smartphone
Let an agent recognise a smartphone, know whose it is and what it can currently do, and decide what may be asked of it - including what must not be, because it is the most personal object most people own.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify
Researched by: Claude
Purpose and description
Let an agent recognise a smartphone, know whose it is and what it can currently do, and decide what may be asked of it - including what must not be, because it is the most personal object most people own.
A pocket-sized computer with a cellular radio, a touchscreen as its principal interface, and an operating system that runs third-party applications, carried by one person and normally tied to that person's accounts.
What it is for: Carrying a person's communications, identity, payments, navigation and sensing in one hand-held device that is with them almost all the time.
It can be communicate through it, over cellular and local radios; run applications that were not written by whoever made it; sense - camera, microphone, position, motion - which is also what makes it a surveillance risk; authenticate its holder to other systems, and so act as a key; charge it, and lose all of the above when it is flat; lose it or have it stolen, which is an identity incident rather than a property loss.
Distinguishing features
Runs third-party applications on a general-purpose operating system, which separates it from a feature phone that also makes calls
Carries a cellular radio and a subscriber identity, which separates it from a small tablet or media player with the same shape
Sized to be carried in one hand and a pocket, which is the working boundary with tablets rather than any technical property
Bound to accounts and credentials, which is why an identical device with a different owner is a different problem entirely
What it looks like
A flat slab, typically 140 to 170 mm tall and 65 to 80 mm wide, under 10 mm thick, almost entirely screen on one face, with one or more camera lenses on the other and a single charging port on an edge.
Physical character
mass: 150-250 g
screen diagonal: 5.4-6.9 in - the boundary with tablets is conventional, not technical
battery capacity: 3000-5500 mAh - usable life depends far more on age and workload than on this number
ingress protection: IP53-IP68 IP code - the rating is tested new; it degrades with every repair and drop
How it is recognised
Screen occupying nearly the whole front face, which separates it from feature phones and small tablets by proportion rather than by size alone
Camera array on the back, whose arrangement is the most reliable visual clue to model and generation
Model and regulatory markings, usually printed under the SIM tray or shown in a settings screen rather than on the case
IMEI, which identifies the individual device and is the only thing here that is not cosmetic
Related models
is a kind of - it inherits everything true of portable computers, including update and end-of-life questions
is confused with - same platform and often the same software; the difference is carriability and a cellular subscription
needs - the device is inert without it, and charging behaviour is a real constraint on any plan
needs - most of what it does depends on a network it does not control
contains - the battery ages faster than the device and decides when it is finished
is confused with - the device is not the identity it carries, and resetting one does not reset the other
In practice
Families and kinds
by platform: iOS, Android, and the small remainder of others
by tier: flagship, mid-range, entry - a market split that maps onto support lifetime more than onto capability
by intent: consumer, rugged, enterprise-managed, single-purpose kiosk
by subscriber identity: physical SIM, eSIM, dual-SIM
Identifiers
IMEI 15 digits identifies the individual device; a dual-SIM device has two
model number vendor-specific regional variants of one model differ in radio bands
ICCID / IMSI on the SIM identifies the subscription, not the device, and moves between devices
Standards and regulation
3GPP releases, which define the cellular radio generations a device supports
Regional radio equipment approvals, which decide whether a given model may lawfully be used in a country
Common charger requirements in some jurisdictions, which is why the port has converged
Data protection regimes, which apply to what the device holds rather than to the device
Failure modes and hazards
Battery degradation and swelling, which ends the device's usable life and is a fire risk when damaged
Screen and water damage, the two most common physical failures
Loss of vendor software support, which makes a working device unsafe to use rather than unusable
Theft, which is an account compromise before it is a property loss
Surveillance by whatever runs on it, since the sensors serve any application that is permitted them
Also called
+1787
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 5 bundles · 10 layers · 10 findings · 20 questions.
Device identity and holder Which device this is, who holds it, and what that entitles them to.
A smartphone is only meaningful in relation to a person and their accounts; the same hardware in different hands is a different thing to reason about.
Hardware identity
What names this handset as opposed to another of the same model.
Identifiers and what each identifies
IMEI names the device, the SIM names the subscription, the account names the person, and they move independently.
- What IMEI, model and regional variant does this device carry, and which of those changes when the SIM changes? definition
- What evidence establishes that this device is the one a record refers to? provenance
Holder, accounts and enrolment
Who carries it, whose accounts it is signed into, and who manages it.
Who controls it, and at which layer
Possession, account ownership and device management are three different powers over one object.
- Who holds this device, whose accounts are signed in on it, and who can administer it remotely? definition
- What must an agent refuse to do with a device whose holder is not its account owner? action
Capability and current state What this handset can do right now, as opposed to what the model can do.
Charge, storage, connectivity and permissions change hour by hour, and every plan that uses the device depends on them.
Power and endurance
Charge, battery health and what running out means.
Endurance under a stated workload
How long it will last doing a particular thing, not in the abstract.
- What charge and battery health does this device have, and how long does that give it under the intended workload? measurement
- What should an agent do differently when the device may go flat mid-task? action
Connectivity and permissions
Which radios are available and what software is allowed to use which sensor.
What is permitted, to whom
Permissions are per-application and revocable, and they bound everything an agent can ask of the device.
- Which networks is this device attached to, and which sensors and data are permitted to the software that would act? definition
- What must be asked of the holder rather than assumed from a permission already granted? action
Software, updates and support life What it runs, and how long that stays safe to run.
A smartphone stops being usable long before it stops working, because support ends while the hardware is fine - and that date is a property of the model, not of the handset.
Platform and version
Operating system, version, and the software that is actually installed.
Version and what depends on it
What the current version permits, and what a required update would change.
- What platform and version is this device on, and what capability does that version gate? definition
- What breaks for the holder if it is updated, and what is at risk if it is not? action
Support window
How long the vendor will issue security updates, and what follows after.
End of support and its consequence
The date, its source, and what an agent should stop doing with the device after it.
- Until when does this model receive security updates, and who states that? provenance
- What may an unsupported device no longer be trusted to do - payments, authentication, sensitive data? boundary
Data held and exposure What is on it, who can reach that, and what a loss means.
The hardware is replaceable and the contents are not; almost every real consequence of a smartphone incident is about the data and the credentials.
Contents and their sensitivity
Categories of data present and which of them are sensitive by law.
What is held, and under whose control
Local data, synchronised data, and credentials that unlock other systems.
- What categories of data does this device hold or unlock, and which are on it rather than merely visible through it? definition
- Whose consent governs each category, and what may an agent not read even with the device in hand? action
Loss, theft and compromise
What happens when it goes, and what the response is.
Response to loss or compromise
The sequence that limits harm, and who is able to perform each step.
- What happens to the data and the credentials when this device is lost or stolen? boundary
- What must be done first, by whom, and what evidence should be preserved? action
Lifecycle, repair and disposal How it enters service, what may be repaired, and how it ends.
Repairability and disposal are governed by rules the holder rarely knows, and the battery makes disposal a hazardous-waste question rather than a rubbish one.
Repair and refurbishment
What can be repaired, by whom, and what a repair does to warranties and ratings.
Repair and its consequences
Parts, pairing, and what a repair invalidates.
- Which components of this device are replaceable, by whom, and what does replacement invalidate? definition
- How should an agent record that a device has been repaired, given that it changes ingress protection and sometimes function? provenance
Erasure and disposal
Wiping, recycling routes and the battery.
End-of-life handling
What must be erased, what must be separated, and who must be told.
- What must be erased or unlinked before this device leaves its holder, and how is that verified? action
- Which disposal routes are lawful for a device with a lithium battery in the relevant jurisdiction? definition
What the second pass must settle
- Where should the model draw the line between the device and the person's digital identity, given that most consequences follow the identity rather than the hardware?
- How should support-window facts be attached - to the model, the regional variant, or the individual handset - when vendors state them inconsistently?
- Should an enterprise-managed handset be one thing with a management relation, or a different kind of thing from a personal one?
- What minimum evidence should an agent require before acting on a claim that a device belongs to a particular person?