Mobile Telecommunications and Vibrant Technology - Article Example

Mobile Telecommunications a Vibrant Technology Technology has actually shrunk the world, and no line of ingenuities that made it possible than the advancement of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), as you cannot separate them in recent times. Its versatility has been attested through its application from homes to industrial settings, from entertainment to advanced scientific endeavors. Almost every aspect of human activities made use of the technology which made it inseparable with the needs of the modern society. Telecommunications is one area where ICT's impact is widely felt. In fact, most often people made it a habit to relate interchangeably telecommunications with ICT and most people sometimes cannot clearly identify the difference either. The rise of ICT and electronics brought tremendous advancement to communications technology which had grown from the ordinary Morse code, to simple telephony, and recently through visual telecommunication, and finally to the advent of wireless systems. The impact of this progress hastened the speed and the convenience of delivering and receiving valuable information with vividness and precision. Modern society has become so agile with the fast pace of life, businesses, and the need for mobile technologies has also increased. Developments cope with these needs and telecommunications became mobile with cellular pagers, cellular phones, and recently with mobile videophones. Surely telecommunications is accessible wherever you are in the world. If this technology did exist during WWII, Pearl Harbor tragedy could not have happened. The pace of development along the field of ICT and telecommunication seems so fast that new technologies emerged and changes in monthly basis. Ideas keep coming out every single day and before you know it, what is in today is pass' by the end of the semester. Take for example the emergence of wireless communication technologies. Before we know it the once popular analog mobile phones has gone so far to integrate computing and mobile internet access in just a span of three generations. That is a lot of time if you think of it but to appreciate the progress its better understood in terms of what had changed so far since the first cellular communication device was introduced. We can even trace back our discussion of the history of wireless communications from 0G or Zero generations when telephone systems was still operator assisted with very limited channels. But we have to begin our exploration from First generation (1G) to third generations (3G) of modern mobile communications, a growing family of wireless technology. The First Generation (1G) "The big boom in mobile phone service really began with the introduction of analog cellular service called AMPS (Analog Mobile Phone Service)" (Shepler, 2005). The first generation technologies of wireless communications are analog cellular phones. Based on record the 1G era covers the 1980s. The first mobile phone systems, called as "cellular mobile radio telephone" used analog radio signals which are transmitted via a less developed networks of repeaters such as those used by amateur radio operators.. Analog signals are continuous electrical signals that vary in time and variations follow that of the original non-electric signal to make them analogous hence the name analog (Net Tel Information Center, 2004). In analog technologies, the voice signals are transmitted via a base carrier in a form of an alternating current which frequency is changed and varied to match the original signal, amplified, then transmitted via the networks. This system is still used in some landline telephones and radio broadcasts today. Among the first 1G systems introduced was in 1979, with Japan's Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland's Nordic Mobile Telephone (MBT) system launched in 1981, and the Total Access Communication System (TACS), deployed in the United Kingdom in 1983 (Britannica Online, 2008). The Second Generation (2G) The birth of digital technologies replaced analog systems. Digital signals are non-continuous. Different from analog, digital technology encodes the information into discrete signal states. Each digital signal are assigned two states (either 1 or 0) referred to as binary signals termed a bit. The complexity of the digital signal depends on the number of bits it contained. The higher the bits the clearer the information transmitted and the complex the information to be transmitted the higher the bit requirement (Samson, 1999). In 2G technologies the communication signals are encoded to digital signals and transmitted via the network systems. The 2G era started in the 1990s and some of its systems are still in use today. Along with its introduction was the improvement in the design of more compact phones due to advancement in battery efficiencies and other electronic systems. The establishment of more cell sites and efforts of most networks to widen service coverage requires cellular devices with less sophisticated transmitters thus reduces the bulk of the hardware and the size of the unit. The second generation systems introduced a new way of communication such as SMS text messaging which eventually became an alternative to voice calls. The consumption of media products is also a feature in the 2G technology. These include downloadable ring tones, logo, news, horoscopes, and others served and accessed via the mobile devices' network operators. The traditional 2.5G or second and a half generation is a transition from 2G to 3G cellular wireless technologies. Prior to the full swift to 3G, which was hindered by costs and technological barriers, the 2.5G networks came to evolve. These networks added features not found in 2G networks such as a packet switched domain in addition to the circuit switched domain The system in always on such that a phone with 2.5G services can alternate between using the Net, sending or receiving text messages, and making phone calls without losing its connection. The system 2.5G is not officially recognized and was used for commercial purposes only. Third Generation The advancement of electronics and communications technology pushed telecommunications development more ahead. Multimedia which evaded the computer world and the Internet became an attractive idea which leads to the development of 3G network technologies. Today more than ever, network operators offer mobile phone users a wide variety of more superior services while attaining better network capability through improved spectral efficiency. New services within the 3G phones include wide-area wireless voice telephony, video calls, and broadband wireless data. These are on top of other 2G capabilities retained in the systems. And the greater promise is that services are delivered fast with downlink speeds up to 14.4 Megabit per second and uplink at 5.8 Megabit per second. The 3G technologies are now converting hand phones into a portable microcomputer with multi-media players, making it possible to download music and video clips. This feature is called the "freedom of mobile multimedia access" (FOMA), which uses wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA) technology to transfer data over its networks. W-CDMA sends data in a digital format over a range of frequencies, which makes the data move faster, but also uses more bandwidth than digital voice services. This is just one among the advanced features of 3G devices as other several network operators are pushing their own ingenious applications to survive in the market. Other products, services, and applications associated with 3G phone include: enhanced multimedia (voice, data, video, and remote control), usability on all popular modes (cellular telephone, e-mail, paging, fax, videoconferencing, and Web browsing), broad bandwidth and high speed (upwards of 2 Mbps), 3D interactive gaming, live digital TV broadcasting, and more. With the advancement of 3G internet, computing, and telecommunications have actually become inseparable. Every professional now uses communication devises to track their contacts, monitor projects, and manage schedules. For advanced users mobile phones became their ATM card, credit card, health card, and internet portal. Some add on technologies even include monitoring devices for vital signs such as blood pressure, pulse rate, and others. Today the common limitations for 3G technologies are speed and storage space as mobile phones are transformed into mobile computers. The Mobile Web Initiative While there is a growing demand for internet browsing from the mobile phone a lot of issues still hinders full mobile internet experience. Among which are the incompatibility of some web pages and web contents to run in mobile platforms. These are one of the issues considered by the World Wide Web Consortium dubbed as W3C. The Consortium is an international group of organizations, which in cooperation with the general public worked to develop web standards. W3C helps to lead the Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth (W3C, 2008). W3C initiated the launch of a Mobile Web Initiative (MWI), which is designed to improve the capability of mobile phone systems to access the Internet the way desktop computers are capable of. The Initiative echoes the need to develop the full capabilities of the web through development of versatile software and web designs that can run both on the desktop and the mobile device. MWI proposes to solve these problems through the cooperation of mobile production chain, authoring tool vendors, content providers, handset manufacturers, browser vendors and mobile network operators. Initiated earlier in 2004, the MWI focused initially on two major issues: 1) best practices and 2) mobile device descriptions. The Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group was created and tasked to develop authoring guidelines, checklists, and best practices to help content providers develop web content that works well on mobile devices while the Device Description Working Group is chartered to address the development of improved device description solutions, a database of descriptions that can be used by content authors to adapt their content to a particular device (CBR, 2005). The Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group has published several documents important in talking their objectives. Among these are three important guidelines and documents. The first is the Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 - Basic Guidelines which specifies best practices for web content when accessed from mobile devices. This document specifies best practices for delivering web content to mobile devices. It is primarily aimed to improve the user experience of the web when accessed from such devices by improving the contents created to suit on mobile devises. The recommendations are directed towards content creators, maintainers, and operators of web sites (W3C, 2006). The second important publication is the MobileOK Basic Tests 1.0, a document that defines machine tests that are used to determine if the web contents developed passed according to the Best Practice guidelines (W3C. 2008-b). The third document is the Content Transformation Landscape, a document that discusses the issues and requirements surrounding content transformation proxies in the content of delivery to mobile web devices. This document prepares a set of guidelines on content transformation (W3C, 2007) In the other hand the Device Description Working Group has announced lately that they have retired work after publication of the DDR Simple API document which describes a simple API for access to DDRs, in order to ease and promote the development of Web content that adapts to its Delivery Context. The document stated "Web content delivered to mobile devices usually benefits from being tailored to take into account a range of factors such as screen size, markup language support and image format support. Such information is stored in "Device Description Repositories (DDRs)" (W3C, 2008-c). The task that lies ahead is the monitoring on the implementation of the Best practices, testing as to conformity, and the adoption of the API document. All major stakeholders must seriously consider these recommendations since it is beneficial not only to the user but the makers of the mobile devises as well as web publishers. Advocacy on MWI is both the concern of the mobile users and the mobile device manufacturers. The case of Nokia N95 A lot of new emerging products conform to the standards of the 3G mobile systems. The market is being flooded with new designs, new features, and added unique capabilities. Manufacturers are finding new ideas and release new devices based on concepts deemed attractive to the consumers. Among these products was the Nokia N95 mobile phone. When first released in March 2007 in Europe, Asia and Middle East, the first N95 phone was introduced an ultimate multimedia computer with the mobile advantage (Nokia, 2007). The unit is especially designed for High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) networks, a 3G communication protocol that allows high speed data transfer, It also has support for other 2G protocols such as WLAN, EDGE and WCDMA networks, With this N95 promised to provides the versatility no device has yet provided in the past. It gave the guarantee of a better 2G experience of an advanced wireless communication system plus a 3G experience of better multimedia and connectivity systems. The N95's best multimedia capabilities are manifested by a 5 mega pixel camera which can capture photos and video clips of DVD quality at a maximum VGA resolution of (640x480) at 30 frames per second, a feature never before heard in any existing mobile phones. As far as audio is concerned, N95 is equipped with built-in stereo speakers and can play MP4 or 3GP multimedia files. It also has a standard 3.5 mm audio connector and support for compatible microSD memory cards for higher data storage space. In terms of connectivity and web browsing the N95 has brought another promise of a spectacular experience. It has an integrated GPS capability with the Nokia Maps application, which includes maps for more than 150 countries, makes mobile activity easier. It becomes easy to find hotels, restaurants and major landmarks located in the map. The Nokia N95 is based on the world's leading S60 software on Symbian OS, enabling you to personalize your device from a wide choice of compatible applications that can be downloaded to the Nokia N95, including games, navigation, entertainment, productivity and creativity. Although N95's versatility has been attested by a lot of users in line with those features mentioned based on a lot of reviews available in the internet, the unit has also its major setbacks such as battery life and data storage capabilities, and the worst its 3G capabilities were not compatible in US network service providers. But these limitations had been addressed with release of N95 variations ranging from N95-2 to N95-6 and maybe other variations in the future. The changes aside from the physical design include an added battery life, higher memory capabilities, adoption to US 3G protocols and systems among others. To really feel what people have to say about 3G experiences we cite some of their feelings. Malik (2007) wrote "What I found most impressive about the new N95 was that I could use the phone as a modem and connect to AT&T's 3G network. The download speed was a nifty 400 kilobits per second when the device was connected over Bluetooth to my MacBook Pro." A lot of other favorable things are written about the product and many people are convinced that this device has revolutionized telecommunications and would become a stepping stone of development in mobile telecommunications in the future. ITReviews.co.uk in a review article published in 2007 stated "The N95 is the most powerful, feature packed phone we've ever used, and while we expect rival manufacturers (as well as Nokia itself) to update and improve these features with new models over the next six months, this is a great starting point and the N95 will be a hard act to follow." The success of 3G is shown by the response of the market on the Nokia N95 mobile phones as well as other units with 3G capabilities sold by competing manufacturers. In December 2007, Nokia announced that N95 has sold one million units in the Europe market alone a sign of remarkable achievement. Emerging 4G systems The development of communication would not stop there. As another decade is coming innovations for the Fourth Generation mobile systems has been laid and tests had been conducted with new product emerging from the market. Although there is no clear official definition of what 4G is suppose to mean, speculators and major players in the realization of 3G technologies are eyeing on 4G as a complete IP solution where voice, data and streamed multimedia can be given to users anytime, anywhere and at much higher data rates than previous generations. Fourth Generation enthusiast are now talking about Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access or WiMAX, a stirring new system that provides high-speed wireless access, that enables fixed and mobile broadband services over large area coverage. It is IP-based and so it gives remarkable improvements in speed, throughput and capacity over existing wireless networks (Nortel Networks, 2008). Another thing is 3GGP LTE or the Long Term Evolution considered as the next-generation network beyond 3G. LTE talks about a more satisfying mobile experience on multimedia and internet access from a new breed of mobile phones. Conclusion Four generations of innovations in telecommunication systems had shaped what have become our communication facilities today. More are yet to come since inventive minds never cease to work especially in age where computers aid in creating more ideas. And speaking of computers and ideas, people never stop to think of having them readily at hand wherever they go and whenever their inventive ideas are triggered. The mobile phone systems of today have become an ally of the working class as a communication tool, an organizer and as data storage for easy access and retrieval. For the executives, today's communication infrastructure is the best secretary you can carry anywhere and everywhere you go. And for the ordinary man it is a source of entertainment, and a helpful communication facility. The mobile technology has gone so far yet it has a long way to go. The achievements were so remarkable that there were no more questions as far as its versatility is concerned. 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