Chapter-Two

Fundamentals of Mobile Computing

Projection keyboard
The iPhone

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 MyVu Portable projectors
The iPad

Mobility: is the most important feature of a wireless cellular communication system. Usually,
continuous service is achieved by supporting handoff (or handover) from one cell to another.

Handoff is the process of changing the channel (frequency, time slot, spreading code, or combination
of them) associated with the current connection while a call is in progress. (Checking the message
while calling) .

- Hands-off/Handover: is a process in telecommunications and mobile communications in

which a a connected cellular call or a data session is transferred from one cell site(base station)
to another without disconnecting the session.
Computing can also be defined as the activity of using computer hardware and software for some
purpose.

- One Computer for Many People-(Mainframe Computing= 1960’s

- One Computer for One Person-(PC Computing)= 1980’s

- Many Computer for One Person- (Pervasive/universal Computing)= 2000’s

Major categories of Computers

At this stage, we mean a general-purpose digital computer. Based on physical size, performance (data
processing speed, internal memory capacity, etc.) and application areas, we can divide computers
generally into four major categories: micro, mini, mainframe, and super computers.

There are four categories of computers. These are:

a. Super Computer
b. Mainframe computer
c. Minicomputer and
d. Micro computer
1. Super Computer
Super computer is the most powerful and fastest, and also very expensive. It was developed in
1980s. It is used to process large amount of data and to solve the complicated scientific problems.
It can perform more than one trillions calculations per second. It has large number of
processors connected parallel. So parallel processing is done in this computer. In a single super

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 computer thousands of users can be connected at the same time and the super computer handles
the work of each user separately. Super computer are mainly used for:
Weather forecasting.
Nuclear energy research.
Aircraft design.
Automotive design.
Online banking.
Space technology centers.
The supercomputers are used in large organizations, research laboratories, aerospace centers, large
industrial units etc. Nuclear scientists use super computers to create and analyze models of nuclear
systems, predicting the actions and reactions of millions of atoms as they interact. The examples of
super computers are CRAY-1, CRAY-2, Control Data CYBER 205 and ETA A-10 etc.
2. Mainframe computers
Mainframe computers are more powerful in processing, faster in speed, have large memory, and very
expensive when compared to the micro and mini computers. Mainframe computers have been
traditionally associated with large, powerful machines designed for large-scale data processing
activities.
The use of mainframe computer in industry, once responsible for the large revenue of companies such
as IBM has declined steadily over the past two decades. IBM, Fujitsu and Unisys are current suppliers
of mainframe computers. For example, IBM S/390 mainframe can support 50,000 users simultaneously.

3. Mini Computers
These are smaller in size, have lower processing speed and also have lower cost than mainframe. These
computers are known as minicomputers because of their small size as compared to other computers at that
time. The capabilities of a minicomputer are between mainframe and personal computer. These computers
are also known as midrange computers.
They have relatively lower speed, capacity, and size than the above two types of computers. They can handle
multi-users. They use terminals for inputs and output. Mini computers are used in small organizations.

The minicomputers are used in

 business
 education and
 Many other government departments.

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  Minicomputers are commonly used as servers in network environment and hundreds of
personal computers can be connected to the network with a minicomputer acting as server like
mainframes, minicomputers are used as web servers.
The minicomputer combines some of the characteristics of the mainframe computer and the
microcomputer. Today they are often referred to as servers by companies such as IBM (Example:
the IBM AS/400, Hewlett Packard and HP Alpha. Different types of server may have different
functions, such as managing a network or hosting/storing database.
4. Micro computer
Micro computers are also known as personal computers or simply PCs. These are very small in size
and cost. The IBM’s first microcomputer was designed in 1981 and was named as IBM-PC. After this
many computer hardware companies copied the design of IBM-PC. The term “PC-compatible” refers
any personal computer based on the original IBM personal computer design. Micro computer is the
smallest category of computer and also called as Personal Computers (PCs). These computers that can
either fit:
Next to a desk (called the Desktop) or
Can be carried around (called the Laptop and Notebook).
Handheld Computers (PDA/Personal digital Assistant) example: Mobile
Micro computers are used for general purpose business applications such as
invoicing/billing/charging accounting transactions etc.
The microcomputers make use of more modern technology to provide relatively powerful
computing facilities at low cost. Microcomputers are now often referred to as the client machine
which receives services and data from a “server” machine.
Some of the major characteristics of the micro computers are that they are a re-small, relatively
inexpensive and can be used for a variety of purposes.

• A simple answer for mobile computing is => Performing computation in mobile units using
hardware and software.
Mobile devices
• A mobile computing device is any device that is created using mobile components, such as
mobile hardware and software.
• Mobile computing devices are portable devices capable of operating, executing and providing
services and applications like a typical computing device.

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 • Mobile computing devices also may be known as portable computing devices or handheld
computing devices.
Different types of mobile devices
 Laptop
– Notebook
 Communication devices
– pager
– Smartphone
– PDA &Pocket PC
– cell phone
– Cordless phone
 Tablet PC
 E-book readers

Smart phone Functionality

• Voice calls (of course), Video calls

• Local File Storage

• Internet/Cloud Services

• Office Computing

• eBook Reader

• Digital Audio/Video Recorder

• Location Based Services/Context awareness/GPS

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.

Mobile devices…
Tablet PC

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 – 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

– Two main types of tablet PCs:

• Convertible -look a lot like normal laptops except the screen can be rotated all
the way around and laid down flat across the Keyboard.

• Slate- looks like a flat screen without a keyboard

– Advantages of Tablet Pcs

– Great mobility

– Save money once bought

– Digital ink record your handwriting and drawings

– E-book reader
– Portable electronic device that is designed primarily for the purpose of reading digital
books and publication.

Support

- Text reading and for voice record

- Internet Capabilities (Wi-Fi)

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Mobile Operating System
• An OS is a software interface that is responsible for managing and operating hardware units
and assisting the user to use those units.

• Mobile OS : For mobile phones, OSs have been developed to enable users to use Mobile devices
in much the same way as personal computers were used 1 or 2 decades ago. 

• Similar in principle to an operating system such as Windows, Mac OS, or Linux that controls
a desktop computer or laptop.

• A mobile OS is a software platform on top of which other programs called application

programs can run on mobile devices such as PDA, cellular phones, smartphone and etc.

• The most well-known mobile OSs are android, iOS, Windows phone OS, and Symbian. 

Notice: - Android maintained its position as the leading mobile operating system worldwide in
January 2022, controlling the mobile OS market with a close to 70% share.

- While IOS/Apple/iphone accounted for around 25% of the mobile operating system market
share.
- HTC Corporation, Samsung, LG, Dell, Fujistu, Nokia, Acer, Alcatel and ZTE have all
windows phone-based devices.
- Symbian was the leading smart phone platform from 2003 up to 2011 for Europe.
- Symbian was a proprietary source mobile OS written in C++ programming language
developed by Symbian Ltd and it is mostly used by Nokia phones.
- Nokia phones are produced in Finland (is the leading), Japan, Hong Kong, Mexico, China,
Brazil, Germany and more.
- HMD Global Oy/company branded Nokia phones(found in Finland as well as china)
- Android is programmed mostly in Java (the most leading OS program), then C and C++
languages.
- IOS (IPhone OS): is the proprietary operating system used on Apple mobile devices such as the
IPhone and I pad. IPhone ranks as the second most used mobile device operating plat form in
the world next to android. Written in C, C++, objective-C, Swift (is the leading programming),
assembly language.
- Mobile operating system differs from desktop OS in:
Mobile devices have constraints or restrictions on their physical characteristic such as screen size,
memory, processing power and etc.
 Scarce availability of battery power
 Limited amount of computing and communication capabilities

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Types of Mobile OS

• Symbian
– Market share(2010): 37.6%( #1 )

– License : open source

– Company: Nokia.

– CPU Architecture: ARM/Advanced Reduced

instruction set Computing(RISC) or Advanced RISC Machine ,the
processor originated in England in 1984.I t has 32 bit and 64 bit reduced instructions.

– Programmed in: C++

– Application store: Symbian Horizon, Overstore(10000+)

– Package manager: Nokia Ovi Suite

– Other: multi-touch, easily affordable cost

Symbian (Nokia)

• Pros

– Massive global reach

• Leads WWW market with 62% of smartphone traffic

– being open source could help accelerate pace of innovation( proprietary of Nokia)

Issues

– Limited reach in the US

– Application distribution more difficult today vs. iPhone’s app store

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 – Manufacturer dependent

– Demand rate has been continuously decreasing

Types of Mobile OS

– Android Market share(2010): 22.7%

– License : open source

– Company: Open Handset Alliance (Google).

– CPU Architecture: ARM, x86

– Programmed in: C, C++, Java

– Application store: Android market(100,000+)

– Package manager: APK

– Other: multi-touch, Linux

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)

• BlackBerry RIM OS
– Market share(2010): 16.0%

– Developed by Canadian company

– License : Proprietary

– Company: Research in motion (RIM).

– CPU Architecture: ARM/Advanced RISC machine

– Programmed in: Java

– Application store: Blackberry App World(30000+)

– Package manager: Blackberry Desktop Manager

– Other: not multi-touch, push email service

• Pros:

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 • Large reach and data-hungry user base Leads US market with 31% of
smartphone traffic

• #3in World 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

– RIM / hardware dependent

• 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

IPhone OS (Apple)

• Pros:
– Strong user growth and data-hungry user base

• More than 10 million iPhones sold

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 – Application store creating a vibrant app ecosystem with great momentum

• applications (~20% free)

• More than 1 million downloads

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

• 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

• 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

Pros

– Strong user reach

• #2 in US market with 30% of smartphone traffic

– Manufacturer independent

– Windows Mobile 7 support and multi-touch

• Issues

– Less developer interest vs. that for iPhone and Android

– Application distribution more difficult today vs. iPhone’s app

store

Types of Mobile OS

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 – Palm OS- mobile operating system initially developed by Palm

– Web OS – Mobile operating system from HP/Palm

– Bada - Mobile operating system developed by Samsung Electronics

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

Mobile computing issues & Challenges

• Location issues

• Connection Quality

• Device limitations

• Security risks

• Wide variety terminals and devices with different capabilities

Wireless Security Issues

o The denial of services or DOS attacks the attacker sends a large amount of unnecessary
data or connection requests to the communication server. It causes a slow network, and
therefore the users cannot get benefitted from using its service.
o Spoofing In this security issue, the attacker impersonates him as an authorized account of
another user and tries to access the sensitive data and unauthorized services.
o Eavesdropping It specifies that the attacker can log on to the wireless network and access
sensitive data if the wireless network was not secure enough. This can also be done if the
information is not encrypted.
 Device Security Issues
o These security issues and threats such as Virus, Spyware and Trojan may damage or
destroy the mobile devices and steal the information stored on them.
 Mobility
o You may face these security threats due to a user's location, so you must replicate the user
profiles at different locations to allow roaming via different places without any concern
regarding access to personal and sensitive data in any place and at any time. 
 Disconnections
o These types of security issues occur when mobile devices go to different places. It occurs in
the form of frequent disconnections caused by external parties resulting in the handoff.
Limitations of the Mobile Environment

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  Limitations of the Wireless Network
 heterogeneity of fragmented networks
 frequent disconnections
 limited communication bandwidth
 Limitations Imposed by Mobility
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.

• 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
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
Dashen bank

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 • The first mobile Banking service in Ethiopia

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
Mobile Computers
• CPUs
– Multiple cores
– Mega Hertz. 1 Giga Hertz new
• RAM
– 512 MB, common in 2011
– in Giga Bytes new
• Persistent Storage

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 – 32 GB Micro SD common in 2011
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-held, communicators, laptops, and other devices
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!
Mobile Application Marketplaces
Google, Apple, Nokia, Palm, etc. have mobile marketplaces where one can sell applications.
–  Application delivery over the Network!
•  Apple iPhone App store:
–  350,000 applications
–  1 Billion downloads!
–  $1 Million USD a day in sales!
Challenges of Mobile Software Development
– 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
– Different Hardware Architectures
• most dominant architectures in the market of CPUs is the ARM architecture
– Limited computing capabilities.

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 – Lack of good language support
– Security
• Always shared medium
Why Android?
• Open source
• Easy to develop
• Wide tech support
Application Categories
Informational
–  Converters, weather, area-guides,
finance
–  Location-based
•  Data Entry
–  Business records, medical records,
exercise
–  Send info to server for aggregation?
•  Multimedia
–  Camera, video, music, photos, ringtones
•  Shopping
–  m-commerce, compare prices
 (Social) Networks
–  IM, MySpace, Facebook
•  Communication
–  Skype, VoIP, SMS
•  Business productivity
–  Spreadsheets, inventory
•  Utilities
–  Torch (flashlight), notepad, stopwatch
•  Games
–  IM, MySpace, Facebook
Summary

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• Basics of Mobile computing
• Mobile computing applications
• Different types of mobile devices
• Issues in Mobile computing
• Mobile OS

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