Mobile Device Operating Systems

MOBILE DEVICE OPERATING SYSTEMS

A mobile operating system (or mobile OS) is an operating system for smart phones, tablets, PDAs, or other mobile devices. While computers such as the typical laptop are mobile, the operating systems usually used on them are not considered mobile ones as they were originally designed for bigger stationary desktop computers that historically did not have or need specific "mobile" features. This distinction is getting blurred in some newer operating systems that are hybrids made for both uses.

Mobile operating systems combine features of a personal computer operating system with other features useful for mobile or handheld use; usually including, and most of the following considered essential in modern mobile systems; a touch screen, cellular, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS mobile navigation, camera, video camera, speech recognition, voice recorder,music player, near field communication and infrared blaster.

Mobile devices with mobile communications capabilities (e.g. smartphones) contain two mobile operating systems – the main user-facing software platform is supplemented by a second low-level proprietary real-time operating system which operates the radio and other hardware. Research has shown that these low-level systems may contain a range of security vulnerabilities permitting malicious base stations to gain high levels of control over the mobile device

A mobile operating system, also called a mobile OS, is an operating system that is specifically designed to run on mobile devices such as mobile phones, smartphones, PDAs, tablet computers and other handheld devices. The mobile operating system is the software platform on top of which other programs, called application programs, can run on mobile devices.