Mobile computing
Mobile computing is human–computer interaction in which a computer is expected to be transported during normal usage, which allows for the transmission of data, voice, and video. Mobile computing involves mobile communication, mobile hardware ...
devices (e.g.,
smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whi ...
s and
PDAs) store and share data over a
mobile network, or a database which is actually stored by the mobile device. This could be a list of contacts, price information, distance travelled, or any other information.
Many applications require the ability to download information from an
information repository
In information technology, an information repository or simply a repository is "a central place in which an aggregation of data is kept and maintained in an organized way, usually in computer storage." It "may be just the aggregation of data itse ...
and operate on this information even when out of range or disconnected. An example of this is your contacts and calendar on the phone. In this scenario, a user would require access to update information from files in the
home directories on a server or customer records from a database. This type of access and work load generated by such users is different from the traditional workloads seen in
client–server systems of today.
Mobile databases are not used solely for the revision of company contacts and calendars, but used in a number of industries.
Considerations
* Mobile users must be able to work without a network connection due to poor or even non-existent connections. A
cache
Cache, caching, or caché may refer to:
Places United States
* Cache, Idaho, an unincorporated community
* Cache, Illinois, an unincorporated community
* Cache, Oklahoma, a city in Comanche County
* Cache, Utah, Cache County, Utah
* Cache County ...
could be maintained to hold recently accessed data and transactions so that they are not lost due to connection failure. Users might not require access to truly live data, only recently modified data, and uploading of changing might be deferred until reconnected.
*
Bandwidth
Bandwidth commonly refers to:
* Bandwidth (signal processing) or ''analog bandwidth'', ''frequency bandwidth'', or ''radio bandwidth'', a measure of the width of a frequency range
* Bandwidth (computing), the rate of data transfer, bit rate or thr ...
must be conserved (a common requirement on
wireless network
A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless data connections between network nodes.
Wireless networking is a method by which homes, telecommunications networks and business installations avoid the costly process of introducing ...
s that charge per
megabyte
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Its recommended unit symbol is MB. The unit prefix ''mega'' is a multiplier of (106) in the International System of Units (SI). Therefore, one megabyte is one million bytes o ...
or data transferred).
* Mobile computing devices tend to have slower CPUs and limited battery life.
* Users with multiple devices (e.g. smartphone and tablet) need to synchronize their devices to a centralized data store. This may require application-specific automation features.
The 5 Traits of Great Cloud-Syncing Apps
/ref>
This is in database theory known as "replication", and good mobile database system should provide tools for automatic replication that takes into account that others may have modified the same data as you while you were away, and not just the last update is kept, but also supports "merge" of variants.
* Users may change location geographically and on the network. Usually dealing with this is left to the operating system, which is responsible for maintaining the wireless network
A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless data connections between network nodes.
Wireless networking is a method by which homes, telecommunications networks and business installations avoid the costly process of introducing ...
connection.
Products
Commercially available mobile databases include those shown on this comparison chart. *Peer To Peer (P2P) or Device To Device
See also
* Cloud computing
Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mu ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Mobile Database Review: Microsoft Databases for Windows CE
By Bryan Morgan, Apr 5, 2002, InformIT
Mobile Database Review: Sybase SQL Anywhere Studio 8.0
By Bryan Morgan, Feb 15, 2002, InformIT
Types of databases
Mobile technology