The presentation Outline

1
The presentation Outline

• Quick history of PDA
• The Operating Systems used by the PDA
• The hardware of the PDA
• The Future of the PDA

The Past The Future
2
A Quick History of PDAs

• What is a PDA?
• PDA stands for Personal Digital Assistance
• Even though many handheld devices have been
  introduced since the 80s, they are not defined
  as PDAs.
• PDAs were first introduced by Psion in 1984, it
  was called the Psion 1
• Apple introduced the Newton Message Pad in 1993
• Palm Pilot was introduced in 1996 by U.S.
  Robotic and 3Com with functioning of Stylus pen.

3
How do they look like?
- Palm Pilot (1996)
- Apple Newton (1993)
- Psion1 (1984)

• (Early PDA) (First PDA) (The PDA)

CPU ARM 610, 20Mhz Ram 640 KB Rom 4MB OS
Newton 1.0 Display LCD (3360x204 pixels)
CPU HD6301X, .92Mhz Ram 2KB, (16K
external) Rom 4KB Software Basic Display LCD
16-characters
CPU Motorola 68328, 16Mhz Ram 128MB Rom
4MB OS Palm OS 1.0 Display LCD( 160x160 pixels)
4
How are PDAs used?

• basic functions
• Designed to work as a companion to the PC.
• date book
• address book
• to do lists
• short notes
• calculator
• Mail

5
How are PDAs used? (continue)

• advanced functions
• synchronizing data with desktop
• contacts, schedules and tasks
• content access
• sync updated content from web
• real time via wireless
• databases, books, journals, etc.

6
Palm OS Varieties

• PDAs run on several different operating systems .
  The two most common are Palm OS and PocketPC
  (Windows-CE). Most applications have been written
  for the Palm OS, but the PocketPC is catching up.
  Other operating systems include EPOC, BlackBerry,
  Psion, and PocketLinux.

7
The Palm Operating System

• In 1996, a product called the PalmPilot was
  released by US Robotics. The Palm Pilot ran on an
  operating system made especially for that device,
  called the Palm OS.
• The Palm Operating System (Palm OS) is the
  current leader in the PDA market, accounting for
  70 of the market share. The Palm Pilot (now
  known as just Palm), became one of the fastest
  growing computer platforms in history, reaching
  the million-sold mark faster than the IBM PC or
  Apple Macintosh.
• Today, the Palm line has grown to include a
  variety of models. In addition, a number of other
  companies such as IBM, Qualcomm, and Symbol
  Technologies released their own Palm OS PDA
  models, with Sony's version hitting the market
  later this year.

8
The Windows CE Operating System

• Although the Windows CE Operating System is the
  leader among home PCs, it holds only about 10 of
  the PDA market.
• The latest version of Windows CE is coming back
  with a vengeance. They have partnerships with
  some key companies in the industry like, Casio,
  HP, and Compaq, who all manufacturer PocketPC
  devices.
• But perhaps Microsoft's biggest ace in the hole
  is the coming onset of broadband wireless.
• Needless to say, compatibility is going to be a
  major issue in the coming years. And with the
  world already utilizing a number of Microsoft
  products, PocketPCs might just slide into favor
  simply due to ease of portability.

9
The EPOC Operating System

• The third major player is EPOC, an operating
  system developed by London-based software
  developer Symbian. EPOC has three device designs
  one for mobile phones, one for PDAs, and one for
  home PCs.
• EPOC does have some major advantages. It is an
  extremely power-efficient operating system --
  other operating systems require double to triple
  the size of a battery. Also, EPOC has a small
  memory footprint and compact code, which allows
  for easier customization. This potential for
  customization is a huge advantage over Windows
  CE.
• Recently, Symbian announced a deal with Sony
  whereby the Japanese giant will use the EPOC
  platform and possibly a range of applications in
  its forthcoming line of devices, such as mobile
  phones. This is in addition to deals already
  existing with companies such as Ericsson,
  Motorola, and Psion.
• With a good, flexible product and a support from
  key companies, EPOC has a lot of potential to
  make it in mobile market.

10
PDA HARDWARE

• Regardless of the type of PDA, they all share the
  same major features
• Microprocessors (Main CPU and DPS)
• operating system
• solid-state memory
• batteries
• LCD display
• input device - buttons in combination
• with touch-screen or keyboard
• input/output ports
• desktop PC software

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MICROPROCESSORS

• Unlike desk and laptop PCs, PDAs use smaller,
  cheaper microprocessors.
• There are two popular PocketPC processor types,
  Xscale and StrongARM. Xscale is the current
  technology
• Most Palms will either have a Motorola Dragonball
  or Texas Instruments OMAP processor in it.
• Modern PDAs also have DSP to enhance multimedia
  (mp3,digital camera etc..)
• Although the microprocessors speed ranges from
  100-200 MHz they are adequate for the tasks that
  PDAs perform. The benefits of small size and
  price outweigh the cost of slow speeds.

12
MEMORY

• PDAs dont have a hard drive. Programs (address,
  calendar, OS, etc) are stored in a ROM chip so
  data remains intact even when the machine shuts
  down.
• So when the PDAs are turned ON, all programs are
  instantly available without having to wait for
  applications to load.
• When a file is changed, theyre stored
  automatically so you dont need a Save command.
• One megabyte of memory can store up to 4,000
  addresses and 100 e-mail messages.
• Also, PocketPCs take more memory space so PDAs
  with this operating system usually have 16 or 32
  MB. In some PDA models, the amount of memory is
  upgradeable.

13
Input Devices

• Hand-held computers typically use a miniature
  keyboard in combination with a touch screen.
• Palm-sized computers use a stylus and touch
  screen exclusively in combination with a
  handwriting recognition program.
• The screen of the palm PDA serves as an input as
  well as an output device. It displays information
  with LCD and on top of it is the touch screen
  which can be tapped by a pen-like stylus to
  launch programs.
• Data can also be written on the screen by using
  the stylus. The letters are recognized by
  special software and are automatically stored in
  the PDAs memory.
• The disadvantage of handwriting recognition
  software is that you have to learn a new way to
  write, it is slower than normal handwriting and
  the device's character recognition is rarely
  letter-perfect.

14
Input/Output Devices

• PDAs can share information with desktops and
  laptops. If you make an appointment on your
  desktop computer you can transfer it to your PDA
  and vice-versa.
• The communication between PDA and PC is referred
  to as data synchronization or syncing. This is
  done through a serial or USB port on the PDA.
• In addition to communicating through a cable,
  many PDAs have an infrared communications port
  that uses infrared (IR) light to beam information
  to a PC or another PDA.
• Some PDAs also offer wireless methods to transfer
  data to and from a PC/PC network through a
  wireless e-mail/internet service provider like
  those available on new models of cell phones.
• Finally, some PDAs offer telephone modem
  accessories to transfer files to and from a PC/PC
  network.

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Generic PDA
16
Dual core processors
- TI-Enhanced ARM925 Microprocessor - TMS320c55x
DSP for Multimedia Enhancement
Wanda PDA
17
Tasks performed by each microprocessors
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DSP/BIOS Bridge API

• The OS uses the DSP/BIOS Bridge API to
• Initiate signal processing task on the DSP
• Exchange messages with DSP tasks
• Stream data buffers to and from DSP tasks
• Pause, resume and delete DSP tasks
• Perform resources status queries

19
PDA Applications

• PDA technology has been focused on providing
  basic administrative functionality, such as diary
  facilities and contact management.
• The increase in PDA performance and the
  convergence with mobile telephony, has encouraged
  the extension of traditional desktop applications
  such as email and web access becoming readily
  available.
• Wireless technology such as Bluetooth and WiFi
  (802.11x standards) can provide easy ways for PDA
  based applications to communicate to other
  devices. This instantly opens a PDA application
  to communicate with other systems in the
  immediate vicinity (using Bluetooth) or elsewhere
  within a building (using WiFi technology).
• Mobile telephone technology is fast converging
  with PDA technology and this technology can
  provide direct access of the PDA device to the
  internet and internet connected applications.

20
Why PDA?

• We are beginning to see a future where the lines
  between the PDA and the laptop are increasingly
  blurred. First it was PDAs with laptop-like
  capability, and now it is laptops gaining the
  advantages of PDAs.
• Advantages of this low-powered PDA mode virus
  checking and maintenance. Since the OS doesn't
  boot, any viruses designed for it won't run. That
  lets you scan and remove them before they do
  damage.
• Booting up a laptop to check your calendar or
  e-mail can take a minute or longer. Not only is
  that often dead time, but you may actually be
  holding up a customer or your boss while you're
  struggling to get the laptop running.