Chapter Two

Mobile Computing

Faculty of Computing and Software Engineering |AMIT | AMU

 Topics Covered

 Definition
 Trends of computing
 Mobile devices
 Mobile computing issues & Challenges
 Mobile computing applications & platforms
 Mobile OS

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 Projection keyboard
Andriod
The iphone

Mobile Computing
•

Goolge glass Portable projectors

The iPad
 What is computing?

 The activity of performing computations.

OR
 Computing can also be defined as activity of uses computers
to manage, process, and communicate information.
 It includes development of both hardware and software.
 The systematic study of algorithm processes used to
described and transform information
 The process of utilizing computer technology to complete a
task.
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1.1.Existing computing paradigms

Personal
Parallel
Computing
Computing

ib u ted er
r p
Dist uting S u
p uting
p Com
Com

Mobile Cloud
Computing Computing

m ic
Perv
a to no ing
Com sive Au mput
putin Co
g
 Computing Paradigms…

 Personal computing system

– refers to the use of personal computers for Computation.
 Characterized by
 Local software installation,
 Local system maintenance
 Customizable to user needs
 Very low utilization

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 Computing Paradigms…
Distributed computing :


refers to the use of distributed systems to solve computational problems.



Distributed system 


consists of multiple autonomous computers that communicate through a computer network.



it appears to its users as a single coherent system.



The computers can be physically close together and connected by a local network or geographically distant


and connected by a wide area network.

Example: surfing the web from different terminals on university . Each web page consists of hypertext,


pictures, movies and elements anywhere on the internet.

Google has more than 1.5 million servers across the globe.


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 Distributed computing…

 Distributed systems are characterized by:

 remote information access (Message passing )
 High availability (replication , mirrored execution, ...)
 fault tolerance (atomic transactions, consistency …)
 Security
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 Computing Paradigms…
 Parallel Computing
 It is the simultaneous use of multiple compute resources to solve a computational problem:
 A problem is broken into discrete parts that can be solved concurrently
 Each part is further broken down to a series of instructions
 Instructions from each part execute simultaneously on different processors
 An overall control/coordination mechanism is employed
 The primary goal
 to increase available computation power for faster application processing and problem solving.
 Characterized by Shared memory (to exchange information between processors

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Parallel Computing

Multithreading

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 Computing Paradigms…

What is Mobile Computing?

Mobile


 Able to move freely.

 usually Wireless is need to move freely .

 Computing

The activity of performing computations.



Mobile computing is performing computation in mobile units



A technology that allows transmission of data, voice and video via a computer or any other wireless enabled


device without having to be connected to a fixed physical link

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Mobile Computing…
 Using mobile computing:
 small size portable computers, hand-helds and other small wearable devices,
 To run stand-alone applications (or access remote applications) via:
 Wireless networks: IR, Bluetooth, W-LANs, Cellular, W-Packet Data networks,
SAT. etc.
 By:
 nomadic or mobile users (animals, agents, trains, cars, cell phones, etc.)

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Mobile Computing…
 computing environment over physical mobility
 allows a user to perform a task from anywhere using a computing device in the public
(Web),business information and personal information, video and audio etc
refers to the infrastructure put in place to ensure that seamless and reliable
communication goes on. These would include devices such as protocols,
 It involves … mobile communication services, bandwidth

includes mobile devices or device components that receive or access the service
… mobile hardware of mobility.
… mobile software the actual program that runs on the mobile hardware
 Three basic components
 Networks: communication
 Devices and computing units :mobile
 Applications : Computation

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Computing Paradigms…
 Pervasive/ Ubiquitous computing

 is about the invisible and everywhere (every time) computing

 Ubiquitous= “seeming to be in all places”
 Pervasive= “present or noticeable in every part of a thing or
place”
 Pervasive= is everywhere, everyone, at any time paradigm
 Ubiquitous computing :Interconnecting computing devices with
environmental objects( no body will notice its presence)

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Pervasive computing …
 Characteristics
 Invisible: tiny, embedded, attachable

 Every where: wireless, dynamically configurable, remote access, adapting,

“It is about making computers so embedded, so fitting, so natural that we

use them without even thinking about them.”

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 Pervasive computing Example…

 Example the automatic adjustment of

heating, cooling and lighting levels in a
room based on an occupant’s profile.
 refrigerators "aware" of their suitably
tagged contents, able to both plan a variety
of menus from the food actually on hand,
and warn users of stale or spoiled food.

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Computing Paradigms…

Pervasive computing …
Characterized by :
 Context Awareness (physical location, physiological state, emotional state,
distraction-free)
 Ad-hoc Networks
 Smart Spaces,(equipped with visual and audio sensing systems )

 Smart Sensors, Wearables

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Computing Paradigms…

Cloud Computing
 Cloud computing provides computation, software, data access, and storage services that
do not require end-user knowledge of the physical location and configuration of the
system that delivers the services.
 is the delivery of computing services—including servers, storage, databases,
networking, software, analytics, and intelligence—over the Internet (“the cloud”) to
offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale.
 You typically pay only for cloud services you use, helping you lower your operating
costs, run your infrastructure more efficiently, and scale as your business needs change.
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Computing Paradigms…

Cloud Computing…

 Cloud computing characteristics:

 Agility,
 Reduced Cost,
 Device and Location Independence,
 On-demand Scalability and Performance

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Cloud computing…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cloud_computing.svg

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 Mobile devices
 A mobile device (a.k.a. handheld device, handheld computer) is a
pocket-sized computing device, typically having a display screen
with touch input or a miniature keyboard.

 is a general term for any handheld computer or smartphone. Tablets,

e-readers, smartphones, PDAs, portable music players, smartwatches,
and fitness trackers with smart capabilities are all mobile devices.

 Due to the rapid advancement of the technology its hard to make a

specific classifications of mobile devices.

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Different types of mobile devices

 Laptop
 Notebook
 Netbook
 Ultra-Mobile PC

 Communication devices
 pager
 Smartphone
 PDA &Pocket PC
 cell phone
 Cordless phone

 Tablet PC
 E-book readers
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Mobile devices…

 Laptop in general
 is a small personal computer designed for portability.
 Usually all of the interface hardware(ports, graphics card, sound channel, etc.,)
are built in to a single unit.
 Contain  batteries that can power the device for some periods of time.
 upgrade is usually difficult/impossible. ( Keyboard / display)

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Communication devices…
Mobile phone/cellphone
 Provides
 voice communications,
 Short Message Service (SMS),
 Multimedia Message Service (MMS),
 newer phones also provide
 Internet services
 Web browsing, instant messaging capabilities &
 e-mail.
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Communication devices…

Smart phone
 traditional PDA + cellular phone
 combines standard phone features,
such as making and receiving phone calls,
with computer functionality.

 Incorporates
 Wi-Fi access, email, calendars and
 GPS
 let you store information & install programs
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Smart phone Functionality

 Voice calls (of course), Video calls

 Local File Storage
 Internet/Cloud Services
 Office Computing
 eBook Reader
 Multimedia Player
 Digital Audio/Video Recorder
 Location Based Services
 Context awareness
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Communication devices…

 Cordless telephone
is a telephone with a wireless
handset that communicates
via radio wave with base station
connected to a fixed telephone line

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Mobile devices…

Tablet PC
 portable personal computer equipped with a touch
screen as a primary input device and designed to be
operated and owned by an individual.
 use virtual keyboards and handwriting recognition for text
input through the touchscreen.
 Tablet PCs also can be connected to a full-size keyboard
and monitor

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Mobile computing application

 Transport
– position and tracking via GPS
– prevent accidents, navigation system.
– Tourist navigation

 Emergencies/ Disaster relief

– early transmission of patient data to the hospital, current status, first diagnosis.
– earthquakes, hurricanes, fire etc.

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Mobile computing application…
 Business
– M-Commerce: mobile E-commerce /shopping …
– M-Banking: offer mobile access to financial and account information.
– Advertising: using SMS is becoming very popular in our country.
– Traveling salesperson

 Entertainment, education
– outdoor Internet access
– multi user games
– M-learning : E-learning
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Dashen bank
 The first mobile
Banking service in
Ethiopia

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Mobile computing application…
 Location aware
 find services in the local environment, e.g. printer
 nearest cash ATM/ shop / restaurant/hotel

 Web access & Communication

 outdoor Internet access
 Electronic Mail
 Chatting

 Application Services in general

 push: e.g., breaking news info
 pull: e.g., nearest cash ATM

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Activity … Projects
 State one mobile application idea that you will develop as your course
project .

 Start thinking about What you will do ?

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Quiz (10%)

1. Define Mobile Computing

2. Why will mobile computing revolutionize the way we use computers?

3. What problems are associated with mobile computers and wireless networks?
4. What is a palmtop?

5. How can the network capacity of a wireless network be improved?

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Ans.

1. Performing computation in mobile units

2. Because these wireless computers can communicate with other computers even
though the user is changing location. This means that if you are carrying a mobile
computer you will be able to communicate and access information from any position
at any time.
3. Network failure is a problem because wireless communication is more affected by
disconnection than wired communication. Low power is a problem since hand-
held computers need to be small and light and small batteries must be used

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Con’t…

4. Palmtops are hand held computers with low speed CPU and limited memory. They
provide applications such as schedule, calendar and spread sheets. To improve their
portability, manufacturers design palmtops such that they are powered by small light
batteries.

5. Increasing the number of cells. The capacity of a wireless network is measured by its
bandwidth per unit cubic meter. The network bandwidth is divided among the users
sharing a cell. Therefore increasing the number of mobile users in a cell decreases the
network capacity.

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 Comparison to Wired Net.
 Wired Networks
 high bandwidth
 Mobile Networks
 low bandwidth
 low bandwidth variability
 high bandwidth variability
 can listen on wire
 hidden terminal problem
 high power machines
 low power machines
 high resource machines
 low resource machines
 need physical access(security)
 need proximity
 low delay
 connected operation
 higher delay
 disconnected operation
 Today

 Mobile OS
 Mobile computing issues & Challenges
 Mobile applications development

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5. Mobile OS

 is the operating system that controls a mobile device similar in

principle to an operating system such as Windows, Mac OS,
or Linux that controls a desktop computer or laptop.
 software that allows smartphones, tablet PCs (personal
computers) and other devices to run applications and
programs.
 A mobile OS typically starts up when a device powers on,
presenting a screen with icons or tiles that present information
and provide application access.

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Activity

 What are the major functions of any OS?

 managing the various peripheral devices: eg. mouse, keyboard
 Provides a user interface:, e.g. CLI, (GUI)
 Handles system resources: such as computer's memory and sharing of the central processing
unit (CPU) time by various applications or peripheral devices
 Provides file management : refers to the way that the operating system manipulates, stores,
retrieves and saves data.

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Types of Mobile OS

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Types of Mobile OS

 Symbian
 Market share(2010): 37.6%( #1 )
 License : open source
 Company: Nokia.
 CPU Architecture: ARM
 Programmed in: C++
 Application store: Symbian Horizon,Ovistore(10000+)
 Package manager: Nokia Ovi Suite
 Other: multi-touch, easily affordable cost

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Symbian (Nokia)

 Pros
 Massive global reach
 Leads WW market with 62% of smartphone traffic
 being open source could help accelerate pace of innovation

 Issues
 Limited reach in the US/Developed countries
 Application distribution more difficult today vs. iPhone’s app store
 Manufacturer dependent

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Types of Mobile OS

 Android

 Market share(2010): 22.7% Aug 2017 72.7%

 License : open source
 Company: Open Handset Alliance(Google).
 CPU Architecture: ARM, x86
 Programmed in: C, C++, Java
 Application store: Google play (700,000+)
 Package manager: APK
 Other: multi-touch, Linux

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Android (Google)

 Pros:
 Open source => accelerate pace of innovation
 Manufacturer-independent => could help accelerate consumer
adoption
 Technology support (e.g., touchscreen, GPS, accelerometer, video and
still cameras)

 Issues:
 Late to market relative to iPhone

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Types of Mobile OS…
 BlackBerry RIM OS
 Market share(2010): 16.0%
 License : Proprietary
 Company: Research in motion (RIM).
 CPU Architecture: ARM
 Programmed in: Java
 Application store: Blackberry App World(30000+)
 Package manager: Blackberry Desktop Manager
 Other: not multi-touch, push email service

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BlackBerry OS (RIM)…

 Pros:

 Large reach and data-hungry user base

 Leads US market with 31% of smartphone traffic
 #3in WW market with 11% of smartphone traffic
 Developers not limited to single distribution channel
 Issues:

 Less Developer momentum

 Application distribution more difficult today vs. iPhone’s app store
 Users more email focused vs. web consuming iPhone users
 RIM / hardware dependent

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Types of Mobile OS…

 Apple iOS
 Market share(2010): 15.7%
 License : Proprietary
 Company: Apple.
 CPU Architecture: ARM
 Programmed in: C, C++, Objective-C
 Application store: Apple App Store(300,000+)
 Package manager: iTunes
 Other: Mac OS X, multi-touch, for iPhone ,ipod touch ipad, Apple Tv only

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iPhone OS (Apple)

 Pros:

 Strong user growth and data-hungry user base

 More than 10 million iPhones sold

 Application store creating a vibrant app ecosystem with great momentum

 More than 3K applications (~20% free)
 More than 1 million downloads

 Powerful technology (e.g., multi-touch, GPS, accelerometer)

 Issues:

 App approval process is largely a black-box to developers

 Apps viewed as competitive to Apple are often shut down
 App store is the only authorized distribution channel
 Apple / hardware dependent

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Types of Mobile OS…

 Windows Mobile
 Market share(2010): 4.2%
 License : Proprietary
 Company: Microsoft.
 CPU Architecture: ARM
 Programmed in: C++
 Application store: Windows Marketplace for Mobile
 Package manager: Windows Mobile Device Center/ ActiveSync
 Other: multi-touch, Windows CE

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Windows Mobile…

 Pros
 Strong user reach
 #2 in US market with 30% of smartphone traffic
 Manufacturer independent
 >18K apps
 Windows Mobile 7 support refurbish UI and multi-touch
 Issues
 Less developer enthusiasm vs. that for iPhone and Android
 Application distribution more difficult today vs. iPhone’s app store
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Types of Mobile OS…

 Others

 Palm OS- mobile operating system initially developed by Palm

 webOS – Mobile operating system from HP/Palm

 Bada - Mobile operating system developed by Samsung Electronics

 MeeGo OS – from Nokia and Intel (open source, GPL)

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6. Mobile computing issues & Challenges

 Location issues
 Connection Quality
 Device limitations
 Security risks
 Wide variety terminals and devices with different capabilities

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Challenges

 Location
 Device location is always changing
 Mobility: challenges and opportunities
 Localization & Location sensitivity
 Routing data and messages

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Location…

 Localization is the ability of the architecture of the mobile application to

accommodate logic that allows the selection of different business logic, level of work
flow, and interfaces based on a given set of location information commonly referred to
as locales.
 E.g Location in Ethiopia currency ETB , TAX… e-commerce Web sites are able to
take into account the different taxation rules depending on the locale of the sale and
the location of the purchase

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Location…

 Location sensitivity is the ability of the device and the software application to first
obtain location information while being used and then to take advantage of this
location information in offering features and functionality.

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Collecting location

 methods for collecting location

 Prompt the user to select the location
 Using the device( GPS, signal strength and triangulation can be used to come up with some
approximate location information, depending on the cellular network)

 Techniques
 Triangulation
 Proximity
 scene analysis

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Triangulation: Lateration

calculation of position information based on distance measurements.

 2D position requires three distance measurements.

 3D position requires four distance measurements.

d
d

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 Proximity

Detecting an object when it is near a known location through observed

changes at that location.
 Physical contact: pressure sensors, capacitance field detector. Smart
Floor.

 Monitoring access point = ‘in-range’ proximity. Active Badge.

 Automatic ID Systems: RFID badges, UPC scanning, phone & computer

logs. Location of scanner, badge, computer, phone, identifies location of
object.
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scene analysis

 The scene analysis location sensing technique uses features of a scene observed
from a particular vantage point to draw conclusions about the location of the
observer or of objects in the scene. E.g. using camera

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Location-Based Applications (LBAs)

 Examples:

Location-based recommendations, geo-tagging

GeoLife: shopping list when near a grocery store
TrafficSense: real-time traffic conditions
Fieldworker assistant

 Location expresses context of user

 Facilitates content delivery

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Connection ….

 Quality of Service
 Wireless connection is used usually
 mobility means loss of network connectivity reliability.
 Frequent Disconnection
 Variable Bandwidth( indoor , outdoor)
 Heterogeneous Networks (2G,3G, Satellite, wifi..

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Connection….

 Address Migration
 Existing applications send packets to a fixed network address
 Need to support dynamically changing “local” addresses as mobile device moves through network

Mobile IP
 designed to allow mobile device users to move from one network to another while maintaining a
permanent IP address
 Apps should stop & resume must know how to deal with lack of reliable connectivity.
 E.g user traveling in a train and downloading report using his PDA while passing through a tunnel
.

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Solution variable Bandwidth

» Caching is a good idea, e.g., web cache

 Asynchronous/spool-oriented applications, like mail or printing

» Trickle back data when bandwidth is available

 Disconnected file systems:

 Applications adaptation to changing quality of connectivity

» High bandwidth, low latency: business as usual

» High bandwidth, high latency: aggressive prefetching

» Low bandwidth, high latency: asynchronous

 Vertical handoff in case of heterogeneous network.
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Device limitation

 Device limitation
 Power
 Storage
 CPU
 user interface

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Device limitation …

 Mobile device are small!

 Physical limitation => Display , Memory, Cpu, Power… limitations
 The heaviest part of mobile devices are batteries

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Mobile Computers
 CPUs
 Multiple cores
 Mega Hertz. 1 Giga Hertz new
 RAM
 512 MB, common in 2011
 in Giga Bytes new
 Persistent Storage
 32 GB MicroSD common in 2011

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Limitations of the Mobile Computer

 Short battery lifetime (max ~ 5 hours)

 Subject to theft and destruction => unreliable
 Highly unavailable (normally powered-off to conserve battery)
 Limited capability (display, memory, input devices, and disk space)
 Lack of de-facto general architecture: hand-helds, communicators, laptops, and other
devices
Device limitation …

 Varying user interface

 some alternative interfaces are voice user interfaces, smaller displays, stylus and other
pointing devices, touch-screen displays, and miniature keyboards
 For example, drivers who want to get some directions to their destination may use a data-
enabled cellular phone.
 Most apps must be multichannel /multimodal

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Mobile software development(WHY?)

 Motivation
In Africa:
 + 1 billion people
 + 30 million computers
 + 264 million mobiles

 Largest growth rate of mobile subscribers

 For most Africans/Ethiopians , our mobile is our only computing device!

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Mobile Software Development

 Challenges
 Different Operating Systems.
 Different Screen Size.
 are a challenge even on the same OS

 Different Input methods.

 Keyboard (Keypad – Keyboard – Soft Keyboard),
 TrackBall/Joystick, Pen (Handwriting), Touch,
 Microphone (Voice Command), Camera (Image Recognition), GPS

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Cont’d
 Different Hardware Architectures.
 most dominant architectures in the market of CPUs is the ARM architecture

 Limited computing capabilities.

 Lack of good language support
 Security
 Always shared medium

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Mobile Software Development

 Solutions to Challenges
 Multi Modal Interface.
 E.g Combining the face and speech recognition together helps to increase speech recognition
accuracy and lower word error rate
 Simplified Algorithms (Speed ).
 Data Compression (Size & Speed).
 Programming Language Selection.
 Screen independent graphical coordinates or layout managers.
 Unicode Support
 Encryption and authentication

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Mobile Software Development

 Programming Languages
 C/C++, .NET, Java ME, FlashLite, SilverLight Mobile
 JavaFX, HTML/WML/JAVASCRIPT/AJAX

 selection is same reasons for using them on the desktop.

 Some languages are for web,
 some are for performance,
 some for portability,
 some of skills and preferences.

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Why Android?

 Open source
 Easy to develop
 Wide tech support
 Android NO. #1 Mobile Os in the current market !

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Developers Toolkits…

 To start to develop you need:

 JDK
 Eclipse IDE
 ADT plug-in
 Android SDK

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Summary

 Computing Trend
 Existing computing paradigms
 Mobile computing applications
 Different types of mobile devices
 Mobile OS
 Mobile Software Development

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