartphones rarely come with VoIP functionality out of the box. Typically, users need
to install a VoIP app to make and receive VoIP calls. Theres a huge variety of VoIP apps on the
market (Borowski, Our Favorite VoIP Apps for Android and iOS). One very popular VoIP
apps is Skype, which allows users to text, call, or make video calls with others through the
internet.
Another useful feature provided by smartphones is the process of synchronization. When
you synchronize something, you are able to update data from different apps or les across many
devices. With smartphones people have the ability to switch data over between their phone and
computer by either a wired or wireless connection. The phones are able to to transfer the data
wirelessly using Bluetooth, which uses radio waves to transmit the data to other devices (Evans,
Martin, Poatsy 323). With technology today, you can also sync data between devices using the
cloud. Some smartphones today come with cloud support built in. There are also many apps that
allow people to store their information on the cloud on all of their devices. The cloud is
especially helpful when it comes to smartphones because you can access this information from
any device as long as you are connected to the internet. Some apps, like Dropbox, sync by
themselves, so if a device is ever lost or stolen, your precious pictures will still be retrievable.
Because smartphones are so integrated into everyones daily lives, this technology has
had a large effect on society. One way that smartphones have affected people is by improving
productivity for school and business. One example of this is how smartphones today can be used
as tools for education and reference. Smartphones and smartphone applications have become an
invaluable resource among students and others. With smartphones, user can now take notes and
transfer them to a laptop or share them online with a study group. Teachers can create
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presentations or ashcards. A learner has instant access to numerous websites for questions
needing answered. For video assignments, students can record their lms using a smartphone and
send them to a computer for editing (Smartphones as Tools for Education). The student can
perform other tasks as well. Even something as simple as taking a picture of the board is helpful.
They also have access to task managers and free tools such as graphing calculators, which would
be an expensive buy if purchased separately. There are even apps that teach people new
languages and skills that can help anyone to improve themselves.
Smartphones are also an important tool for many in their businesses. Smartphones are
very helpful when it comes to organizing matters, reaching contacts, spreading the word out, and
increasing business productivity. According to Sean Bianco, you can read, forward and reply to
emails quickly. You can follow conversations on Facebook and Twitter and interact with your
followers. You can take photos at events and post them online [anytime]. You can chat with
colleagues and clients with apps, manage your blogs, moderate comments, publish new posts and
see your trafc statistics You can even book air tickets and hotel rooms on your mobile device.
You can use your smartphone to take notes, review and edit your appointments, contacts and
documents, all while youre on the move (Are Smartphones in Business Indispensable?).
People can practically run their business from their smartphones.
Besides improving peoples productivity, smartphones have had a different impact on
society. They have made substantial effects on human interaction. Some of them are positive and
some of them are negative. There are many apps that promote interaction among people.
Services like Skype allow people to talk to friends and family members around the world.
Services that involve course management allow people to communicate with their professors.
Consequently, it can be said that smartphones and their features offer other means of
communication. This may not necessarily be the best means of communication, but it is a
different, helpful means. There is nothing like face to face contact, though. Misunderstandings
can be addressed immediately, and thoughts and feelings are more easily understood.
Although smartphones can help offer many means of communication or interaction, they
can also deter humans from real interaction. Henry Grabar from Salon discusses a person
enthralled by her phone, saying, She misses the quirks and cues of the sidewalk ballet, fails to
make eye contact, and limits her perception to a claustrophobic one-fth of normal. Engrossed in
the virtual, she really isnt here with the rest of us (Smartphones are killing us- and destroying
public life). The point is that some people are so captivated by their smartphones, they have no
perception of their surroundings. People on their smartphones are walking into other people, not
watching were they are going. They are not fully enjoying or appreciating any beauty around
them. Others are using their phones while a friend or signicant other is trying to have a
conversation with them. While it is true that smartphones are amazing and incredibly useful
devices, one should not become a slave to the device.
All in all, smartphones deserve the title as smartphones. They demonstrate true digital
convergence, mixing a normal feature phone with the capabilities of a computer. They take the
place of many devices. The components that make up the handheld device are complex. The
phone allow people to make everyday tasks much more simple for themselves. Smartphones
have the ability to impact the society either positively or negatively. The knowledge one has on
his or her smartphone will determine how that person will get the most out of their device. This
is why it is important to know how it works and what it is capable of.
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Bibliography

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