The promise of mobile devices.

• Author: Insinna, Valerie

* The average American relies on smartphones for voice and text messaging, sending photos and videos to family, and getting directions via the global positioning system. These handheld devices allow a person to check his work email or pass time at the doctor's office by playing Angry Birds.

But while individual consumers have a handle on how to use smartphones to simplify their lives, the military is still figuring out how best to incorporate mobile devices in the office and in the field.

"Everybody is somewhat in love with their ... mobile devices on a personal level. We know how it can increase our personal productivity, our communication. You can look up anything anytime," said Greg Eoyang, president of ID Apps, a subsidiary of Intelligent Decisions, an Ashburn, Va.-based information technology company. "People understand what the promise of the devices are, and yet when it's transferred over to a business application, or in this case, a business of conducting war application, I think there has been a huge lack of ability to convert."

Fearing that new platforms could introduce vulnerabilities to their networks, the Defense Department and service branches traditionally have been slow to pick up new smartphones and tablets. The military, led by the Defense Information Systems Agency, recently made changes that would allow swifter adoption of the latest mobile devices. The agency also plans to build a military-centric application store in the vein of Google Play or Apple's App Store.

The use of applications is merely the tip of the iceberg. Dwelling below are endless possible ways the military can employ mobile technologies, said Mike Mikuta, senior technology director at DRC, an Andover, Mass.-based technology company.

"These smartphone platforms are the ultimate miniaturization of technology. So the things we're carrying around are about as fast as a computer was about three years ago," he said. "But you then also have all the other innovative capabilities: the GPS, cameras [and the] capability to run sensors."

At this point, the phrase, "every soldier is a sensor" has become almost a military cliche, but Mikuta sees a future in which mobile devices embedded in a soldier's uniform could act as the "brain" pulling together information from robots, unmanned aerial vehicles and sensors that detect chemical agents or acoustic signatures, he said.

This data could be used to warn troops on the ground of impending danger or to give directions on...