FINDINGS | mobile-computing

Definition of mobile computing

Mobile Computing is an umbrella term used to

describe technologies that enable people to

access network services anyplace, anytime, and

anywhere

Mobile Computing is "taking a computer and all necessary files and software out into the field".[1] Mobile computing is any type of computing which use Internet or intranet and respective communications links, as WAN, LAN, WLAN etc. Mobile computers may form a wireless personal network or a piconet.

There are at least three different classes of mobile computing items:

portable computers, compacted lightweight units including a full character set keyboard and primarily intended as hosts for software that may be parametrized, as laptops, notebooks, notepads, etc.
mobile phones including a restricted key set primarily intended but not restricted to for vocal communications, as cell phones, smart phones, phonepads, etc.
wearable computers, mostly limited to functional keys and primarily intended as incorporation of software agents, as watches, wristbands, necklaces, keyless implants, etc.

The existence of these classes is expected to be long lasting, and complementary in personal usage, none replacing one the other in all features of convenience..

Mobile Computing Trends

Types of mobile devices & Emerging mobile technologies

The emergence of portable computers and laptops, personal digital Assistants (PDA), PC Tablets and Smartphones, has in turn made mobile computing very convenient. The portability of the devices ensures and enables user to access all services as if they were in the internal network of their company. For example, the use of Tablet Pc and Ipads. This new technology enables users to update documents, surf the internet, send and receive e-mail, stream live video files, take photographs and also support video and voice conferencing.

The constant and ever increasing demand for superior and robust smart devices has been as a catalyst for market share. Each manufacturer is trying to curve a niche of themselves in the market. These devices are invented and innovated to provide top of the class applications and services. With cellular phones, different manufacturers have come up with unique Smartphones that are capable of performing the same tasks as computers and at the same processing speed. The market share for different competitors is constantly being fought for. For example the manufacturers of Apple's Iphone OS, Google's Android' Microsoft Windows Mobile, Research In Motion's Blackberry OS, are constantly competing to offer better products with each release.

In today's computing world, different technologies have come up. These have grown to support existing computer networks all over the world. With mobile computing, we find that the need to be confined within one physical location has been eradicated. We hear of terms such as tele commuting. This is being able to work from home or the field but at the same time accessing resources as if one is in the office.

Current Computing Trends

Future Computing Trends

APPS for iOS Phone

The need for better, portable, affordable, and robust has also made these vendors to constantly be innovative. Market figure and statistics show an ever rapidly growing need to purchase and use such devices for either professional or home use. Since technology is driven by market needs, it's in this light that services suited for a long term implementation are developed or innovated. This has also pushed other industry vendors to adopt services that will provide better service delivery. For example, cellular service providers are forced to improve and be innovative to capture more subscribers. This can be in terms of superior services such as high speed internet and data access, voice and video service etc. hence the adoption of different generations of networks like of 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 4G networks services.

The essence of mobile computing is to work from any location. The use of Ipads, Tablets, Smartphones, and notes books, have in turn pushed the demand for these devices. Modern day workers have such devices that enable them carry out their work from the confines or comfort of their present location. These devices are configured to access and store large amounts of vital data. Executive and top management can act of decisions based of ready information without going to the office. For example, sales reports and market forecasts can be accessed through this devices or meeting carried out via video or audio conferencing through the device. With such features being high in demand, manufacturers are always and constantly coming up with applications geared to supporting different service delivery in terms of mobile computing.

3G

3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000) specifications by the International Telecommunication Union. Application services include wide-area wireless voice telephone, mobile Internet access, video calls and mobile TV, all in a mobile environment.

GPS (Global Positioning System)

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space-based satellite navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites. The GPS program provides critical capabilities to military, civil and commercial users around the world. In addition, GPS is the backbone for modernizing the global air traffic system, weather, location services.

Long Term Evolution (LTE)

LTE is a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals. It is based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA network technologies, increasing the capacity and speed using new modulation techniques. Its related with the implementation of forth Generation (4G) technology.

WiMax

WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a wireless communications standard designed to provide 30 to 40 megabit-per-second data rates, with the latest update providing up to 1 Gbit/s for fixed stations. It is a part of a fourth generation, or 4G, of wireless-communication technology. WiMax far surpasses the 30-metre wireless range of a conventional Wi-Fi local area network (LAN), offering a metropolitan area network with a signal radius of about 50 km.WiMax offers data-transfer rates that can be superior to conventional cable-modem and DSL connections, however, the bandwidth must be shared among multiple users and thus yields lower speeds in practice.

Near Field Communication

Near field communication (NFC) is a set of standards for Smartphones and similar devices to establish radio communication with each other by touching them together or bringing them into close proximity, usually no more than a few centimeters. Present and anticipated applications include contactless transactions, data exchange, and simplified setup of more complex communications such as Wi-Fi. Communication is also possible between an NFC device and an unpowered NFC chip, called a "tag".

Comparison on the various Mobile Application Development-iOS,Andrioid and Windows Phone

Types

Mobile devices have been designed for many applications and include:

Mobile computers
- Mobile collaboration
- Mobile internet device
- Mobile Web
  - Smartphone, Tablet computer
- Wearable computer
  - Calculator watch
  - Smartwatch
  - Head-mounted display
- Personal digital assistant/enterprise digital assistant
- Calculator
- Handheld game console
- Portable media player
- Ultra-mobile PC
Digital still camera (DSC)
Digital video camera (DVC or digital camcorder)
Mobile phone
- Smartphone, Feature phone
Pager
Personal navigation device (PND)

Multiplatform/Multiarchitecture Application Development Tools

Most organizations will need application development tools to support a "3 x 3" future — three key platforms (Android, iOS and Windows) and three application architectures (native, hybrid and mobile Web). Tool selection will be a complex balancing act, trading off many technical and nontechnical issues (such as productivity versus vendor stability), and most large organizations will need a portfolio of several tools to deliver to the architectures and platforms they require.

HTML5

HTML5 won't be a simple panacea for mobile application portability because it's fragmented and immature and therefore poses many implementation and security risks. However, as HTML5 and its development tools mature, the popularity of the mobile Web and hybrid applications will increase. Hence, despite many challenges, HTML5 will be an essential technology for organizations delivering applications across multiple platforms.

Advanced Mobile User Experience Design

Leading mobile apps are delivering exceptional user experiences, which are achieved by a variety of new techniques and methodologies, such as motivational design, "quiet" design and "playful" interfaces. Designers are also creating apps that can accommodate mobile challenges, such as partial user attention and interruption, or that can exploit technologies with novel features or "wow" factors, such as augmented reality. Leading consumer apps are setting high standards for user interface design, and all organizations must master new skills and work with new partners to meet growing user expectations.

High-Precision Location Sensing

Knowing an individual's location to within a few meters is a key enabler of the delivery of highly relevant contextual information and services. Apps exploiting precise indoor location currently use technologies such as Wi-Fi, imaging, ultrasonic beacons and geomagnetics. In 2014, Gartner expects growth in the use of wireless beacons using the new Bluetooth Smart standard. In the longer term, technologies such as smart lighting will also become important. Precise indoor location sensing, combined with mobile apps, will enable a new generation of extremely personalized services and information.

Wearable Devices

The smartphone will become the hub of a personal-area network consisting of wearable gadgets such as on-body healthcare sensors, smart jewelry, smart watches, display devices (like Google Glass) and a variety of sensors embedded in clothes and shoes. These gadgets will communicate with mobile apps to deliver information in new ways and enable a wide range of products and services in areas such as sport, fitness, fashion, hobbies and healthcare.

New Wi-Fi Standards

Emerging Wi-Fi standards such as 802.11ac (Waves 1 and 2), 11ad, 11aq and 11ah will increase Wi-Fi performance, make Wi-Fi more relevant to applications such as telemetry, and enable Wi-Fi to provide new services. Over the next three years, demands on Wi-Fi infrastructure will increase as more Wi-Fi-enabled devices appear in organizations, as cellular offloading becomes more popular, and as applications such as location sensing demand denser access-point placement. The opportunities enabled by new standards and the performance required by new applications will require many organizations to revise or replace their Wi-Fi infrastructure.

Enterprise Mobile Management

"Enterprise mobile management" or "EMM" is a term that describes the future evolution and convergence of several mobile management, security and support technologies. These include mobile device management, mobile application management, application wrapping and containerization, and some elements of enterprise file synchronization and sharing. Such tools will mature, grow in scope and eventually address a wide range of mobile management needs across all popular OSs on smartphones, tablets and PCs.

Mobile-Connected Smart Objects

By 2020, the average affluent household in a mature market will contain several hundred smart objects, including LED light bulbs, toys, domestic appliances, sports equipment, medical devices and controllable power sockets, to name but a few. These domestic smart objects will be a part of the Internet of Things, and most will be able to communicate in some way with an app on a smartphone or tablet. Smartphones and tablets will perform many functions, including acting as remote controls, displaying and analyzing information, interfacing with social networks to monitor "things" that can tweet or post, paying for subscription services, ordering replacement consumables and updating object firmware.

LTE and LTE-A

Long Term Evolution (LTE) and its successor LTE Advanced (LTE-A) are cellular technologies that improve spectral efficiency and will push cellular networks to theoretical peak downlink speeds of up to 1 Gbps, while reducing latency. All mobile users will benefit from improved bandwidth, and superior performance combined with new features such as LTE Broadcast will enable network operators to offer new services.

Metrics and Monitoring Tools

The diversity of mobile devices makes comprehensive app testing impossible, and the nondeterministic nature of mobile networks and the cloud services that support them can result in performance bottlenecks that are hard to locate. Mobile metrics and monitoring tools, often known as application performance monitoring (APM), can help. APM provides visibility into app behavior, delivers statistics about which devices and OSs are adopted, and monitors user behavior to determine which app features are being successfully exploited.

Additional analysis can be found in Gartner's research note "Top 10 Mobile Technologies and Capabilities for 2015 and 2016," available on Gartner's website at http://www.gartner.com/doc/2665315.

Emerging mobile technologies

Popular applications for iOS,Adroid and Windows Phone platform

iOS is still the best and most robust development experience, and they have stable documentation that can be easily demonstrated through examples.

Android is fragmented but still pretty decent when using Eclipse with Android Java embedded. Android's biggest hurdle for any developer is the unpredictable nature of your app on top of a particular OS layer / device combo (fragmentation).

Windows Phone is still pretty young to give it a fair shake in my opinion because they are still refining the overall process. I will point out though, it seems a bit clunky to me having to deal with workspaces like Visual Studio and building objects in a object oriented fashion (optional).

Apple initially made a mess of its own maps solution, and even today it’s imperfect. The Apple Maps app is pretty good for driving directions, but it’s not great on foot and it remains poor for locating points of interest. Fortunately, Google’s alternative is excellent, accurate, and also bundles the useful Street View, for checking out routes before a long and unfamiliar journey.

There’s no user-accessible file system on iOS. Documents are stored inside apps, which makes them a pain to share and access elsewhere. Dropbox works nicely as a surrogate file system for iOS. Many apps directly support the service, and the app itself successfully previews all kinds of files. For free, you get 2 GB of storage, and up to an additional 3 GB if you use Dropbox to save photos.

Find My iPhone isn’t the most exciting app in the world. Install, sign in, and the app will locate any of your devices that have been approved for use on the service. But if your device is lost, Find My iPhone gives you a chance of locating it, in part by sending a full-volume sound for up to two minutes, even if the device is set to silent. As a worst-case scenario, you can use the app to remote-wipe your device.

1. Dropbox

APPS for Windows Phone

APPS for Android Phone

2. Google Maps

3. Find My iPhone

4. Skype

Apple’s FaceTime generally works very well, but it doesn’t work at all unless the person you’re calling also owns Apple kit. Skype is available for a much wider range of platforms and can also be used to call landlines and mobiles; Skype-to-Skype calls are free, and calls elsewhere are usually cheaper than mobile plans. The app also includes instant messaging, for when you’d rather type than talk.

2. Google Now Launcher

3. BBC iPlayer

1. BBC Weather

Took some time for the BBC to gradually get BBC iPlayer to full parity with the iOS release, but it's just about there now for the vast majority of popular Android models. A piecemeal approach to introducing offline download support has annoyed some users, but it remains a superb way of using your phone as a modern portable telly for the bedroom, as long as your broadband's up to the task.

Exclusive to Nexus devices since launch, the Google Now Launcher has recently been opened up to owners of any Android phone running version 4.1 of the OS or higher. Install it and you get the weird experience that is having Google Now fill an entire Home screen, dumping a permanent collection of you cards to the left of the existing Home screen setup. Useful if you use Google Now. Not so much if you don't.

Free from the BBC, which arrived late to the weather app party in 2013 and delivered a completely stonking, triple-A meteorological experience. A variety of stylish widgets, long-range forecasts, location-aware settings and support for multiple locations make finding out how much it's raining everywhere a joy.

It translates text articles from a wide variety of popular, categorized websites into audio. Now you can listen to the latest articles from your favorite websites, or even create your own radio stations based on your top picks

You can quickly and easily scan your documents and save them on your smartphone with this app. If you need to sign a form, scan it, and email it, then this is ideal. You can also use it for scanning receipts, articles, photos, business cards, anything you might use a traditional scanner for. You can save documents in JPG or PDF format and upload them directly to cloud services like SkyDrive or Dropbox. You can also send them via email. There is a free version, but it doesn’t support PDF.

Here’s a solid personal fitness app that you can use to track your training progress. It employs your GPS to record time, distance, calories burned, and a host of other useful stats about your exercise session. It’s ideal for running, walking, and cycling, but you can use it to manually enter indoor workouts as well, for a complete overview of your fitness. Routes are recorded, there’s a Live Tile for at-a-glance stats, and if you upload to the Runtastic website you’ll get a full analysis of your activities.

Mobile Computing