Mobile phone feature


A mobile phone feature is a capability, service, or application that a mobile phone offers to its users. Mobile phones are often referred to as feature phones, and offer basic telephony. Handsets with more advanced computing ability through the use of native code try to differentiate their own products by implementing additional functions to make them more attractive to consumers. This has led to great innovation in mobile phone development over the past 20 years.
The common components found on all phones are:
All mobile phones are designed to work on cellular networks and contain a standard set of services that allow phones of different types and in different countries to communicate with each other. However, they can also support other features added by various manufacturers over the years:
A typical smartphone contains a number of metal–oxide–semiconductor integrated circuit chips, which in turn contain billions of tiny MOS field-effect transistors. A typical smartphone contains the following MOS IC chips.
  • Application processor
  • Flash memory
  • Cellular modem
  • RF transceiver
  • Phone camera image sensor
  • Power management integrated circuit
  • Display driver
  • Wireless communication chips
  • Sound chip
  • Gyroscope
  • Capacitive touchscreen controller
  • RF power amplifier

    User interface

Besides the number keypad and buttons for accepting and declining calls, button mobile phones commonly feature two option keys, one to the left and one to the right, and a four-directional D-pad which may feature a center button which acts in resemblance to an "Enter" and "OK" button.
A pushable scroll wheel has been implemented in the 1990s on the Nokia 7110.

Software, applications and services

In early stages, every mobile phone company had its own user interface, which can be considered as "closed" operating system, since there was a minimal configurability. A limited variety of basic applications was usually included with the phone and those were not available otherwise. Early mobile phones included basic web browser, for reading basic WAP pages. Handhelds were more sophisticated and also included more advanced browser and a touch screen, but these were not broadly used, comparing to standard phones. Other capabilities like Pulling and Pushing Emails or working with calendar were also made more accessible but it usually required physical Syncing. BlackBerry 850, an email pager, released January 19, 1999, was the first device to integrate Email.
A major step towards a more "open" mobile OS was the symbian S60 OS, that could be expanded by downloading software, and its appearance was more configurable. In July 2008, Apple introduced its App store, which made downloading mobile applications more accessible. In October 2008, the HTC Dream was the first commercially released device to use the Linux-based Android OS, which was purchased and further developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance to create an open competitor to other major smartphone platforms of the time -The operating system offered a customizable graphical user interface and a notification system showing a list of recent messages pushed from apps.
The most commonly used data application on mobile phones is SMS text messaging. The first SMS text message was sent from a computer to a mobile phone in 1992 in the UK, while the first person-to-person SMS from phone to phone was sent in Finland in 1993.
The first mobile news service, delivered via SMS, was launched in Finland in 2000. Mobile news services are expanding with many organizations providing "on-demand" news services by SMS. Some also provide "instant" news pushed out by SMS.
Mobile payments were first trialled in Finland in 1998 when two Coca-Cola vending machines in Espoo were enabled to work with SMS payments. Eventually, the idea spread and in 1999 the Philippines launched the first commercial mobile payments systems, on the mobile operators Globe and Smart. Today, mobile payments ranging from mobile banking to mobile credit cards to mobile commerce are very widely used in Asia and Africa, and in selected European markets. Usually, the SMS services utilize short code.
Some network operators have utilized USSD for information, entertainment or finance services.
Other non-SMS data services used on mobile phones include mobile music, downloadable logos and pictures, gaming, gambling, adult entertainment and advertising. The first downloadable mobile content was sold to a mobile phone in Finland in 1998, when Radiolinja introduced the downloadable ringtone service. In 1999, Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo introduced its mobile Internet service, i-Mode, which today is the world's largest mobile Internet service.
Even after the appearance of smartphones, network operators have continued to offer information services, although in some places, those services have become less common.
Power supply
Mobile phones generally obtain power from rechargeable batteries. There are a variety of ways used to charge cell phones, including USB, portable batteries, mains power, cigarette lighters, or a dynamo. In 2009, the first wireless charger was released for consumer use. Some manufacturers have been experimenting with alternative power sources, including solar cells.
Various initiatives, such as the EU Common External Power Supply have been announced to standardize the interface to the charger, and to promote energy efficiency of mains-operated chargers. A star rating system is promoted by some manufacturers, where the most efficient chargers consume less than 0.03 watts and obtain a five-star rating.

Battery

Most modern mobile phones use a lithium-ion battery. A popular early mobile phone battery was the nickel metal-hydride type, due to its relatively small size and low weight. Lithium-ion batteries later became commonly used, as they are lighter and do not have the voltage depression due to long-term over-charging that nickel metal-hydride batteries do. Many mobile phone manufacturers use lithium–polymer batteries as opposed to the older lithium-ion, the main advantages being even lower weight and the possibility to make the battery a shape other than strict cuboid.

SIM card

mobile phones require a small microchip called a Subscriber Identity Module or SIM card, to function. The SIM card is approximately the size of a small postage stamp and is usually placed underneath the battery in the rear of the unit. The SIM securely stores the service-subscriber key used to identify a subscriber on mobile telephony devices. The SIM card allows users to change phones by simply removing the SIM card from one mobile phone and inserting it into another mobile phone or broadband telephony device.
A SIM card contains its unique serial number, internationally unique number of the mobile user, security authentication and ciphering information, temporary information related to the local network, a list of the services the user has access to and two passwords.
SIM cards are available in three standard sizes. The first is the size of a credit card. The newer, most popular miniature version has the same thickness but a length of 25 mm and a width of 15 mm, and has one of its corners truncated to prevent misinsertion. The newest incarnation known as the 3FF or micro-SIM has dimensions of 15 mm × 12 mm. Most cards of the two smaller sizes are supplied as a full-sized card with the smaller card held in place by a few plastic links; it can easily be broken off to be used in a device that uses the smaller SIM.
The first SIM card was made in 1991 by Munich smart card maker Giesecke & Devrient for the Finnish wireless network operator Radiolinja. Giesecke & Devrient sold the first 300 SIM cards to Elisa.
Those cell phones that do not use a SIM card have the data programmed into their memory. This data is accessed by using a special digit sequence to access the "NAM" as in "Name" or number programming menu. From there, information can be added, including a new number for the phone, new Service Provider numbers, new emergency numbers, new Authentication Key or A-Key code, and a Preferred Roaming List or PRL. However, to prevent the phone being accidentally disabled or removed from the network, the Service Provider typically locks this data with a Master Subsidiary Lock. The MSL also locks the device to a particular carrier when it is sold as a loss leader.
The MSL applies only to the SIM, so once the contract has expired, the MSL still applies to the SIM. The phone, however, is also initially locked by the manufacturer into the Service Provider's MSL. This lock may be disabled so that the phone can use other Service Providers' SIM cards. Most phones purchased outside the U.S. are unlocked phones because there are numerous Service Providers that are close to one another or have overlapping coverage. The cost to unlock a phone varies but is usually very cheap and is sometimes provided by independent phone vendors.
A similar module called a Removable User Identity Module or RUIM card is present in some CDMA networks, notably in China and Indonesia.