Category:Communication

Communicating on smartphones has evolved far beyond the basic capabilities of standard mobile phones. People can now stay in contact with as many people as they desire on several different fronts simultaneously through smartphone applications. The world of smartphone applications is overwhelmingly large, and the focus of this page is not on profiling features and functionality of individual applications. Instead, we will take a high level approach in discussing ways that smartphones make day-to-day life more productive, intuitive, and convenient. The scope of this discussion will be limited to the most mainstream uses of communications applications on smartphones as related to e-mail, text messaging, real-time chat data transfer, telephony, and video chats.

E-Mail: Evolved
Gone are the days when e-mailing was only possible only from a computer. Millions and millions of people have smartphones, and most of them get their e-mail directly on their phones through mobile e-mail apps. The most popular mobile e-mail applications available today are easy to use, easy to organize, and extensively outfitted with useful, intuitive features. E-mail is no longer just a way to send messages; it is a powerful communication tool designed with productivity in mind. Features that can be expected from a top e-mail app include:   Read, delete, reply to, forward, highlight, and organize messages into custom labeled folders  Chat real time through an instant messaging feature  Search all of your e-mail account or search specific folders or mailboxes to avoid cumbersome scroll searching  Spam Filter to keep your phone from ringing and jingling all day long with pointless e-mails  Online storage of up to 15GB for free, with more available for a monthly rental fee. This makes it possible to e-mail yourself a document, photo, or some other piece of information and access it from anywhere that your smartphone has service. Some apps, such as GMail, have document-reading functions built in to allow you to see the document you sent yourself scaled and with formatting still in tact. 

Messaging: From SMS to Data Transfer
At its inception, SMS text messaging was revolutionary in that it enabled people to send brief text-only messages from their mobile phones to other mobile phones, allowing them to avoid making a cumbersome phone call when they only needed to communicate a few sentences or less. Multimedia messaging (MMS) emerged, and now is giving way to data transfer messaging, which boasts massively more communicative power. Engineered with productivity in mind, data transfer style messaging on smartphones allows users to do an array of things that are far beyond the scope of basic text-only messaging. Leading smartphone brands will offer an array of data transfer messaging capabilities including most, if not all, of the following:   Photo, Video, and Link Sharing - users can easily share photos, videos, and links is messages in a few different ways. First, most smartphone text entry screens have a button that brings the camera app up, allowing users to take and automatically use a photograph or video directly in the message. They simply choose whether or not they want to accept the photo or video or discard it and try again. The recipient can view the photo or video directly in the message. Smartphone users can also send links in messages that allow the recipient to simply tap the link and view the link in a separate browser window that will not close the text message or erase a partially typed message.

 Contact Sharing - Contact sharing is easier than ever before with smartphones. Most operating systems allow users to sift through their contacts and select any contact and choose "Share Contact" via e-mail, messaging, or some other app. Messages sent with a contact in this manner allow the recipient to tap the contact sent to them and instantly save, call, e-mail, or message the other person.

 Group Chat - Group chats allow users to hold group conversations via messaging. All of the above features are generally in group chats involving the same operating system. The main downfall group chats still experience is a lack of compatibility across different operating systems. That is, group chat works best when all parties are using the same operating system.

 Read Receipts and Texts in Progress - Some messaging apps, like those on the iPhone, allow users to choose whether or not their contacts can see if they've read their messages or not. If they choose to enable read receipts, then a small note stating when the recipient read the message appears below the last message. Users can also see when their messaging partner is in the process of typing a new message so that both parties can avoid awkward and inefficient message lagging or the all-too-familiar scenario of sending a text messaging a second or two before or after one another.

 Auto Save - Most smartphone messaging apps automatically save partially completed messages until the user returns to them. This makes it possible for the sender to begin a text, pull up a browser, consult an e-mail, make a phone call, take a picture, answer a call, etc. without losing what has already been entered.  Voice to Text - Microphones on smartphones are becoming increasingly proficient at translating audible speech to text. Users simply push a microphone button in the text entry screen in their messages and speak into the microphone, which then translates the voice recording to text. This helps mitigate the problem of sending messages while driving or in other compromising or inconvenient situations. 

The Smartphone: So Much More than a Telephone
Smartphones are much more than basic phones, even when it comes to the actual telephone call capabilities. The following section outlines the major capabilities that make smartphone calls much more productive and dynamic compared to traditional phones calls and even compared to their first generation counterparts.  <li> Video Conferences and Calls - Through the use of smartphone applications such as FaceTime, users can hold real time video chats with anyone around the world with a front-facing camera on their smartphone. Video conferencing is just as simple, and most operating systems even allow users to switch from the phone call to a video call and back during the conversation. <li> Favorites and Contact Management - Smartphones vastly improve contact management by allowing categorical contacts lists and a myriad of ways to add contacts from other applications. Users can also organize their contacts into groups however they desire, whether it is work-related groups, family, friends, favorites, or emergency contacts. <li> Voicemail Improved - Voicemail is much more intuitive on smartphones than on older mobile phones. Touch screens give users the ability to listen to their voicemails, pause the message, save the message, or simply "call back" directly from the voicemail page. The voicemail greeting is also accessible from the same voicemail page as everything else related to voicemail. Finally, the days of having to dial your own number to access your voicemail or change your greeting are over. <li> ''In-Call Functionality - Smartphones are increasingly able to let users navigate around the device and around the internet during calls. This feature is extremely convenient, as users can look up information online, consult a message in their inbox, get directions, or check notes all without having to end the call to do so. </ul>