One of the common questions we hear is “which smartphone should I get?”
With the different types of phones, and the burgeoning number of devices in the market that debut each month, we can probably write a book detailing the different factors that go into purchasing a phone. We’ll guide you through the most important things to help make this decision easier for you.
Carrier
The most important thing to consider is to find out which carrier works best for you. After all, what good is the newest smartphone with the latest technology if you can’t even make a phone call from your home? With your current phone, are you able to get reception in your home and office? If not, see if your coworkers or friends on different networks do. The carrier that you use will significantly affect the type of phone that is available to you.
Cost
The initial cost of your phone is just a small portion of the total cost of ownership of a typical 2-year contract. Wireless companies heavily subsidize the cost of the phone itself as they know they will make more money off of the voice/data plan and add-ons like text messaging plans (which cost them very little). If you take into account the full terms of your contract, the TCO of a high-end phone compared to a lower-end phone is relatively negligible, so if you’re trying to save money by going with a lower-end phone, consider removing some of those add-ons, changing your data or voice plan, or switching to a carrier like Sprint or T-Mobile, which offer much more competitive plans.
What kind of smartphone user are you?
iPhone
The iPhone is great for people who want access to the most popular games and apps. Entertainment is what it does best, and is optimized for the best music, video, games, and web browsing experience.
Where it falls short is with Apple’s closed environment and lack of choice. If you want an iOS device, you’re only choice is the newest iPhone 4S or its predecessors. It is also not available on all carriers, so you’re out of luck if your carrier does not have it. The iPhone also relies heavily on iTunes to sync its media files, so if you’ve never been a fan of iTunes, this phone is not for you.
Pros: highly polished user interface, ease of use, access to most popular games and apps
Cons: closed environment, lack of hardware choices, not available on all carriers, relies heavily on iTunes.
Bottom Line: If the iPhone is available on your carrier and you can get past the closed environment and dependence to iTunes, this is a fun, powerful and easy to use phone.
Blackberry
Before the iPhone, the Blackberry has long held the smartphone crown due to its reputation for enabling productivity. While RIM has been taking a beating lately with their most recent outages, they are still very popular in the enterprise space as their security features allow IT departments to deploy software, lock down features, or remote wipe devices if lost. The Blackberry is still the king of messaging, and with its physical keyboard and network infrastructure, it is able to deliver a fluid and secure messaging experience. Where it excels with messaging, however, the opposite is true for its media and entertainment capabilities. Their Blackberry World store is sparse compared to the Android Marketplace and Apple App store, and the apps are typically inferior to their Android/Apple counterparts. If you’re looking for a new Blackberry, we’d recommend the new Bold 9900 or Torch 9800 due to the upgraded processor, the newest OS 7, and excellent physical keyboard.
Pros: Arguably the best physical keyboard, superior messaging capabilities, robust security features, excels in Enterprise environments. Available for all carriers.
Cons: Media, entertainment and gaming capabilities need improvement. Inferior apps compared to Android/iPhone.
Bottom Line: If Email and instant messaging is important to you, the Blackberry delivers the best experience.
Android
If the iPhone is the ultimate entertainment device, and the Blackberry is the ultimate productivity device, then the Android falls somewhere in between the two. Android are one of the few phones that use the latest “4G” networks allowing the fastest data speeds. They are also an open platform, so if you like having a choice regarding hardware (candy bar, flip, physical keyboard), you can find phones of different sizes and form factors made by Motorola, HTC, Samsung, and more. Due to multiple manufacturers coming out with their own flavor of Android, however, there is a good amount of ‘fragmentation’ with OS versions, as different models will run different OS versions and manufacturer support varies among the age of the device and the carrier you are on. Android also allows you to make a lot of customizations with your phone, allowing you to replace your email app, calendars, browser, or even your touchscreen keyboard. Google’s services are tightly woven into Android phones, so if you use Gmail, Talk, Google+, Calendar, or Reader, you should look into an Android phone. If you are looking into Android, take the Samsung Galaxy Nexus or Motorola Droid RAZR for a spin.
Pros: Lots of different devices to choose from, more customization options, capable of 4G speeds, very strong Google integration
Cons: some phones will run different OS versions, so support varies depending on your phone
Bottom Line: If you’d rather have choice when it comes to hardware, or you’re the type of person that likes to customize the inner workings of their phone, an Android phone is a great choice. When it comes to the essential functions for today’s smartphone (email, IM, calendar, music, videos, games), it’s a jack of all trades.
Windows Phone
Although Microsoft has been making smartphone software before the days of Apple and Google, MS did a complete overhaul of their mobile operating system, with a new vision focusing more on the end user experience. Windows Phone’s user interface and vision has been praised offering a fresh take on the handheld experience. Reviews for their latest OS update, “Mango,” were just released, and they have been largely positive. At the time of this writing, Windows Phone is still in its infancy, so many of it’s features, while capable, are still not on par with Android or iOS, which has spent far more time in the development cycle. Due that disadvantage alone, it’s too early to tell whether Windows Phone will build any market share, but Microsoft does have a solid product in their hands.
Pros: Fresh and innovative user interface that is unlike anything iOS or Android has to offer.
Cons: Less time in development cycle means they are playing ‘catch-up’ in some areas.
Bottom Line: Windows Phone is a fresh and elegant operating system that shows a lot of promise. If you’re tired of what the other smartphones have to offer, and looking for something new, Windows Phone may be your ticket.