A smartphone, often simply called a phone, is a mobile device that combines the functionality of a traditional mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multimedia playback and streaming. Smartphones have built-in cameras, GPS navigation, and support for various communication methods, including voice calls, text messaging, and internet-based messaging apps.
Hot swapping is the replacement or addition of components to a computer system without stopping, shutting down, or rebooting the system; hot plugging describes the addition of components only. Components which have such functionality are said to be hot-swappable or hot-pluggable; likewise, components which do not are cold-swappable or cold-pluggable.
A mobile phone feature is a capability, service, or application that a mobile phone offers to its users. Mobile phones are often referred to as feature phones, and offer basic telephony. Handsets with more advanced computing ability through the use of native code try to differentiate their own products by implementing additional functions to make them more attractive to consumers. This has led to great innovation in mobile phone development over the past 20 years.
Modular design, or modularity in design, is a design principle that subdivides a system into smaller parts called modules, which can be independently created, modified, replaced, or exchanged with other modules or between different systems.
Motorola Mobility LLC, marketed as Motorola, is an American consumer electronics manufacturer primarily producing smartphones and other mobile devices running Android. Headquartered at Merchandise Mart in Chicago, Illinois, it is a subsidiary of the Chinese technology company Lenovo.
Openmoko is a discontinued project to create a family of mobile phones that are open source, including the hardware specification, the operating system, and actual smartphone development implementation like the Neo 1973 and Neo FreeRunner. The whole project was sponsored by Openmoko Inc.
The form factor of a mobile phone is its size, shape, and style, as well as the layout and position of its major components.
Lenovo smartphones are marketed as the "LePhone" in mainland China and the "IdeaPhone" overseas are smartphones designed and manufactured by the Motorola Mobility, ZUK Mobile and Medion, divisions of Lenovo. On April 27, 2017, Lenovo announced that the ZUK brand would cease operations. In 2015, Lenovo subsumed its own smartphone division into the acquired Motorola brand.
Moto X is an Android smartphone developed and manufactured by Motorola Mobility, and released in August 2013.
Project Ara was a modular smartphone project under development by Google. The project was originally headed by the Advanced Technology and Projects team within Motorola Mobility while it was a Google subsidiary. Google retained the ATAP group when selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo, and it was placed under the stewardship of the Android development staff; Ara was later split off as an independent operation. Google stated that Project Ara was being designed to be utilized by "6 billion people": 1 billion current smartphone users, and 5 billion feature phone users.
Dave Hakkens is a Dutch industrial designer. He gained fame with his two graduation projects: Phonebloks, a concept for modular telephones, and Precious Plastic, a movement to develop and promote machines and organizations for plastic recycling. Hakkens is seen by many as an example of a new generation of designers who have set themselves the goal of improving society by sharing knowledge.
Paul Eremenko is a Ukrainian American innovator and technology executive. He was formerly the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of United Technologies Corporation. Earlier, he served as the CTO of Airbus, and former CEO of Airbus Silicon Valley innovation center. He is a former Google executive and head of Google's Project Ara, an effort to create an open, modular smartphone platform. Eremenko was named one of the Top-10 Tech Leaders of 2015 in FORTUNE Magazine. Eremenko has also come out as a strong proponent of artificial intelligence and autonomy research. Eremenko has cited his desire to build a starship as the motivation underpinning his career.
A modular smartphone is a smartphone designed for users to upgrade or replace components and modules without the need for resoldering or repair services. The most important component is the main board, to which others such as cameras and batteries are attached. Components can be obtained from open-source hardware stores.
The Fairphone 2 is a touchscreen-based, dual-SIM smartphone designed to be easily repaired by the user. First released in October 2015, it was the first modular smartphone available for purchase and has since received both hardware improvements and major software updates, initially shipping with Android 5 "Lollipop" and running Android 10 as of November 2022. Production ceased in 2018.
The Moto X Force is a high-end Android smartphone made by Motorola Mobility. Inside the United States, it is branded as the Droid Turbo 2, available exclusively in the United States for the Verizon Droid brand. It was released on October 27, 2015. The phone is marketed as having "the world's first shatterproof screen."
Google's Advanced Technology and Projects group (ATAP) is a skunkworks team and in-house technology incubator, created by former DARPA director Regina Dugan. ATAP is similar to X, but works on projects, granting project leaders time—previously only two years—in which to move a project from concept to proven product. According to Dugan, the ideal ATAP project combines technology and science, requires a certain amount of novel research, and creates a marketable product. Historically, the ATAP team was born at Motorola Mobility and kept when Google sold Motorola Mobility to Lenovo in 2014; for this reason, ATAP ideas have tended to involve mobile hardware technology.
The LG G5 is an Android smartphone developed by LG Electronics as part of the LG G series. It was announced during Mobile World Congress as the successor to the 2015 LG G4. The G5 is distinguished from its predecessors by its aluminum chassis and a focus on modularity. Its lower housing, which holds the user-replaceable battery, can be slid from the bottom of the device, and replaced by alternative add-on modules that provide additional functions. Two modules are available: a camera grip, and a high-fidelity audio module with DAC. A lower-spec variation, dubbed the LG G5 SE, is available in some markets.
Moto Z is an Android smartphone developed by Motorola Mobility. Unveiled on June 9, 2016, as its flagship model for the year, the Moto Z is distinguished by the "Moto Mods" technosystem which allows case accessories to be magnetically attached to the device to provide additional functionality. The Moto Z was later joined by the more rugged Moto Z Force of which shares most of the same internals as the former, and the mid-range Moto Z Play with downgraded specifications, all three devices being compatible with the modular system.
Moto G5 is a series of Android smartphones developed by Motorola Mobility, a subsidiary of Lenovo. It is the fifth generation of the Moto G family. Announced as successors to the Moto G4, they were first released in March 2017 in several markets including India and Europe. The original variants are the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus, the latter also being available as an Amazon Prime version in the United States. The mid-cycle updates, the Moto G5s and Moto G5s Plus, were released in August 2017.
The Moto Z3 is an Android smartphone developed by Motorola Mobility, as the successor to the Moto Z2 Force Edition. It is the world's first 5G-upgradable smartphone. Like all of Motorola's smartphones in the Moto Z series, it supports Motorola's magnetically attachable "MotoMods" modules.
