From mobile to cloud: How 'connectivity for the earth' is shaping future of devices

Some of Huawei's mobile phones on display during the 2025 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. [Patrick Vidija, Standard] Mobile communication remains an essential component of our daily lives in the fast-paced digital age. It dates back to the mid-twentieth century, when the first mobile telephones were developed, although with limited functionality and accessibility. According to Tutorials.com, the true breakthrough came with the development of cellular networks in the 1980s, which allowed mobile phones to communicate with a network of base stations via radio waves, allowing coverage across a larger geographic region by dividing it into smaller 'cells.' Since then, mobile technology has progressed substantially over the years with the first-generation (1G) networks supporting basic voice calls. However, subsequent generations added data services, such as 2G, which provided limited internet access and text messaging; 3G, which provided faster data speeds; and 4G, which revolutionised mobile internet connectivity with faster speeds, video streaming capabilities, and the rise of smartphones. Currently, 5G networks are being used, offering even higher speeds, lower latency, and the possibility of a diverse range of futuristic applications. This wide range of applications and services offered by mobile devices is one of their distinguishing aspects. Cell phones, which is an abbreviation for 'cellular phone,' were the first wireless communication devices, relieving individuals from the constraints of traditional wired telephones and allowing them to communicate while on the go. A cell phone was a portable wireless communication device that allowed users to make voice calls and send text messages through cellular networks. It communicated with neighboring cellular towers or base stations that were part of a wider cellular network infrastructure. Cell phones relied on the concept of cellular networks, which divided a geographic region into smaller cells, each supported by a base station. These base stations communicated with mobile phones through radio waves. When a cell phone user switched from one cell to another during a call, the connection was effortlessly transferred from one base station to the next, ensuring communication without interruption. Early cell phones were simple and focused mostly on voice calls. They had few features, usually consisting of a small monochrome display, physical dialling buttons, and minimal text messaging capabilities. Over time, cell phones have grown tremendously, adding additional capabilities and becoming more user-friendly and transitioning to now Smart Phones. Dr Bello Moussa, Huawei's senior IT specialist explains the concept of mobile phone evolution during the 2025 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. [Patrick Vidija, Standard] The difference between ordinary mobile phones and smartphones has become more blurred since the introduction of smartphones. While mobile phones have relatively basic functionality, smartphones have enhanced capabilities and features that go beyond voice calls and text messaging. Simply put, the history of mobile devices has been marked by the increasing evolution of technology. The technology has seen mobiles evolve from just supporting voice communication only to accommodating text messaging, internet connectivity, multimedia, and video telephony. These feature phones eventually gave way to the modern smartphone, which combined all the aforementioned devices, and more, into one device. Since the late 2000s, smartphones have been the most common mobile device in the world in terms of quantity sold, owing to their great convergence of technologies. According to a report released by the Communication Authority of Kenya on Jan 24, 2025, the telecommunications sector experienced significant growth with an increase in broadband subscriptions, mobile SIM, smartphone use, and mobile money, indicating continued industry responsiveness to customer needs. The report covering July-September 2024 showed that whereas there was a slight decline in 3G broadband subscriptions and data consumption, there was an increase in 4G and 5G technology adoption. "The country is poised for significant advancements in both 4G and 5G uptake, which is driven by the continued investments and increased consumer demand for high-speed connectivity," read part of the report. The report indicated that mobile data subscriptions grew to a record 53.7 million with 4G constituting 58.1 per cent. The adoption of 4G and 5G technologies continued to grow, mainly driven by the growing demand for high-speed Internet for activities such as streaming, online learning, remote work, and e-commerce. The number of active mobile (SIM) subscriptions grew by 1.6 per cent to 70.0 million from 68.9 million recorded in the previous quarter, representing a penetration rate of 135.8 per cent. Subscriptions to mobile money services increased from 39.8 million to 40.6 million, translating to a penetration rate of 78.9 per cent during the reference period. The total number of mobile phone devices connected to mobile networks was 68.1 million, representing a penetration rate of 131.5 per cent. At 37.4 million devices, smartphones take the lead with a penetration rate of 72.6 per cent, while the 30.7 million feature phones accounted for a 59.6 per cent penetration rate. With the report, Huawei argues that it is evident Kenyans will be seeking to own phones that have an increased processing power, increased screen size but low on price. "This is why we are ahead of the rest. We have introduced our Cloud Phone, which is a low-cost phone that allows you to put all the Apps and storage on the Cloud while functionality remains on the phone," said Dr Bello Moussa, Huawei's senior IT specialist. Moussa said the innovation known as 'Connectivity for the Earth' is a game changer that will reshape how people will have access to mobile phones and network connectivity, especially in remote areas. He said that the phones are already being assembled locally in the Kenyan market. Functionality According to Moussa, Cloud is a data storage platform that securely stores your important data, including your images, videos, contacts, and notes, and offers data services, including simultaneous updates on multiple devices and automatic data backup. The AppGallery Connect Cloud Storage allows users to store high volumes of data such as images, audio, videos, and other user-generated content securely and economically. This scalable and maintenance-free service Dr Moussa said can free users from the development, deployment, O&M, and capacity expansion of storage servers so that they can focus on service capability building and operations with better user experience. The Cloud Storage SDK has strong security which allows for data transmission using HTTPS with encrypted files being stored on the cloud using secure encryption protocols. It has a resumable transfer that allows users to resume uploads or downloads from the breakpoint if there is a network failure or misoperation while the upload or download is underway. Its high scalability is built for the exabyte scale when the users' app has much data to store with an easy O&M that can easily locate the cause of an error according to the result code. David Ligawa, a system administrator for Migori County Revenue Authority processes payment for a trader at Migori Revenue offices in Migori town on March 28, 2025. [Anne Atieno, Standard] In terms of storage, a user can create storage instances on the cloud to save objects, as well as deleting and listing storage instances. If one does not create any storage instance, storage objects will be saved to the default storage instance when Cloud Storage is enabled. For file management, users can upload, download, list, and delete files in AppGallery Connect or using the Cloud Storage SDK. They can also manage, for example, query and configure file metadata in AppGallery Connect or using the Cloud Storage SDK. The server allows them to access a specified storage instance outside their site based on the CORS configurations. How the Service Works With the Cloud Storage SDK integrated, a user's app can upload files to the Cloud Storage server, and the server will store the files in the specified storage instance. This data can be accessed through AppGallery Connect. One can also call APIs of the Cloud Storage SDK to download, delete, and manage files. Currently, the Cloud functionality works on Android phones, iOS and Web. With this innovation, it is evident that mobile devices are a part and parcel of our lives. In future, we predict improvement in form and size where users do not only look for low-cost phones but those that have high processing power," said Dr Moussa. According to him, soon, tablets, laptops, and wearables like rings, glasses, and smartwatches will be transformed into mobile devices that must exist in every home. This is in fact already happening and companies that only ventured in voice and data are already transitioning from Telcos to Techco," said Moussa. He said although the said Telcos play a key role in the current digital transformation, they are actively venturing into technical solutions in sectors like banking, manufacturing and healthcare. "This is because they understand the market and customer needs, have connectivity and network infrastructure and are well positioned for the transition," he said.

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