Are Smartphones Worth the Extra Money?

Tuesday October 13, 2009

What are smartphones

Smartphones offer advanced features that usually have PC-like functionalities such as email, internet, ebook readers and a built in full keyboard.

The first smartphone was named Simon, built by IMB. Now, some of the most popular smartphones encompass Nokia 9210, Blackberry, iPhone, Palm Pre and HTC Touch.

The pros of the smartphone

Carrying around a mobile phone and a PDA is inefficient and unnecessary with today';s technological advancements. Smartphones are all-in-one devices that allow you to use email and phone, as well as organise.

One of the reasons people choose to have a smartphone is that it reduces bulk. Gone is your laptop and mobile phone and in with a smartphone, making travel (especially flying) a lot lighter and practical.

Smartphones widen your circle of communication, enabling you to phone, text and email. Smartphones also give you the ability to be more productive for work. Smartphones enable you to open and edit business files such as Microsoft Office';s Word and other documents.

While you are on the plane or taking the bus to work you can create spreadsheets, presentations and PDFs with using the features on your smartphone. You can also conduct research using their Web browsers and even be connected to your company';s network.

The other noticeable benefit of a smartphone is that you can use your phone much more quickly than a standard mobile phone or PDA precursors. You are also able to keep much more organised than a standard mobile phone with functions such as electronic diaries, personal organisers and automatic reminders.

Smartphones enable you to take notes, review and edit your appointment, contacts and documents while you';re on the move.

To work out what type of smartphone is right for you, you might like to determine whether you will be a heavy data user or if you only want to use it sporadically such as checking your email occasionally. If you are using your smartphone a lot you may consider a 3G/HSDPA and a Wi-Fi. If you only want to check your email occasionally, a GPS may be enough for you.

You might also like to work out whether your usage will be mostly voice-centric or data-centric to see what form factor will suit you best.

To determine what type of smartphone is worth your money, work out whether your usage will be mostly voice-centric or data-centric to see what form factor you will require.

We have looked at five popular smartphones that you might consider.

Apple iPhone 3GS

The iPhone 3GS is faster and has an extended battery life compared to the iPhone 3G. It has multimedia messaging, video recording and voice dialling.

iPhone';s downside is that its 3G signal reception is uneven and there is no USB transfer and storage.

RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900

This smartphone includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. It also has new productivity tools, a 3.2 megapixel camera and an HTML Web browser.

This phone lacks 3G support and can occasionally run slow.

Nokia E71x

Affordably priced the Nokia E71x has features such as 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and a QWERTY keyboard.

The bad points of this phone is that the GPS is sluggish and the keyboard layout is too cramped.

Samsung Omnia (Verizon Wireless)

The Samsung Omnia is proud of its spacious touch screen, a customisable Home screen, accelerometre and haptic feedback. Other features of this phone are Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, 5 megapixel camera and EV-DO Rev.

Its onscreen keyboard is cramped and the Omnia can be a bit slow.

Palm Pre (Sprint)

Palm Pre has multi-touch functionality and great multitasking capabilities and a notification system. The Palm Pre also has a good Web browser and good multimedia integration. There is good call quality and popular features such as Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS and Bluetooth.

The setbacks of the Palm Pre are that the keyboard is cramped, it doesn';t have a great battery life and the phone can operate too slowly at times. There are no video-recording capabilities, no expansion slot, onscreen keyboard and Flash support.

Depending on how much you are on the move and if you would benefit from having multiple functions on your mobile phone are questions you might like to ask to help determine whether a smartphone is a good option for you.

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