Benefits and opportunities of NFC technology

Near Field Communication technology, abbreviated NFC, has been present in some smart communication devices such as the Google Nexus, the Samsung Galaxy S II, the BlackBerry Dakota and Nokia C7 smartphones.

Product tablet PCs will be equipped with NFC technology include several other electronic devices such as home entertainment systems, cameras, printers, microwaves and so forth.

NFC technology will create new opportunities, in addition to product users as well as for the business world. Let's look at the benefits and opportunities that exist in the NFC technology. There are three types of how NFC works, namely Emulation Card, Reader/Writer and Peer-to-peer.

Card Emulation
Smartphone is equipped with NFC will be used as a means of payment such as Google Wallet service. Consumers are now in the shopping center can make payment by juxtaposing the smartphone on a device that has been available, without the need to touch or swipe. (contactless).

Reader/Writer
NFC technology provides an easy to read and write NFC tags that can be used, eg for reading smart posters.

Peer-to-peer
Devices that have been equipped with NFC will be able to connect and communicate with each other. For example a notebook with a printer or share photos from camera to the television.

There are several benefits of NFC. Than as a means for ease of payment, NFC can be used for:
1. Full access
2. Consumer electronics products
3. world health
4. Means of collection and exchange of information
5. Coupons and loyalty
6. transportation

In addition, some things are the advantages of NFC technology for consumers and opportunities for the business world:

1. Intuitive. NFC interaction requires only a simple touch
2. Versatile. NFC reach widely diverse industries and has a versatile usage.
3. Basic standards and open. NFC technology follow universally applicable rules such as ISO, ECMA, and ETSI.
4. Where possible NFC technology that can be connected quickly and easily just like on an existing wireless technologies such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
5. Is safe. Transmission NFC is a short distance only a few inches. In addition, the NFC has a built-in capabilities to support security applications.
6. Operate and can work with devices that have used the existing contactless card technology.

Seeing the benefits and opportunities that exist, NFC technology will be able to create new opportunities for the world of advertising and marketing, automotive, financial services and banks, world health, retail, transportation, travel, entertainment and much more.

Have your smartphone is equipped with NFC technology? For those of you who have opinions and comments about NFC technology please write in area below.

NFC, Technologies that Make Gadgets Interact from close range

When we discussed the Near Field Communications (NFC) - the common name for a new technology that allows interaction between devices at close range - there are two main camps: open NFC and secure NFC.

Open NFC refers to the interaction between two NFC-enabled devices, or the use of an NFC device to read a sign NGC (chips embedded in posters, cards, or other print media) to accept the content or do a thing. Secure NFC, on the other hand, refers to the use of mobile devices as a virtual wallet or credit card to make payment by way of flick over an NFC reader.

NFC is currently regarded as one of the most exciting areas in this industry from the standpoint of revenue, since it is estimated there will be at 700 million NFC-enabled mobile phones were sold until 2013.

But Nokia believes that the current industry focus on the secure NFC might reduce the opportunity for potential development of an open NFC. As the originator of NFC technology and one of the founders of the NFC Forum, Nokia believes that open NFC will provide a greater effect in NFC consumer behavior and ecosystem when compared with the secure NFC.

Open NFC has the potential to encourage a variety of business opportunities for developers, retailers, advertisers, electronic device makers, and others. An example. With open NFC technology, you simply touch the NFC-enabled device to an NFC marks for doing things like 'check in' on certain locations, collecting points in a store, or access the website without having to type its URL.

NFC signs can also be used to promote an application at any online store application. For example, rather than having to visit an online store to find an application, you simply touch a mark and instantly download the application. NFC signs that the price is very cheap, offers tremendous potential for advertisers, retailers, and other parties to reach out, give points, and keep in touch with its customers.

These signs can be promoted in any location, including selling mobile phone, coffee shops, or even in supermarkets, with a quick and measurable results. And the best part is to read a sign that the NFC does not need a large infrastructure, in addition to large numbers of NFC-enabled devices on the market, and support from the marketers will sign NFC excess.

In addition to reading the sign, with open NFC we can easily connect our NFC mobile phone with another, simply by touching the phone. In this way we can easily exchange content such as photos, or playing games, without having to step through a time-consuming to perform Bluetooth pairing.

Angry Birds popular mobile game, for example, has had an exclusive version of the NFC for Nokia C7. 'Angry Birds Free with Magic' has hidden levels that can be opened by touching the phone with other Nokia C7, or by reading a sign NFC, which will directly connect you to the Ovi Store to download the next levels.

Open NFC also allows you to connect your mobile device with speakers or NFC-enabled wireless headphones. Imagine a situation where you are, after exercising while listening to music on headphones, then go home and directly touching the phone to a NFC-enabled speakers at home. Thus, your music is not interrupted. Very many applications and new consumer electronic devices that could be developed for such situations.

Is It Safe?

Secure NFC, on the other hand, will be restricted to only a small number of providers, and will take time before consumer behavior change to the direction in which they will be able to and feel safe to use their phones to buy train tickets, or something else more expensive.

In London, Nokia offers a secure NFC in a variety of devices working with the Oyster card (prepaid cards, among others, to use public transport) to travel by public transport.

But outside the metropolises, the secure NFC will take time to become an important part of everyday activities. And when it finally reaches the secure NFC payment, hotel room keys, car keys, and even identity cards, Nokia believes there will only be a small service providers involved in it.

Opening the Road to the Future

Nokia, the maker of the most experienced mobile devices in the NFC with five NFC devices that have been launched. But in this industry takes a variety of key partnerships in a variety of payment organizations, banks, mobile operators, system integrators, developers community, and so forth. All have a role to the commercial success of NFC.

Before that all happens, open NFC will benefit consumers in a much larger scale and the need to familiarize themselves in using their devices for the interaction of NFC, before secure NFC achieve high penetration levels.

With more and more NFC phones are launched into the market in 2011 and 2012, open NFC will change the way consumers interact with each other and open up opportunities for developers.

Nokia believes developers will welcome the opportunities offered by open NFC in developing applications to share information, read the sign, joining social networks, and others. And opportunities open NFC, will be achieved long before the secure NFC realized.

Know the battery for mobile phone

Batteries are the life of a cell phone. As an energy source, the battery will convert chemical energy into electrical energy. There are 3 important components in a battery that are: positive electrode, negative electrode and electrolyte materials that located between the two. As with any other device development, especially for mobile phone battery has evolved from time to time. Starting from the use of Nickel Cadmium (NiCd) battery type, Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH), Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) and Lithium Polymer (Li-Poly).

For the first type of NiCd batteries, battery type is commonly used in mobile phones in the past. The advantages of this battery type is the ability to handle high loads. But quite a lot of weaknesses, among others, the low storage capacity and the memory effect. For the process of charging, the battery must be completely discharged before charging process may be performed.

As for the types of NiMH batteries, the battery can store energy 2x greater than the first kind. But the battery will not operate normally when the process of filling one. The third type is a favorite battery that is widely used among mobile phones today. Type Li-Ion battery capable of storing energy advantage 3x more than the NiCd type. In addition, the type Li-Ion has no memory effect and the battery does not need to be emptied when you want to do the charging. The last type of Li-PoLY, has a lighter weight and can be made ​​in sizes that are very thin. But this type have the disadvantage of rapid capacity loss.

In both types of Lithium batteries, so do not be too often attempted to charge to extend battery life. Typically, the power charged battery will decrease after about 300-500 times. Finally, when making a purchase, the battery should be fully charged first, so that the batteries cells that had dead can be optimally active before use.

Guide to buy the Memory Card Reader/Writer

The device of this one as important as the memory card. Important because it helps us to move data from memory card to your PC or vice versa. All the data we have the photos, work files, school work, could easily switch places because the memory card reader/writer of this.
If we do not have it, try carefully before buying. There are many types and brands of memory card reader/writer is available in various places. What should we expect?

1. Read info specifications listed in product packaging

On certain products are clearly given any memory card that can be read by a card reader and up to how much capacity memory card is capable of reading data. Read the specifications stated on the product packaging. Generally, for products like memory cards are not available manuals, specification information can be easily found on the front and back of packaging products.

2. Is there a card slot compatible with memory cards that we have.

For example, a memory card that we have the type CF (Compact Flash) then look for a memory card reader that provides a slot for CF. Generally the products listed how many card slots are available for various types of memory cards.

3. Buy a memory card that can read many cards in a certain slot, and multi-card read data simultaneously.

There is already a Memory Card Reader/Writer product that is able to read many types of memory card in one slot. For example, a slot can read the two types of cards, Micro SDHC, and a Micro SD (T-Flash). Or a slot that can read data from SD card, SDHC, Mini SD, Mini-SDHC, MMC, and others. Features multi-card reading at the same time would make the job move data becomes easier and faster. There are three types of memory card reader is a single card (1x SD), multi-card (eg 9 in 1), series cards (eg 4x SD)

4. Note the maximum data capacity that can be transferred according to the information contained on product packaging.

My experience, when I want to do the transfer of data using a memory card could not be because the storage capacity of my SD memory card, is a 4 Gb while the memory card reader / writer that I would use only able to accept SD memory cards up to 2 GB maximum.

5. Note also the connection interface

On products that are more recent than previously generally been using a USB type interface 2.o. The transfer of data to use the maximum speed if the memory cards and PC / Mac are both already have a suitable interface connection.

Did you know:
* USB 2.o has a data transfer speeds up to 480 Mbps, 40x faster than USB 1.1 which has a maximum speed of 12 Mbps.

6. Buy as needed

Have you already need a slot for reading data from mobile phone SIM card? If not needed, then the slot is not necessarily exist on the memory card that you will buy. Buy as needed, so you can save money. On certain products targeting the more price-conscious consumers, generally base material product, a USB connector cable is also not too strong and resilient. Consider this before buying, whether the memory cards will be used for "heavy duty" with the routine use every day to transfer the data of thousands of photos, hundreds of Gigabytes of data with the amount, or only occasionally move the photos over the holidays or your favorite mp3 song.

Important note:

Note the location or position when installing the memory card in card slot. If you have not entered your usual misplaced or have not exactly true. Do not be forced to convert because it will damage the foot of the connector or the connector on the card or in part in the card slot memory card reader. In general, memory card reader has been given the image guide mounting the memory card.

For those of you who have experience of the use or want to share a story about a memory card and memory card reader please give comments at the bottom of this article. Thank you.

The story of Angry Birds, The success story of 2010's best-selling mobile phone games

You are the "gadget enthusiast" would know about this one game. A mobile game is phenomenal because it successfully dominate some markets digital applications (application store) such as Ovi Store. But who would have thought this game started just from a simple sketch that shows the character of a bird without wings and feet that look angry.


Starting in early 2009, when the Finnish game development company, Rovio Mobile, thinking to make his own games after previously working more closely with large developers like Digital Chocolate and Electronic Arts. Of the many proposals submitted by members, illustrations screenshots featuring the characters of bird without legs and wings that look angry, in fact most attention Rovio development team. But unlike other proposals, sketches made by the senior game designer, Jaakko lisalo, this was not accompanied by the concept of gameplay.

Special team was selected to design the gameplay Angry Birds and they realize that the character of this bird needs enemies. Swine flu pandemic that was terrorizing the world also inspired the creation of green pig character who became enemies of the ill-tempered birds in this game.
This game is officially released to the market on December 11, 2009 for iOS platform, with only one episode titled "Poached Eggs" contains 63 levels divided into 3 parts. Angry Birds eventually sit atop the list of games, paid the most downloaded from the AppStore in February 2010.

Following his success at the iOS, Rovio is also developing Angry Birds in a variety of different platforms. The operating system on the Nokia N900 Maemo 5 also became one of the first platform to be targeted Angry Birds. This version can be downloaded via the Ovi Store starting in May 2010. Angry Birds webOS Palm's version can be downloaded to your phone via the App Catalog Pre Palm in August. Following the later to Android operating system and Symbian^3 in September, and October.

While the premium for Microsoft's OS, Windows Mobile 7, there is no certainty about this game. Rovio party reportedly offended that Microsoft had to include icon Angry Birds on the site without permission for promotional purposes WP7.

At the end of 2010, Rovio announced plans to develop Angry Birds on various devices outside the smartphone. And in January 2011, first 3 version out of smartphone was released. Starting from Sony, which announced the Angry Birds for the PSP portable game console released in the form of "PSP mini-game".

This game can also be played using the PS3. Furthermore, Rovio launch of Windows versions that are sold exclusively through AppUp Intel and Mac OS version that can be purchased from a Mac App Store. Rovio future plans to work on versions of the Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS.

One of the most interesting of the Angry Birds of course his character. This character is also the reason Rovio must develop games that are present only in the form of images with no concept of the gameplay at all.
Nothing wrong if we know the character of the bird is ill-tempered but still cute:

Red Bird, was the first bird character that appears in this game. Red bird that became the mascot of this game has no special abilities.
e Bird, the smallest size but can be divided into three birds when triggered by touching the screen when it was fired. The most effective way to destroy the glass.
Yellow Bird, was first introduced at the level of the first episode 1-16 "Poached Eggs". These birds have the ability to drive fast and very good for destroying wood.
Nock, is a character with a bird that can be triggered manually explode or collide with another object. Very good to destroy most all the items that become a refuge of green pig.
White Bird, may spawn a bomb in the form of eggs when triggered, white bird first appeared at the level of 2-14 episodes of "poached eggs".
Boomerang Bird, as the name of this bird can be turned like a boomerang when we touch after shooting it.
Big Brother Bird, is a character like Red Bird bird with a bigger size. Not just great, this bird is also much stronger than his brother.
Mighty Eagle, this is the strongest among all the characters. To use it, we have to buy it through the game Angry Birds. Once available, you'll see a button eye image is placed beside the pause button as the game progresses.
The Pigs, this is the enemy of the bird. Like his rival, the pig was also performed in various forms. There is a plain, wearing a helmet, appeared as the Queen, or mustache.

Besides the original edition, Rovio Angry Birds also released in special edition. The first to be released is the Halloween edition, which is exclusive only to IOS. And at the end of 2010, Angry Birds Seasons to commemorate Christmas was present for the iOS, Symbian^3, and Android, the latest being this month is a valentine edition.


Besides, in the form of games, Rovio also presents characters Angry Birds in the form of dolls. And not just Rovio reading of these opportunities, a large company engaged in the toy industry, Mattel, in the near future will bring an Angry Birds in the form of board game that was given the title "Angry Birds: Knock on Wood".

Know SDXC technology, large capacity and higher speed

Recently been frequently released a new standard SD (Secure Digital) memory card next generation, SD Specification Version 4:00 called with SDXC, this memory card is ready to replace the role of the type of memory card before. What is interesting from this new device?

Capacity

SDXC represents a new generation of memory card that functions as a tool for multiple data storage devices. Technically, this type of memory card is able to upgrade its storage capacity by more than 32GB or even up to 1 TB.

Speed

Not only that, SDXC also add its data transfer speeds that can reach speeds increased up to 104 MB per second, or even up to 300 MB per second.

SDXC capability which is capable of producing an enlarged portable storage devices with large capacity and higher speed are certainly remarkable. This capability is very necessary for those users who are used to move the data electronically in large file sizes. By using a memory card SDXC users can store a movie file 100 HD equivalent to 480 hours of HD recording, or also the equivalent of 136 000 photo slide show.

With the ability of the resulting data transfer speed, it will enable users to apply the professional circles of this device in a video camera so that it will increase the total capacity of the slide frames can be recorded or stored.

From a device is video, music, or other electronic content, users can download wirelessly to mobile phones that have filled the memory card. Then, it can be played back as needed, for example while on the move, of course, through mobile devices.

To boost the speed, this card uses a new transfer scheme and also a new pin. With parallel technology that is currently used, will be replaced by serial technology, which will also be available for use in SD Input / Output (SDIO). By doing so, will make the SD bus also will be used as an internal bus in embedded systems, such as mobile phones.

The memory card has a speed that was almost 3x as much in this form factor will remain the same as before. With parallel pins that remain. This means SDXC cards will be used, written and read by the old SD card reader, of course at a slower rate. Therefore, the vendor must provide SDIO electronic device that is able to read this type of memory card with the appropriate speed.

See What SDXC Will Let You Do!

SDXC Formats

Know the Dual Core systems processors in mobile devices

Dual core processors echoed in early 2011 this. Many smartphones and tablets start to use it. Actually, whether it is dual core systems? How important is its function? Let's see.

Is it a dual-core processors?

All smartphones and tablets will have a processor, some call it the CPU. Like the brain, the processor functions to manage the data path, so that handsets can run a particular performance. For example, to process applications, gaming, image processing etc.
Each processor itself has a chip. For example, the famous single-core processor Qualcomm and Samsung Snapdragon QSD8250 Hummingbird has a 1GHz chip speed on a single die (board).
Well, for dual core mobile processor are two chips (including caches and cache controllers) in units of the die. Therefore also called 'dual'.

What Point?

In terms of processor performance, we can analogy like a train, pulled by two horses that run fast. Of course faster than a horse is not it? Unfortunately the burden of horses right and left sometimes not the same as in attracting the train. This happens for some applications that do not support dual-core processors.
Having a dual-core processors in mobile device (tablet or smartphone) means giving freedom to the OS to manage intensive tasks in parallel. Yes, this means more devices can do multi-tasking process better.

Why Dual-Core Better than Single-Core?

Obviously. Because the single-core processors can not perform like a parallel process of dual-core processors. Why? It was easy, because there is only one chip, the processor can only do one-time order information (known as the 'thread') at a time. While dual-core, on the other side can do this simultaneously because the two chips supported.

What are the benefits?

The main advantage if the vendor uses a dual-core processor is the capability of their handsets more quickly and can do multi-tasking process more efficient. The reason is because it supported the two cores that process two threads at once simultaneously.
For users, of their handsets so much running and not feel 'slow' when hitting heavy applications. Well, in 2011, many vendors are beginning to use tablet. Predictably, the first time out on the market price must be relatively expensive.

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Know On-The-Go Technology on Nokia N8

In previous articles, you are familiar with the latest product Nokia N8. There are interesting from this product is a technology embedded USB OTG (On-the-Go). USB OTG is a technology that allows a device to function as a host and slave removable storage devices through a single USB port.
Put simply, the Nokia N8 not only be read via USB as well as other mobile phone when connected to a computer, but with USB OTG, Nokia N8 also can read another device, such as mobile or flash usb external storage through the same USB port. Not only that, the keyboard or mouse can even be detected by N8 and it worked fine.

To support this capability, the Nokia sales package includes two USB data cable OTG-A if N8 is intended to act as the Host, and USB OTG N8-B for use as slave.
Its use is simple, you just use the data cable OSB OTG B if you want to use the N8 with a computer. Moreover, using a USB data cable OTG A if it will be used to read the other devices.

Connect with Computer
Nokia N8 readable by a computer has two storage media, each representing a cell phone's internal memory and microSD form of additional memory. If the mode is changed to the PC Suite, then for your loyal users of the Nokia do not be surprised if Nokia PC Suite provides notification that your device is not supported by the software, due to N8 generation and beyond Nokia changed its software into Nokia Ovi Suite, but you do not need to worry because the Nokia Ovi Suite CD has been included in the sales package.

Media Storage and Mobile
When trying to connect the N8 with flash, N8 read it properly. Even when trying to play songs or video files directly from flash (not copied to the phone), the file can be run smoothly without interruption. Not only to play the file, the connection can also be used to exchange data between the flash and N8.

Unfortunately, according to the allegations, while N8 is connected to the external hard drive 2.5 ", N8 unable to provide enough power to hard drive so it cannot function properly.

There are things to consider, as when connected to the computer, storage media like flash is necessary in the "safely remove" before actually terminated the connection. More "safely remove" can be found by pressing the power button on the upper side N8.


In addition to the flash, N8 also detect other phones that are connected as external storage devices. Some phones that tried connected can operate properly including Sony Ericsson Satio and Nokia N81. Some others like the Blackberry Bold 9000 and Onyx is not connected properly.

Other devices

When tried connecting the N8 to other USB-based devices, such as a mouse and keyboard. And in fact both the mouse and keyboard can function properly. The keyboard operates very responsive when trying to type, no different from when connected to a computer. Mouse is the same, whether the right, left and it scroll works very well.


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Know AMOLED display technology

Some mobile phone products are aggressively launching new products using AMOLED technology. Actually, whether and how AMOLED, until considered would soon replace the TFT LCD technology, which had been used on many devices?
AMOLED stands for Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode, which is a display technology that has recently launched on mobile devices such as mobile phones.
This technology uses a thin extra screen and does not require backlighting, which refers to technology that can set the pixel size with lower power consumption.

Technical Explanation
AMOLED display has several separate layers for controlling the display of layer of positive pole (Anode layer), middle organic layer, layer of negative pole (cathode layer) and bottom layer that contains the string (circuitry).

AMOLED display also consists of the pixels OLED is placed or integrated into a Thin Film Transistor (TFT) to form a matrix of pixels that illuminate light when an electrical activation, which serves as a controller of each pixel is displayed. Composition of TFT is continuously control the flow of pixels are displayed, giving a signal to each pixel how should shine brightly.

Generally the flow of pixels is controlled by a minimum of two TFT in each pixel, one for start and stop charging the capacitor and one for the supplied voltage source at the level required to produce a constant flow at each pixel and also eliminates the need for the flow of passive matrix OLED is very high.

Compared with a traditional TFT-LCD, AMOLED consume less power and provide a contrast ratio 10.000: 1, producing a darker blackish level, the colors brighter and better lit display that can be seen outside the room, and even under to direct sunlight. Moreover, unlike the TFT-LCD, AMOLED display technology has the ability to display images that can be reviewed at each corner, with a fixed reproduce colors remain bright.

How iPhone touch screen work?

There are many smartphone that utilize touch screen as a keypad input. Besides unique and pulling, apparently touch screen will economize a number area that not necessarily. One of the best touch screen mobile phone is iPhone. They call multitouch's feature that makes it is easy being controlled.
But you know how the screen can translate a physical input provided to this device? This ematch article will explore exactly how the iPhone's touch-screen carries instructions from your fingertips to the phone's internal circuitry. Also look at the iPhone's features, its hardware and how it compares to smartphones and other electronic devices.

iPhone Touch Screen

Electronic devices can use lots of different methods to detect a person's input on a touch-screen. Most of them use sensors and circuitry to monitor changes in a particular state. Many, including the iPhone, monitor changes in electrical current. Others monitor changes in the reflection of waves. These can be sound waves or beams of near-infrared light. A few systems use transducers to measure changes in vibration caused when your finger hits the screen's surface or cameras to monitor changes in light and shadow.

The Nintendo DS, Palm Treo and Logitech Harmony Remote Control all use touch-screen technology

The basic idea is pretty simple -- when you place your finger or a stylus on the screen, it changes the state that the device is monitoring. In screens that rely on sound or light waves, your finger physically blocks or reflects some of the waves. Capacitive touch-screens use a layer of capacitive material to hold an electrical charge; touching the screen changes the amount of charge at a specific point of contact. In resistive screens, the pressure from your finger causes conductive and resistive layers of circuitry to touch each other, changing the circuits' resistance.


Most of the time, these systems are good at detecting the location of exactly one touch. If you try to touch the screen in several places at once, the results can be erratic. Some screens simply disregard all touches after the first one. Others can detect simultaneous touches, but their software can't calculate the location of each one accurately. There are several reasons for this, including:

• Many systems detect changes along an axis or in a specific direction instead of at each point on the screen.
  
• Some screens rely on system-wide averages to determine touch locations.
  
• Some systems take measurements by first establishing a baseline. When you touch the screen, you create a new baseline. Adding another touch causes the system to take a measurement using the wrong baseline as a starting point.

The Apple iPhone is different -- many of the elements of its multi-touch user interface require you to touch multiple points on the screen simultaneously. For example, you can zoom in to Web pages or pictures by placing your thumb and finger on the screen and spreading them apart. To zoom back out, you can pinch your thumb and finger together. The iPhone's touch screen is able to respond to both touch points and their movements simultaneously. We'll look at exactly how the iPhone does this in the next section.

Multi-touch Systems

To allow people to use touch commands that require multiple fingers, the iPhone uses a new arrangement of existing technology. Its touch-sensitive screen includes a layer of capacitive material, just like many other touch-screens. However, the iPhone's capacitors are arranged according to a coordinate system. Its circuitry can sense changes at each point along the grid. In other words, every point on the grid generates its own signal when touched and relays that signal to the iPhone's processor. This allows the phone to determine the location and movement of simultaneous touches in multiple locations. Because of its reliance on this capacitive material, the iPhone works only if you touch it with your fingertip -- it won't work if you use a stylus or wear non-conductive gloves.

A mutual capacitance touch-screen contains a grid of sensing lines and driving lines to determine where the user is touching.



A self capacitance screen contains sensing circuits and electrodes to determine where a user is touching.

The iPhone's screen detects touch through one of two methods: Mutual capacitance or self capacitance. In mutual capacitance, the capacitive circuitry requires two distinct layers of material. One houses driving lines, which carry current, and other houses sensing lines, which detect the current at nodes. Self capacitance uses one layer of individual electrodes connected with capacitance-sensing circuitry.

Both of these possible setups send touch data as electrical impulses. In the next section, we'll take a look at exactly what happens.

iPhone Processor

The iPhone's processor and software are central to correctly interpreting input from the touch-screen. The capacitive material sends raw touch-location data to the iPhone's processor. The processor uses software located in the iPhone's memory to interpret the raw data as commands and gestures. Here's what happens:

• Signals travel from the touch screen to the processor as electrical impulses.
  
• The processor uses software to analyze the data and determine the features of each touch. This includes size, shape and location of the affected area on the screen. If necessary, the processor arranges touches with similar features into groups. If you move your finger, the processor calculates the difference between the starting point and ending point of your touch.
  
  
• The processor uses its gesture-interpretation software to determine which gesture you made. It combines your physical movement with information about which application you were using and what the application was doing when you touched the screen.
  
• The processor relays your instructions to the program in use. If necessary, it also sends commands to the iPhone's screen and other hardware. If the raw data doesn't match any applicable gestures or commands, the iPhone disregards it as an extraneous touch.
  

All these steps happen in an instant -- you see changes in the screen based on your input almost instantly. This process allows you to access and use all of the iPhone's applications with your fingers. We'll look at these programs and the iPhone's other features in more detail in the next section, as well as how the iPhone's cost measures up to its abilities.

iPhone Features

The front surface of the Apple iPhone has only one button -- the Home button. Pressing the Home button takes you to the main screen of the iPhone's graphical user interface. There, you can choose from the device's four primary functions using icons at the bottom of the phone:
* Phone: 3G, GSM or EDGE cellular phone service as well as a visual voice mail menu
* Mail: POP and IMAP e-mail access, including in-line pictures, HTML capabilities and push e-mail from Yahoo mail
* Web: Safari Web browser
* iPod: Music and videos

You can open the iPhone's other applications from the upper portion of the Home screen. These include a calendar, calculator, notepad, and widgets, or mini-applications made specifically for the iPhone. The iPhone includes a 2.0-megapixel camera and software you can use to organize your pictures. You can also use an iPhone to check weather reports and stock quotes. Even though the iPhone doesn't support Flash, which the YouTube site relies on, you can watch YouTube videos using the corresponding application. The keys and buttons you need to navigate each application appear only when you need them.

The shape of the screen changes when you need it to as well -- you can shift the perspective from vertical to horizontal by tilting the phone. An accelerometer inside the iPhone lets the operating system know to change the orientation of the image on the screen. This means that you can scroll through long lists of music files on a long, narrow screen, and you can watch movies in a widescreen format. You can learn more about accelerometers in How the Nike + iPod Works and How the Wii Works.

iPhone Specs
Apple is fairly secretive about the exact processors and circuitry found in the iPhone. Here's a glimpse of what it takes to keep the device running:
* 3.5-inch, 163 ppi screen with a glass protective covering
* Battery with up to 10 hours of talk time on 2G networks, 5 hours on 3G, 6 hours of Internet use on wifi, 5 hours on 3G, 7 hours of video playback, 24 hours of audio playback and 300 hours of standby time [source: Apple]
* Macintosh OS X operating system
* Ambient light sensor
* Accelerometer
* Radio transmitters for Bluetooth, WiFi and cellular (3G, GSM and EDGE) signals
* Proximity sensor, which likely produces near-infrared light and measures its reflection from nearby objects
* 8 GB or 16 GB of storage space
Check out Apple's lists of specs for more.

The second generation of the iPhone introduced several new features. We'll take a closer look at those in the next section.

3G iPhone Applications and Problems

In June 2008, Steve Jobs unveiled the 3G iPhone at a conference for application developers. Apple offers 8 GB and a 16 GB options. The new phone's appearance only changed a little bit -- the new model has a slightly sleeker design and its back isn't silver any more. Customers who buy the 16 GB model can choose between an iPhone with a black or white plastic back. The 8 GB model only comes in black.
Waiting in line for the 3G iPhone

Perhaps the biggest announcement -- apart from the fact that the phone could take advantage of 3G network technology -- was that the new iPhone has a GPS receiver. One of the challenges of GPS devices is that they tend to drain batteries pretty quickly. That's because the device is constantly receiving signals from satellites orbiting the Earth.

Another important addition to the iPhone was support for Microsoft Exchange. Microsoft Exchange support means users can now synchronize their iPhones with their Microsoft Outlook accounts. By adding this feature, the iPhone becomes more competitive with other enterprise smartphones -- the phones businesses use to keep executives and employees connected when out of the office.

Apples to Apples
Why does Apple call the second generation of iPhones the 3G iPhone? It's because the new iPhone can take advantage of the 3G cellular network. So the phone is in its second generation, but the network is in its third. The United States has a fairly limited 3G network, so U.S. citizens might not be able to tap into the faster speeds even if they buy the 3G iPhone.

When it released the original iPhone, Apple didn't support third-party applications, though that didn't stop developers from writing them. But with the original iPhone, in order to even run a non-Apple application, an iPhone owner had to first jailbreak his or her phone. Jailbreaking just means the owner could load and run third party applications. But it came with a risk -- if you tried to install official updates from Apple with a jailbroken phone, Apple could tell that some hanky panky was going on. But the new 3G iPhone acts as an application platform, and Apple encourages developers to create content for it.

Trouble in the Background
Although Apple now encourages developers to create applications for the iPhone, the company still doesn't let any outside application access background processes. That means you have to run a program actively to take advantage of it. If you switch to a different program, all activity on the first program will stop.

The transfer to the 3G iPhone didn't go without a hitch. Instead of allowing customers to purchase phones and activate them at home, Apple wanted them to activate the phones inside the store. Unfortunately, Apple's systems suffered an overload, causing massive delays during the product launch. Most customers ended up having to activate at home anyway.

Some of the new applications take advantage of the iPhone's accelerometer feature. Games like Super MonkeyBall let the player control the game character by tilting the phone in different ways. Could the iPhone become the next portable gaming platform?

These features sound impressive, but many of them already exist on other smartphones. We'll explore the iPhone's competition and its pros and cons in the next section.

Sources:

* Anderson, Nate. "What Lurks Below Microsoft's Surface?" 5/30/2007 (6/1/2007) http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20070530-what-lurks-below-microsofts-surface-a-qa-with-microsoft.html
* Apple. "Cisco and Apple Reach Agreement on iPhone Trademark." 2/21/2007 (6/1/2007) http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/02/21iphone.html
* Apple: iPhone (7/29/2008)­
http://www.apple.com/iphone/
* Apple: iPhone - High Technology (6/1/2007)
http://www.apple.com/iphone/technology/specs.html
* Baig, Edward C. "Apple's new iPhone 3G: Still not perfect, but really close." USA Today. July 10, 2008. Accessed July 29, 2008.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/edwardbaig/2008-07-08-iphone-3g-review_N.htm
* BBC. "Launch Date for iPhone Revealed." 6/4/2007 (6/4/2007).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6717865.stm
* Dudley, Brier. "Leading the Charge on iPhone." The Seattle Times. 5/28/2007 (6/1/2007)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003724582_brier28.html
* Elias, John G. "Back-side Interface for Hand-held Devices." U.S. patent application 2007/0103454. ­
http://freepatentsonline.com/7166791.pdf
* Ferranti, Marc. "iPhone activation woes hit early buyers." Network World. July 11, 2008. Accessed July 30, 2008.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/
2008/071108-iphone-activation-woes-hit-early.html?hpg1=bn
* Han, Jeff. "Multi-touch Interaction Research." NYU. 2006 (6/1/2007).
http://cs.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirtouch/
* Hotelling, Steve et al. "Gestures for Touch Sensitive Input Devices." U.S. patent application 2006/0026521.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20060026521.pdf
* Hotelling, Steve et al. "Mode-based Graphical User Interfaces for Touch Sensitive Input Devices." U.S. patent application 2006/0026535.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20060026535.pdf
* Hotelling, Steve et al. "Multipoint Touchscreen." U.S. patent application 2006/0097991.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20060097991.pdf
* Grossman, Lev. "Apple's New Calling: the iPhone." Time. 1/9/2007 (6/1/2007)
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1575410,00.html
* Jobs, Steve. Macworld Expo keynote address. 1/9/2007 (6/1/2007)
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf07/
* Ording, Bas. "Operation of a Computer with a Touch Screen Interface." U.S. patent application 2006/0053387.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20060053387.pdf
* Robbin, Jeffrey L. et al. "Graphical User Interface and Methods of Use Thereof in a Multimedia Player." U.S. patent 7166791.
http://freepatentsonline.com/7166791.pdf
* Simon, Michael. "iPhone: Will it Be the Next Newton?" MacLife. 5/11/2007 (6/1/2007)
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* Zadesky, Stephen Paul et al. "Actuating User Interface for Media Player." U.S. patent application 2006/2050377.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20060250377.pdf

Know how about Jailbreaking

Jailbreaking is a process that allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to run unofficial code on their devices bypassing Apple's official distribution mechanism, the App Store. By which an iPhone firmware is modified to allow unsigned code to be run to gain access to files that Apple wouldn’t normally let you access. Jailbreaking adds unofficial application installers to your iPhone such as Cydia or Icy, which let you download many 3rd applications previously unavailable through the App Store.

History
The first jailbreaking method was released on July 10, 2007, which initially was meant to provide a way to use custom ringtones.[1] On August 6, 2007 the first third-party game was released for the iPhone and iPod Touch.[2]
On October 10, 2007, about 3 months after the original iPhone was released, another method to jailbreak the iPhone was discovered. Apple and hackers then engaged in a battle to patch up security holes and to exploit them. Hackers eventually released a tool to permanently jailbreak iPhone OS 1.0.
On the release of iPhone OS 2.0, the iPhone Dev Team released PwnageTool, a jailbreaking application that used a graphical user interface.
In January 2009, the iPhone Dev team commenced work on jailbreaking the iPod Touch 2G.[3] "redsn0w lite" was the code name for a tethered iPod Touch 2G jailbreak, and in April, redsn0w 0.1 was released.
On March 10, 2009, the untethered jailbreak was released for the iPod touch 2G utilizing an exploit found by the Chronic Dev team, and developed with the help of iPhone Dev Team member "planetbeing". It was released as a rough patch, and was not implemented into a GUI until next month, when planetbeing made "redsn0w" based on QuickPwn sources.
On March 17, 2009, Apple announced the release of iPhone OS 3.0.[4] Three months later, the iPhone Dev Team released PwnageTool 3.0 and redsn0w1 0.7.2, which allowed users of the original iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPod touch running the OS 3.0 to be jailbroken on both Macs and PC computers.[5]
On July 3, 2009, Geohot (George Hotz) released a jailbreak application for the iPhone 3G S.
On July 7, 2009, Four days after George Hotz release, the iPhone Dev Team updated redsn0w to support the iPhone 3G S.

Is Jailbreaking Legal?
Yes and no. The legality of jailbreaking is very unclear. Most iPhone owners think that since we own the iPhone, we should be able to do whatever we want with it. Apple’s lawyers think differently as they consider jailbreaking to be a violation of copyright. But a year ago iPhone admitted that they are not capable of going after every jailbreaker out there. To these days, anyone has had legal issues with Apple due to jailbreaking.

Why Jailbreak Your iPhone?
Jailbreaking lets you install applications that are not approved by Apple. Many of these applications can be very helpful but they will unfortunately never make it to the App Store due to Apple’s restrictions. There are many reasons why you would want to jailbreak your iPhone: Install 3rd party applications rejected by Apple for various reasons (ie. nudity), video recording (now available on the iPhone 3GS), changing the look and feel by installing custom graphics and themes, free tethering, get access to cracked App Store apps for free, be able to unlock your iPhone.

Why Not Jailbreak Your iPhone?
Jailbreaking your iPhone automatically voids the warranty. This is not really a problem as you can always restore your iPhone in iTunes, putting it back to its factory settings. This will make it impossible for Apple to see you jailbroke your iPhone, thus not voiding your warranty. In the past, some jailbreak methods were not very stable and sometimes turned your iPhone into an iBrick. Jailbreak methods are now very stable and have yet to hear about someone bricking his iPhone while jailbreaking. In other words, jailbreaking is safe!

How Do I Jailbreak My iPhone?
Many tutorials on how to jailbreak your iPhone, depending on what iPhone and what firmware you have. Check them out, follow the instructions, and have fun. You don’t need to have a PhD in computer science to jailbreak your iPhone. It’s very simple and straightforward. If you can download 2 files and click “next” when prompted, then you can jailbreak your iPhone.

What If Something Goes Wrong?
It’s very unlikely that something will go wrong. If you have a problem, simply plug your iPhone to your computer, launch iTunes, and click “restore”. It will restore your iPhone to factory settings. [sebastien]