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A smartphone is a type of advanced mobile phone that offers better features and applications than most common phones do. They combine the functions of several electronic devices into one such as a phone, camera, personal digital assistant, GPS, and they can even access the Internet.
The first smartphone, called the IBM Simon, was designed in 1992 and was sold by BellSouth in 1993. Besides just the feature of the phone, it also contained a calendar, calculator, address book, note pad, world clock, e-mail, games, and was capable of sending and receiving fax. It was a touch screen phone, had no camera, but was considered very advanced for its time.
In 2000, the Ericsson R380 Smartphone was the first phone to be marketed as a smartphone. Popular Science even said it was one of the most important advances in technology. In 2002 the Palm OS Treo was released and contained web browsing, email, contact organizer, and a calendar. Smartphones have continued to add features including cameras, GPS systems, and plenty of other popular features.
Released in 2008, the Android operating system became one of the most recent advances to smartphones. Android is an operating system run by Google that provides a variety of applications for smartphones. The demand for the Android operating system and smartphones is only increasing after they recently became more affordable and popular within the last few years. Since 2007, when Apple released their first iPhone, costing over $500, the price of smartphones have become more reasonable, now only costing around $200.
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