smartphone

Mobile cell phone with personal digital assistant (PDA) functions, first released in 2000. Smartphone users can send e-mail or text messages, browse the Web, listen to Internet radio stations (which can play in the background), manage appointments, chat using messaging, and watch video clips. Many of these activities require a 3G or GPRS (2.5G) connection. Information input to the smartphone can be transferred to a PC when both devices are synchronized.

Smartphones come in different varieties, using the Palm, Windows Mobile (a version of Windows CE), and Symbian operating systems, and may run Java, which allows many games and other applications to run on the handset. As well as including a high-resolution colour display complete with screensavers, a smartphone can play polyphonic ring-tones using MIDI files, reproducing real musical sounds. Many smartphones contain a built-in camera, allowing images to be sent to other smartphone users, and also contain removable memory cards.