Improving Personal Commun …
How Personal Computing Devices Make Your Own Personal Communications Better
Many of the gadgets in our homes and offices are specialized computers. For example, smart speakers and smart plugs may be used to control lights and appliances, or track your fitness and health.
Since the early 1990s, personal computers based on Microsoft operating systems and Intel hardware have dominated the market. Alternatives include Apple’s Mac OS and free and open-source Unix-like operating systems.
Smartphone
Often described as “a minicomputer in your pocket,” the smartphone has become a modern-day Swiss army knife that keeps people connected to family, friends and coworkers. It takes pictures, plays music and videos, tracks fitness activities and provides a wide range of productivity tools. It also serves as a portable library of books, movies and games.
A smartphone typically has more RAM, a powerful processor and more storage space than a basic cell phone. Its screen is larger, and it supports a USB connection to laptop or desktop computers for data transfer and software updates. It can support third-party accessories such as power charging cables and extra speakers. Many smartphones come with built-in basic applications that provide users with calendar, contacts, maps, clocks and weather information.
They include a hardware or software QWERTY keyboard for easy typing. The ability to sync more than one email account is also a common feature. In addition, a smartphone typically supports apps that let you use it for shopping, tracking health statistics, logging workouts and monitoring the news.
Tablet
A tablet is a portable computer that can be held in one hand and often resembles a large smartphone. These devices are used for surfing the web, reading email, playing games, and streaming video.
They have built-in wireless connectivity so they can connect to the internet over Wi-Fi or cellular networks. Most tablets have a touchscreen that is operated using finger gestures or a stylus. Some have a built-in keyboard and mouse for typing.
Popular tablets run on mobile operating systems like iOS, Android, and Chrome OS. These are similar to the desktop software you might have on a Windows or Mac PC, but they’re optimized for the smaller form factor and touch-based input.
You can use a tablet to access a vast library of mobile apps for doing everything from checking email and monitoring the weather to playing games, learning, navigating with GPS, creating presentations and documents, and more. Some also offer voice recognition, allowing you to activate features with your voice.
Wearables
Wearables consist of smart technology that you can wear throughout the day, usually around your wrist. These devices can help with a number of areas, including fitness and health, aging, education, transportation, finance, and gaming.
A few examples of wearables include fitness trackers, smartwatches, and even glasses. Wearables can also be used to measure a variety of parameters, such as blood pressure and glucose levels.
However, it’s important to note that wearables must be designed carefully for long term customer engagement. For example, a fitness tracking device might encourage someone to walk more, but it will be difficult for them to ignore a traffic jam on the way to work or thoughts about their next project at home. This leads to short-term use and eventual abandonment. This is why extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws have been introduced in several countries and states. These laws promote the purchase of used electronics, reducing electronic waste and improving recycling rates.
PDAs
Whether they’re called desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones, personal computing devices help you get tasks done more quickly than the human brain can. They allow you to access a wealth of information and resources, including free resources, and can improve your quality of life and standard of living.
Computers are able to perform tasks at a rate of millions of operations per second. They can also do tasks that would be impossible to do with a calculator or on paper.
Modern personal computers typically use graphical user interfaces that enable the user to perform routine tasks by pointing at pictorial symbols and selecting commands using pull-down menus and windows. They run software applications for word processing, spreadsheets and databases, Internet browsing and e-mail, digital media playback and games, as well as a host of other productivity and special-purpose programs. Since the early 1990s, Microsoft operating systems running on Intel hardware have dominated the market, earning it the common designation “Wintel.” Apple computers run the Mac OS and free open-source Unix-like operating systems such as Linux have gained ground in recent years.
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