Programming for portable devices

Mr Study Design says... KK3.2.05- types and specifications of portable (mobile) computing devices, including personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, laptops, gaming consoles

In SD U3O2 you don't need to be an expert programmer - you will be programming a module of a large program that could be adapted to work on a portable computing device. In other words, it need not be a full-blown contacts manager, and it need not be written in the language of a portable device - VB or Python is fine.

Constraints

A constraint is a restriction or limitation on the way you approach solving a problem. Common constraints are lack of time and money, having to retain compatibility with other devices, memory limitations, CPU calculation speed, resolution etc.

What constraints particularly apply when programming for portable devices?

• display size
• display resolution

These are not the same thing: a screen that is 1cm square might (conceivably, one day) have a resolution of 1280x960 pixels, but I challenge anyone to actually read it!) Then again, a 14" monitor might have a res of 640x480. My first computer, a TRS-80 had a massive 80 x 25 resolution in graphics mode. Wow!

• size of controls - will people who have fat fingers be unable to manipulate controls easily?
• number of colours
• readability of display in sunlight
• RAM capacity
• RAM access times
• Secondary storage (e.g. HDD, SD card) capacity
• Secondary storage access times
• Input devices - ease of use (e.g. touchscreen, glide pad, joystick, virtual/real keyboard)
• Battery life
• Ruggedness of hardware