What is the difference between a smartphone and a phone?

We live in an amazing time, when thanks to the rapid development of microelectronics to determine what is the difference between a phone and a smartphone, it becomes more difficult. Only a dozen years ago it was obvious: the color screen of enlarged sizes indicated the accessory of the device to a more advanced class. Accordingly, conventional mobile phones dispensed with displays displaying a black and white picture in pseudo-graphic mode. Since then, a lot has changed, and this difference between the smartphone and the mobile phone has lost its relevance. For example, now you can buy a mobile phone with only basic functions, but a huge touch screen.

Smart devices

In order to answer the question about the difference between a smartphone and a phone, it is necessary to remember which functions were added by the developers to an ordinary mobile phone, which subsequently allowed to call such an improved model a "smart phone" (from English smart). At one time, the emergence of new modifications was hampered by the fact that all existing devices already then perfectly coped with their main task - making calls both in the networks of cellular operators and at fixed terminals. Increasing the transmitter power to increase the "long-range" was impossible, since it was necessary to meet the requirements for the permissible level of radiation. Something fundamentally new was needed, which could attract potential buyers and interest them. So, first in the mobile phones appeared a calendar, then a scheduler with a reminder mode, the converter of the most "running" currencies. Soon, almost in every communication device, you could find a browser for viewing Internet resources, a mail program, a calculator, etc. In other words, the phone from the device for making calls began to turn into a kind of pocket electronic assistant - a smartphone. It was the beginning.

So, in the light of the above, it is possible to formulate the first difference between a smartphone and a phone - it is the availability of additional features in the device that are not connected with the main purpose. Currently, this direction is actively developing: smartphones allow you to work with office documents, tables, watch movies and play games.

The platform ... the nucleus ... the brain

Of course, the difference between a smartphone and a phone is not limited to built-in additional programs. Since for convenience of using all the possibilities it is more expedient to use a large color display, in most modern mobile communication devices this has become the standard. The change has also undergone a graphic component, becoming much more perfect. To ensure an acceptable speed of complex programs and graphics, it was required to install enough productive processors in the devices. From here the following difference of a smart phone from phone - in the first is placed the high-speed computing block, and the volume of operative memory is estimated in hundreds of megabytes. To understand where the "smart", and where the "simple" phone, it is enough to compare the power of their processors: for example, it can be 1 GHz and 200 MHz, respectively.

Apps

Finally, one of the key differences is the availability of an open operating system, for which a large selection of programs from third-party developers is available, which the user can install at his discretion. It should be noted that although most cell phones allow you to install programs for a Java virtual machine, this does not classify them as a class of smartphones. Also, if in an ordinary mobile phone the operating system is strictly protected and does not provide updates to new versions, then in smartphones running on Android, Windows Phone, iOS, Belle, and others, the user can install an improved management program.