Applications for PDAs, Blackberry's and iPhones

COMP1260 > Application Software

Introduction Edit: 1. Adding a “Further Readings” section which will have at least two links to online resources on the topic. 2. Formatting the references. A PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) is a small computer which is normally smaller than an average adult’s hand. PDAs are also sometimes called handheld computers or palmtop computers. They are often designed to be used as Internet modems, mobile phones (Smartphones), external memory, and media players, among other things. A PDA offers similar performance as a mid-1990’s laptop, except that its storage capacity (Editor's NOTE: PDA's use flash memory, not hard disks) is much smaller and its display implements touch screen technology. PDAs have been widely used in many industries, such as: health care, education, restaurants, and transportation.There are many types of PDA like BlackBerry, IPhone, E-TEN, Acer N Series, Amida Simputer, Palm, etc. We will centralize on BlackBerry and IPhone. BlackBerry was first introduced in 1999 and was developed by the Canadian company Research in Motion (RIM). IPhone was announced on January 9, 2007 and was developed by Apple Inc. There are many applications running in Blackberry and iPhone such as address book, calendar, to-do list, and map, etc. Lei Liu's comment: Giving the instruction by using more general way, the audiences are comp 1260 students.

...by students In a restaurant in China, the servers use PDAs to fill the customers' orders. The server will seat the customers at a table then return when they are ready to order. To place an order, the server enters the number code for the dishes ordered into the PDA, and this information automatically appears on a screen in the kitchen. If, at any time, a customer wants to change the order, this information can be entered on the PDA and instantly update the kitchen staff.

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Lei Liu's comment: In the by students, do you mean the waiter use the PDAs? A little confused.

PC applications and PDA applications

The applications for PCs or PDAs can help make our life easier. These programs are very similar and vary only in terms of price and functionality because of space and processing limitations.

Price
Some PDA applications are written by the companies which release the PDA itself. This is because PDA applications are very small and do not require a lot of resources to develop.
Furthermore, some PDA users like writing small applications for themselves or others. That's why the cost of these applications is much lower as compared to the cost of PC programs.
Functionality
PDA functionality is limited because of the relatively small space and slow processor speed. For example: Microsoft office for PC and Documents to go for PDA are both applications for
office processing. However, while the full version of Microsoft office has Access, Excel, Word, PowerPoint etc., the full version of Documents to go includes only four applications:
 word, slideshow, sheet and pdf reader. In general, PC applications offer greater functionality than PDA application.

Lei Liu's comment: Correct the syntax for some sentences of above paragraph, what does this sentence mean: "the full version of Documents to go includes only four applications:
word, slideshow, sheet and pdf reader."

Where can you get these applications?

Applications are very important tools. There are many different versions of operating systems running on PDAs, such as Blackberry OS, Palm OS, Symbian, Windows Mobile and MacOS for iPhone. The software products available for a given PDA depend on the version of the operating system. Companies like RIM and Apple entice users to purchase applications through their stores because nowadays there is a big market for PDA applications. That's (comment: that's the reason why...)why, these companies provide links to a "Download" website from the home page of their products. Apple lists all kinds of applications that can run on the iPhone. Basically, there are two categories: free applications and paid applications. You can download iPhone applications from http://www.apple.com/iPhone to iTunes, which is provided free of charge by Apple Inc. For Blackberry, there are various software stores. Users can purchase applications or games from websites such as: http://blackberry.handmark.com/ or http://www.blackberrymarketplace.com.

How to install an application on a PDA?

To install an application on a PDA is very easy, no matter which kind of platform is used by the PDA. So, we will introduce three different types of installation, depending on the OS.

Windows Mobile

In Windows Mobile there are two ways of installing applications. (Editor Note: consider revising the following sentence.) Either copy the program file into your phone or install in the phone.  The following steps will work for both types of installation.
   a)Using a USB cable, connect you PC to your phone
   b)Download the applications
   c)Navigate to the directory of the application on your phone or PC.
   d)Open ActiveSync on your PC.
   e)Click “Explore”
   f)Copy the file to “\Storage\Windows\Start Menu\Accessories” on your device.
   g)Use File Manager to find the .cab file you just downloaded.
   h)Open the .cab file. The application will automatically install.

iPhone

In iPhone it is much easier to install an application. (Editor's Note: consider revising the following paragraphs.) There are two ways to doing it via iTunes or download to the iPhone
   1.Install application via iTunes.
     a.Open iTunes.
     b.Select and download file from iTunes store.
     c.Connect your PC with your iPhone. The application will automatically install. 
   Please confirm the synch application is check under Application tab, otherwise application will not install to the iPhone.
   2.Install application using iPhone WI-FI.
     a.Tab install batten on the iPhone.
     b.Enter the password for WI-FI.
     c.Select the file.
     d.Click install on right-top.
     e.Click “yes”.  
   After few minute (comment:Afer a few minutes), the application is availed on you iPhone.

Blackberry platform

For Blackberry platform , there are two options to setup the application to (comment: "for" is better?)the Blackberry.
  1.Installing the program by using the BlackBerry Desktop Manager
   a)Download the application (.alx file) if it was zipped please unzip file.
   b)Connect your PC with Blackberry.
   c)Run the BlackBerry Desktop Manager software.
   d)Click “Application Loader”.
   e)Click “Start” under “Add/Remove Applications”.
   f)Click “Browse” to load the .alx file.
   g)Check the application has been select.
   h)Click “Next” to acknowledgement.
   i)Click “Finish” to install.
  2.Installing by direct download (Over-the-air (OTA))
   a)	Find software by using Web browser in the BlackBerry.
   b)	Click “Download Trial” from select application.
   c)Confirmation the application and click “Download”. The application will automatically install after the download.
   d)Successfully installed message will show to confirm. 

References

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/help/more/install-cab-files.mspx
http://support.iambic.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=306&nav=0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackBerry