Portcom

A portable communications device (portcom) is a method of wireless communication on Aarde. They essentially function like phones, where a user can input a string of numbers to contact another user. These devices also carry various tools on them, including navigation tools, calculators, data collection, cameras, and other miscellaneous devices. These devices often connect to the Internet.
Portcoms are relatively common, having been first invented in Ecleinia by the engineer Winvere Delcol in 1824, who started her own company, Delcol Telecommunications, to deliver this new product to the public. Frequent innovations in Ecleinia, Norrthar, Svanksina, and Uincar led to a revolution in communication in the 1820s. By the 1830s, the creation of the Internet revolutionized the portcom even further, when the Svanksian company Erithoss Communications introduced the first portcom capable of internet connection. By the 1840s, the portcom was a standard device in the hands of most people- roughly 40% of the world's population owned one in 1841, and that number had jumped to 65% by 1851. The creation of the portcom is typically seen as the beginning of the Second Age of Innovation (lasting from 1824 to 1871; the First Age of Innovation is typically cited to have started in 1762, when Theodorick Sowager took the Ecleinian throne, and lasted until 1817, when Theodorick died).
Numerous firms and companies exist to provide communications services to the public. These companies include the Delcol Telecommunications Company, the Eithersonn Corporation, Danski Communications, Krilmann Portcoms, and Luxin Company. However, it is also common for people to build their own portcoms, either with pre-fabricated parts or completely from scratch. Numerous small firms exist to make custom portcoms for clients as well. Some new innovators are even combining portcoms with magic to produce items capable of directing magic in ways never seen before. A processor revolution has also turned these small devices into practical computers, with a rare few capable of performing advanced calculations, like hypernavigation charting.