MOBILE STATIONS

A mobile station or a mobile handheld device, such as a PDA (personal digital assistant) or Web-enabled cellular phone, may embrace many of the features of computers, telephone/fax, e- mails , PIM (personal information managers) such as calendars and address books, and networking features. A mobile station differs from a PC or notebook due to its limited network bandwidth, limited screen/body size , and mobility features. The limited network bandwidth prevents the display of most multimedia on a microbrowser , while the limited screen/body size restricts the mobile stations of today to either a stylus or keyboard version. Unlike portable computers, most mobile stations originated as pen-based systems, using a stylus rather than a keyboard for input. This means that they also had to incorporate handwriting recognition features, which were and are still in their infancy. Some mobile stations can also react to voice input by using voice recognition technologies.

There are numerous mobile stations available in the market today. Table 2 lists some major mobile station specifications, although several table entries may be incomplete as some of the information is classified as confidential due to business considerations.

Table 2: Specifications of some major mobile stations
Vendor & Device	Operating System	Processor	Installed RAM/ROM	Input Method	Key Features
Compaq iPAQ H3870	MS Pocket PC 2002	206 MHz Intel StrongARM 32-bit RISC	64 MB/32 MB	Touchscreen	Wireless E-mail/Internet
Handspring Treo 300	Palm OS 3.5.2H	33 MHz Motorola Dragonball VZ	16 MB/8 MB	Keyboard/ Stylus	CDMA network
Motorola Accompli 009	Wisdom OS 5.0	33 MHz Motorola Dragonball VZ	8 MB/4 MB	Keyboard	GPRS network
Nokia 9290 Communicator	Symbian OS	32-bit ARM9 RISC	16 MB/8 MB	Keyboard	WAP
Palm i705	Palm OS 4.1	33 MHz Motorola Dragonball VZ	8 MB/4 MB	Stylus	Wireless E-mail/Internet
Samsung SPH-i330	Palm OS	‚	16 MB/8 MB	Touchscreen/Stylus	Color screen
SONY Clie PEG-NR70V	Palm OS 4.1	66 MHz Motorola Dragonball Super VZ	16 MB/8 MB	Keyboard/Stylus/Touchscreen	Multimedia
Toshiba E740	MS Pocket PC 2002	400 MHz Intel PXA250	64 MB/32 MB	Stylus/Touchscreen	Wireless Internet

Operating Systems

Although a wide range of mobile stations are available in the market, the operating systems, the core component of mobile stations, are dominated by just three major brands: Palm OS, Pocket PC, and Symbian OS ("Mobile Computing", 2002), which are described next . For the time being, Palm OS enjoys a significant lead, although the introduction in 2000 of the Pocket PC platform has presented a serious challenge. However, it is almost impossible to predict which will be the ultimate winner in the battle of the operating systems of mobile stations, and claims concerning market share vary enormously.

Palm OS

Palm OS runs on almost two out of every three mobile stations (PalmSource, n.d.). Its popularity can be attributed to its many advantages, such as its long battery life, support for a wide variety of wireless standards, and the abundant software available. The plain design of the Palm OS has resulted in a long battery life, approximately twice that of its rivals. It supports many important wireless standards, including Bluetooth and 802.11b local wireless and GSM, Mobitex, and CDMA wide-area wireless networks. The type of software often used on PCs is gradually becoming available for Palm OS, such as spreadsheets, databases, document processors, messaging programs, and multimedia tools. To offset the increasing challenge from Pocket PC 2002, Palm introduced Palm OS 5, which runs an ARM processor (TI OMAP1510) and has a high-resolution (320 ƒ ”320) color screen, 16 MB of memory, built-in voice recorder, directional pad, and built-in Bluetooth and media playback capability (MP3/OGG/WAV), complete with speaker and headphone jack.

Pocket PC

In 1996, Microsoft launched Windows CE, a version of the Microsoft Windows operating system designed specially for a variety of embedded products, including mobile stations. However, it was not well received primarily because of battery-hungry hardware and limited functionality, possibly due to the way that Windows CE was adapted for mobile stations from other Microsoft 32-bit desktop operating systems. To compete with Palm OS, Microsoft later introduced Pocket PC (http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/pocketpc/), which was designed with better service for mobile users in mind and offers far more computing power than Windows CE. Moreover, the latest version introduces support for Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11b, and mobile phone technologies, such as CDPD, CDMA, and GSM, and allows access to corporate information via a number of connectivity options, including VPN, WAN, LAN, and PAN.

Symbian OS

EPOC16 from Psion Software is a 16-bit version of an operating system that has been available for several years and is embedded in many mobile stations; EPOC32 is a 32-bit open operating system that supports preemptive multitasking. In mid-1998, Psion joined forces with Ericsson, Nokia, and Motorola to form a new joint venture called Symbian OS (http://www.symbian.com/), with the aim of establishing EPOC as the de facto operating system for mobile stations. Unlike Windows CE, it was planned from the beginning to be a full operating system of mobile stations. It includes the following key features: integrated multimode mobile telephony, an open application environment, multitasking, multimedia, and data synchronization.