Is a Smart Phone a Smart Choice?
The release of the iPhone has brought a great deal attention to mobile phones and especially the class of phones known as smart phones. These phones have features well beyond making and receiving calls and usually cost a few hundred dollars. Are these phones worth the extra money? As always, it depends on the individual user as to whether or not the extra features are worth the cost: both financial and in learning the interface.
People who would benefit most from using a smart phone are those who use the calendar and task features of Outlook or iCal extensively. Having a pretty much fully featured version of these applications available at all times will most likely prove useful to those who use them. The right smart phone will also sync flawlessly with these applications, even checking e-mail over the mobile network, making it easy to keep all information current.
Another group that should seriously consider a smart phone are those who currently carry a PDA device and a mobile phone. With a smart phone these two devices can be combined into one without much loss of function. It may be necessary to learn some new ways of doing things, but the convenience of only carrying one device in most cases will be well worth the learning effort.
Most smart phones also offer additional features such as a camera, web browser and media player. If any of these are the main reason for purchasing a smart phone, however, a standard phone may be the better choice. Most standard phones are capable of doing these tasks almost as well as a smart phone, except web browsing, which smart phones do not do well either, and cost much less.
Choosing the exact phone is more difficult, but the basic advice would be to match your computer. So, if you are using Windows, buy a Windows Mobile device. If you are running Mac OS, buy an iPhone. This will allow for a better syncing experience and a more familiar interface. The specific model will depend mostly on user preference, devices available from the mobile provider and what extra features are most important.