What???

Please forgive me for a moment (well, a blog post) while I get my tech nerd on with some smartphones. As many are aware, Apple announced the release of the iPhone 5 to the market to much fanfare. Though pundits have already weighed-in positively and negatively on the device, the iPhone 5 represents one of the top smartphones on the market. As a result, iPhone will continue to be a target for mobile health applications. That brings me to the primary point of today's post: if iPhone 5 represents one of the top smartphones, that means that there are other phones entering the conversation, meaning more potential avenues for mobile health applications.

Most "top smartphones" lists will include the following: iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy Nexus (by Google), HTC One X, and the Nokia Lumia 920. Here's a breakdown of the primary technical specifications and how that might impact mobile app development for healthcare.

Processors: "Speed, speed speed." The rate at which a phone can process information is one of the biggest factors in its success. While not much is known about the new A6 processor in the iPhone 5, it is expected to be similar to the 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor in the Samsung Galaxy S III, the HTC One X the Nokia Lumia 920. The Nexus lags behind with a 1.2 GHz offering. Immediately, developers will look to use the fastest phones (sorry Nexus) with the best operating systems.

Operating Systems: The remaining four phones run on three operating systems: iOS (iPhone), Android (Galaxy, HTC One), and the soon-to-be-released Windows 8 (Lumia). Application development is rich in Android and iOS - moreso the latter - as those markets are ripe and ready for development. Windows 8 is the unknown commodity in this situation; it has not been released yet and Microsoft is known to flop on every-other operating system release (Windows Millenium, Windows Vista, etc.). The market for phones with the Windows Mobile operating system is also much smaller, leaving little motivation for developers to create applications for the system. I am impressed by Nokia's latest phone offering, but for this purpose I don't see many mobile health applications as of yet with the Lumia.

Display: While I would imagine that medical imaging or other applications that rely heavily on display would be focused on the tablet market, the displays are still of importance to users and the FDA. The three remaining devices all have wonderful displays; the iPhone edges out slightly with a 326 pixels per inch (ppi) to the One's 312 ppi and the Galaxy's 306 ppi. Noticeable difference? Doubtful. The other notable is that the Galaxy and One are equipped with larger screens than the iPhone, providing more real estate for viewing applications.

Storage: Where storage is concerned, iPhone and the One fall behind here, only providing up to 64 GB onboard and 5 GB iCloud space for iPhone, and 32 GB onboard and 25 GB Dropbox space for the One. The Galaxy is the most attractive option with up to 64 GB internally, microSD (i.e. replaceable) support, and 50 GB of Dropbox storage. Make or break? Likely not, but look for developers that use a lot of storage space for files to lean Android, looking at the Galaxy as a target handset.

Connectivity: Sure, all three have 4G LTE support, WiFi, Bluetooth, et al, but the most differentiating player in this space is NFC, Near Field Communications. This technology is known at the moment in many credit cards with the "Easy Pay" functionality. The One and Galaxy both have NFC, where Apple decidedly punted on the option for iPhone 5. With the increasing amount of wireless technology and the FCC's most recent ruling on MBANs (Medical Body Area Networks), this comes as a bit of a shock that iPhone falls behind in this area.

Environment: The most important factor in forecasting the near-term use of these phones in the medical space is recent history. The Apple AppStore is the far-and-away leader for application development, though Google Play (previously the Android Market) has plenty of developers supporting the market. The clear winner now is the iPhone, but look for Google Play to amp up the competition with the AppStore with the increasingly competitive hardware of Android-based phones.

Of the up-and-comers in the smartphone business, the One, Galaxy, and iPhone 5 are clearly the most likely to be used in conjunction with mobile health applications. There isn't a clear winner among these three, and I would contest that the Nokia Lumia may join them if Windows 8 can launch successfully. Ultimately, as has been seen in the consumer market, the more players competing for customer dollars, the better the product. Hopefully, the hot mobile competition should result in applications that best serve healthcare.

Note which historically significant smartphone manufacturer is missing...

-RTK

UPDATE: Check out this quick-hit article on the impact of the new Lightning connector on the iPhone 5's use as a medical device.

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