The Mobile and Tablet World
People do not browse the Web only from their desktop. Now we have very different devices with different screen sizes, input mechanisms, and even new features from old friends such as HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.
Mobile devices are here. There is no doubt—there are more than five billion devices worldwide and counting. Tablets are also coming in a big way, with millions in the market.
Device Categories
Right now, we can divide mobile devices into the following categories:
Mobile phones
Low-end mobile devices
Mid- and high-end mobile devices, also known as social devices
Smartphones
Tablets
Mobile phones
Okay, we still have mobile phones in some markets. These are phones with call and SMS support. They don’t have web browsers or connectivity, and they don’t have any installation possibilities. These phones don’t really interest us; we can’t do anything for them right now.
In a couple of years, because of device recycling and evolving services provided by carriers and manufactures, such phones will probably not be on the market anymore.
Low-end mobile devices
Low-end mobile devices have a great advantage: they have web support. They typically have a very basic browser, but this is the gross market. Perhaps they aren’t the most heavy Internet users today, but this may change quickly with the advent of social networks and Web 2.0 services. If your friends can post pictures from their mobile devices, you’ll probably want to do the same, so you may upgrade your phone whenever ...
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