An Early Look at the Development of Mobile Computing in the 1990s

An image of the InfoPad that was used during the program. Photo courtesy of [Wireless Communication]

In the mid 1990s, an initiative was taken in order to explore the architectural and systems level issues regarding the design of a mobile and ubiquitous computing device that can access real-time media and data in an indoor environment. That initiative was called the InfoPad program, started by Professor Bob Brodersen from UC Berkeley, to research computing components that consumes little power as well as power efficiency in order for the idea of mobile computing all for the purpose of making mobile computing more effective in the real world.

The program was effective in accomplishing one of its goals which was to make mobile computing more effective by reducing power consumption of components and the research done by the team allowed for a ubiquitous computing environment which was commercially available to South Korea’s HSAPD video services and WiMAX in the United States. It also gathered traction and an initiative for mobile computational devices to be pursued that can access real time-media and solutions to components consuming too much power as well as lacking power efficiency that can help the push for mobile devices.

Technology has grown exponentially since then and now, mobile devices have an immense amount of computational power that can be faster than some laptops while also remaining the same dimensions of a persons’ hands most of the time. In today’s society, almost the majority of the population in developed countries has at least one mobile device- a lot of people own more than one handheld device, which one could be dedicated to work and the other for personal use or for other reasons. Reflecting back on the InfoPad’s missions, I believe it was successful in their research to contribute knowledge that goes towards low-powered components that improved the efficiency of mobile computing.

In the 1990s, mobile devices allowed people to connect with each other worldwide in regards to SMS which expanded from mostly business use to commercial use around the world and the only reason it was used. In today’s world, mobile computing can do a lot more which is running applications such as games or applications, which can require a lot of computational power; email, powerful cameras; improved specifications such as memory and computational speed; Wi-Fi and many more. Phones nowadays have exponentially more computational power which is hundreds of thousands to millions of times better than NASA’s computers in the 1960s that guided the spacecraft to the Moon, which can illustrate a representation of how far mobile devices and technology overall has developed.

In Weiser’s The Computer for the 21st Century, he mentions that once a human learns something sufficiently well, they will no longer be aware of it and how that specialized technology will seamlessly integrate with our world just as reading the world around us will be such as reading street signs and knowing their purpose without much thinking.

Adding to that, Weiser also mentions how a room full of ubiquitous devices can be intimidating at first but once individuals have adapted to the environment, people will simply use them to accomplish everyday tasks with these devices. Tying it back into the idea of InfoPad and the idea of computing as a whole, there are three parts: cheap, low-power computers, software for ubiquitous applications and a network for which to work on and ties them together. This criteria can apply to any computational device such as: such as a phone, laptop, or computer which all have similar purposes, but are used differently from another.

During the Third Generation of Computing, Weiser as well as other researchers: Ken Sakamura (University of Tokyo), Andy Hopper (Olivetti Research Laboratory), and William Newman and Michael Lamming (RankXerox EuroPARC) all envisioned the computational devices being all different sizes and capabilities. Weiser also mentioned that during that time as well, individuals would also own multiple devices, varying in size, with a focus on mobility.

Apple products, all of which are mobile and computational devices. Photo courtesy of [Apple].

Eventually, in the early 2000s, smartphones became a reality and phones became more ubiquitous than computers. To emphasize that statement, almost everyone from the younger and even older generations carries a smartphone or two on them. To reiterate, the use of multiple smartphones can include: one for personal use and other for business use; one for a newer generation phone and other for an older, outdated phone being kept as a memory. In addition to that of mobile technology, people have started using smartwatches recently which have the ability to keep track of health, fitness, and other vital information about the wearer which makes it a very ubiquitous device.

Health and fitness apps that keeps track of vitals such as workout routines when wearing. Photo courtesy of [Apple].

Looking into the future, there are a couple of core concepts to understand in order to be able to evaluate the potential future of mobile computing and computing as a whole. In the article Beyond Weiser: From Ubiquitous to Collective Computing by Gregory D. Abowd from Georgia Tech, Abdowd talks about the generations of computing and mentions a Fourth Generation of Computing. In that future generation, Abowd mentions Crowd, Cloud, and Shroud. Crowd refers to the idea that humans are better at outperforming A.I algorithms, this idea is also referred to as human computation. Cloud refers to the idea that the availability of computer resources that can be utilized by users or organizations without direct management allows users storage and computing power. Lastly, Shroud is where the digital and our physical worlds are interconnected with each other. These three ideas in-conjunction together can allow computing to advance and technological development to continue.

Amazon is one of the companies that provides technology for some of these ideas: Amazon Echo uses both Shroud and Cloud as it utilizes its own Amazon Alexa cloud-based voice assistant and Amazon Echo interacts with the user and is the user’s own virtual assistant. Another is Amazon Web Services, which is a cloud-based service which provides on-demand cloud computing resources to companies, individuals, and governments.

In today’s world, owning a mobile device is very convenient and beneficial. The reason is due to the ease of access to information and the world as well as the ability to communicate with one another all around the world. An example is when there is an emergency such as an accident, a phone would be used to call emergency services such as the police or if there is a notification via government, company, friends, or family, that user is able to be notified and reached.

Thanks to the technology that was done by the team of researchers who worked on the InfoPad as well as other research teams who have done research on mobile computing, we are able to advance mobile technology. InfoPad focused on power efficiency by utilizing a wireless-link rather than the conventional direct connection via port in which power was saved by eliminating the need for terminal input- thus making the tasks to be performed at the base station or remotely. It also uses other power-saving techniques which include but are not limited to: using parallel architecture that enables slow and low-voltage operation and using low-cell powered libraries.

What InfoPad aspires to do is offer access to commercial databases that includes news, voice and electronic mail, financial information and such. One possible downside that comes with this project is the need for high bandwidth to download and access the information which can take up seconds to minutes depending on the connection- an issue that is somewhat common today.