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Get Smart About Smartphones

 
Different types of smartphones are designed for different types of people. Some, like the  Palm Treo and Blackberry, keep you connected to the office, while others, like the T-Mobile Sidekick 3, focus on mobile messaging, and still others, like the Samsung Blackjack, Motorola Q, and Apple iPhone, give you ultimate multimedia mobility. Cell phone service providers around the world typically offer several smartphone options and tiers of service. Decide which operating system and features are on your list before you sign a service contract.

Select a smartphone operating system

For smartphones with full PDA functionality, the operating system (OS) you choose helps determine what you'll get out of your smartphone. For example, the iPhone runs on Mac OS X and includes the Safari Web browser. Other options include:

 

Blackberry: RIM provides a proprietary multi-tasking operating system (OS) for the BlackBerry, which makes heavy use of the device's specialized input devices, particularly the thumbwheel. The OS provides support for MIDP 1.0 and WAP 1.2. Previous versions allowed wireless synchronization with Microsoft Exchange Server's e-mail and calendar, as well as with Lotus Domino's e-mail. The current OS 4 provides a subset of MIDP 2.0, and allows complete wireless activation and synchronization with Exchange's e-mail, calendar, tasks, notes and contacts, and adds support for Novell GroupWise and Lotus Notes.

Third-party developers can write software using these APIs, and proprietary BlackBerry APIs as well, but any application that makes use of certain restricted functionality must be digitally signed so that it can be associated to a developer account at RIM. This signing procedure guarantees the authorship of an application, but does not guarantee the quality or security of the code.

  • Windows Mobile smartphones: A Windows Mobile smartphone is a good choice for many business users. It seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Exchange, so you can use it to get and respond to your work email (consult your IT department), and it makes viewing Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Windows Media files easy as well. There are many third-party applications that make Windows Mobile smartphones more versatile.

  • Palm OS smartphones: Palm smartphones run the Palm OS. Although program variety can be limited, many programs are award-winners. Palm OS is very stable and designed to run on devices with low processor speeds.

  • Symbian smartphones: Although not the largest player in the U.S. market, Symbian is the most popular mobile OS around the world. Symbia smartphones, like the Nokia E62, come with email and Microsoft Office file viewers.

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