iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are smartphone designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The devices are part of the iPhone series and were announced on September 9, 2014, and released on September 19, 2014. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus jointly serve as successors to the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s.

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus include a number of changes over their predecessor, including models with larger 4.7 and 5.5 inches (120 and 140 mm) displays, a faster processor, upgraded cameras, improved LTE and Wi-Fi connectivity and support for a near field communications-based mobile payments offering. 

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus received positive reviews, with critics regarding their improve design, specifications, camera, and battery life as being improvements over previous iPhone models. However, aspects of the design of iPhone 6 were also panned, including plastic strips on the rear of the device for antenna that disrupted the otherwise metal exterior, and the screen resolution of the standard-sized iPhone 6 being lower than other devices in its class. Pre-orders of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus exceeded four million within its first 24 hours of availability-an Apple record. More than ten million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus devices were sold in the first three days, another Apple record.

Despite their positive reception, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have been the subject of several hardware issues, including most prominently, being susceptible to bending under pressure (a design flaw nicknamed "Bendgate"), and as a byproduct of this lack of rigidity, the touchscreen's hardware being susceptible to losing its connection to the phone's logic board (nicknamed the "touch disease"). The iPhone 6 Plus was also the subject of camera issues, including some devices with malfunctioning optical image stabilization or otherwise faulty rear cameras.

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were discontinued on September 7, 2016 when Apple released the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

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iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus

The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are upcoming smartphones that are designed by Apple Inc. They were announced on September 7,  2016 at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco by Apple CEO Tim Cook.  The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 plus are the flagship iPhones, succeeding the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. They are scheduled to be released on September 16, 2016, with pre-orders beginning on September 9, 2016.

The iPhone 7 features a new quad-core system-on-chip with improved system and graphics performance; an updated display screen; water resistance; stereo speakers; upgraded cameras; and a new dual-camera system (on the 7 Plus model). The 3.5 mm headphone jack was removed, with an adapter included, along with earphones that connect to the Lightning port as an alternative.

Specifications

The iPhone 7 is similar in design to the iPhone 6S, though with a "mirrored" finish. Alongside the existing Silver, Gold, and Rose Gold colors, the device is offered in new Black and "Jet Black" colors. The "Jet Black" color is a darker shade with a high-gloss finish; it is created through a multi-step process, beginning with an anodizaton phase to make the surface of the casing a porous aluminum oxide, and then using a machine to "wipe" the casing through a powdered compound, absorbed by the aluminum oxide. The process is concluded with an "ultra-fine particle bath" for additional finishing; the entire process takes less than an hour.

The iPhone 7 no longer uses a physical home button; it instead uses a touch-sensitive button with haptic feedback via Apple Taptic Engine. The button is also pressure-sensitive. The "3D Touch" system from the 6S was retained. The iPhone 7 does not feature a 3.5 mm headphone jack; it was replaced by a second speaker grill. A Lightning to 3.5 mm connector adapter, as well as in-ear headphones that use a Lightning connector, are bundled with the device. The Lightning adapter will also be sold independently. The iPhone 7 is also water and dust resistant.

The iPhone 7 uses the Apple A10 Fusion system-on-chip, which consists of two low-power cores and two high-power cores. The A10 also features a hexa-core graphics chip capable of "console-level gaming". As with prio models, the iPhone 7 is available in two size: one with a 4.7-inch screen, and a "Plus" variant with a 5.5-inch screen. The displays have identical sizes and resolutions to the 6S (720p and 1080p), but with an increased color gamut and brightness. Both device variants also contain a new iteration of Apple's motion coprocessor, the M10 Unlike previous iPhone models, internal storage options for the iPhone 7 begin at 32 GB instead of 16 GB.

The iPhone 7 includes a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera with a quad-LED "True Tone" flash; its aperture was widened to f/1.8 while the standard-size model adds optical image stabilization-a feature that was previously exclusive to the Plus models. The iPhone 7 Plus also includes a second 12-megapixel telephoto lens, which can be used to achieve 2x optical zoom, and up to 10x digital zoom. The front-facing camera was also upgraded to a 7-megapixel sensor.

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Ubuntu Touch

Ubuntu Touch (also known as Ubuntu Phone) is a mobile version of the Ubuntu operating system developed by Canonical UK Ltd and Ubuntu Community. It is designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. 

Features

Ubuntu Touch users the Qt 5-based touch user interface and various software frameworks originally developed for Maemo and MeeGo such as oFono as telephony stack, accounts-sso for single sign-on, and Maliit for input. Using libhybris the system can often be used with Linux kernels used in Android, which makes it easily ported to most recent Android smartphones. Libertine is Ubuntu's project to run traditional desktop X applications.

Lock screen

When Ubuntu Touch is turned on no lock screen immediately appears, as applications will prompt the user to unlock if necessary when they are opened. The centre of the "Welcome Screen" is a visualization of activity on the device. It shows the user's status and recent events on the welcome screen, completed with a design around the circle which reflects activity on the phone over the preceding month.

Included applications

Ubuntu Touch includes as core applications social media and media applications (e.g Facebook, YouTube, and an RSS reader). Standard applications such as a calculator, an e-mail client, and alarm clock, a file manager, and even a terminal are to be included as well. Twelve or more core applications are currently being developed. Several Ubuntu Touch applications work on the desktop, including the Browser, Calendar, Clocks, Gallery, Notes, Reminders, Terminal, and Weather.

Side Stage

Side Sate allows to run both "tablet apps" and "phone apps" side by side, resizing each on the top as and when you need to see more of them. It aims to "go even further" with the idea of multitasking, allowing screen space to be divided in this manner. Examples shown in the announcement video included a notes app being used alongside a web browser, and a user swiping from the right edge to bring a mobile version of the Facebook app into view over a playing video.

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Tizen

Tizen is a Linux-based operating system for devices, including smartphones, tablets, in-vehicle infotainment devices, smart TVs, laptops and smart cameras. Tizen is a project within the Linux Foundation and is governed by a Technical Steering Group composed of Samsung and Intel among others. In April 2014, Samsung released the Samsung Gear 2 and the Gear 2 Neo, running Tizen. The Samsung Z1 is the first smartphone produced by Samsung that runs Tizen; it was released in the Indian market on January 14, 2015. 

Tizen is an operating system based on the Linux kernel and the GNU C Library implementing the Linux API. It works on a wide range of devices, including smartphones, tables, in-vehicle infotainment devices, smart TVs, PCs, smart cameras, wearable computing (such as smartwatches), Blu-ray players, printers and smart home appliances (such as refrigerators, lighting,washing machines, air conditioners, ovens/microwaves and a robotic vacuum cleaner. Its purpose is to offer a consistent user experience across devices. Tizen is a project within the Linux Foundation and is governed by a Technical Steering Group.

The Tizen Association was formed to guide the industry role of Tizen, including requirements gathering, identifying and facilitating service models, and overall industry marketing and education.

Members of the Tizen Association represent major sectors of the mobility industry, from numerous areas of the world. Current members include telecommunications network operators and electronics manufacturers: Fujitsu, Huawei, Intel, KT, NEC Casio, NTT, DoCoMo, Orange, Panasonic, Samsung, SK Telecom, Sprint and Vodafone .While the Tizen Association decides what needs to be done in Tizen, the Technical Steering Group determines what code is actually incorporated into the operating system to accomplish those goals. Tizen roots back to the Samsung Linux Platform and the LiMo Project and in 2013 Samsung merged its homegrown Bada project into Tizen.

The first week of October 2013, Samsung's NX300M smart camera became the first consumer product based on Tizen; it was sold in South Korea for a month before its OS was revealed at the Tizen Developer Summit, then became available for pre-order in the United States in early 2014 with a release date of March 1. The first Tizen tablet was announced by Systena in June 2013, a 10-inch quad-core ARM with 1920x1200 resolution that was eventually shipped in late October 2013 as part of a development kit exclusive to Japan. The Samsung Gear 2 smartwatch, released in APril 2014, uses Tizen.

Samsung released the Tizen-based Samsung Z1 smartphone to the Indian market in January 2015. It was followed by the Samsung Z3 in October.

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Sailfish OS

The Sailfish OS is based on the Linux Kernel and Mer. Additionally Sailfish OS includes a partially or completely proprietary multi-tasking user interface programmed by Jolla. This user interface differentiate Jolla smartphones from others. Sailfis OS is intended to be a system made by many of the MeeGo team, which left Nokia to form Jolla, utilizing funding from Nokia's "Bridge" program which helps establish and support start-up companies formed by ex-Nokia employees.

Sailfish OS (also styled as Sailfish OS or abbreviated to SFOS) is a mobile operating system combining the Linux kernel for a particular hardware platform use, the open-source Mer Core middleware, a proprietary UI contributed by Jolla, and other third-party components.

Sailfish is being developed by Jolla, the Sailfish and Mer project communities, corporate members of the Sailfish Alliance and various open community members. The Sailfish community makes development requests and decides development priorities by voting. The Mer project receives contributions from the Jolla and its community, and Mer is the source of middleware for Jolla, thereby continuous development and compatibility of both projects is maintained.

The OS is shipped with the Jolla smartphone and tablet (discontinued) and from other vendors licensing the OS. More or less unofficially the OS is being ported by community enthusiasts to third-party mobile devices including smartphones and tablets.

History and Development

The OS is an evolved continuation of the Linux MeeGo OS previously developed by alliance of Nokia and Intel which itself relies on Maemo. The MeeGo legacy is contained in the Mer core in about 80% of its code; the Mer name thus expands to MEego Reconstructed. This base is extended by Jolla with a custom user interface and default applications. Jolla and MERproject.org follow a meritocratic system to avoid the mistakes that lead to the MeeGo project's then-unanticipated discontinuation.

• Sailfish 1.0 Ohijarvi-released 17.2.2014
• Sailfish 2.0 Eineheminlampi-released 24.09.2015 supporting the Jolla Tablet with x86 platform and full touch based UI.

The main elements for Sailfish OS 2.0 include:

• Technically stronger OS core
• Improved Android application compatibility
• Support for Intel architecture, including the Intel Atom x3 processor
• Design to provide visibility in the UI for digital content providers and to enable OS level integration for mobile commerce
• Strong multitasking 
• Strong privacy and personalization features
• Enhanced user interface with new UI/UX features, including simpler swipe access to main functions, enhanced notifications and events views.

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BlackBerry

BlackBerry Z10

BlackBerry is a line of smartphones and services designed and marketed by BlackBerry Limited. The very first RIM device was the Inter@ctive Pager 900, a clamshell-type device that allowed two-way paging, announced on September 18, 1996. After the success of the 900, the Inter@ctive Pager 800 was created for IBM, which bought US$10 million worth of them on February 4, 1998. The next device to be released was the Inter@ctive Pager 950, on August 26, 1998. The very first device to carry the BlackBerry name was the BlackBerry 850, an email pager, released January 19, 1999. Although identical in appearance to the 950, the 850 was the first device to integrate email and the name inter@ctive Pager was no longer used to brand the device. 

BlackBerry devices can record video, take photos, play music and also provide functions such as web browsing, email, instant messaging, and the multi-platform BlackBerry Messenger service. The BlackBerry line traditionally used proprietary operating systems developed by BlackBerry Limited known as BlackBerry OS. In 2013, BlackBerry introduced BlackBerry 10, a major revamp of the platform based on QNX operating system. BlackBerry 10 was meant to replace the aging BlackBerry OS platform with a new system that was more in line with the user experiences of modern smartphone operating systems. The first BB10 powered device was the BlackBerry Z10, which was followed by other all-touch and keyboard-equipped model; the most recent models were the keyboard-equipped BlackBerry Classic, and touch-based BlackBerry Leap.

BlackBerry was considered one of the major smartphone vendors in the world, specializing in secure communications and mobile productivity. At its peak in September 2013, there were 85 million BlackBerry subscribers worldwide. However, BlackBerry has since lost its dominant position in the market due to the success of the Android and iOS; platforms the same numbers had fell down to 23 million in March 2016

In 2015, BlackBerry re-focused its business strategy and began to release Android-based smartphones, beginning with the BlackBerry Priv slider and then the BlackBerry DTEK50. However, BlackBerry COO Marty Beard told Bloomberg that "The company's never said that we would not build another BB10 device."

BlackBerry Q10

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Windows phone

Windows phone is a series of proprietary smartphone operating systems developed by Microsoft. Its original release, Windows Phone 7, was a revamped version of the previous, Windows CE-based Windows Mobile platform. However, it was incompatible with the legacy platform. Windows Phone's user interface was designed to contrast with its competitors, utilizing a design language code named "Metro" which de-emphasized iconography and skeuomorphism in favor for flat, text-based designs. 

The platform also featured concepts such as "live titles" on its home screen that can display dynamic content, and "Hubs"-which aggregate content from various sources and services such as a user's local contracts, in combination with connected social networking services, into unified displays. Windows Phone also integrated with other Microsoft brands and platforms, including Bing, SkyDrive, and Xbox. Microsoft Office Mobile apps were also bundled with the operating system. 

Windows Phone 8 was released in 2012; it was incompatible with existing devices, but switched to a core system based on the Windows NT platform, expanded the platform's hardware support and functionality, and added expanded enterprise-oriented functionality such as storage encryption. 

Windows 10 Mobile was released in late-2015; it is no longer promoted under the Windows Phone brand, as it is intended to provide greater consistency and integration with Windows 10 for PC, including cross-platform applications via Universal Windows Platform, and the ability to dock supported devices to use a desktop interface with keyboard and mouse support.

The Windows Phone series had had poor adoption in comparison to its competitors. Lack of interest in the platform also led to a decrease in third-party applications, and some vendors ended their support for Windows Phone altogether. The most prominent Windows Phone vendor was Nokia, who exclusively adopted Windows Phone as its smartphone platform in 2011 as part of a wider partnership with Microsoft. Nokia's Lumia series was the most popular line of Windows Phone devices, representing 83.3% of all Windows Phones sold in June 2013, and Microsoft acquired Nokia's Mobile business for just over €5.44 billion in April 2014, forming the subsidiary Microsoft Mobile under former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop.

Windows phone is a family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone features a new user interface derived from Metro design language. Unlike Window Mobile, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market. It was first launched in October 2010 with Windows Phone 7. Windows Phone 8.1 was the last public release of the operating system, released to manufacturing on April 14, 2014. Windows Phone has been succeeded by Windows 10 Mobile, with the Windows Phone name being phased out in favor of branding the platform as an edition of Windows 10.

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iOS

iOS, formerly iPhone OS is a proprietary mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. primarily for its iPhone product line. The iPhone was first unveiled in January 2007. The device introduced numerous design concepts that have been adopted by modern smartphone platform, such as the use of multi-touch gestures for navigation, eschewing physical controls such as physical keyboards in favor of those rendered by the operating system itself on its touchscreen including the keyboard, and the use of skeumorphism-making features and controls withing the use interface resemble real-world objects and concepts in order to improve their usability. 

In 2008, Apple introduced the App Store, a centralized storefront for purchasing new software for iPhone devices. iOS can also integrate with Apple's desktop music program iTunes to sync media to a personal computer. The dependency on a PC was removed with the introduction of iCloud on later versions of iOS, which provides synchronization of user data via internet servers between multiple devices. The iPhone line's early dominance was credited with reshaping the smartphone industry, and helping make Apple one of the world's most valuable publicly traded companies by 2011. However, the iPhone and iOS have generally been in second place in worldwide market share.

iOS is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. and distributed exclusively for Apple hardware. It is the operating system that presently powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. It is the second most popular mobile operating system in the world by sales, after Android. iPad tablets are also the second most popular, by sales, against Android since 2013, when Android tablet sales increased by 127%.

Originally unveiled in 2007, for the iPhone, it has been extended to support other Apple devices such as the iPod Touch (September 2007)  and the iPad (January 2010). As of June 2016, Apple's App Store contained more than 2 million iOS applications, 725,000 of which are native for iPads. Theses mobile apps have collectively been downloaded more than 130 billion times.

The iOS user interface is based on the concept of direct manipulation, using multi-touch gestures. Interface control elements consist of sliders, switches, and buttons. Interaction with the OS includes gestures such as swipe, tap, pinch, and reverse pinch, all of which have specific definitions within the context of the iOS operating system and its multi-touch interface. International accelerometers are used by some applications to respond to shaking the device, one common result is the undo command, or rotating in three dimensions, one common result is switching between portrait and landscape mode.  

iOS shared with OS X some frameworks such as Core Foundation and Foundation Kit, however, its UI tookkit is Cocoa Touch rather than OS X's Cocoa, so that it provides the UIKit framework rather than the Appkit framework. Therefore, it is notcompatible with OS X for applications. Also, while iOS shared the Darwin foundation with OS X, Unix-like shell access is not available for users and restricted for apps, preventing iOS from being fully Unix-compatible.

Major versions of iOS are released annually. The current release, iOS 9.3.5, was released on August 23, 2016. In iOS, there are four abstraction players: the Core OS layer, the Core Services layer, the Media layer, and the Cocoa Touch layer. The current version of the operating system, iOS 9, dedicates around 1.3 GB of the device's flash memory for iOS itself. It runs on the iPhone 4S and later, iPad 2 and later, iPad Pro, all models of the iPad mini, and the 5th-generations iPod Touch and later.

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Android

Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google Inc., and backed by an industry consortium known as the Open Handset Alliance. It is an open source platform with optional proprietary components, including a suite of flagship software for Google services, and the application and content stroefront Google Play. Android was officially introduced via the release of its inaugural device, the HTC Dream, T-Mobile G1 on 20 October 2008. 

As an open source product, Android has also been the subject of third-party development. Development groups have used the Android source code to develop and distribute their own modified versions of the operating system, such as CyanogenMod, to add features to the OS and provide newer versions of Android to devices that no longer receive official updates from their vendor. Forked versions of Android have also adopted by other vendors, such as Amazon.com, who used its "Fire OS" on a range of tablets and the Fire Phone.

As it is a non-proprietary platform that has shipped on devices covering a wide range of market segments, Android has seen significant adoption. Gartner Research estimated that 323 million Android smartphones were sold during the fourth quarter of 2015, leading all other platforms. Samsung Electronics, who produces Android devices, was also the top smartphone vendor across all platforms in the same period of time.

Samsung, using Android, is the top selling smartphone brand in 2016

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Smartphone

A smartphone is a mobile phone with an advanced mobile operating system which combines features of a personal computer operating system with other features useful for mobile or handheld use. Smartphones, which are usually pocket-sized, typically combine the features of a cell phone, such as the ability to receive and make phone calls and text messages, with those of other popular digital mobile devices. Other features typically include a personal digital assistant for making appointments in a calendar, media player, video games, GPS navigation unit, digital camera, and digital video camera. Most smartphones can access the Internet and can run a variety of third-party software components "apps". They typically have a color graphical user interface screen that covers 70% or more of the front surface, with an LCD, OLED, AMOLED, LED, or similar screen; the screen is often a touchscreen. 

In 1999, the Japanese firm NTT DoCoMo released the first smartphones to achieve mass adoption within a country. Smartphones became widespread in the 21st century and most of those produced from 2012 on wards have high-speed mobile broadband 4G LTE, motion sensors, and mobile payment features. In the third quarter of 2012, one billion smartphones were in use worldwide. Global smartphone sales surpassed the sales figures for regular cell phones in early 2013. As of 2013, 65% of U.S. mobile consumers own smartphones. By January 2016, smartphones held over 79% of the U.S. mobile market.

Early years

Devices that combined telephony and computing were first conceptualized by Nikola Tesla in 1909 and Theodore Paraskevakos in 1971 and patented in 1974, and were offered for sale beginning in 1993. Paraskevakos was the first to introduce the concepts of intelligence, data processing and visual display screens into telephones. In 1971, while he was working with Boeing in Huntsville, Alabama, Paraskevakos demonstrated a transmitter and receiver that provided additional ways to communicate with remote equipment, however it did not yet have general purpose applications in a wireless device typical of smartphones. They were installed at People's Telephone Company in Leesburg, Alabama and were demonstrated to several telephone companies. The original and historic working models are still in the possession of Paraskevakos.

Forerunner 

The first mobile phone to incorporate PDA features was an IBM prototype developed in 1992 and demonstrated that year at the COMDEX computer industry trade show. The prototype demonstrated PDA features as well as other visionary apps like maps, stocks and news incorporated with a cellular phone. A refined version of the product was marketed to consumers in 1994 by BellSouth under the name Simon Personal Communicator. The Simon was the first cellular device that can be properly referred to as a "smartphone", although it was not called that in 1994. In addition to its ability to make and receive cellular phone calls, Simon was able to send and receive faxes and emails and included several other apps like address book, calendar, appointment scheduler, calculator, world time clock, and note pad through its touch screen display. Simon is the first smartphone to be incorporate with the features of a PDA. The term "smart phone" first appeared in print in 1995, for describing AT&T's "PhoneWriter Communicator" as a "smart phone".

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