6. Smartphone features cont.

These are some of the additional things a smartphone can do

Touch screen, real and virtual keypads

The screen tends to be a bit larger than the standard mobile phone screen. There are sensors below the screen which allow you to control the device by touch and gesture. For instance, you can touch the letters on the keyboard very gently to select the text you want. By moving your thumb and forefinger you can increase and decrease the size of the display.

The device can be tilted horizonally or vertically to change the display from portrait to landscape.

Email and internet

Smartphones are able to connect to the internet to retreive your emails. They can also be used to browse the Web. This is made possible by the larger touch screen feature along with in-built web browser and email reader. Web browsing is still a bit slow as in the UK a technology called '3G' is the most common. As of 2013, a new generation called '4G' has been launched that offers much faster internet speeds.

Satellite Navigation

Some smartphones have GPS chips included so they can act as fully fledged satellite navigation devices.

Intelligent maps

Because the device knows your location with the GPS chips, there are applications that can display your location on a map (graphical or real satellite photo) along with perhaps the nearest cinema, cafe or even the houses for sale.