There is no denying the exponential rise in mobile phone use throughout the world. There is also a similar exponential rise in the use of Mobile devices for internet access. These facts alone make developing web products and applications for mobile phone platforms certainly an important subject.
During our lecture, we had an interesting discussion about the history of mobile phones. Being 46 years of age I remember the first mobile phone that was introduced in Malta. At the time we used to call them "Telecell" which was really the name of the mobile phone company that started the cellular service in Malta. I remember the first popular model which was the NEC P3. As I was already in business, the idea of having portable telephony was something that I could not ignore and my partners and I had immediately purchased a phone and contract. The phones themselves were a far cry when compared to what we are used to today. They we bulky and heavy and a holster was the order of the day. Battery life was very short and reception terrible. I was not uncommon to have to stand on a chair out of a window to complete an important call. The mobile phone as also something of a status symbol back then. People used to carry them around with pride and when they made a call everyone would look at them. You have to keep in mind that even cordless telephones were quite rare at that time and DEC was not yet invented so it was natural for people to want the technology. Making calls was also very expensive at the time and we used to use the phones mostly for emergencies.
When we started to get Data Services with GPRS phones it was more a question of experiencing the technology rather than actually using them. In Malta, GO who is one of the major phone companies had introduced GPRS data services for no charge for around two years. I had used my phone, at the time, to try and browse internet sites but mostly due to the very small screen size of the phones of that time and to the unfriendly way you could navigate pages this was very limited. However, I used to connect my phone to my notebook and get an acceptable internet service although at slow speed. You have to keep in mind that Malta is a very small country and this means that services are available quickly to all parts of the Island. Nowadays we have full coverage with 3G and 3.5G services and a very acceptable HSDPA speed.
I currently used a Blackberry Curve phone and have been using it for around a year. I have found this device to be excellent in many ways. First of all it is the most reliable phone that I have ever had. As a phone its excellent with good reception and very good quality sound. The battery life was the main reason I bought this model. When I compared my BB to the iPhone, in terms of battery life it wins outright. I am very aware however, that the user interface on the iPhone is far better than on my Curve. Browsing the net on the Curve is do-able, however, I usually only use it in cases of emergency. Basically, what I don't like about it is that there is too much waiting time when you zoom to view the contents of a page and when you are reading the news for example, you would have to do this all the time. When reading and sending emails, the Curve fares much better although the small keyboard is to small to use except when sitting down and using both hands. I was very much used to the T9 system on the old Nokia phones which allows you to type very fast using one hand, admittedly only if you can spell. Writing messages in my native language, Maltese was of course impossible with T9.
The inherent problem is that there is no standardisation in both what devices in use can display on their browsers and also in the user interfaces that the devices use. Yo simply have to compare a mobile phone from a couple of years ago to a modern iPhone 4. There is no similarity between the user interfaces whatsoever. The fact that there are many different operating systems does not help either. The large quantity of different browsers also presents problems when developing web products for mobile phones.
At least there are myriad mobile phone emulators on line. This is a big advantage as it allows web developers to test their products without having to invest in multiple phones.
During our lecture, we had an interesting discussion about the history of mobile phones. Being 46 years of age I remember the first mobile phone that was introduced in Malta. At the time we used to call them "Telecell" which was really the name of the mobile phone company that started the cellular service in Malta. I remember the first popular model which was the NEC P3. As I was already in business, the idea of having portable telephony was something that I could not ignore and my partners and I had immediately purchased a phone and contract. The phones themselves were a far cry when compared to what we are used to today. They we bulky and heavy and a holster was the order of the day. Battery life was very short and reception terrible. I was not uncommon to have to stand on a chair out of a window to complete an important call. The mobile phone as also something of a status symbol back then. People used to carry them around with pride and when they made a call everyone would look at them. You have to keep in mind that even cordless telephones were quite rare at that time and DEC was not yet invented so it was natural for people to want the technology. Making calls was also very expensive at the time and we used to use the phones mostly for emergencies.
When we started to get Data Services with GPRS phones it was more a question of experiencing the technology rather than actually using them. In Malta, GO who is one of the major phone companies had introduced GPRS data services for no charge for around two years. I had used my phone, at the time, to try and browse internet sites but mostly due to the very small screen size of the phones of that time and to the unfriendly way you could navigate pages this was very limited. However, I used to connect my phone to my notebook and get an acceptable internet service although at slow speed. You have to keep in mind that Malta is a very small country and this means that services are available quickly to all parts of the Island. Nowadays we have full coverage with 3G and 3.5G services and a very acceptable HSDPA speed.
I currently used a Blackberry Curve phone and have been using it for around a year. I have found this device to be excellent in many ways. First of all it is the most reliable phone that I have ever had. As a phone its excellent with good reception and very good quality sound. The battery life was the main reason I bought this model. When I compared my BB to the iPhone, in terms of battery life it wins outright. I am very aware however, that the user interface on the iPhone is far better than on my Curve. Browsing the net on the Curve is do-able, however, I usually only use it in cases of emergency. Basically, what I don't like about it is that there is too much waiting time when you zoom to view the contents of a page and when you are reading the news for example, you would have to do this all the time. When reading and sending emails, the Curve fares much better although the small keyboard is to small to use except when sitting down and using both hands. I was very much used to the T9 system on the old Nokia phones which allows you to type very fast using one hand, admittedly only if you can spell. Writing messages in my native language, Maltese was of course impossible with T9.
The inherent problem is that there is no standardisation in both what devices in use can display on their browsers and also in the user interfaces that the devices use. Yo simply have to compare a mobile phone from a couple of years ago to a modern iPhone 4. There is no similarity between the user interfaces whatsoever. The fact that there are many different operating systems does not help either. The large quantity of different browsers also presents problems when developing web products for mobile phones.
At least there are myriad mobile phone emulators on line. This is a big advantage as it allows web developers to test their products without having to invest in multiple phones.
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