Well, not quite so, when you take a closer look at its development stages spanning the last few years. In the beginning, there was the cell phone that permitted you to make and receive telephone calls. Then there appeared on the scene the PDA or Personal Digital Assistant that was actually used as personal portable organizer. Apart from storing your contact info as well as a to-do list, a PDA (such as a Palm Pilot) could also sync with your PC.

However, with the passing of days, PDA developed wireless connectivity and so was able to send and receive e-mail. Cell phone technology, meanwhile, wasn’t sitting idle either but helped gain messaging capabilities, too. PDA then went out of its original alignment by adding cellular phone features, while cell phones gathered PDA-like or rather, computer-like features. This precisely gave birth to the Smartphone.

A smartphone, therefore, is basically a mobile phone built on a mobile OS, with advanced computing capability and connectivity, as compared to a feature phone. Even though the first smartphones, as you must have observed, acquired the functions of a PDA, later models quickly added the functionality of Portable Media Players, low-end Compact Digital cameras, and GPS Navigation Units, thereby forming one multi-use hand-held device. Smartphones now have high-resolution touch-screens and web browsers that can display web pages and mobile-optimized sites. High speed data access for smartphones is usually provided by Mobile Broadband. However, key smartphone features consist of the following:

Operating System

Generally speaking, Smartphone’s are based on Operating Systems or OS that help run applications. Apple’s iPhone runs the iOS, Blackberry smartphones run the Blackberry OS while other devices run Google’s Android OS, HP’s webOS, and Microsoft’s Windows Phone.

Apps

True; cell phones do include some basic software such as an address book, but compared to that a smartphone will have scores of it. Why; some of these will allow you to create and edit MS office documents and view the files, while others will allow you to download apps that include personal and business finance managers, effective personal assistants, etc. Some of the facilities also include editing photos, getting driving directions through GPS, as well as creating a playlist of digital tunes.

Web Access

Thanks to the proliferation of 4G and 3G data networks, along with the addition of Wi-Fi support to most handsets, smartphones can now access the Web at much higher speeds. Even if some smartphones lack high speed Web access, they always provide some sort of practical access for the general viewer. In fact, there is nothing to stop you from browsing your favorite sites with your very own smartphone.

Qwerty Keyboard

Surprisingly enough, when people feel more accustomed with virtual keyboards in a smartphone, there are some who still prefer a physical QWERTY keyboard that comes with precision-molded keys and distinguished frets. Of course, you can enter text fast, accurately and with the minimum amount of effort with this sort of keyboard. In fact, there is also a sense of fulfillment as a key goes down with the pressure of your finger tip and then pops up again for the next push.

Smartphone and E-mai

No doubt cell phones can send and receive text messages alright, but what sets a smartphone apart, lies in its handling of e-mail. While some smartphones can literally sync with your personal, as well as professional e-mail account, there are others that can support multiple e-mail accounts. Yet others include access to the popular instant messaging services, such as AOL’s AIM and Yahoo!