August 08, 2004
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In the past few months people have noticed my SonyEricsson P800 more and more, even though it is pretty much old news by now, and they have seen me window shopping and drooling over the latest and greatest in the smartphone arena. The questions start flying in... "say, I was thinking of getting one of those, what do you think?" or "my sister in law has one of those gadgets, I think they are cool, what would you think if I got this one?", and so on.
INTRODUCTION
I believe that they, the curious-about-smartphones people,
are not alone in the world and there needs to be a brief
explanation of which smartphone is good for you. Most of us
are computer users and have heard this kind of logical
argument before as we have undoubtedly shopped around for a
computer.
Let me start by saying that if you are looking for the
perfect smartphone, you are most likely not going to find
it, but you can come very close. There are four factors
influencing the purchase of a smartphone. The air
interface, the hardware features, the operating system and
finally the aesthetics. I have listed them in the order
that I think is most relevant.
AIR
INTERFACE: a crash course
You
might be wondering "what is an air interface?" The short
answer is: the method in which your mobile phone connects
with the network. Throughout the history of mobile phones
there have been many, and many of them are still in use,
like PDC and PHS (in Japan) and, AMPS and D-AMPS (USA).
Those are standards which are being retired so I will not
discuss them. I will focus on three standards that have
proliferated and are being used right now. Those are GSM
(and UMTS), CDMA, and iDEN.
GSM
GSM
is the most widespread standard; used in Europe, Africa,
Middle East, Asia and the Americas. GSM operates in four
frequencies. 900 Mhz and 1800 Mhz in Europe, Asia, Middle
East and Africa. The Americas operate in the 850 Mhz and
1900 Mhz frequencies. GSM uses a SIM card (SIM = Subscriber
Information Module), which allows you to place this card in
any GSM phone (provided that the frequency of the phone is
compatible with the frequency of your provider) and be able
to use that phone with your account. GSM phones come in
dualband, triband and quadband varieties. GSM has four ways
of transmitting data. The most popular is GPRS and most GSM
providers on this planet offer GPRS. EDGE is the next
generation of data transfer. CSD and HSCSD are more akin to
dial-up and have lower data rates than GPRS and HSCSD. Here
is how all 4 fare with data. CSD = up to 14.4 Kbp (~10 Kbps
actual) HSCSD = up to 58 Kbps GPRS = 172 Kbps theoretical
(~40-50 Kbps actual) EDGE = 384 kbps theoretical (~90 Kbps
actual)
UMTS
UMTS
is the next generation of GSM which is slowly being built
up. It operates in the 2100 Mhz frequency in Europe,
Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and in the Americas it
will operate in the 1900 Mhz frequency. It too uses a SIM
card and it is backward compatible with GSM networks. As of
this writing UMTS is not sufficiently built out but in the
coming years it will replace GSM. UMTS can theoretically
transfer 382 Kbps (actual: 200-300) and it has a
theoretical peak at 4.6Mbps (actual 600 kbps) with the
usage os hspda.
CDMA
CDMA
is a technology developed by Qualcomm. It is used in the
Americas, in Asia, Africa and experimental networks are
cropping up in Russia and some eastern european countries.
CDMA also operates in four frequencies. 800 Mhz in the
Americas and in Asia, 1900 Mhz in the Americas, 1700 Mhz in
Korea and 450 Mhz globally. CDMA has three ways of
transmitting data. Those are 1xRTT, EV-DO and EV-DV. 1xRTT
is the most common, EV-DO is up and coming and EV-DV has
not been deployed as of this writing. CDMA does not use SIM
cards however some CDMA operators in Hong Kong have
experimented with it (a little encyclopedic knowledge for
you). Here are the data rates for CDMA: CSD = up to 14.4
Kbps (~10 Kbps actual ) 1xRTT = 153 Kbps theoretical (~88
Kbps actual) EV-DO = 2.4 Mbps theoretical (~600 Kbps actual
) EV-DV = 3.1 Mbps theoretical (~750 Kbps actual)
iDEN
iDEN
is a standard created by Motorola and is used by Nextel in
the USA and Telus MiKE in Canada, as well as other
providers in Asia and South America. iDEN is distinct in
that is grew out of a radio dispatch technology and has had
a Push-to-talk "walkie talkie"**** feature for a long time.
iDEN can handle data rates of 60-70 Kbps. It too uses a SIM
card. The SIM card can be placed in a GSM or UMTS phone and
the subscriber can roam onto GSM and UMTS networks provided
that the carriers have roaming agreements.
Analysis:
I
know what you are thinking. Which is best? The one that is
best is what works for you, and often this little fact is
overlooked. If you live in Europe, don't worry, all you can
use is GSM, as CDMA and iDEN don't exist there. if you live
in Korea, Don't worry because all that exists there is
CDMA, the rest of us have some options. First you need to
make sure to pick a provider that you like. This will
depend on coverage, service, roaming agreements if you
travel, how many features you get and how much those
features cost. Once you pick a carrier, you can see what
technology they use and then continue on the task of
selecting the smartphone that is right for you. I for
example use a GSM smartphone. I use GSM because I travel to
Europe on and off and I prefer to buy a local prepaid SIM
card rather than roam with my US number (this to me is
cheaper), not to mention the fact that with a CDMA phone I
cannot roam at all. My girlfriend uses CDMA because she is
more content with the service plan she has and to her
roaming is not a big thing (I've got a spare GSM handset
which she can use when traveling).
HARDWARE:
the bits and pieces
Unfortunately , unlike PCs you cannot custom build a PDA or
a smartphone, so you are stuck with what the manufacturer
provides for you. There are some add-ons that you can add
(usually by way of CF or SD card), but by doing that you
usually play the swapping game, i.e. swap out the WiFi
card, add in the radio, swap out the radio, add in the
extra memory. This is the stage where usually most of the
compromising happens. I have broken down the most common,
and uncommon, things that you see in smartphones and you
can look through and see if you need the given features, or
how much of them you need.
-- Serious consideration --
Processor:
The Megahertz myth is alive and well! People equate
Megahertz with performance and as many before me have
mentioned this just isn't the case. What you should be
looking at are how many MIPS a processor can accomplish
(Millions of Instructions Per Second). The greater the
amount of MIPS the more your processor can accomplish.
Currently Intel and Texas Instruments make the ARM
processors commonly found in smartphones. I cannot say
which is better because we will get into an "Intel vs AMD"
like argument that we see in the PC world. Were I to choose
a processor I would go with a 500 Mhz or higher Intel or
300 Mhz or higher TI. There is no scientific basis for my
picking of numbers, this just happens to be what currently
is the latest-and-greatest out there - just being honest.
RAM:
How
much is RAM enough? Well RAM in a smartphone is like RAM in
a personal computer. The more of it you have, the more
applications you can run at the same time. This assumes
that the OS is a multitasking OS, and that the processor is
fast enough to be able to handle multiple processes at the
same time. You also need space to store your documents and
applications. The more space you have, the more you can
have on your device. Currently, higher-end Windows Mobile
devices are coming out with 128 megabytes of RAM built-in,
though 64MB seems to be a standard amount.
Screen:
The Screen is the third most important thing on the list.
There are two things that matter on the screen. The first
is how many colors can that screen show? The second is what
is the resolution of the screen? This is something that
depends on usage. If you want to be able to show images or
documents on your screen then the higher the amount of
color and the resolution of the screen the better. On the
other hand if you only wish to browse the web, read the
news, read items on AvantGo and have contacts use the
datebook and make yourself reminders then a higher
resolution screen and/or a screen with that depicts more
colors might not be for you. Remember that sharper,
brighter screens generally consume more battery power. The
latest-and-greatest on the market are 640x480 resolution
screens (usually found on Windows Mobile devices) and
screen that can depict 272k colors.
Infrared:
Infrared
is a method of sending and receiving data from other
phones, computers or devices. Infrared has been around for
a while so it might be beneficial to have infrared
capability on your smartphone. If you do not have that
though do not despair because infrared is being replaced by
Bluetooth and infrared has two disadvantages to Bluetooth.
The first is line-of-sight (at a max distance of 3 feet).
The two devices attempting to send data to one another must
have the infrared "eyes" pointed to one another in order to
do so. Also infrared has low data rates (compared to
bluetooth), whereas bluetooth has a much higher rate of
transfer. If you have a computer with an Infrared "eye" as
well you can transfer data to a computer and you can use
your smartphone as a modem to wirelessly connect to the
internet, it will be a bit slow though, even if you have
one of the higher speed air-interfaces because if the
inherent slowness of IR. Infrared version 1.1 data rate =
115.2 Kbps
Bluetooth:
Bluetooth,
as mentioned earlier, is either coexisting with infrared on
smartphones or has replaced it altogether. Personally I
have used Bluetooth far more than I have used infrared on
my smartphone. There are two varieties of Bluetooth.
Version 1.1, which is most common, and 1.2. Version 1.2 has
yet to make an appearance on any device, but it is coming.
Version 1.2 allows you to have multiple devices connected
at the same time, so for example I can be connected to my
computer, a bluetooth keyboard and another phone at the
same time. With version 1.1 I can only connect to one
device at a time. There are many bluetooth applications
these days. Bluetooth keyboards, GPS modules, print servers
and more. As with infrared, you can use Bluetooth to
connect to a computer to transfer data and to get online.
With Bluetooth you will not experience the slowdown like
you will with infrared. It has a data rate of 1 Mbps and
can function up to 10 meters from the device (but can be
extended theoretically though the use of a repeater).
802.11
(a.k.a. WiFi):
Some smartphones are coming out with WiFi built-in. The
most common flavor of WiFi for smartphones these days is
802.11b which has speed of up to 11 Mbps. WiFi is a way of
getting online and even making VoIP (Voice over IP*) calls
from your smartphone. This enables you to save your minutes
and your lower your data charges. From my personal
experience, having WiFi built-in your smartphone is useful
in three scenarios:
1) You have broadband (DSL or Cable) at home and a WiFi
router. You don't feel like getting up to go to the
computer room to check the sports scores, the news or any
other items you wish to check online, or if the computers
are being used by others. In this scenario you can access
them on your phone
2) Your town, school or company provides WiFi access
throughout the campus (or public town land) and this is a
good way to keep up to date with your emails even when you
are not in the office or at home and keep those valuable
minutes for usage when you need to use them (be a bit
thrifty!)
3) You have an account with a WiFi hotspot and you can use
your WiFi enabled phone to browse the web while drinking
your warm (or cold) beverage at the caf&eaigu; you are
at. Personally I like WiFi and I use it often on my
powerbook surfing wirelessly in the living room, the
kitchen and even the bedroom. It is quite useful provided
that the infrastructure is already present.
If you do not fall in any of those three categories, maybe
WiFi is one of those nice things on your device that you
never use, so why pay for it?
Removable
Media Slots:
Expansion,
like in computers, is quite useful in a smartphone and this
is where expansion slots come into play. If you want to
only use your smartphone as a calendar, address-book,
web-browser, email application and phone, then expansion
might not be as important to you. If you want to listen to
music or add games and other applications to your phone
then expansion slots are something very important. I advise
people to look for a product with some sort of expansion
slot because you never know what might happen in the future
and what you might want to do with your phone. There are
generally three types of commonly found removable media
cards for a smartphone. Secure Digital (SD) cards, Compact
Flash (CF) cards and Memory Stick (MS) cards. SD and Memory
Sticks are smaller than CF, allowing for smaller devices,
but there are a greater variety of devices available in the
larger CF format, and the memory is generally cheaper. With
some of these slots** you can also add expansion items to
your phone like radio tuners, WiFi adapters and so on. I
personally have no preference as to which one I get on my
smartphone because I do not use the slots for hardware
expansion, I use them for memory expansion.
Keyboard:
Some
smartphones sport a built-in keyboard, others do not. My
smartphone does not. I generally do not enter much data on
my smartphone, save for the notes that I make for myself,
and I am almost always at home or the office so I can email
from there and use a PC for any kind of data entry that I
need on my smartphone. When I am on the road I use the
handwriting recognition to enter data. This does not bother
me but it does bother other people. If you foresee that you
will be entering data in your smartphone often, such as
using it as a mailing device please do yourself a favor and
get a smartphone with a built-in keyboard or a snap-on
keyboard. This is the most comfortable way to enter data.
There exist tabletop keyboards but my philosophy on the
issue is this: If you have a tabletop keyboard, even one
that if foldable, why not just bring your laptop with you?
A tabletop keyboard required a surface to place it on and
it impedes data-entry on the go.
---
The Frills ---
What would life be without a frill here and there ?
Camera:
When
I bought my smartphone, a couple of years ago, I was amazed
at the fact that they were able to put a digital camera on
a phone! Admittedly this is a frill on my phone as I do not
use it that often except when I see something noteworthy or
I just want to take a picture of myself at some location
that I have not been before. Most cameras are VGA cameras
with a 640x480 resolution (0.3 megapixels). Some new
smartphones are coming out with cameras that are 1.3
megapixels or 2 megapixels. Now whether or not you need a
camera on your phone depends solely on you. Some cameras
only take still pictures, others take stills and small
movies as well! If you consider yourself a person that
likes to take snapshots of different things then a camera
might be for you. Generally the photos taken by such
cameras are good only for on-screen display and they
generally are not fit for printing (like conventional
photos). Newer cameras on smartphones usually also include
a flash and some sort of zoom, usually it is a digital
zoom. Finally, places of business with confidentiality
issues, sensitive data, sensitive findings, and
high-security areas do not allow cameras, and therefore
phones with digital cameras, on the premises. You might be
asked to hand over your phone for the duration of your
visit to that place! Be warned!
Radio Tuner:
This
feature is somewhat available on smartphones. Nokia
pioneered the FM tuner in phones which allows the user to
listen to the radio on his or her phone. This feature has
not been widely available on other phones but I like having
the ability to listen to the radio if I can. I admit that
this is one of those little frilly options that you may
have on your smartphone, but I think of it enjoyable when I
go on vacation, or when I am on the train to listen to the
radio on my phone without carrying a walkman with me. This
option comes at the cost of the battery though, so the more
you use the radio the faster the battery drains so I hope
you have an extra charger for your smartphone at work as
well!
GPS:
GPS is a nice little technology that can do many things for
you, including help you to find your way, give you
directions or aid you in your
Geocaching
game.
I have never had GPS on any of my smartphones but I think
that I would like to have GPS on my next smartphone because
I am really bad with directions so having a map on my
smartphone and GPS as well would help me find my way. This
is something that most people will not find useful, unless
you are like me, or unless you are a geocacher. Actual GPS
mapping functionality is expensive and rare at this point.
The thing you need to ask yourself with GPS is "do I really
need it?" If you can find three reasons as to why you need
it then go for it!
TV Tuner:
The last built-in feature that some phones have is a
built-in TV tuner. This is the über-frill of them all, the
ability to watch television on your phone. Personally I
would keep away from this feature because you will end up
draining your battery pretty fast. If you are thinking of
traveling and entertaining yourself while traveling think
about this: there are three standards of TV broadcast on
this planet, NTSC, PAL and SECAM. TV tuners usually do NTSC
or PAL & SECAM so if you are in the Americas and will
be travelling the Americas then go ahead and have a phone
with a TV tuner, but if you wish to go anywhere else, when
your TV tuner won't be getting any reception. The converse
is also true. I am an all frills kind of person when it
comes to my gizmos and gadgets but this is too frilly even
for me. The good thing is that most smartphones don't have
this option, I have only seen two that have a TV tuner, so
don't spend that much time mulling over this option.
OPERATING SYSTEM
There are two kinds of Smartphone Operating Systems. There
are the Operating Systems that look more like a PDA
operating system and ones that look more like a traditional
phone operating systems. Which one is better? As I have
said before it all depends on your needs and relative level
of proficiency with PDAs. I personally prefer the PDA-like
Operating Systems to the more traditional phone-like
operating systems. I subject the operating system to two
tests. These tests are kind of like the tests that I
subject desktop operating systems to:
(1) Is the OS stable? If it isn't I won't bother with it. I
don't want to experience a crash when I am making a
phone-call that might be very important. The good thing is
that in most instances the OS is stable (enough) so that
the device won't hang or crash.
(2) Are there applications available for this OS? You might
want to expand your horizons in the future (near or
otherwise) so if an OS has applications built for it then
you can be more productive.
(3) What Kind of built-in applications does it have?
(4) What are my Sync options? Syncing is quite important in
smartphones, just like PDAs, because chances are that you
have already typed up all your contacts, dates, reminders
and notes in your PC (or Mac) and you do not (and should
not) have to retype everything from the beginning in the
smartphone. Also if you make a change in your smartphone
you shouldn't be obligated to do the same on your computer.
Windows users usually do not encounter problems with
syncing since most smartphones come with syncing
applications to the device with your PC. Mac and Linux
users sometimes encounter problems with syncing because
applications for syncing with the Linux and Mac operating
systems don't usually come bundled with the smartphone.
There are alternatives out there, if you can find them. Now
lets look at the smartphone Operating systems.
--The
traditional looking smartphone Operating Systems--
Windows Smartphone:
Pros: Users of this smartphone OS claim that the OS is
stable and have no problem with it.
Cons: I've seen some bad reviews of the Smartphone OS
online...No Macintosh synchronization and there's a dearth
of applications available as of this writing.
Screenshots:
Smartphone OS screenshots and
info
Symbian
Series 60:
Pros: Available on many devices, extremely customizable,
has a plethora of applications, a big user community and it
is stable. Mac synchronization is free and works
out-of-the-box.
Cons: Some users have expressed their discontent that most
of the applications available on the Series 60 platform are
games and that they are not all that useful. Also the
Series 60 platform does not run on smartphones with
touch-screens. Also the resolution of the screen in series
60 devices tends to be lower than other smartphone
operating systems.
Screenshots:
Series 60 screenshots
--The PDA-like smartphone Operating Systems--
Windows
Mobile Phone Edition:
Pros: Windows Mobile has come a long way and it is one of
the better operating systems out there. It is stable,
customizable and there are a lot of applications out there.
This OS can multitask so you can play a game while
listening to the MP3 player in your phone.
Cons: I've heard of limitations in terms of how many
processes it can run at the same time. I believe that these
problems have been fixed with Windows Mobile 2003 SE. It's
a Microsoft product (I know this bothers some people). Mac
Synchronization is not free, you need to purchase extra
software for it.
Screenshots:
Screenshots on the MDA III
PalmOS:
Pros: PalmOS has been around for a long time. For this
reason the PalmOS has a large inventory of applications
that can run on it, games, business, scientific and more.
The advantage of the PalmOS, over Windows Mobile, is that
applications take up very little space when they run when
compared to Windows Mobile Applications.
Cons: There are a few problems with the PalmOS. It is not
yet a fully multitasking operating system, so you cannot
really do many things at once, like you do with Windows
Mobile or the UIQ. Hopefully the next iteration of the
PalmOS named Cobalt will fix this. Another drawback is that
PalmOS devices tend to have lower resolution screens. Mac
and Linux synchronization up to now is free, but beginning
with Cobalt it will not be.
Screenshots:
Video Treo and PalmOS
Symbian
Series 90:
Pros: Series 90 is dubbed as an OS for "media devices"
(reminds me of BeOS) so it should be good in handling
multimedia, radio, telephone apps and such.
Cons: One major con is that the device that Nokia was going
to release it on, the Nokia 7700, has been put on ice for
now.
Screenshots:
Series 90
screenshots
Symbian
Series 80:
Pros: The Series 80 runs on Nokia Communicators. It is
reminiscent of the EPOC operating system that ran on Psion
Hardware. It is quite stable.
Cons: Unfortunately there aren't that many applications out
for the Series 80 given that it is a closed platform and
Nokia does not license it to other hardware manufacturers.
Also the Series 80 lacks the touchscreen (something that
the EPOC platform had). There is no Mac synchronization
software.
Screenshots:
Series 80 screenshots
Symbian
UIQ:
Pros: This OS uses SyncML for synchronization and therefore
can sync with Mac and Windows clients out of the box. Linux
syncing is also possible with a little work. There are
quite a few devices out there that run on the UIQ platform
(SonyEricsson, BenQ, Motorola) and there are quite a few
applications available for it. This OS is a multitasking
OS.
Cons: Some applications do not look as polished as
applications on PalmOS and on Windows mobile rendering
their look a bit Juvenile. Even though this OS is a
multitasking operating system it sometimes crashes (I have
experiences a few). The devices that run it are quite
resilient and I have never lost data from a crash, one time
I did think that I would never be able to use it again
though, all is fixed now. My unit has crashed 10 times in 2
years. This is more crashes than my windows mobile device!
(this shocked me).
Screenshots:
UIQ screenshots
HipTop
OS:
Pros: The HipTop OS is tightly integrated with the hardware
and thus provides a good stable environment. Newer versions
provide synchronization via built-in synchronization
software for sync with Windows Clients.
Cons: The Hiptop OS is relatively new and thus does not
have an extensive library of applications for you to choose
and install on your unit. Also the hiptop OS is lacking in
the unicode area and does not provide an ability to read
and write in non-roman languages (exception is japanese
hiragana and katakana). The hiptop OS does not provide for
Mac synchronization!
Screenshots:
Hiptop and
Hiptop 2 demos with screenshots
Blackberry
OS:
Pros: The Blackberry OS is another highly proprietary OS.
It is stable and its users like it. There is a variety of
hardware which RIM (Research In Motion) provides to run
this OS. Blackberry's claim to fame is the Push email
client (which now they are licensing out to other
manufacturers). Synchronizes with Windows Clients.
Cons: Due to the fact that it is so proprietary there
aren't that many applications available for the Blackberry
OS. Also Mac and Linux synchronization is not available.
Screenshots:
Blackberry Demo with screenshots
Mizi
Linux:
Pros: Mizi linux is made by a korean company and it runs on
a user interface similar to Windows Mobile so the learning
curve is not that steep. The OS comes jam packed with
applications and CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) and
English user interfaces are available.
Cons: Third party applications are not that plentiful, and
applications from other PDA/smartphone linux distributions
are probably not compatible (unless you can get your hand
on the source code and compile it for Mizi Linux).
Sync-ability is something that is left unknown, probably
you are not able to sync with a Mac. Mizi Linux seems very
good, however it currently is only offered with GSM 1x***
phones which are not available everywhere.
Screenshots:
Mizi Linux screenshots
Montavista
Linux:
Pros: Montavista linux is what Motorola uses on their linux
phones. It is a stable embedded OS that offers a lot of
goodies.
Cons: This linux suffers the same cons as Mizi linux,
namely third party applications, Mac sync-ability and
reading and writing in non-latin based languages.
Screenshots:
Montavista
Linux screenshot on Motorola
A768
SMARTPHONE
SHAPE
Finally, there is an aesthetic appeal to a smartphone, and
I cannot stress this enough - LOOK AT AESTHETICS LAST, I
cannot tell you how many people I know have bought bad
phones because they bought the phone because "it looked
nice" rather than what it was capable of doing. There are 4
kinds of shape: clamshells, candy-bars, in-between shapes
which I affectionately call clambars (lol), and slates.
Here are some examples of each
Candybars
SonyEricsson
P900
Nokia
6630
Audiovox
PPC4100
Hitachi
G1000
Motorola
E680
Samsung
i519 GSM 1x Phone
Clamshells
Nokia 9500
Nokia
9210
Nokia
6260
Motorola
MPx
Samsung
i600
Motorola
MPx220
Motorola
A780
Treo
600
Clambars
Hiptop
2
Slates
Nokia
7700
Blackberry
7730
Blackberry
7510
Blackberry
6750
MDA
III
BUILT-IN APPLICATIONS: what to expect
No smartphone primer would be complete without mentioning a
little something about built-in applications. There are
some types of applications that come standard like the
address book, the calendar and the notebook. These
applications vary from operating system to operating system
in that they have different levels of capability and
complexity. An address book from one system is not the same
as address book from another system. In addition to that,
hardware manufacturers bundle third-party applications with
their device so a Windows Mobile device for instance might
not come with the same applications that another Windows
Mobile device came with. This should come as no surprise
because this has been happening in the PC world for a while
now. A Dell does come with Windows, but it doesn't have the
same suite of applications as a Sony, and vice versa. Other
applications that you might (or might not) see are the
gratuitous games that manufacturers bundle, time and
weather applications such as
WorldMate,
PowerPoint, Excel and Word viewers, PDF Viewers, Image
Viewers, security and backup utilities and in most cases
you will also get a Sync application which allows you to
sync your mobile device with your computer.
FINAL WORD: OK class, what have we learned?
Step 1: Assess your needs! If you do not assess your needs
you might end up spending a lot more money than you
intended for features that you might not ever use. Also if
you do not adequately assess your needs you might end up a
device which is too complicated, that does not work as you
intended it to, and it might end up causing stress and
frustrations that had been unforeseen.
Step 2: Upon Assessing your needs, choose two or three
devices that work for you, in addition to checking out the
technical specs and OS of the devices also see what sort of
bundled software it comes with.
Step 3: After you pick the devices
look at merchant
websites like Handago
that sell software for smartphones and PDAs to determine if
the extra software you need you can get on the device.
Step 4: Window shop! You might find a cheaper price
elsewhere for the device that you intend on buying! Beware
of scams though! You might try comparison shopping systems
like
PriceGrabber
or Dealtime (in the sidebar here at NMC).
Step 5: Finally, you are almost ready to make a purchase,
are you absolutely sure that this is what you want? Wait
for a couple of weeks, re-assess the situation, think about
it again and if you decide that this is what you want, go
for it! (don't forget to mail in the warranty card!!!!)
See, that's it! Getting a smartphone in 5 simple steps!
Considering the fact that smartphones, without a contract,
cost close to what a cheap laptop costs I would weigh the
options carefully, and buy with caution. Some people think
that the more a given object costs the better the
craftsmanship, operation and overall value of that given
object is. While I do not disagree very much with this
premise, if you buy something you do not absolutely need,
you end up getting a paper-weight, so why pay a lot of
money for a paper-weight? It doesn't make sense, does it?
Endnotes:
* Voice over IP means that you are able to make voice phone
calls without the use of your cellular minutes. You can
complete a voice phone call utilizing the network
infrastructure at your organization. This can be free or at
a cost.
** SD slot must be an SDIO slot for this to work
*** GSM 1x is a chip that allows you to be able to use both
CDMA 1x and GSM networks with one device. It has started
being deployed in China, and Verizon in the USA only has
one, non-smartphone, telephone available using this
technology. It would suffice to say that this is not widely
available yet.
**** The PTT (Push To Talk) feature is now available in GSM
and CDMA networks as well.
Originally Published in:
http://www.nmcx.com/story.php?news_id=4178
Date: August 08, 2004
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