Survey of the current OS situation for mobile phones

Bob Russell · 09-09-2006, 10:11 AM

There is a very nice survey of operating systems for mobile phones over at Linux Magazine. Obviously, they come from the viewpoint that Linux is in the best position for the future, but they acknowlege the strenth and improvement of Windows Mobile, and the leverage of PalmOS as an application support layer (providing a set of APIs) that happens to run on Linux in it's next incarnation as ALP.

There are a lot of unanswered questions, and a lot of work to be done. But the next generations of feature phones and smart phones are going to be very interesting, and capabilities should explode quickly after the current foundational work has progressed a bit further.

CommanderROR · 09-10-2006, 05:51 AM

I think the choice of OS is rather important, but the main factor in the ongoing Smarthpone wars is probably going to be useability.

Most mobile devices these days have a lot of power, both software and hardware related. The trouble is that using the applications, doing data input and transferring files, surfing the web and listening to Audio/watching Video/TV is mostly cumbersoe because you don't have enough keys to input text quickly, don't have a touchscreen and can't click eblinks directly, have a touchscreen but can't use it properly because when you're sitting on a train or walking or whatever, you just can't hit the tiny onscreen keys...I think you get the picture.

I believe that the choice of OS is not unimportant, but the choice of input method and comfort of use (look at the device in the picture above...with the control keys right at the edge, using it one-handed is very probably completely impossible...) will be the main factor for the success of smartphones.
Even rather basic cellphones these days have all kinds of PIM apps onboard, but if there is no convenient way of actually getting your data in there, nobody is going to make proper use of them.

09-09-2006, 10:11 AM	#1
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Survey of the current OS situation for mobile phones There is a very nice survey of operating systems for mobile phones over at Linux Magazine. Obviously, they come from the viewpoint that Linux is in the best position for the future, but they acknowlege the strenth and improvement of Windows Mobile, and the leverage of PalmOS as an application support layer (providing a set of APIs) that happens to run on Linux in it's next incarnation as ALP. There are a lot of unanswered questions, and a lot of work to be done. But the next generations of feature phones and smart phones are going to be very interesting, and capabilities should explode quickly after the current foundational work has progressed a bit further.

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09-10-2006, 05:51 AM	#2
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	I think the choice of OS is rather important, but the main factor in the ongoing Smarthpone wars is probably going to be useability. Most mobile devices these days have a lot of power, both software and hardware related. The trouble is that using the applications, doing data input and transferring files, surfing the web and listening to Audio/watching Video/TV is mostly cumbersoe because you don't have enough keys to input text quickly, don't have a touchscreen and can't click eblinks directly, have a touchscreen but can't use it properly because when you're sitting on a train or walking or whatever, you just can't hit the tiny onscreen keys...I think you get the picture. I believe that the choice of OS is not unimportant, but the choice of input method and comfort of use (look at the device in the picture above...with the control keys right at the edge, using it one-handed is very probably completely impossible...) will be the main factor for the success of smartphones. Even rather basic cellphones these days have all kinds of PIM apps onboard, but if there is no convenient way of actually getting your data in there, nobody is going to make proper use of them.

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