Advances In Mobile Computing: A Report On Mobile Wearable Technology And Smart Watches

Mobile computing is one of the domains that is continuously evolving. We see improvements in several aspects of mobile computing almost every day. In this assignment, you will investigate advances in one of two aspects of mobile computing listed in the assignment description, and write a report summarizing your observations.

The objective of this assignment is to help you acquire the skills necessary to perform a critical assessment of a topic in the domain of mobile computing, and summarize your knowledge in the form of a report.

In the recent past, we have witnessed significant advances in the following two areas of mobile computing:

1. Mobile augmented reality

2. Mobile wearable technologies (specifically, smart-watches)

Choose one of the above topics and write a report that focuses on the following aspects of the topic that you selected:

Working: How does the technology work? What are the components, and how do these components interact with each other to help accomplish the expected functionality of these technologies?

State-of-the-art: What are some of the examples of products or solutions that are currently available in the market or that have been published as peer-reviewed publications? What are the good and bad aspects of these products or solutions (i.e. critical evaluation)?

Security and privacy issues: What are the potential security and privacy issues in the technol-ogy that you chose? What are some of the solutions that have been proposed by companies or researchers to mitigate these issues? Keep in mind that some issues may still be open issues that have not been solved.

Mobile Wearable Technology

The development of technology has led to the evolution of various possibilities which makes the life more and easier. Such developments provide ease in dealing with the daily chores or activities that we perform. From the time computer has been invented it has brought lot of pace in developing various technologies [9]. After computers, mobile phones and laptops made their ways in our lives. After when mobiles had become the most integral part of our life, it created some more space in our lives for some more adventure in form of mobile wearable and mobile augmented reality.

In the present report, we will discuss about the recent and one of the major trends in our lifestyle that is the mobile wearable. People today want to work with more ease and efficiency all in a go. They have become more and more dependent on technologies and want it on their fingertip. Every business and top firms are working with much force to develop such devices so as to again much advantage in the market [1]. Mobile wearable can be stated as fashionable technologies which add class to a person’s persona. Some very good examples of mobile wearable are smart watches, Bluetooth devices, health trackers, Google Glassand many more.

In this report, all the potentials and impacts of the wearable has been explored. The mobile wearable provides ease to person by getting them hands free which they can use for some other work like cycling, cooking and other office work too. Mobile wearable can be called a miniature electronic device which can be worn as fashionable accessory or gadgets to work with day to day activities. Such devices are built of many smaller electronic devices that can be helpful for its working [12]. Those small parts help in sensing the touch, move and task assigned. These have many purposes in information technology.

Mobile wearable yet poses certain questions and issues which require addressing so that it uses be more efficient and prolonged.  Certain issues of privacy, personal safety, fast abilities. Along with these its benefits and drawbacks have also been portrayed in the report.

People have the habit to use the phones day and night which makes them want it to be more and more efficient. People with impairments also find it easier to use such devices rather than using touch screen mobile devices. The health trackers another good example of the mobile wearable may help in tracking the fitness and diet of a person. This he or she could control it too. Elderly people may also be benefited from this. Certain famous brands like Nike, Samsung, and Apple are putting into lot of efforts to make the user experience better in every possible way [15]. Their smart gears, watches and Fitbits are greater trend today. Brands are working to provide their broad range of users, devices according to their own needs. Voice over introduced in the devices and gadgets adds a utility for the impaired people. Smart watches can also be called a small assistant to today’s smart phones.

Smart Watches

Mobile wearable is being used from quite long. It first came in the form a wrist calculator which allowed different operations to be performed on it. Later, Seiko did introduced TV in such wearable too. Then came apple came in the race with its WristMac which could be connected to the Macintosh for performing the operations assigned. The first interface smart watch Seiko Ruputercame in the late 90’s. Dick Tracy’s watch became the first to receive and send phone calls [2]. The Fossil Wrist PDA was released with Palm OS and got a huge fanfare for being a personal data assistant. People with this started thinking of touch screen, display and many more advanced feature that should be incorporated in their upcoming devices. Finally came in the Samsung S9110 with all the possible modern features [16]. It had full color display, screen touch, voice recognition, Bluetooth connectivity, videos and music players along with calling facilities. This became the base for the rest series that came in for example Pebble which sold in five days after its launch. The Moto 360 which gave the actual feel of a classic watch with the complete sense of technology in it. Its circular design won may fans [4]. From then until now smart watches are being tried to be made smarter, more efficient, more reliable and much faster than previous launches.

The report makes an in-depth analysis of a latest smart watch that is the Gear S3of Samsung to understand the components and closely analyze its working. Here an idea of how it ticks tocks will be generated. The engineers and designer worked not only on its outlook but also incorporated many smaller parts which could increase its efficiency [6]. A smart gear has main board, brackets to hold it on, display, Rear case, front case, and bezel.

Figure 1: Components of Smart Watch

Front case and bezel: This bezel and front case helps in navigation. The front case acts as a radio frequency (RF) antenna, which can provide connectivity of 3G/LTE. On the other hand, the Circular UX two-way rotating bezel helps in navigation by moving it in a circular manner [20]. The front case contains springs and ceramic balls which enable the 24 detent bezel interface. The back and home keys assist control and access.

Display: The gear’s display is furnished with the corning gorilla glass to give it tougher and more scratch resistant display. It has Super AMOLED display with ambient light sensor which adjust the brightness in accordance with the outside light[19]. It has a smart Always On feature which displays the time always without fading out. This feature can be personalized too. The embedded magnetic secure transmission (MST) can ensure connection establishment between the payment terminal and the gear so that a person can make the payment after shopping easily [8]. This allows customer an ease while shopping without the worry of carrying cards.

Components of Smart Watch

Bracket: The bracket provided in the S3 Gear holds the components in place and saves it from any kind of external shock. In addition to this the case contains built in speaker, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and linear motor [28]. The pairing of the speaker and the microphone placed in the main board helps in connecting calls and voice messaging. One can also listen to their favorite music by connecting the earphones. The multiple connectivity options are supported by the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies which allow syncing of devices or transfer any kind of health data. S3 Gear provides customization of the vibrations so that the person can differentiate them and act accordingly [8]. This is performed by the linear motor in the panel which has ability to produce various rhythmic vibrations.

Main board: Just like, some computers mother board main board of the S3 Gear acts like a motherboard. It has all the most essential components to drive the technology in the right way. The components include Accelerometer, Gyro sensor, battery, Memory, Barometer sensor, GPS, HRM sensor and embedded Sim [28].

The built-in GPS helps in locating their position and also provides feature of SOS with which the person navigate around easily without requiring to hold on the phone always in hand. The moment SOS is triggered preprogrammed contact gets a call from the user in emergency situation. The other sensors like barometer detect the outside weather and related changes providing the person with related data [30]. The HRM sensor or the heart rate monitor helps in optimizing the workout by targeting the heart rate required for the workout. One number service feature interestingly shows the same number when calling from the phone or from the Gear itself. The near field connection (NFC) supports the payment feature along with MST [11]. With a provision of 1 GHZ processor, 4GB internal memory and 768MB RAM the working of the watch becomes more flexible and fast.

The watch has been very effectively designed to withstand water and dust. The military grade durability makes it more and more efficient. It can be immersed in 1.5 meters of fresh water for 30 minutes.

Article 1: Application development for smart watches

The author has referred to the smart watch technologies as current trends followed in the mobile applications and wearable technology. The paper has aimed at evaluating the application development of the smart watches while evaluating the current platform and technologies used. The author has showed that the introduction of the smart watches have replaced the use of mobile devices and portable computers. The research was able to identify the current platform as Pebble, Android and iOS used in the development of various application. Further, the author has specifically considered Apple Watch for conducting the study [26]. It has been identified that Model-View-Controller has been used in the software model for developing the interface of the watches. Furthermore, integrated development environment, Xcode have been implemented for developing the interface builder and MVC pattern. In the smart watches, swift and Obj-C programming for featuring the syntax and operations of the smart watches. Furthermore, author showed that the WatchKit development kit have been used in Apple smart watches that enables the execution of the practical computation on the smart watches [26]. From the data collection and analysis, it has been observed in this particular paper that smart watch platform has huge potential applicability to replacing the smartphone. Further, author stated that the interaction of the smartphone application needs to more simple and short that allows the developers to focus on the interaction between the user and smart watches. In addition to that, the author has considered various smart watch application like SL watch, Museum Audioguide and Memory games that have been efficiently implemented in iOS platform [26]. Therefore, this research was able to efficiently identify the various technology, platforms and functional modules used in the development of the smart watch. 

Article 2: A Survey of Smartwatch Platforms from a Developer’s Perspective

According to authors of this article, technological innovations are has introduced various projects that incorporate powerful processors and memory subsystems and other functional innovations that manage technical developmental perspective. In addition to this, the there are various technical advancements that are incorporated within smart technologies for managing technological development [29]. Among all of these technological advancements, smart technologies are most effective and advanced technologies for introducing effective communication measures within this technical era. In addition to this, this article is reviewing about the new challenges incorporated among the use of the technology. In addition to this, these challenges and functional errors are managed with respect to various beneficial options provided by this technology. It is identified that smart watches provides gesture controlled operating facilities that includes internet connectivity for managing the user’s physical activities with respect to their choices [29]. According to the critical evaluation of this paper it is identified that this paper is aiming it at elaborating the technical evaluation of smart watch from developer’s perspectives. There are typical use cases that are presented within this article for elaborating the evaluation process of smart watch ethnology. In addition to this evaluation, this paper is also presenting the technical developmental process of Android Wear and Apple Watch for elaborating the individual functional measures of these technical advancements with respect to the incorporation of functional measures of these technologies [29]. This study has also elaborated various frameworks, tools that help in evaluating the evolution of smart watches.

Article 3: Wearable Smart Technologies: New Era Of Technology

In this particular paper, the author have aimed at analyzing and evaluating the existing technologies used in the wearable watches. The author was able to identify the obstacle and achievement in the smart watch technologies [27]. The author has identified that the ITPro 2015 has been used in the development of the smart watches used Windows 10 operating system. Furthermore it has been obtained that one particular platform is required for developers that will allow the application of third-party and peripherals devices. The algorithm packages and selective sensors are widely used in the smart watches helps in interacting with the users. The application of the wearable watches can be utilized for the development of the business related operations, entertainment and educations [27]. The author has further showed that the various manufacturers develops the different products and applications based on the smart watches but in the same branch. The Samsung Galaxy Gear, “Samsung Gear Fit” and “Samsung VR Innovator Editor” has provided the smart watches but not expandable with other different functional modules together [27]. The information obtained from this paper has provided reliable and relevant information about the various security concerns that needs to be implemented for preventing the security threats and concern.  

Article 4: Can smartwatch help users save time by making processes efficient and easier?

According to authors of this article, smart watches are considered as one of the effective technological advancements that manage effective communication steps and functional measures for any smart watches [30]. According to the critical evaluation of this research paper, it is identified that the first of all the background of the research is elaborated within this article about the evolution of smart watch technology and all of these elaborations are managed with respect to the technological advancements involved within the smart watch technological evaluation. In addition to this, this article is supporting the evaluation process of smart watch technology with respect to various approaches and technical advancements [30]. This paper is elaborating about the motivational aspects involved within this research area. Research is conducted within this article for managing the effective research process within the article. In addition to this, the preliminary analysis based on the developmental aspect of the smart watch technology shows that the how the system architectural development is concerned with the benefits and impacts of this technology. In addition to this, there are various functional errors and disadvantages of this technology that maintains the importance of this technology; these concerned aspects are being elaborated within this literature [30]. In addition to this, the critical evaluation of this literature is also showing the situational analysis of this technological innovation in order to manage the impactful areas involved within this area of research. Therefore, this can be stated that the literature has presented effective evaluation of the use and technological evaluation of smart watches.

The security and the privacy issues regarding the smart watches have been successfully identified by the manufactures and the authorities [16].With the rise of the Internet of the Things the use of the smart watches has been a revelation. However with the increase in the use of the smart watches the security issues that are arising are increasing with the increase of time. There has been various factors of concern for the watches regarding the

Firstly, the user authentication in the smart watches are not very efficient. The do not use the two step authentication procedure. The two step authentication procedure are very essential for any kind of device for the security purpose [18]. This would enable intruders to interfere with the user data that is stored in the device.

Secondly, the smart watches also lack the ability to lock out the devices in the cases of failed authentication or wrong passwords. This feature is very essential in the case of the device getting lost. Hence, the device and the information contained in it could very easily fall into wrong hands in case the devices are lost. All the information about the user would be easily available to someone who is untrusted.

Thirdly, it was found that the devices had lacked the transport encryption facility. Hence, the devices are vulnerable to malware attacks such as POODLE [13]. This would enable the attacker to procure the encrypted messages from within the device. Hence, the attacker an easily obtain the information about the user from the encrypted messages. And hence due to this kind of situation the privacy of the user is lost.

Fourthly, The smart watches make use of the cloud based interfaces. This allow the attackers would induce the account enumeration concerns. This would allow the attackers to identify the accounts of the users who are valid. This in addition would allow the attackers to reset the passwords of the user accounts with the password reset facilities.

With the rising concerns in the security and the privacy of the devices, the use of these devices would make the information of the user vulnerable to the hackers and the mal practitioners [27]. Hence the users should take up some precautionary measures when using the devices. The users are to make sure that they do not connect their smart watches to a variety of devices. This would reduce the chances of the hackers to have access to the devices. The scope of the hackers would get reduced to a great extent. In addition to this the user should take precautionary measure during uploading their information online. They should make sure that the information that are uploaded online are not too sensitive. In addition to this although the devices provide various kind of facilities, the devices should not be overused.

The Gear S3 is very useful tool for the android users. It is product released by one of the leading mobile brands of the world Samsung. The popularity of the product has increased at a great rate after the release of the product. The product is available at a price of Rs. 28,500 [21]. In addition to the low price of the product it has various type of function which more sit more efficient in nature than the other products in its competition. In comparison to the Apple watch Series the watch costs 4000 less than the apple watch. Hence, this influences the increasing popularity of the Samsung Gear S3.

The Gear s3 is dust resistant and also water proof. Hence, the watches can be functional in any kind of situations. In addition to this, the watch is wifi and GPS enabled [26]. Hence, it can provide the user information from around any location. In addition to this, the watch runs on TizenOS. This makes the OS of the watch very smooth for the user to access. In addition to this, the watch also has a very user friendly interface which makes it very convenient for the user to utilize all the functions of the watch very efficiently. The watch also has the rotating bezel facility. This would help the user to scroll through the lists of apps and also the call list of their phone[29]. In addition to this they can twist and turn through the menu list in their watch which makes the watch very easily accessible. In addition to all this the battery life of the watch is also very impressive. The watch can be easily used for over two without even charging. In addition to this the charging features of the device is also very elegant. This makes the charging functions very efficient.

The Gear S3 is very efficiently designed although the product has a variety of drawbacks. Firstly, the bulky nature of the watch can hamper the comfort of the user. Although the design of the watch is quite efficient but the bulky structure of the watch also effects the overall appearance of the watch [30]. IN addition to this the size of the watch also makes it very uncomfortable for the user to wear ad acts as an additional burden for the user. In addition to this the companion applications that are installed in the system are not that efficient. Hence, the app feature of the device needs improvement. In addition to this many of the aps are not compatible to the Tizen OS environment in the system [12]. The producers need to add more apps to the Tizen ecosystem to increase the efficiency of the device. Additionally the companion app provide with the watch is also somewhat dysfunctional. Hence, the companion app of the watches also has some scope for improvement.

With the increase in the security issues of the device there rises a huge question over the further use of the systems. The privacy issue would be influencing the users not to use the device further due to these kind of situations. Although, the resolution that are of if implement would again influence the users to buy these products. Hence, the future of the devices depend on the efficient resolution of the security concerns of the devices.

Conclusion

The modern era witnessed a great evolution of the Smart watches.  The smart watches came in to ease the way of technology usage. Smart watches at their early evolution did not promise much until late 90’s. The development in technology and other electronic devices led to the development of Smart watches. The summary of other researchers work makes the idea of the smart watch much clear. This technology being such an important evolution yet faces several issues of security and privacy. The limitation and benefits provides a clear review of the technology.Conclusively, it can be stated that smart watches are a great technology which can become a great asset in future. The future of the smart watches is bright. The smart watches will be very helpful for the impaired or the disabled. The smart watches have great usage and complements a smart phone nevertheless; it would not be able to replace smart phones.

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