The rapid evolution of mobile computing has spawned a very heterogeneous spectrum of technologies affecting both devices and system in the mobile computing domain. Since mobile computing emphasizes the ubiquitous use of interconnected systems the enabling of interoperability remains a significant requirement, which is considerably complicated by the impact of heterogeneity. In response, research has quickly addressed the issue and elaborated diverse solutions to the problem. This paper surveys the different approaches and extracts the key concepts in handling different heterogeneity aspects. We summarize those concepts by abstracting a general approach on heterogeneity-handling.