Datasheet

A Smartphone usually has a power button, a record button (for voice recording), and two volume con-
trol buttons. Some Smartphones have a built-in camera, so there will be another button for it (some have
a high-quality digital camera, such as Nokia N90, which features a Carl Zeiss lens, 2-megapixel resolu-
tion, and a 20x zoom).
The first-generation Smartphone applications are mostly clones of desktop Windows applications,
enabling users familiar with those desktop applications to avoid learning a new one. Typical
Smartphone applications are Pocket Outlook, calendar, contacts, Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, Windows
Media Player, MSN messenger, games, and some accessories. The second-generation Smartphone appli-
cations are exclusively designed to leverage the advantages of mobility and ubiquitous wireless access.
In the next several years we will see a whole new set of applications that utilize real-time location infor-
mation in conjunction with always-on wireless data access.
Overall, the design of a Smartphone aims to take advantage of a user’s prior experience with Windows
desktop systems. After all, a Smartphone is a small computer running a stripped-down version of the
Windows operating system. This greatly helps users familiar with Palm or Symbian cell phones because
the learning curve is largely eliminated.
Summary
This chapter introduced the concept of the smartphone and the trend of convergence in the mobile com-
puting and communication domain. As a converged mobile device, smartphone, in conjunction with
supporting new mobile wireless services and applications, will gain widespread popularity worldwide
in the foreseeable future. Microsoft Windows Mobile is a software platform that enables fast, efficient,
and feature-rich application development for Smartphone devices. Many smartphone and cell phone
manufacturers (including Palm, which traditionally uses Palm OS on their PDAs and smartphones) have
started to use Windows Mobile as the underlying software platform on their products, largely because
users can leverage their knowledge of Windows desktop systems in using a Smartphone.
Beginning with the next chapter, our discussion moves to the technical foundations of Windows Mobile.
We will focus on the core components of the .NET Compact Framework, as well as the class libraries and
type systems of .NET. In addition, a primer on the C# programming language will be provided.
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Chapter 1
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