Applications for PDAs, Blackberry's and iPhones

COMP1260 > Application Software

Introduction A Personal Digital assistant (PDA) is a small computer which is normally no bigger than the size of an average adult’s hand. It is also known as a handheld computer or palmtop computer. PDAs can be used to access the internet, as mobile phones (Smartphones), or use file records, and/or media players, etc. PDAs are similar to middle 90’s laptops, except the hard disk is much smaller and has an implemented the touch screen technology. The PDA has been widely used in many professional places. For example, hospitals, schools, restaurants, and transportation, etc. However, the most popular PDAs are the BlackBerry and iPhone. The BlackBerry was introduced in 1999 which was developed by a canadian company, Research in Motion (RIM). The iPhone was introduced on January 9, 2007 which was developed by Apple Inc. There are many applications running on Blackberries, but the iPhone serves us much better. It contains an address book, calendar, to-do list, and map applications.

...by students How is software made? In China, there is a restaurant where their waitresses use PDAs to help customers order. Customers use the PDA to place an order, which will automatically show on the screen in the kitchen. At anytime, the customers want to change their dishe, the information will update in kitchen.

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PC application and PDA’s application

Applications are tools that help make our life easier. The most significant differences between PC and PDA applications are price and functionality, because the limitation of the space and processor.

Price
PDA applications are written by PDA developers because they're very small, and don’t need many resources. Even thought the applications are small, many PDA users like using them. They cost much less than PC applications.
Functionality
PDA application have limited functions because of the lack of the space and processor. For example, Microsoft office is used on PCs as PDAs use Documents for file recording. The full version of Microsoft office includes Access, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc. But, the full version of Documents only has four functions:
word, slideshow, sheet and pdf reader. So, PC applications are more functional than PDA applications.

Where can you get these applications?

Applications are very important tools. There are many versions of operating system running on PDAs, such as the Blackberry system, Palm OS, Symbian system, Windows system and iPhone system. Every operating system version has different application software included that the company provides. Blackberry and iPhone companies want their users to purchase applications from them because the PDA application market is big. These companies offer a download link on the home page of the product. Apple lists all kind of applications and you can run on your iPhone. Basically, there are two catagories, free and paid applications. You can download free iTunes from http://www.apple.com/iPhone to your iPhone. Blackberry users must purchase their applications and games from software stores available on websites, http://blackberry.handmark.com/ or http://www.blackberrymarketplace.com.

How to install application in the PDAs?

It's easy to install applications on the PDA, no matter which kind of platform you are using. There are three different types of platform installations:

Windows platform

For Windows platform, there are two ways to install applications on your phone. Either copy the program file onto your phone or install it on the phone.  

EDIT: I'm not sure what the difference is.

The follow steps will work for
both installations.
a)Using a USB cable to connect your phone to your PC.
b)Download applications.
c)Navigate to the application on your PC.
d)Open ActiveSync on your PC.
e)Click “Explore”.
f)Copy the file to “\Storage\Windows\Start Menu\Accessories” on your phone.
g)Use the File Manager to find the .cab file you just download.
h)Open the .cab file. The application will automatically install.

IPhone platform

iPhone platforms make installing applications much easier. There are two ways to doing it, via iTunes or download it to the iPhone
   1. Install the application via iTunes.
     a.Open iTunes.
     b.Select and download the file from the iTunes store.
     c.Connect your PC with your iPhone. The application will automatically install. 
   Confirm that the synch application is checked under the Application tab, otherwise the application will not install on the iPhone.
   2.Install the application using iPhone WI-FI.
     a.Tab install batten on the iPhone.

EDIT: not sure what this means.

b.Enter the password for WI-FI.
c.Select the file.
d.Click install on right-top.
e.Click “yes”.
After a few minutes, the application will be available on your iPhone.

Blackberry platform

The Blackberry platform has two options to setup the application to the Blackberry.
  1.Install the program by using the BlackBerry Desktop Manager
   a)Download the application (.alx file) if it was zipped please unzip the file.
   b)Connect your PC with the 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 if the application has been selected.
   h)Click “Next” to acknowledge.
   i)Click “Finish” to install.
  2.Install by direct download (Over-the-air (OTA))
   a)	Find software by using a Web browser in the BlackBerry.
   b)	Click “Download Trial” from select application.
   c)Confirma the application and click “Download”. The application will automatically install after the download.
   d)A "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