Unit 1

• Mobile computing: computing environment over physical mobility

o Users should able to access data, information or other logical objects
from any device in any network while on the move

• Main principles of MC
o Portability: Physical mobility
o Connectivity: quality of service (QoS) of the network connectivity
o Interactivity: node collaboration and communication between
computing devices
o Individuality: have individual contextual information individually

• Smartphone Hardware Architecture

o Central Processing Unit (CPU)
o Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)
o Memory and Storages
o Display Requirements
o Display Requirements
o Display Technologies: LCD, AMOLED
o Connectivity & Sensors
• Application Framework
o Activity Manager: Manages the activity life cycle of applications
o Content Providers: Manage the data sharing between applications
o Telephony Manager: Manages all voice calls
o Location Manager: Location management, using GPS or cell tower
o Resource Manager: Manage the various types of resources we use in
our App
o OpenGL ES: The OpenGL ES is a 3D graphics library
o SQLite: Contains the SQLite database management classes
o Media Framework: contains all of the codecs that are required for
multimedia experience
 o Free Type: used to render the fonts
o SSL: used for internet security (Secure Socket Layer)
o WebKit: open source browser engine
• APPLICATIONS OF MOBILE COMPUTING
o Vehicles
o Mobile workers
o Replacement of fixed networks
o Entertainment, education

Unit 2
• Context: Any information that can be used to characterize the situation of
an entity
o In general: User, Task, Environment, Device
• Context-Aware Mobile Computing:
o context-aware: uses context to provide relevant information and/or
services to the user, where relevancy depends on the user’s task
o Applications that can detect their user’s situations and adapt to their
behaviors accordingly
• Why Context?
o Present services and information to a user
o Automatically execute a service for a user
o Tag information to retrieve at a later time

• Context Sensing
o Low level context sensing: Can be sensed directly using sensors or
through simple processing
o High level context sensing: Involve the amalgamation of low-level
context information and sophisticated processing
• Categories of Context
o Computing context
o User context
o Physical context
o Temporal context

• Considering Context: The 5 W’s

o Who - Social context
o What - Function context
o Where - Location context
o When - Temporal context
o Why - Motivating context

• Context-aware Requirements
o Contextual Sensing
o Contextual adaptation
o Contextual resource discovery
o Contextual augmentation/ processing

• Information Architecture:
o structural design of shared information environments
o the practice of labeling and organizing content to enhance findability
and usability

• IA Architecture
o Organization System: E.g content categories
o Navigation system
o Search system
o Labelling system
• Information architecture is concerned with
o Understanding the structure and
o Organization of the content of the app

• New Rules for Mobile App Design

o R1: Forget what you think you know
o R2: Believe what you see, not what you read
o R3: Constraints never come first
o R4: Focus on context, goals and needs
o R5: You can’t support everything
o R6: Don’t convert, create
o R7: Keep it simple
• The most important design concern in the design of an application running
in a mobile device is: The consistency of user experience

• common workflow for the development of apps

o Scoping - fundamental purpose of the application, Mobile specific
o Performance considerations - General responsiveness metrics
o User interface design - study key use cases and features
o Data model and memory concerns
o Communications and I/O - how the application communicates with
the resources that are located beyond its control: Internal resources,
External resources, Socket-based communications

• Types of Mobile Apps

o HTML5 - run inside a Browser and cannot make use of many things
that Mobile OS provides
▪ Pros
• Lowest Development Cost
• Maximum Reuse
• Use Same team
• No App Store Distribution hassles
 • Instant Updates, Clients on latest Version
▪ Cons
• User needs to open browser
• Loading time is slowest
• No notification available for updates
• Limited access to Phone Features
• App Store Marketing not available
• Simulation of Native UX
o Native
▪ Pros
• The prowess of Mobile is available
• Ability to build Richest & Fastest Apps
• Notifications Available
• Offline Storage Available
• Background Processing Available.
• Entire Device Sensor Array Available
• App Store/Market Monetization Possible
▪ Cons
• Highest Development Cost
• Dedicated teams for different Platforms
• Design/Code Reuse not Possible
• AppStore/Market approval is prerequisite for launch of
new features
• Longer development time
o Hybrid (HTML5 + Native) - are Native Apps, Web App is hosted inside
Native App
▪ Pros
• Best of Both Worlds
• HTML5 in Embedded Browser
• Business Logic in HTML 5/Server
• Sensor Array available via Native
• Native App with Embedded Browser
• Any Extensions are Native
▪ Cons
 • Development Environment is Complex
• Both Web and Native Skills are required
• Native Skills required for extensions across platforms
• Pains from both worlds: Catching up on new OS and
HTML5 Feature sets

• Factors for Choosing (Native, Hybrid, HTML5)

o Performance (1, 2, 3)
o Rich UI (1, 2, 3)
o Development Cost (1, 2, 3)
o Time to Market (Longest, Moderate, Shortest)
o App Store Engagement (Maximum, Maximum, No)
o Security (Highest, High, Limited)