News article – from the horse’s mouth
Mobile Handset Manufacturers Attain DLNA Certified® Status – DLNA
My comments
From this press release, I had noticed that the mobile-handset brands that have been considered of high value had also added DLNA, whether as a control point, media player / renderer or media server, to their feature lineup. This will mean that they will work with a DLNA-based home media network in a proper way, whether to play music or exhibit photos and videos existing on the phone on home AV equipment or become remote controls for home AV equipment.
These companies have also moved towards other standards-based activities like adopting OMTP standards such as use of a microUSB connector for power and data as well as a 3.5mm four-conductor jack for wired headsets. Most of these phones also operate their Bluetooth functionality in a purely standards-based way that will work, such as proper “object push” between phones. The different phones may work to a Symbian S60 or UIQ operating system, or the Android operation system or an inhouse operating system like Bada, but they work with other devices on a level playing field.
Compare this with Apple where the iPhone, considered to be the “coolest phone in town”, doesn’t work with other phones or peripherals unless you pay big money for “apps” or Apple-approved peripherals; or work out various “kludges” to achieve compatibility.
It will be interesting to see whether the smartphone market moves towards standards-based compatibility (use of OMTP standards like microUSB, proper Bluetooth behaviour, DLNA) or stay with what looks “cool” and move towards an ecosystem defined by Apple.
For me, I would certainly stick towards standards-based operation like DLNA if I was choosing a smartphone when I have an opportunity to upgrade my phone.
we need some smaller and energy efficient microprocessors to support mobile computing “:’
The processor companies are working towards this goal of smaller and energy efficient processors as more battery-operated computing applications coher issues that may me to the fore. Other issues that will be raised include power efficiency for other parts of the device like the display subsystem, wireless networking, software architectures as well as programming for battery efficiency.