Mobile Phones
Mobile Phones are becoming the ICT tool of choice for a lot of development interventions. The advantages of mobile phones in many developing countries is: -
- Nearly everyone has access to one.
- A lot of families classed as poor own one.
- The power requirements are very low.
- SMSs are fairly cheap in most countries. 2 Way SMS is possible in many countries.
- Mobile Internet and Data is becoming a standard feature on most new phones. Mobile data charges are fairly low cost in many developing countries. The mobile internet has the power to convey news, encourage learning or even allow debate.
- Youth are embracing this technology more than any other demographic.
When you put all this together you can understand why so many development initiatives want to leverage mobile devices in their work.
The best net based resource for this with respect to NGOs is over at Mobile Active
While there is debate over what the best mobile communication technology is (SMS, Java Ap or Mobile Web) it is clear that all the mobile technologies have a role to play. SMS is the most universal technology but it is limited to 160 character messages. Mobile Web leverages the power of the internet and allows simple applications to be built quickly. Java Aps can be very powerful but they take a significant amount of time to develop, require the higher specification phones and there can be installation issues.
When developing for mobiles there are major considerations around screen size. The most common screen widths are 128 pixels, 176 pixels, 240 pixels and 320 pixels so you need to adopt a flexible apporach to the design of any mobile based application. There is an excellent piece on this at MobiForge which is also the best place to learn more about developing for the mobile internet.
