Smartphones 101 – What is it that qualifies a Cell Phone as a SmartPhone

After considering this fact that today the cell phones have not remained only a mode of communication but also a gadget of entertainment that can be also used for several other purposes, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the cell phones have become the smartphones.

There is no limit to the functionalities of the cell phones. As for example, it can act like a mini computer, a personal digital assistant (because it helps you with scheduling your appointments, your address book and your notes), entertainment solution (because it lets you play games, music, videos, etc.), GPS replacement, camera and your handy web-browser.

If you observe, you can tell that all these advancements in the cell phones have taken place in a very short time. But according to the experts, it is not this plethora of exciting features that makes a cell phone a smartphone. Then what is it that makes your cell phone a smartphone?

There are certain criteria selected by the experts that must be in a cell phone in order to be qualified as a smartphone, which are as follows:

1)      There must be a workable operating system in a smartphone like the mobiles, Windows Mobile, Mac OS, BlackBerry, Nokia’s N-series, Palm and Symbian. Just like an operating system is quite necessary for the computers, it is also needed for a smartphone and this is the feature that is also needed to advance into the next criteria.

2)      A smartphone must have a system to support the third-party applications. This applications are nothing but the programs like, games or certain utility, that can be installed in the cell phone via a download (e.g., through the Apple’s App Store) or after buying the program as a disc, then installing on the PC and at last installing on the cell phone itself, through a USB cable or through Bluetooth.

3)      There must be a completely separate system for messaging input, like QWERTY keyboard (as found in most of the BlackBerrys) and not a basic input system like, alphanumeric keypad, for the purpose of email. Then there are some experts that also say that a smartphone should also have a system for supporting the push emails, the mails directly send to the cell phones.

4)      The last criterion is somewhat disputable. This last criterion stipulates that a smartphone must also have the capability to offer a wide arrayed experience of web surfing, which is referred to the HTML web browser as with a PC and to the WAP technology, based on text. This web surfing should also be supported by a high-speed connectivity as well as the Wi-Fi support for the wireless network.