Connectivity in smart phones is certainly a main feature that separates good phones from better ones. What I like and care most about my phone is it's ability to connect to the outer world by much ever possible ways. I mean I feel dull when I just remember my very first phone, the Nokia 3310, where not a single connectivity method was present; no Bluetooth, no Infrared, not even GPRS was there. At this time, Infrared was the only way to transfer stuff between phones where you had to place the IR ports of the 2 phones in front of and close to each other  to start the process. But actually at this time the only transferable things were picture messages or ringtones.

Mobile phones kept developing and developing, new features got introduced; polyphonic tones, colored screens, integrated Digital Cameras, large memory storage... until a need for a new easy and fast method to share and transfer files between phones has appeared. This is when Bluetooth came to be the next number one connectivity method. I was actually amazed when I first heard about Bluetooth and how it works. But connectivity development didn't just stop after BT. Advanced browsers were introduced into smartphones to fully utilize Internet services provided by operators through GPRS/ HSPDA for a full Internet experience. Later, mobile manufacturers started introducing Wlan into their phones for a better Internet experience as GPRS sucks credit balance, or produces a shocking bill at the end of the month.

I have been using my N80 for more than 8 months and I can never exchange it now for a phone that does not support Wlan. I use it everywhere; in Uni, in different cafes, and even at home. It's fast, it's free and hotspots are everywhere. Things are just starting to get better with the TV-out port, the upcoming Wibree and not too long ago, Nokia produced the first smartphone with embedded GPS.

You see what's happening here? Every while, new connectivity methods are introduced into new phones, and this all started out with a phone that can only make cell calls and send and receive SMS. So can you give up any of those connectivity methods? Can you exchange your Wlan supported phone with one that lacks the feature for example? And what do you think the next connectivity feature gonna be? What connectivity you wish they introduce to new phones? Work out your imagination, maybe be someday you might able to use your smartphone instead of your car key. Well, impossible is nothing! ;)

Labels: Bluetooth, Connectivity, GPRS, GPS, infrared, smartphones, Wibree

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