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What are the Different Types of Mobile Devices?

Archana Khambekar
Archana Khambekar

A mobile device, or handheld, is an electronic device that enables some kind of computing, and which is small enough to be easily carried around. These devices are quite pervasive nowadays. Commonly used mobile devices include cell phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and multimedia players. Their uses are not only varied, as given below, but also growing day by day.

Mobile phones or cell phones, or just mobiles for short, facilitate voice conversations as well as text messaging. Before cell phones, there were pagers, through which telephone numbers or short messages could be received. Pagers are still used by people in emergency and medical services as they work even when mobile phone networks get overloaded.

A cell phone.
A cell phone.

Computers have been miniaturized into industrial and personal handhelds. They have small screens, and either basic keyboards or touch-sensitive screens for data input. Industrial handhelds are utilized for the scanning of bar codes and, sometimes, smart cards and RFID (radio frequency identification) tags. With personal handhelds, one can use popular applications for keeping notes, appointments, documents, and spreadsheets.

A laptop is considered a mobile device.
A laptop is considered a mobile device.

With the digitization of music, audio players have become smaller and more versatile. They are now essentially a clip attached to headphones. Multi-media players facilitate playback of audio, and viewing of still images and videos. People can listen to a book rather than read it with audio players, while electronic book readers are tailored for reading. They have special displays meant to mimic the look of ink on paper, and provide superior rendering of book fonts and images.

Smart phones are mobile devices that can be used to play music, access the internet, or communicate.
Smart phones are mobile devices that can be used to play music, access the internet, or communicate.

Digital cameras not only capture pictures, but also have significant computational power. Pictures can be viewed immediately at various zoom levels and can be panned. Unwanted photos can be easily deleted. Inbuilt menu systems provide significant functions such as camera settings and file settings. Digital video cameras go further to capture live action and sound.

Digital cameras are mobile devices that allow users to immediately view images.
Digital cameras are mobile devices that allow users to immediately view images.

Gaming is yet another area with a strong presence on the market for mobile devices. At the lower end are simple devices for small children. These are programmed with one game or just a few games. At the high end are sophisticated systems with the ability to load games and with internet connectivity. They have rich multimedia and enable multiple players to be linked together.

Handheld video games are popular with children.
Handheld video games are popular with children.

There are even personal navigation devices which can be carried on board one’s vehicle to track the current position by using the Global Positioning System. Personal navigation devices provide accurate maps that indicate the route to be taken to a chosen destination, including upcoming turns. Most give directions using voice as well as visual indicators, and automatically re-route within seconds if an instruction is missed for any reason.

A digital video camera.
A digital video camera.

The latest mobile phones combine calendars, games, personal navigation, media players, and cameras into one powerful system. The number of applications has exploded. Email from mobile devices is seamlessly synchronized with the email system accessed from desktops. The power of the internet is made available through web browsing. These devices are full-fledged multi-media players too.

Discussion Comments

umbra21

@browncoat - What I find most wonderful about mobile devices is how they are transforming developing countries. Many areas have entirely skipped having landlines and moved straight to every person having a cell phone, because the infrastructure is so much easier to install. This might seem frivolous except that you can do so much with a cell, especially a smart phone, including transferring money and researching homework.

browncoat

@Fa5t3r - I was kind of anti-cellphones when they first started becoming popular, mostly because I bought into that theory that they caused brain cancer (which was disproved a while ago).

But it just got to be too annoying to live without one in a world where every other person has mobile devices.

And it does make me feel safer to have one, to be honest. I'm the kind of person who is always forgetting something and it's nice to be able to text someone at home to make sure I turned the stove off, or to rearrange travel plans.

Being able to access the internet on the go is even more of a life-saver. I don't know how people managed without being able to call up a map or directions whenever they need them.

Fa5t3r

I'm not against technology but I'm kind of glad I experienced childhood without all the devices that they have now. My nephew asked me the other day what kinds of technology I had when I was his age and I had to tell him that I didn't have hardly any of it. He just couldn't understand how we filled our days if we didn't have cell phones and tablets and constant TV and games at our fingertips.

I don't think there's anything wrong with those things in general, but I also think it's good for kids to be able to survive without them occasionally.

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    • A cell phone.
      By: iQoncept
      A cell phone.
    • A laptop is considered a mobile device.
      By: nyul
      A laptop is considered a mobile device.
    • Smart phones are mobile devices that can be used to play music, access the internet, or communicate.
      By: Beholder
      Smart phones are mobile devices that can be used to play music, access the internet, or communicate.
    • Digital cameras are mobile devices that allow users to immediately view images.
      By: Kletr
      Digital cameras are mobile devices that allow users to immediately view images.
    • Handheld video games are popular with children.
      By: Lisa F. Young
      Handheld video games are popular with children.
    • A digital video camera.
      A digital video camera.
    • A mobile laser barcode scanner.
      By: mrkob
      A mobile laser barcode scanner.
    • Tablet computers are a type of mobile device.
      By: bloomua
      Tablet computers are a type of mobile device.
    • Mobile devices including portable technologies like tablets, laptops computers, personal digital assistants and cell phones.
      By: Eugenio Marongiu
      Mobile devices including portable technologies like tablets, laptops computers, personal digital assistants and cell phones.
    • iPads and other mobile devices make it possible to connect to the Internet from almost any location.
      By: Andrey Armyagov
      iPads and other mobile devices make it possible to connect to the Internet from almost any location.
    • Tablets with detachable keyboards have recently joined the growing list of convenient portable computing devices.
      By: georgejmclittle
      Tablets with detachable keyboards have recently joined the growing list of convenient portable computing devices.