MOBILE TECHNOLOGY

Section 1 Introduction
The aims of this publication are to:
p provide an update on the development of mobile phone technologies
with the potential for supporting and/or delivering some elements
of teaching and learning processes
p report briefly on the work and key findings of the m-learning
research and development project, which completed 3 years of work
in September 2004. Full details of the project findings can be found in
a separate research report. This report and further information about
the project is available via the LSDA (www.LSDA.org.uk) and m-learning
(www.m-learning.org) websites.
The m-learning project was funded by the European Commission’s
Information Society Technologies (IST) initiative with matched funding
from the project partners and, in the UK, the Learning and Skills Council.
There are five project partners: two university-based research units
(Ultralab at Anglia Polytechnic University in the UK and Centro di Ricerca
in Matematica Pura ed Applicata (CRMPA) at the University of Salerno
in Italy), two commercial companies (Cambridge Training and
Development Limited (CTAD) in the UK and Lecando in Sweden)
and the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA) in the UK.
1
Section 2 Mobile phone technology update
2.1 Mobile phones
There are estimated to be 1.5 billion mobile phones in the world today
(Prensky, 2004). This is more than three times the number of
personal computers (PCs), and today’s most sophisticated phones
have the processing power of a mid-1990s PC.
These facts, and the range of computer-like functionality offered by
top-of-the-range devices, are leading some observers to speculate that
many people in the not so distant future will start to see the mobile phone
as an alternative to a PC. For example Jeff Hawkins, inventor of the
Palm Pilot, was recently quoted (Stone 2004) as saying, ‘One day, 2 or
3 billion people will have cell phones, and they are not all going to have
PCs … The mobile phone will become their digital life’. Sean Maloney,
an executive vice-president at Intel (also interviewed by Stone) disagrees,
on the grounds that, ‘Hundreds of millions of people are not going to
replace the full screen, mouse and keyboard experience with staring at
a little screen’. Clearly, neither view is likely to be completely objective,
but the fact that the debate is happening is an indication of how powerful
and sophisticated mobile devices are becoming.
In the m-learning project we chose to provide learners taking part in our
learner research and learning materials and systems trials with the most
sophisticated devices available at the time in an attempt to ensure that our
findings do not become out of date too quickly. We tried to focus on the
types of devices that will be owned by, or reasonably easily accessible to,
our target audience (16–24 year olds not in full-time education or training)
within 2 or 3 years of the end of the project. We are aware that the
hybrid mobile phone/personal digital assistant (or PDA) devices we used
(sometimes known as ‘smartphones’) currently make up only a relatively
small percentage of mobile phone sales. However, sales are growing and
the potential market for ‘smartphones’ is thought to be much bigger than
the handheld computers market; indeed, ‘smartphones’ overtook sales of
PDAs in 2003. Market research from Gartner, Canalys and others (quoted
by van Grinsven 2004) indicates that ‘in four to five years, global sales
of “smartphones” will reach 170 million, compared with slightly more
than 20 million this year’. Also, the very rapid and widespread adoption
of camera phones suggests that our target audience is willing to invest in
more expensive devices if they are attractive enough and offer significant
actual or perceived benefits. Sales of camera phones exceeded those
of digital cameras for the first time in 2003, when camera phone sales
increased almost fivefold from 2002, resulting in 84m unit sales.
The modern mobile phone market caters for a wide variety of customer
tastes and lifestyles. Some phones are tiny and discreet, some are chosen
for their appearance (like a fashion accessory, with alternative covers that
allow that appearance to be changed to match the owner’s outfit), some
just offer basic functionality while some others provide a wide range of
business and leisure services to their users. Manufacturers are marketing
diverse product ranges, including devices that specialise in providing
particular services or are aimed at particular users. Instead of describing
a product as a mobile phone, manufacturers often use descriptions
like ‘game deck’, ‘communicator’ or ‘mobile multimedia machine’.
2 Mobile technologies and learning
Most new phones now include some games, and
all but the cheapest models offer downloading of
additional games. There are large numbers of games
available that can be purchased and downloaded
for a few euro each. An increasing number of
mobile phone models are being marketed as games
phones. The ultimate example of this is the Nokia
N-Gage QD game deck, which is primarily a portable
games machine but can also be used as a phone.
Gamers are able to play together as well as
individually thanks to Bluetooth (a short-range
radio technology which allows electronic devices
to exchange information) and access to an online
player community service called the N-Gage Arena.
Some devices are aimed at business users and
are marketed primarily as business communications
devices. To aid e-mail communication they include
a physical qwerty keyboard and a large screen.
Examples are the BlackBerry and the Nokia 6810
and 6820 messaging devices.
Other combined business and leisure PDA/phone
hybrid machines and ‘smartphones’ include a
virtual pop-up qwerty keyboard and handwriting
recognition. They also include some or all of the
following: still, and in some cases, a video camera,
music player, radio, voice memo recording, games,
e-mail, internet, and organiser functions. Examples
are the O2 X3 and the Sony Ericsson P900.
Third generation (3G) handsets allow users of
3G services to view video content including music
videos and football game highlights. With several
new 3G services being launched in time for
Christmas 2004, the 3G phones are expected to
become more popular. However, it seems that the
next big thing in mobile phones may be television.
TV phones have recently been launched in some
gadget-loving countries (eg South Korea and Japan).
These are capable of receiving satellite TV channels
and some phones have a plug-in device that allows
playing of pre-recorded terrestrial broadcasts.
Mobile phone technology update 3
Top to bottom
Nokia N-Gage QD
BlackBerry
Nokia 7600
Sony Ericsson P900
2.2 Infrastructure
Sales of advanced handsets such as those described above and the
development of value-added non-voice services are growing. Mobile
network operators around the world are hoping to emulate the success
of operators in Japan and South Korea. Many network operators are
launching third generation (3G) networks in 2004 and 2005, and these
promise fast, broad bandwidth connections, enhanced multimedia and
advanced services such as video conferencing. However, most observers
believe that full availability and mass adoption of 3G services will take
a few more years.
Many companies are still experimenting with ways of making money
from mobile data using the current GSM or 2G networks and the so-called
2.5G networks (2.5G is 2G with faster and more efficient data transmission
resulting from transmitting messages in labelled ‘packets’, thus allowing
many users to share a single connection).
2.5G networks are enabling subscribers to access a wide selection of
new non-voice services and operators hope that consumer familiarity
built now will lead to 3G mass adoption later. Meanwhile, the performance
of 2.5G networks will be improved by the new EDGE technology. EDGE
(Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) is a technology that increases
capacity, improves quality and allows use of advanced services over the
existing GSM network. EDGE is an upgrade of the GPRS (General Packet
Radio Services) system for data transfer in GSM networks. The Norwegian
telecommunications company Telnor claim (Johnsen 2004) that the EDGE
data transfer rate is substantially faster than possible speeds using
GPRS technology and can reach between 100 and 200 kbit/s under
perfect circumstances. EDGE implementation does, however, require
upgrades to both base stations and mobile phones.
2.3 Viruses
A computer virus, believed to be the first spread by mobile phones, has
recently been sent to anti-virus firms. No infections have been reported,
and this virus is harmless, but it is proof that mobile phones could be
at risk from virus writers. The virus, known as Cabir, infects phones and
devices running the Symbian operating system and can be passed to
other devices via Bluetooth. Requiring Bluetooth to travel significantly
restricts the threat posed by the worm as it is thereby constrained to
a radius of about 30 metres. Also, transfer is dependent upon a nearby
phone user having Bluetooth turned on and accepting the virus in spite
of it being preceded by a warning that the source of the file is unknown.
For now, the Windows operating system is still the primary target for
virus writers and they do not seem very interested in mobile devices.
Indeed, the first virus for a Palm device was detected in 2000 and
it has not, to date, resulted in a problem for PDA owners.