How to buy a smartphone
By Susan Wilson
With all of the different types of smart phones on the market, choosing one that will fit your needs can be confusing. Simply figuring out what constitutes a smartphone can be confusing with new cell phones being introduced daily with more and more features.
Smartphone used to mean a phone that was both a cell phone and a PDA (personal digital assistant) like the Palm Treo series or the vast number of phones built around the Windows Mobile operating system. Primarily they incorporated phone functions with a calendar, contact list and task/memo functions. Now even your "free with a new account" cell phones have all those features. So where do you start when assessing what is needed.
Basic questions are: Do you want to stay with your current cell phone vendor or do you want to look at other companies? What type of quality and service do different vendors offer in your area? Will you need a local, national or in between plan? Are different data plans offered depending on the type of smartphone you purchase? What exactly does "unlimited" mean to each vendor? Will you be texting as well as emailing? Will text messages require a separate plan? What types and styles of smartphones do your available vendors offer?
The next questions to ask yourself are: What features do you want? What features do you need? and What features will you actually use? Every cell phone sales person will dazzle you with the features and options that are available. So you need to have a clear idea what you actually need, want and will use.
Features to consider are:
Operating System - Choices are Windows Mobile, Palm, Blackberry, Apple(iPhone) and Symbian (Nokia). Are you already familiar with one operating system over another? How easily can you learn and get used to using which ever system you choose? How available are third party programs for any added programs that you need or want?
Size – How big do you want your phone to be? Do you want a smartphone small enough to fit in your pocket or will a device that resides in case on your belt or purse do? Do you want a flip phone or a candy bar phone?
Screen – How big does your screen need to be? Does your screen need to be large for easily reading documents or viewing pictures? Will a small screen be sufficient to keep the size down? Do you want a touch screen or simply a view screen? If a touch screen, do you want one that will work with your fingers or a stylus? How annoying do you find fingerprints or smudges? Will you need screen protectors to keep your screen from becoming permanently scratched or damaged?
Memory – How much memory do you need in your device for: processing and to hold programs and documents? Will you be downloading office documents or presentations to review, edit and print from your smartphone? How much memory does the operating system require to run efficiently and how much memory to run more than one program?
Bluetooth – Will you need Bluetooth so that your smart phone can communicate wirelessly with: your computer, a printer, a projector, a wireless headset, a separate speaker system, or some other wireless device not named?
WiFi – Will your smartphone surf the web without WiFi? Will having WiFi allow you to cut down on your use of minutes or data transfer amounts to save money? Will WiFi allow you to download pictures, ebooks and other information to which you need access?
Keyboard – Do you want a keyboard attached with which to type emails, messages, or notes? How big does the keyboard need to be so that you are comfortable using it? Should your keyboard always be available or something that is hidden and will slide out when needed? Is an on screen touch keyboard something that you would be comfortable using?
Camera – Do you want your phone to have a camera? Will a camera prevent you from taking your phone places that you want to use it? What features do you want your camera to have? Is video important? What resolution do you want or need – 1 mega pixel, 2 mega pixel, or 8 mega pixels?
Video capabilities – Can you download and watch videos, TV or podcasts from your smartphone? Do you even want to watch videos on your smartphone and will this affect the size screen/phone that you need/want?
Voice recording – How often do you record voice messages to yourself if at all? How often will you need to record conversations for later accuracy in recall? How long should your smartphone be able to record a message? How easy should recording be: push a button? scroll through a screen with a trackball? touch an icon?
Synchronizing with your computer – How easily will your device sync with your computer? Does it require or use a separate program to sync information than Outlook or the Mac/Linux equivalent? Should the program be able to sync with Outlook or with iCal or Google or Yahoo? Should the sync process allow/require a cable, Bluetooth, or WiFi?
GPS – Do you want your smartphone to have GPS functionality? If you do, does that change any other choices such as screen size or keyboard needs? What type of GPS program do you want to use and is it only available for certain smart phones or available through select cell phone carriers?
Program availability – what types of third party programs do I need for my smartphone and what third party programs do I want to buy? Do you need money management/expense account software? Do you want a program that will allow you to view and edit business documents? How about programs for games or reading ebooks? Will your operating system need to have programs to tune it up on a regular basis? How about programs to help you organize your smartphone like file managers? Will you want to buy third party organization software that connects your contacts, with your calendar, with your tasks, with your memos? Do you need a GTD program to organize your tasks and projects by steps?
All of these questions are important because they help define exactly what you are looking for in a smartphone. Most smartphones combine a number of these features and each cell phone carrier/vendor offers different operating systems and configurations.
For instance, you can get Blackberry smartphones that have full QWERTY keyboards or "smart type" keyboards. They come with and without cameras depending on your preference. Some models offer WiFi while others offer GPS and still others offer both. Some Blackberrys will work on any system worldwide and other Blackberrys are limited to specific cell phone channels. Newer Blackberrys offer the option of adding tiny memory cards and the newest Blackberrys have more internal memory.
Those are simply the Blackberry options available today. New models are coming out that will have touchscreen operability and no keyboard. Third party software is easy to find as are helpful websites with software and accessory reviews.
Windows Mobile, Palm, Apple (iPhone) and Symbian (Nokia) all come in different configurations with different software already installed and third party software available.
Knowing what you want when you go in will help you narrow your search and focus your time and energy on buying the right device for you and your needs.
Related:
September 12th, 2008
Probably the best operating system for a Smartphone is Linux, simply because it is an open system and not developed to keep control of the customer with a view to restricting their options.
As it was not listed, I guess Susan is a lobbyist for the GSM operators who virtually all use walled-garden access to The Internet to stop their customers accessing very low cost VOIP communications.