QandAs: Tech

What is a smartphone?

Answer:
A smartphone is a cellular phone with similar functionality to a personal computer.

Smartphones are not new technology.

The first smartphone was marketed in 1992 by IBM and dubbed "Simon". It was sold by Bellsouth to the public in 1993 and was the most technologically-advanced phone of its day. The Simon is considered to be a fairly low-end product by today's standards.

Smartphones have evolved substantially since the Simon came to market. Today's smartphones can do almost everything computers can do plus provide full-featured voice call capabilities, all from the palm of your hand. The most notable smartphone is Apple's iPhone 3G.

Smartphones of today combine the features and functionalities of a PDA (Personal Desktop Assistant, or Palmtop) with the capabilities of modern cellular phones. This allows the user to keep everything in one place and allows them to work like they have a computer with them all the time, albiet at a much slower pace.