ABSTRACT
Today there are approximately 7 billion cellphone subscribers in the world, with a mobile phone penetration rate of ~96% globally [1]. In recent years, there has also been a significant increase in smartphone use especially in the developed parts of the world, which is projected to reach ~40% worldwide by 2015 [1]. Driven by this rapid growth of the mobile phone market, the cost of the cellphones has significantly decreased despite dramatic advances in the software and hardware components of these mobile technologies. To this end, the “state-of-art” digital components embedded in cellphones, including image sensors, micro-processors, displays, communication units etc., can be employed to create new opportunities for health monitoring in both the developed and the developing regions of the world. Therefore, cellphones, with their built-in features and global connectivity, can provide a ubiquitous platform for biomedical imaging, sensing, and diagnostics applications, which can potentially improve the health care delivery and help reduce the cost of biomedical tests worldwide by enabling the penetration of advanced microanalysis tools to even remote and resource-limited locations.
