Smart Phone Buying Tips
I do this for all those that have been wondering on what to get as a smart phone. So, squint hard if you are reading this on that substandard electronic object and let this sink in.
First of all there’s no such thing as the perfect smart phone. However, with the right guide, you can find the perfect one for your needs. Depending on your priorities, you might be looking for a device that’s simple to use or one that can be customized to your heart’s content. Do you care more about battery life and work-related features, or do you want a phone that’s more multimedia-centric? Use these tips to find the smart phone that belongs in your pocket.
Thus far, no one has come close to Apple’s clean and simple icon-based approach on the iPhone. But that’s not to say there aren’t other compelling options out there. For instance, HTC has done a very good job with its people-centric Sense interfaces for both Android and Windows Mobile phones. And Motorola’s slick Motoblur user experience on the Devour and other upcoming devices places an emphasis on social networking updates, though it might be a bit overwhelming to some.
Other Android phones, such as the Motorola Droid and Nexus One, come with the stock interface from Google. While somewhat plain, it can easily be populated with convenient widgets. Palm’s webOS phones (such as the Pixi Plus and Pre Plus) use an activity card-based interface that’s ideal for multitaskers since you can literally shuffle and discard programs, and they put gestures to good use.
The bottom line is that you should be comfortable with a phone’s interface if you’re going to be using it to make calls, surf the Web, send e-mails, browse music, and more. You should decide what’s most important to you (simplicity, personalization, etc.) before you make that purchase. Just make sure that the hardware can keep up with the interface; a slick UI is meaningless if you find yourself counting the seconds between tasks.
If you want the most speed possible, look for a smart phone powered by a Cortex A8 ARM processor (found in such devices as the iPhone, Motorola Droid, and Palm Pre). This processor is often paired with a powerful graphics core, which is why the iPhone, Palm Pre, and Pre Plus can handle graphically rich 3D games. The 1.0-GHz Cortex A9
processor, coming soon to smart phones is even more powerful. Qualcomm’s 1.0-GHz Snapdragon (found in the HTC HD2 and other upcoming phones) is another high-end processor that offers zippy performance.
When it comes to memory, there are typically two types you want to pay attention to: RAM and overall storage for files. A minimum of 256MB of RAM is a good place to start. For example, we noticed that the original T-Mobile G1 was sluggish because it had just 192MB of RAM, while the HTC Hero has 288MB. On most smart phones you use this same amount of RAM for storing applications.
As for file storage, a minimum of 8GB is preferred, whether it’s through internal memory or an included microSD Card. If you want the option of expanding the amount of storage over time, look for a smart phone with a microSD slot.
Screen resolution matters just as much as size. For example, although the Bold 9700 packs in 480 x 360 pixels (great for video and pictures), this resolution makes it tough to read Web sites without zooming in. The iPhone 3GS’ 480 x 320 pixels are perfectly suited for the larger screen, although you do have to zoom in a bit to get the best experience. The Droid’s 854 x 480 screen produces crisp text on Web sites that is even easier to read; more information and images fit on the display at once.
One welcome feature on touchscreen phones is multitouch, which allows you to use pinching gestures for zooming in on maps, photos, and Web pages. The iPhone, Palm Pixi Plus and Pre Plus, and select Android phones such as the Droid Eris and HTC Hero are multitouch-enabled. Most Windows Mobile phones lack this feature (with the exception of the HTC HD2), as does the BlackBerry Storm2. Such phones usually let you zoom in by double-tapping, which works fine but offers less precise control.
If you want a physical keyboard that’s always exposed, BlackBerrys are best. There are also several smart phones available with larger slide-out keyboards; the best models provide good tactile feedback, along with easy access to such keys as @. Some of the better physical keyboards can be found on the HTC Touch Pro2 and Motorola Cliq. Watch out for layouts with top rows of keys that are positioned too close to the bottom of the display, which can potentially get in the way of your thumbs as you’re typing.
If you’re content with owning a smart phone that’s equipped with only a touchscreen keyboard, we prefer the iPhone 3GS and any device made by HTC over the competition (whether it’s an Android or Windows Mobile device). They offer the best accuracy, although the iPhone has the edge in terms of speed.
The Android Market has more than 20,000 apps available, making it a distant but respectable second in this category. The Market is easier to navigate now than when it first launched, and big names such as Facebook and Pandora are now backing the platform. However, paying for apps requires a Google Checkout account, and some applications are priced in pounds rather than dollars. The quality level also seems to drop off steeply once you get beyond the most popular lists.
In order of the number of apps—from most to least—BlackBerry’s App World (4,000-plus), Palm’s App Catalog (1,100-plus), and Windows Marketplace for Mobile (600-plus) round out the rest of the list. The App World has a decent selection, but purchasing premium programs requires a PayPal account, which is annoying. We like that Windows Marketplace for Mobile has a desktop counterpart for downloading apps online, and that there’s a carrier billing option in most cases. Palm’s webOS also has shown the most improvement when it comes to iPhone-like games (available only for the Pre and Pre Plus).
Increasingly, smart phone makers are looking to cut the cord for everyone. All Android phones and webOS devices sync with the cloud; in most cases all you have to do is enter an e-mail address and password for various accounts to start loading your device with information.
We especially like how some Android and webOS devices sync with Facebook so you can see contacts’ profile pictures when they call. (Select Windows Mobile phones made by HTC also have this functionality.) Google Sync can help BlackBerrys, iPhones, and Windows Mobile devices sync with the cloud, as can platform-specific services such as Apple’s MobileMe.
When it comes to messaging and chat, look for smart phones that let you easily segue from text messaging conversations to instant messaging or e-mail. In other words, you choose how you want to communicate. Palm’s webOS does a good job in this area, as do some of the latest Android phones. Otherwise, look for an all-in-one instant messaging app that you can download, such as IM+.
If you have a BlackBerry, you can use a third-party MP3 download service like 7digital or Primetime2Go for downloading TV shows over Wi-Fi. It’s pretty easy with most smart phones to drag and drop existing media content from your PC to the phone, but BlackBerry goes the extra mile with its own Media Sync desktop application. Windows Mobile phones can use Windows Media Player via ActiveSync. The good news is that if you don’t feel like managing music files, you can access streaming Internet radio on most smart phones using such apps as Pandora and Slacker.
Like the idea of watching Hulu or YouTube right from your smart phone’s browser? Palm is first out of the gate with Flash 10 support, but it will be also coming to Android and Windows Mobile.
If you want to use your smart phone to take pictures and record video, look beyond mere megapixels. What’s more important is the image quality, speed of the device, and how easy it is to share images and clips. We prefer devices that have a flash to those that don’t, but a good smart phone should be able take sharp, well-saturated pictures both indoors and out without requiring a flash. The iPhone and most BlackBerrys have very good cameras.
Another tip is to make sure your device doesn’t take more than a second or two to process an image, allowing you to keep on firing away. Also, look for a smart phone that lets you easily upload photos to such sites as Facebook, Flickr, or Twitter.
Most smart phones aren’t good enough to replace a standalone pocket camcorder, but several devices capture YouTube-worthy clips. If video recording capabilities are a priority, look for at least VGA resolution (640 x 480) and a frame rate of 24 frames per second or higher.
Want navigation for free? Devices that run Android 1.6 and higher support Google Maps Navigation (Beta), which offers spoken directions, voice-enabled search, and both satellite and street views for no cost. However, this app isn’t as polished or as easy to use as premium Android apps such as ALK CoPilot Live 8 ($34.95).
Regardless of the platform, you should pay attention to how loud and clear the voice is through the smart phone’s speaker, how intuitive the menus are to use, how easy it is to search for points of interest, and how large and up to date the POI database is.
User Interface
The most important thing about a smart phone is its user interface, or the software utilized to interact with the device. The intuitiveness of menus will often determine whether a given phone is worth owning. Although manufacturers take various approaches to interfaces, you should be able to quickly find what you’re looking for, whether you want to make a call, send an e-mail, find your photos, or tweak important settings. The less taps or clicks, the better.Thus far, no one has come close to Apple’s clean and simple icon-based approach on the iPhone. But that’s not to say there aren’t other compelling options out there. For instance, HTC has done a very good job with its people-centric Sense interfaces for both Android and Windows Mobile phones. And Motorola’s slick Motoblur user experience on the Devour and other upcoming devices places an emphasis on social networking updates, though it might be a bit overwhelming to some.
Other Android phones, such as the Motorola Droid and Nexus One, come with the stock interface from Google. While somewhat plain, it can easily be populated with convenient widgets. Palm’s webOS phones (such as the Pixi Plus and Pre Plus) use an activity card-based interface that’s ideal for multitaskers since you can literally shuffle and discard programs, and they put gestures to good use.
The bottom line is that you should be comfortable with a phone’s interface if you’re going to be using it to make calls, surf the Web, send e-mails, browse music, and more. You should decide what’s most important to you (simplicity, personalization, etc.) before you make that purchase. Just make sure that the hardware can keep up with the interface; a slick UI is meaningless if you find yourself counting the seconds between tasks.
Specs: Processor and Memory
Most smart phone buyers don’t pay attention to what kind of processor a given device has, but a good CPU can mean the difference between a silky smooth experience and a frustratingly slow one. Although most carriers (and some smart phone makers) don’t provide this information, you should be able to find it easily online.If you want the most speed possible, look for a smart phone powered by a Cortex A8 ARM processor (found in such devices as the iPhone, Motorola Droid, and Palm Pre). This processor is often paired with a powerful graphics core, which is why the iPhone, Palm Pre, and Pre Plus can handle graphically rich 3D games. The 1.0-GHz Cortex A9
processor, coming soon to smart phones is even more powerful. Qualcomm’s 1.0-GHz Snapdragon (found in the HTC HD2 and other upcoming phones) is another high-end processor that offers zippy performance. When it comes to memory, there are typically two types you want to pay attention to: RAM and overall storage for files. A minimum of 256MB of RAM is a good place to start. For example, we noticed that the original T-Mobile G1 was sluggish because it had just 192MB of RAM, while the HTC Hero has 288MB. On most smart phones you use this same amount of RAM for storing applications.
As for file storage, a minimum of 8GB is preferred, whether it’s through internal memory or an included microSD Card. If you want the option of expanding the amount of storage over time, look for a smart phone with a microSD slot.
Display
If you prefer a smart phone optimized for messaging, test drive one that places the keyboard directly beneath the screen. Popular examples include the BlackBerry Curve 8520/8530 and BlackBerry Bold 9700, which have 2.4-inch displays. If you want a phone with a full-size touchscreen, you’ll get extra real estate for viewing menus, photos, and Web pages. For example, the iPhone 3GS’ screen measures 3.5 inches, the Motorola Droid’s is 3.7 inches, and the HTC HD2 is 4.3-inches.Screen resolution matters just as much as size. For example, although the Bold 9700 packs in 480 x 360 pixels (great for video and pictures), this resolution makes it tough to read Web sites without zooming in. The iPhone 3GS’ 480 x 320 pixels are perfectly suited for the larger screen, although you do have to zoom in a bit to get the best experience. The Droid’s 854 x 480 screen produces crisp text on Web sites that is even easier to read; more information and images fit on the display at once.
One welcome feature on touchscreen phones is multitouch, which allows you to use pinching gestures for zooming in on maps, photos, and Web pages. The iPhone, Palm Pixi Plus and Pre Plus, and select Android phones such as the Droid Eris and HTC Hero are multitouch-enabled. Most Windows Mobile phones lack this feature (with the exception of the HTC HD2), as does the BlackBerry Storm2. Such phones usually let you zoom in by double-tapping, which works fine but offers less precise control.
Keyboard
Whether you’re typing an e-mail, text message, or Web address, entering text on a device should be easy; choosing a smart phone with a good keyboard is paramount. We generally prefer physical keyboards to their touchscreen brethren because they tend to provide better accuracy, but many users of virtual keyboards can type quickly and accurately (particularly with the iPhone, thanks to built-in error correction software).If you want a physical keyboard that’s always exposed, BlackBerrys are best. There are also several smart phones available with larger slide-out keyboards; the best models provide good tactile feedback, along with easy access to such keys as @. Some of the better physical keyboards can be found on the HTC Touch Pro2 and Motorola Cliq. Watch out for layouts with top rows of keys that are positioned too close to the bottom of the display, which can potentially get in the way of your thumbs as you’re typing.
Web Browsing
All smart phones can handle full HTML Web browsing, but the most pleasing models load pages quickly and make it easy to pan around and zoom in on pages. A good place to start is any smart phone whose browser is based on the WebKit engine, which includes the iPhone, Palm webOS phones, and any Android device. All of these smart phones offer good surfing speeds and render pages in a true desktop-like fashion. The stock Internet Explorer Mobile browser found on the latest Windows phones has improved, but it still isn’t as smooth as WebKit-based ones. That’s why you’ll find Opera Mobile 9.5 preloaded on devices like the Windows Mobile-powered HTC Touch Pro2. The latest BlackBerry browser is relatively slow, and it’s very difficult to properly make out Web pages on phones other than the Storm and Storm2.
Apps: Quantity and Quality
Thanks to the iPhone, applications and app stores have become increasingly important to shoppers. These programs let you do a lot more with your device, whether it’s streaming Internet radio, posting Facebook or Twitter updates, reading eBooks, or playing high-quality games (depending on the platform). There are also lots of fitness apps, productivity programs and utilities, and travel tools available that add extra functionality to your smart phone. Apple is far and away the leader in this category with more than 140,000 apps, but it’s not just the sheer number of programs that keeps the iPhone OS platform in the lead. iTunes makes it very simple to download free or purchased apps wirelessly or on your desktop, and the App Store also has the highest quality applications, especially when it comes to games.In order of the number of apps—from most to least—BlackBerry’s App World (4,000-plus), Palm’s App Catalog (1,100-plus), and Windows Marketplace for Mobile (600-plus) round out the rest of the list. The App World has a decent selection, but purchasing premium programs requires a PayPal account, which is annoying. We like that Windows Marketplace for Mobile has a desktop counterpart for downloading apps online, and that there’s a carrier billing option in most cases. Palm’s webOS also has shown the most improvement when it comes to iPhone-like games (available only for the Pre and Pre Plus).
Contacts & Calender
It used to be that owning a smart phone meant having to physically sync the device with your PC to transfer contacts and calendar entries. Some platforms still largely stick to this paradigm when it comes to everyday consumers, such as BlackBerry and Windows Mobile. (Corporate customers can sync via the Web with BlackBerry Exchange Server and Microsoft Exchange.)Increasingly, smart phone makers are looking to cut the cord for everyone. All Android phones and webOS devices sync with the cloud; in most cases all you have to do is enter an e-mail address and password for various accounts to start loading your device with information.
We especially like how some Android and webOS devices sync with Facebook so you can see contacts’ profile pictures when they call. (Select Windows Mobile phones made by HTC also have this functionality.) Google Sync can help BlackBerrys, iPhones, and Windows Mobile devices sync with the cloud, as can platform-specific services such as Apple’s MobileMe.
E-Mail and Messaging
Any smart phone should be able to deliver incoming messages quickly, but the best ones help you keep multiple accounts up to date while offering robust attachment support. You should be able to easily read Excel, PDF, PowerPoint, and Word files without having to squint, and editing documents should be available as a premium option. Look for a smart phone that offers push delivery; this will keep your device from wasting battery life by constantly checking for new messages. BlackBerrys are best in this area, but other business users should check to see if Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync push technology is supported. It’s also important to be able to search your inbox, whether it’s from the home screen or from within the e-mail program itself (we prefer both). Lastly, look for a unified inbox option so you won’t need to keep backing out of menus and switching accounts just to read new messages.When it comes to messaging and chat, look for smart phones that let you easily segue from text messaging conversations to instant messaging or e-mail. In other words, you choose how you want to communicate. Palm’s webOS does a good job in this area, as do some of the latest Android phones. Otherwise, look for an all-in-one instant messaging app that you can download, such as IM+.
Music and Video
When it comes to multimedia, there’s the iPhone, and then there’s everything else. Apple’s iTunes store and iPod integration make the iPhone OS the best choice for those looking to load their smart phones up with content, especially when it comes to wireless music and video purchases. In fact, no other platform offers an easier way to get premium movies and TV shows, although you’ll find YouTube on most devices. On the music front, Android and webOS phones remain competitive because they offer wireless Amazon MP3 downloads, while BlackBerry and Windows Mobile phones don’t possess easily accessible iTunes alternatives.If you have a BlackBerry, you can use a third-party MP3 download service like 7digital or Primetime2Go for downloading TV shows over Wi-Fi. It’s pretty easy with most smart phones to drag and drop existing media content from your PC to the phone, but BlackBerry goes the extra mile with its own Media Sync desktop application. Windows Mobile phones can use Windows Media Player via ActiveSync. The good news is that if you don’t feel like managing music files, you can access streaming Internet radio on most smart phones using such apps as Pandora and Slacker.
Like the idea of watching Hulu or YouTube right from your smart phone’s browser? Palm is first out of the gate with Flash 10 support, but it will be also coming to Android and Windows Mobile.
Camera and Camcorder
If you want to use your smart phone to take pictures and record video, look beyond mere megapixels. What’s more important is the image quality, speed of the device, and how easy it is to share images and clips. We prefer devices that have a flash to those that don’t, but a good smart phone should be able take sharp, well-saturated pictures both indoors and out without requiring a flash. The iPhone and most BlackBerrys have very good cameras. Another tip is to make sure your device doesn’t take more than a second or two to process an image, allowing you to keep on firing away. Also, look for a smart phone that lets you easily upload photos to such sites as Facebook, Flickr, or Twitter.
Most smart phones aren’t good enough to replace a standalone pocket camcorder, but several devices capture YouTube-worthy clips. If video recording capabilities are a priority, look for at least VGA resolution (640 x 480) and a frame rate of 24 frames per second or higher.
GPS
Any good cell phone can get you from point A to point B with spoken turn-by-turn directions, but a smart phone can leverage your address book and give you a bigger screen to emulate a standalone navigation device. GPS services are available from the big four carriers for a monthly subscription (usually $9.99). But in other cases, you can purchase GPS apps for a one-time fee, such as Navigon MobileNavigator for the iPhone ($89.99). The iPhone offers the widest array of apps, but its GPS reception isn’t always the most reliable, especially in urban environments.Want navigation for free? Devices that run Android 1.6 and higher support Google Maps Navigation (Beta), which offers spoken directions, voice-enabled search, and both satellite and street views for no cost. However, this app isn’t as polished or as easy to use as premium Android apps such as ALK CoPilot Live 8 ($34.95).
Regardless of the platform, you should pay attention to how loud and clear the voice is through the smart phone’s speaker, how intuitive the menus are to use, how easy it is to search for points of interest, and how large and up to date the POI database is.
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ReplyDeletehey steve,
ReplyDeleteeverything you had in this guide is correct and im sure it will be of much help to a lot of people who cannot make a decisions since there are so so many smart phones currently available.
but i would like to point out somethings that you missed. you have left out nokia completely from the entire article... it should be noted that although Nokia is known for making phones for the masses, it has recently stepped up its game in the smart phone market, examples, Nokia N900, open source Linux based Maemo 5 operating system with the best web browsing experience ever in a phone (source code for the web browser was taken from firefox).
the N97 although disappointing with a sluggish processor and very low ram but a good effort. then comes the Nokia N8 which hopes to compete with the Iphone 4, and the latest OS which Nokia is developing with Intel and the Linux Foundation - MeeGo.
Thanks bro, i will research more on your concern about Nokia and let the people know. i will also appreciate you giving me some of your sources.
ReplyDelete