What is mobile computing? Mobile computing, sometimes called mobile communications, is simply a branch of technology that seeks to improve the efficiency with which people can access information over a cellular network. The cell phone has been one of the most crucial technology pieces to come along in many years. Before this invention came about, people had to rely on more traditional means of communication to get their job done – which can be inconvenient.

As mobile computing’s history takes us down the road, we see that it evolved from using cellular phones as only a hardware device into something much more. Mobile computing began with handheld computers and then moved on to using handheld devices. Then things changed with the introduction of the smartphone. This tiny handheld computer was something that was just a dream for some. However, this dream became a reality for millions of people early on in the game. Today, these handsets are among the essential components of mobile computing devices.

As mobile devices’ history continues to take us in different directions, we learn that we are not locked into using the cellular network provided by our wireless carrier company. We can choose between many kinds of devices. Smartphones and PDAs, as well as tablets and laptops, are all types of mobile operating systems. We can also go the other direction and use specific applications that run on our computers, such as Excel and PowerPoint.

Different mobile devices provide additional features. There are those which make the most of the Internet and allow real-time video and audio communications. There are highly productive and use the hardware components of the CPU to enable the user to run various applications. On the other hand, some focus on providing a good communication layer and have no hardware components. In this case, they can function as a PDA, while different mobile devices can be used as miniature personal computers.

Mobile computing devices differ primarily in their communications protocols. Cell phones that use GSM technology are considered to be virtual networking devices. PDAs, on the other hand, use the Global System for Mobile Communications or GSM technology. Although both use the same protocols for data transmission, this does not mean that one is considered more mobile than the other. The difference lies mainly in the types of communication that these two devices support.

Another difference that exists between these devices is their hardware architecture. Mobile computing devices that work like cell phones generally fall into three types: micro-servers, virtual machines, or smartphones. Each of these has its advantages and disadvantages. For instance, microservers are extremely fast when it comes to transferring data; however, they also consume many system resources. Virtual machines can perform the same tasks that servers do, but they are much slower when it comes to data transfer since they have no requirement for memory allocation.

One significant difference between what is mobile and what is desktop is the usage of Wi-Fi. Desktop devices are capable of connecting to wireless networks via USB and Bluetooth. What is portable, however, can utilize any available Wi-Fi network or ethernet connection that is available. Some wireless networks are more prone to security issues than others, which is why some mobile devices, such as tablet PCs, can only access secure Wi-Fi networks. In some cases, the only option for a Wi-Fi device is to connect to a secure desktop network.
The last significant difference between mobile computing and desktops is the use of a central database server. A mobile device usually has no operating system and relies on its central storage unit to track files and history. A desktop can keep track of the same information but can access files and records anywhere in the world where a computer is present. A mobile device is restricted to the apps currently on the device’s memory space and can only access files stored on its internal memory or a Wi-Fi network’s availability.