CONCLUSION

With the emphasis increasingly on compact, small mobile computers, it may also be possible to have all the practicality of a mobile computer in the size of a hand held organizer or even smaller.
Use of Artificial Intelligence may allow mobile units to be the ultimate in personal secretaries, which can receive emails and paging messages, understand what they are about, and change the individuals personal schedule according to the message. This can then be checked by the individual to plan his/her day.
The working lifestyle will change, with the majority of people working from home, rather than commuting. This may be beneficial to the environment as less transportation will be utilized. This mobility aspect may be carried further in that, even in social spheres, people will interact via mobile stations, eliminating the need to venture outside of the house. The future of mobile computing looks increasingly exciting.

MOBILE COMPUTING

APPLICATIONS OF MOBILE COMPUTING

In many fields of work, the ability to keep on the move is vital in order to utilize time efficiently. Efficient utilization of resources (i e: staff) can mean substantial savings in transportation costs and other non quantifiable costs such as increased customer attention, impact of on site maintenance and improved intercommunication within the business.
The importance of Mobile Computers has been highlighted in many fields like Estate Agents which allows them work at home or out in the field making them more productive, Emergency Services which enables them receive information regarding the address, type and other details of an incident and can be dispatched quickly, via a CDPD system using mobile computers, to one or several appropriate mobile units which are in the vicinity of the incident. Mobile computers also allows lawyers in court immediate access to a wealth of information, making people better informed and prepared. Managers in companies can use mobile computers in critical presentations to major customers and access the latest market share information. Also,in environments where access to stock is very limited i e: factory warehouses, the use of small portable electronic databases accessed via a mobile computer would be ideal. At supermarkets and malls, when customers use credit cards for transactions, the intercommunication required between the bank central computer and the POS terminal, in order to effect verification of the card usage, can take place quickly and securely over cellular channels using a mobile computer unit. Lastly, mobile computing aids taxi dispatch by allowing the taxis to be given full details of the dispatched job as well as allowing the taxis to communicate information about their whereabouts back to the central dispatch office.

SHORT VIDEO ON MOBILE COMPUTING

DISADVANTAGES OF MOBILE COMPUTING 

Mobile computing also has its advantages. Some of which include mobile devices needing either WiFi or mobile network connectivity such as GPRS, 3G and even 4G in some countries because if a user is not close to any of these connections,access to internet is limited. Mobile VPNs are are unsafe to connect to and syncing devices might lead to security concerns . Accessing a WiFi network might be risky because WPA and WEP security can be bypassed easily. A fall back could occur in a situation where there is no power source due to the use of batteries in these devices and their ability not to last long. The World Wide Web encourages plagiarism since information can now be copied and pasted on their clipboards from websites. Also, the virtual comfort that the mobile computing device offers to its users contributes to their decreasing opportunities for human interaction. Lastly, mobile computing devices are much more expensive than most gadgets considering not every individual can afford it which makes it considered as a luxury item ans in time, a new age of materialism may be introduced to the present generation.  

Mobile computing has changed the complete landscape of the life of human beings. Some of its advantages include Location flexibility which enables a user to work from anywhere as long as an internet connection is established. It saves time wasted on travelling from different locations or to the office and back, It also enhances productivity therefore reducing the time and cost for clients and themselves in various companies. Research has also been made easier since users go to the field to search for information and facts and feed them back to the system. Mobile devices can also be used for entertainment purposes, personal and even for presentations to people and clients since video and audio recordings can now be streamed. Business processes are now easily available through secured connections and adequate measures have been put in place to ensure authentication and authorization of the user accessing those services. Mobile computing provides cloud computing which is available for saving documents on an online server and being able to access theses files anywhere ans anytime.    

Mobile computing provides a wide range of career opportunities. The vocation choices include Game Developer, Mobile Technicians, Mobile security Expert, Mobile Architect, Marketing Manager, Versatile User Interface Designer, Versatile Repair Engineer, IPAD Developer, Sharepoint and Mobile Expert, Technical Sopport Engineer, KPI Engineer, Maintenance Manager among many others.

LOOKING AT

WHY MOBILE COMPUTING?

Mobile computers are spreading faster than any other consumer technology in history. In the United States, smartphones have even begun reaching the group of relative technophobes that consumer researchers call the “late majority.” About half of mobile-phone users now have one.

Mobile computing enables mobility and also new applications. It brings about computer communications to areas with pre- existing infrastructure. It also provides a great deal of profit. It enables connectivity anytime and anywhere. It creates an exciting new area for research.

BRIEF HISTORY OF MOBILE COMPUTING

Wireless technology began in 1947 by researchers in AT & T Bell Labs where the idea of cellular phone was conceived. They went ahead to request for allocation of a widespread large number of radio spectrum frequency to make mobile telephone service feasible. The first wireless network was commissioned in Germany in 1957 and was calles A-Netz and used analog technology at 160MHz which was wireless but not a cellular network.

Only outgoing calls were made possible as at that time, later on receiving incoming calls became possible as long as the location of the mobile station was known.  

In April 1973, Martin Cooper invented the first mobile phone handset, a prototype of public cellular network was created in 1977 by AT &T and Bell Labs. 

FCC finally authorized commercial cellular service for the USA in 1982 and in 1983, the first American commercial analog cellular service AMPS (advanced mobile phone service) was made commercially available in Chicago.

This was the first cellular mobile network in the world.

Advances in technology have reduced many of these limitations, and mobile computing is closer to reality than ever before. Mobile computing devices are becoming smaller, lighter, and more powerful than their predecessors. They also come in various types and connectivity options. Two prominent classes of mobile computing devices today are those that use the PalmOS and the PocketPC operating systems. The former class of devices holds a dominant share of the market whereas the latter is growing in market size and is especially popular with executives in business organizations. Often referred to as palmtop computers or handheld computers, these devices are capable of simple word processing, spreadsheet applications, web browsing, calendar notations, and address management. There are low-end handheld computers with monochromatic displays, low resolution, limited memory, and somewhat bulky sizes. Higher-end devices are extremely thin, have a high-resolution, and can include color displays.

Practically, mobile computing is a challenge for several reasons. For anytime, anywhere functionality, the user must be able to carry the mobile computing device. The computing device must be small, light, and at the same time be capable of performing the complex tasks of a desktop computer. Anytime, anywhere access to a network will also require wireless connectivity as the user cannot be tied to a place where a wired connection is available. Both of these requirements are quite challenging to fulfill.

INTRODUCTION TO MOBILE COMPUTING.

Mobile computing is a technology that allows the transmission of data, voice and video through a computer or any other enabled wireless device without being connected to a fixed physical link. Mobile computing enables people access network services anywhere, anyplace and anytime and may or may not require communication between devices at all.

Wireless communication refers to methods of transferring information between a computing device such ad personal data assistant and a data source such as agency database server.  

Note:- not all wireless communications technology are mobile. For example, lasers are used in wireless data transfer but not in mobile communications.

Computer network:- This is a collection of several homogeneous / heterogenous system commonly used for sharing resource . They are classified into area wise such as LAN, WAN and as per medium used such as wireless computer network.

Dear viewers, welcome to our blog. This blog has been set up by a group of Limkokwing University Of Creative Technology students taking Multimedia Technology as a course February 2015 intake. The topic of discussion is Mobile Computing. We encourage suggestions and corrections should in case a mistake is made unknowingly.