Smartphones for Creative Multimedia Students

THE FASTEST WAY we can produce creative multimedia content in Tipperary Institute is by using smartphones that our students currently carry. I've got a few sample phones in the photo at left and the shot reflects the fact that Nokia multimedia phones are the most common model on campus, followed by iPhones and SonyEricsson devices. Smartphone sales are up across Europe and we try to specify the kind of capability a smartphone should have in our third level multimedia curriculum. A 3.2 megapixel camera leads the specification list, along with Bluetooth and Wifi capability. If a student qualifies for a network-subsidised device, we recommend getting a phone that connects over wifi, shares via Bluetooth streaming (A2DP protocol), has removeable memory and comes with a removeable battery or supplemental battery pack. Within a few years, it will be difficult getting a bog-standard mobile phone anymore, since even the iPhone is now subsidised down to a EUR 80 price point. Even during the current recession, 28% of mobile phone sales in 2009 have been smartphones. That percentage will double by 2012, if you believe the cross-talk that came out of Nokia World in Stuttgart this week. That's actually a good trend, and one that universities should consider when setting strategies for better student learning becacuse smartphones are already prominent as the second screen in many college students' lives.

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UK Mobile Blog -- "Rise of the Smartphones", September 3, 2009.

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