Mobile technology
These recommendations have been reviewed and ratified by the E-standards Expert Group.
They are valid for use in the Australian VET system in 2010, however a mid-year review will occur.
Refer to the background information on Mobile technology for more information on this topic.
Mobile learning (m-learning) content developers are advised to consult and use the general VET e-standards found on this website in combination with these specific m-learning recommendations.
Also available as a useful reference are the platforms for mobile technologies.
For background information and support, please refer to the M-learning teacher's guide [PDF 685KB].
Mobile content formats
| Formats | Recommendations | |
| W3C Mobile Web Default Delivery Context: for creating economical mobile web learning content suitable for mobile/Smart phones phones, PDAs, Sony PSPs and other web-capable mobile devices. Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 Basic Guidelines W3C Recommendation 29 July 2008 http://www.w3.org/TR/mobile-bp/ |
Usable screen width:120 pixels minimum. Markup language support: XHTML™ Basic 1.1 W3C Recommendation 29 July 2008 http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-xhtml-basic-20080729/ Character encoding: [UTF-8] http://www.w3.org/TR/mobile-bp/#UTF-8 Image format support: JPEG, GIF 89a (non-interlaced, non-transparent, non-animated). Maximum total page weight: 20 kilobytes. Colours: Web safe - Red/Green/Blue components chosen only from the values 0, 51, 102, 153, 204, and 255. Style sheet support: External [CSS] Level 1 HTTP: [HTTP1.0] or more recent [HTTP1.1] |
|
| Author text and format web pages | ||
| Web Text | XHTML 1.1 Basic Profile (W3C 2008a) WML 1.0 |
|
| Character encoding | UTF-8 | |
| Format web pages | External CSS Level 1(W3C 2006a) Link external CSS with LINK not @import |
|
| Colours | 256 colour, Web Safe palette (W3C 2008a) | |
| Maximum total page weight | 20 kilobytes (W3C 2008a) 10 kilobytes is a ‘usable’ page weight (W3C 2000a s.5.3.2.3) |
|
| Embed images in web pages | ||
| Images (photographic) | JPEG, non-progressive
Specify image size (both width and height) in mobile web page markup (W3C 2008a) |
|
| Images (graphic) | GIF 89a, 256 colour web safe palette, non-interlaced, non-transparent, non-animated
Specify image size (both width and height) in mobile web page markup (W3C 2008a) |
|
| Layout | Usable screen width | Phones: 120 pixels (W3C 2008a) – 320 pixels PDAs: 240 pixels x 640 pixels |
| Still images | JPEG for photograph quality Specify image size (both width and height) in mobile web page markup (W3C 2008a) |
|
| Creating graphics | GIF 89a (non-interlaced, non-transparent, non-animated). | |
| Document publication | ||
| E-books/formatted data for read-only display | Adobe PDF Tagged, rather than absolute, text Embedded fonts |
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| Formatted data for user manipulation | Microsoft Word (DOC) Standard system fonts only |
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| Interactive media | ||
| Web/embedded interactive content | Flash Lite 1.2/2.0, Frame Rate <=12fps Provide non-Flash alternative to devices that do not support it Note: Flash Lite 3.0 is also now available |
|
| Stand-alone application development for mobile devices | Java 2 Mobile Edition (J2ME) http://java.sun.com/javame/index.jsp | |
Mobile audio
| Specifications | Recommendations | |
| Natural Audio Specifications | Bandwidth = 20-200kbps* Resource use = Medium Representation = signal-based Play control = advanced |
|
| Text-to-Speech Specifications | ||
| Local Playback Specifications | Music/Sound | |
| Transparent quality (eg music industry students) | LC-AAC / MP3 160kbps / 192kbps 44.1kHz Stereo |
|
| Standard Quality | LC-AAC or MP3 128kbps 44.1kHz Stereo |
|
| Portability | LC-AAC or MP3 48-96kbps 44.1kHz Stereo |
|
| Speech | ||
| Flash-compatible speech | MP3 48-96kbps 22050Hz or 44.1kHz Mono |
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| High quality/A2DP | LC-AAC 32-48kbps 44.1kHz Mono |
|
| Portability | AMR-WB 16-24kbps 16kHz Mono |
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| Wireless/Streaming Access Specifications | Music/Sound | LC-AAC or MP3 32-96kbps 44.1kHz Stereo |
| Speech | LC-AAC 8-32 kbps 44.1kHz Mono |
|
Mobile video
| Local Playback | Recommendations | |
| Basic Video Specifications | H.263 Baseline or MPEG-4 Part 2 (if targeting .3gp container) MPEG-4 Visual Simple, Level 0 (for MP4/M4V/AVI containers) Note that H.264 is available and has good support but the baseline standards have been left at MPEG-4 Part 2 following input received at time of 2008 standards review. |
|
| Video resolution | 176x144 | |
| Frame rate (fps) | <=15 | |
| Bit rate (kbps) | <=64 | |
| Optimal Video Specifications | H.263 Baseline or MPEG-4 Part 2 (if targeting .3gp container) XviD MPEG-4 Visual Simple, Mod Level 2-3 (for MP4/M4V/AVI containers) H.264 must be used for delivery on Sony PSPs and may be used for Apple Video iPods |
|
| Video resolution | 176x144 – 320x2404 . Video specifically designed for use only on video iPods may use a resolution up to 640x480. | |
| Frame rate (fps) | 20-25. Frame rate for mobile devices should never exceed 30 fps. | |
| Bit rate (kbps) | 140-300 | |
| Basic Audio Specifications | LC-AAC (with MP4 /3GP for mobiles, iPods and PSPs) MP3 (with AVI container for PDAs) |
|
| Channels | 2 (Stereo) | |
| Sample rate (KHz) | 44.1 / 48 | |
| Bit rate (kbps) | 64 | |
| Optimal Audio Specifications | Apple/Nero LC-AAC | |
| Channels | 2 (Stereo) | |
| Sample rate (KHz) | 44.1 / 48 | |
| Bit rate (kbps) | 96 | |
| Container(s) | MP4 (M4V) for iPods, Sony mobiles/PSPs, and other mobiles 3GP for mobiles, PDAs (3rd party software required) AVI for PDAs |
|
Mobile standards for content delivery
| Formats | Recommendations |
| W3C Mobile Web Default Delivery Context: for creating economical mobile web learning content suitable for mobile/Smart phones, PDAs, Sony PSPs and other web-capable mobile devices. Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 Basic Guidelines W3C Recommendation 29 July 2008 http://www.w3.org/TR/mobile-bp/ |
Usable screen width: 120 pixels minimum. Markup language support: XHTML™ Basic 1.1 W3C Recommendation 29 July 2008 http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-xhtml-basic-20080729/ Character encoding: [UTF-8] http://www.w3.org/TR/mobile-bp/#UTF-8 Image format support: JPEG, GIF 89a (non-interlaced, non-transparent, non-animated). Maximum total page weight: 20 kilobytes. Colours:Web safe - Red/Green/Blue (RGB) components chosen only from the values 0, 51, 102, 153, 204, and 255. Style sheet support: External [CSS] Level 1 HTTP: [HTTP1.0] or more recent [HTTP1.1] |
| Mobile Web | Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0, Basic Guidelines, W3C Recommendation 29 July 2008, which specifies standards and best practices for delivery of mobile web-based content. See also Delivery Context Overview for Device Independence W3C Working Group Note 20 March 2006: http://www.w3.org/TR/di-dco/ and Device Description Repository Simple API W3C Proposed Recommendation 17 September 2008: http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/PR-DDR-Simple-API-20080917/ W3C mobileOK Scheme 1.0 W3C mobileOK Basic Tests 1.0, W3C Working Draft 17 November 2008. According to this draft document, ‘mobileOK Basic’ primarily assesses basic usability, efficiency and interoperability: http://www.w3.org/TR/mobileOK/ |
| Wireless Data Connectivity Specifications | Note: proximity learning:
|
| Infrared Data Association (IrDA) | Refer to current Infrared Data Association (IrDA) published standards http://www.irda.org/ |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 2.0 is backwards compatible with previous versions, and improves both the range and speed of previous implementations (as much as 10x) http://www.bluetooth.com
Note: Bluetooth 2.1 is now available and is backward-compatible with previous versions and allow better filtering of devices before connection, reduced power consumption and stronger encryption for connections |
| Wi-Fi/WLAN | Wireless LAN or WLAN, is 802.11 a/b/g |
| GPRS/EDGE | As standardised by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP http://www.3gpp.org/) |
| 3G and 4G | 3G - As standardised by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project
(3GPP http://www.3gpp.org/) 4G – baseline standards not included in the Framework’s m-standards schedule at this time. Needs to be part of a future review. |
| WiMAX and HDSPA | Baseline standards not included in the Framework’s m-standards schedule at this time. Needs to be part of a future review. Different WiMAX standards provide different types of access refer to standards for 802.11n and other available standards. Refer to vendor For HDSPA refer to standards as provided by vendor |
| GPS | No baseline provided. It is recommended that readers refer to the particular specifications of their chosen vendor.
|
| RFID | 13.56 MHz (HF) A globally standardised and approved frequency 125 KHz (LF) A globally standardised and approved frequency. Note: Other frequencies exist but these have not been included within the baseline these standards |
| RFID tags | Tag dependant but often 13.56/125 KHz in learning situations |
| NFC | 13.56 MHz (HF) A globally standardised and approved frequency, primarily for inexpensive, passive RFID tags for identifying individual objects |
| 2D Barcodes | See Semacode http://semacode.com/ for details |
