Special Constraints and Requirements

SPECIAL CONSTRAINTS AND REQUIREMENTS

Design and capabilities of a Mobile OS (Operating System) is very different than a general purpose OS running on desktop machines

Physically Constrained

·        Battery-powered device

·        Small screens of varying shapes, sizes, and resolutions

·        Memory

·        Storage space

Working in Uncertainty

·        Networks come and go

·        Other devices appear and disappear

·        OS need to provide robust methods for handling connections and coping with service interruptions and ad hoc attempts to communicate

Today's mobile devices are multifunctional devices capable of hosting a broad range of applications for both business and consumer use. Smartphones and tablets enable people to use their mobile device to access the Internet for email, instant messaging, text messaging and Web browsing, as well as work documents, contact lists and more.

Mobile devices are often seen as an extension to your own PC or laptop, and in some cases newer, more powerful mobile devices can even completely replace PCs. And when the devices are used together, work done remotely on a mobile device can be synchronized with PCs to reflect changes and new information while away from the computer.

Much like the Linux or Windows operating system controls your desktop or laptop computer, a mobile operating system is the software platform on top of which other programs can run on mobile devices.

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.