MOBILE MULTIMEDIA

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• In this chapter, you will learn how to:
• Consider the implications of mobile devices in the worldwide digital
revolution
• Describe what mobile/tablet devices can be used for
• Discuss mobile device hardware
• Characterize the smallness of the mobile world
• Discuss mobile device operating systems
• Program an app
Digital Revolution
 Digital Revolution Worldwide
• As an agent of change, the mobile and multimedia Internet is altering our:
– quality of life, health, and social,
– environment, schools and education,
– retail marketplace,
– styles of employment and work,
– organizational patterns in business and economies.
• 30 percent of people browsing the Web and 40 percent of people accessing social
media use a mobile device.
• Soon the desktop computer will be gone in a few generations.
 Retail
• retailers can “push” tailored messages about store specials and sales to
shoppers in the vicinity who have signed up via their smartphones equipped
with Global Positioning System (GPS) or Quick Response (QR) code software
• People with FOMO, or “fear of missing out,” enjoy the pushes
• smartphones connect to the Internet from almost everywhere, and if you
are lost, they will lead you to home
• Photos and video recorded by mobile devices, when distributed via the
Internet, can affect the behavior of individuals and governments
 Education
• Students complete educational and homework assignments on tablets provided by
schools.
• developed nations are spending considerable resources to teach their children
computing skills.
• In the United Kingdom, for example, learning to program or code apps became a
mandatory part of the student curriculum in 2014
• Worrisome to law enforcement and many parents and educators is the increase in
sexually explicit images and videos sent across the Internet by children, phone to
phone, and phone to social media sites, where such images can do lasting harm.
 Travel
• Sending and reading text messages (texting) while
driving (also called “distracted driving”)
• Both Apple and Google are actively competing with
automotive companies to put iOS and Android onto
automobile dashboards in a safe and seamless way.
Mobile Hardware
• At the same time as the hardware used to make and display multimedia
has become more capable and more compact,
• The hardware used for mobile devices has shrunk astonishingly to the
size of your palm.
• The communications power now in the palm of your hand is immense
On the left, a 26.2-pound Osborne computer; on the right,
a businesswoman swipes a credit card in a Square Reader, doing
business on her 3.95-ounce smartphone in 2014.

Separated by 30 years, the tiny smartphone is many times more

powerful and orders of magnitude lighter than the now-fossilized
Osborne. (Photo on right courtesy of Square, Inc.)
 Becoming Small
• The miniaturization of telephone handsets and the
construction of comprehensive radio networks to connect
these telephones wirelessly have revolutionized human
communications.
• In 2012, there were more than 6.8 billion mobile cellular
subscriptions worldwide. In the United States, there were
900 cell towers in 1985; in 2014, there are 190,000.
• The miniaturization of desktop computers into
Internet-connected tablets has revolutionized the
way people do business and educate themselves and
their children. Tablet sales in the year 2013 exceeded
200 million units worldwide (Apple captured 33.8
percent of that market, Samsung 18.8 percent).
 Smaller Hardware

• The miniaturization and use of touch screens on

mobile devices enables multi-touch gestures like
pinches and swipes and taps
 Smaller Hardware
• A single mobile device may have
four separate radios for voice
and data communications, a
connection to hands-free
headsets, microphones, and NFC
devices.
 Smaller Hardware
• With system-on-a-chip (SoC) technology, memory,
graphics processors, audio components, USB
controllers, power management circuits, and a
myriad of other essential functions are integrated
into a single chip—meaning shorter wiring and less
power consumption.
 Smaller Hardware
• Apple’s A7 SoC first appeared in the iPhone 5S and
integrates a dual-core CPU, a graphics processing
unit (GPU), large memory caches, 1GB of DRAM,
and a Secure Enclave biometric security device for
storing fingerprint IDs. Manufactured by Samsung,
the chip includes over 1 billion transistors in an
area only 102 mm .
 Smaller Hardware
• The Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone competes with Apple’s
iPhone and includes “smart scrolling” and eye-tracking
—“smart pause” will halt a video if the user is not looking at
the screen.
• The Samsung Galaxy S4 also includes 3D Touch—fingertips
held above but not touching the glass can still be “felt” by
the touch screen.
 The Market
• according to Gartner, a
leading IT research and
advisory firm, at the end
of 2013 market share
for worldwide mobile
phone sales was as
follows:
 The Market
• Galaxy S4’s release in
2013, more than 20
million units were sold in
155 countries.
 The Market
• It is the combination of hardware, operating system,
and system programming features differentiates the
many brands of tablets and smartphones available in
the marketplace.
• Indeed, buying a smartphone (and its service contract)
is more difficult than buying an automobile. Why??
 The Market
• Looking ahead, smartphones will be adding “augmented reality” (AR)
so you can point the smartphone’s camera and receive an onscreen
overlay of information such as nearby cafes, markets, gas stations, or
landmarks
Augmented reality provides a layer of
information superimposed on a real-world
camera image, in this case, the Wikitude
World Browser app overlays notes about
local geography.
 The Market
• Flexible screens will roll up and fit in a purse.
• A LED-based digital light projector (DLP) will show 2-meter-
wide photos on any available wall in your home or office.
• Voice control using a natural language user interface (LUI or
NLUI) such as Siri will supplant texting.
• 3-D and holographic projections will follow.
Types of Connections
There is a lot going on “under the hood” to ensure your mobile device is properly
connected. Connections are typically by radio, and as many as four radios may be built
into a device: one for cell towers, one for Wi-Fi hotspots, one for Bluetooth, and one
for Near Field Communication (NFC).

It normally begins with a “handshake,” a set of complicated but standardized protocols

that allows the device and the radio to which it connects to identify and authenticate
each other. Other protocols guide and modify the connection while it is active and,
finally, terminate it. (* Commonly used is the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), which is an international standard (see
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3261)A lot is going
GSM vs. CDMA
• Two radio systems are available to connect a smartphone or mobile phone to a
cell tower and then onward to the Internet, or the public switched telephone
network (PSTN) using copper wire, optical fiber, satellites, and microwave links.

• Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) is used by Sprint, Verizon, and U.S. Cellular
in the United States. Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), the most
widely accepted technology, is used by AT&T and T-Mobile in the United States and
reaches more than 5 billion people across 80 percent of the globe.
 GSM vs. CDMA
• CDMA phones use a single frequency to
talk with a cell tower (850 MHz); GSM
phones use several frequencies
(850/900/1800/1900 MHz) depending on
country and provider. On CDMA phones,
network and subscriber information is
contained within the handset and in a
provider database; GSM phones use a
Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card. The structure of a GSM network showing how a mobile device
reaches the telephone network and the Internet.
 3G vs. 4G
• Whether CDMA or GSM, the very important
radio link between the mobile device and
the cell tower manages voice and data using
standardized technologies.

• 3G (Third Generation) and 4G (Fourth

Generation) are communication protocols
that govern this movement of information
on the radio connection between the
handset and tower. LTE (Long-Term
Evolution) and WiMAX (Worldwide
Interoperability for Microwave Access) are
competing 4G technologies.
Wi-Fi
Connecting a mobile device to the Internet using Wi-Fi 802.11
a/b/g/n technology can provide a faster connection than 4G
for less cost, if not for free. But the Wi-Fi’s range is only about
30 meters indoors and 100 meters outdoors (line of sight).

Many homes, offices, and public places have installed wireless

access points (WAPs) to which electronic devices connect
using radios operating in the unlicensed, public 2.4-GHz
spectrum.

These WAPs are often combined with digital subscriber lines

(DSL) or cable modems and network routers to provide
hotspots for connecting to the Internet.
 Bluetooth
• Sharing the 2.4-GHz spectrum with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth is a very
short-range, low-power radio technology to interconnect
up to seven devices by radio. Typically, Bluetooth connects a
mobile phone to a hands-free headset or an automobile
audio system.

• An innovative use of Bluetooth is Tile

(http://www.thetileapp.com), which uses Bluetooth to find
your stuff by remembering the last place the tile was “seen”
and sounding an alert when triggered.
Mobile Platform
 Overview
• Digital Revolution
• Mobile Hardware
• Various Type of Connections
• Mobile Platform
• Programming Mobile Applications
 Mobile Platform

• Vendors usually offer a mobile application platform to clients that want to go

mobile or enter the mobile market. The platform includes migration tools and
resources that support a mobile interface or a development environment that
allows the creation of new apps aimed at the Apple and Android markets.
 Mobile Platform
• The most dominated mobile platform (also known as
Operating System (OS)) are Google’s Android (81%) Apple’s
iOS (13%). Windows Phone, Blackberry and other Oss
remain uncompetitive.

• Our discussion is limited to iOS and Android.

 iOS vs. Android
• Android is an open-source operating system for mobile devices based on the Linux
kernel maintained by Google.

• iOS is a proprietary, a closed-source operating system developed and owned by

Apple.

• Together, these OSs are used on over 90 percent of all mobile devices. Measured
not by device but by who uses the Internet more, in February 2014, approximately
53 percent of web users accessing the Internet from mobile devices use iOS; 36
percent use an Android device..
iOS vs. Android
 iOS vs. Android

• Android was developed by Android, Inc., a 22-month-old startup purchased by

Google in 2005, which became the core of Google’s foray into mobile hardware
and software.

• Apple’s iOS began in 2007 as an OS for the new iPhone, using multi-touch gestures.
iOS is never licensed for installation on any hardware except hardware
manufactured by Apple, though that may change as Apple partners with
automobile manufacturers to bring iOS to the dashboard.
 iOS vs. Android

• Table below shows the codename and application programming interface (API) level, distribution
(as of February 2014), and release date of the more recent Android versions (not shown are the
earlier Cupcake, Donut, and Éclair versions).
 iOS vs. Android

• Next table shows the version, distribution (as

of February 2014), and release date for iOS
versions.
iOS vs. Android
PROGRAMMING MOBILE APPLICATION
 Mobile application
• iOS – use Objective C
• Android – use Java
 Hybrid apps
• HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript.
• save the difficulty of learning multiple complex
languages.
 Integrated development environments (IDEs)
• LiveCode
• Flex and AIR, ciui-dev, jQT, jQuery Mobile, Sencha
Touch, PhoneGap,
• Motorola’s RhoMobile Suite, WebApp.Net, eMobc,
Rare-Wire, Eclipse, and
• Android Studio.
 Responsive web design (RWD)
• Developing methods to deal with the difficulty of programming for the many
screen sizes in the mobile and desktop worlds.
• Multi-Device Layout Patterns - enables Web page layouts to adapt to various screen
sizes.
Mostly Fluid
The most popular pattern was perhaps surprisingly
simple: a multi-column layout that introduces larger
margins on big screens, relies on fluid grids and images
to scale from large screens down to small screen sizes,
and stacks columns vertically in its narrowest
incarnations.
Responsive web design (RWD) (cont…)
Column Drop

Another popular pattern starts with a multi-

column layout and ends with a single-column
layout, dropping columns along the way as
screen sizes get narrower. Unlike the Mostly
Fluid pattern, the overall size of elements in
this layout tends to stay consistent. Adapting
to various screen sizes instead relies on
stacking columns.
Responsive web design (RWD) (cont…)
Layout Shifter

This pattern does the most to adapt

across different screen sizes. That is,
different layouts are used on large,
medium, and small screens. Because
this inherently requires more work, it
seems less popular than the previous
two patterns I outlined.
 Responsive web design (RWD) (cont…)
Tiny Tweaks

This pattern was also the least popular

during the simplest form of adaptation.
Most likely because few companies have
the luxury of brutally simple Web pages
with very few elements within a single-
column layout; for those blessed with such
simplicity, multi-device adaptation can be a
few tiny tweaks to font sizes and image
layout.
 Responsive web design (RWD) (cont…)
Off Canvas
While there’s much variety in the
responsive design layout patterns listed
above, there are also some common
characteristics.
They all tend to stack everything
vertically on small screens resulting in
long pages full of diverse components.
Perhaps less obviously, they rely only on
the screen space available to make
layout adjustments.
Responsive web design (RWD) (cont…)
• Facebook's mobile Web experience uses
the space to the left of the visible window
to hide navigation options until someone
taps the link to expose them.
• At which point, the content off screen
slides into view. There are a few responsive
designs taking a similar approach
(examples) below) but some run into
problems being accessible across devices.
 Launch Checklist (Android)
1. Understand the publishing process 11. Start localization early
2. Understand Google Play policies
12. Prepare promotional graphics
3. Test for core app quality
13. Build the release-ready APK
4. Determine your content rating
5. Determine country distribution 14. Plan a beta release
6. Confirm the app’s overall size 15. Complete the product details
7. Confirm app compatibility ranges 16. Use Google Play badges
8. Decide on free or priced 17. Final checks and publishing
9. Consider In-app Billing
18. Support users after launch
 App Store Required Resources (iOS)
• must have an Info.plist file.
• app’s Info.plist file must include the
UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities key.
• must include one or more icons in your app bundle.
• must include at least one image to be displayed while
app is launching.
 Conclusion
• Tablets, readers, and smartphones delivering text, images, audio, and
video have explosively changed the nature of society in all nations
around the world regardless of culture or language.
• Smartphones and mobile devices are used in all aspects of daily life,
from social revolutions to game playing entertainment to calling a taxi.
• There are more than 6 billion mobile accounts in the world.