Be smart about your smartphone

When it comes to purchasing a mobile phone, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the myriad options. R Krishna gives you some handy hints

In 1993, PC giant IBM and telecommunication company BellSouth collaborated to produce the Simon. Rated as one of the 50 greatest gadgets in the last 50 years by PC World magazine in 2005, the Simon was a "combination phone, pager, calculator, address book, calendar, fax machine, and wireless e-mail device". It was the world's first smartphone.

Fifteen years on, smartphones appeal not only to CEOs-on-the-go, but also to teenagers who can't miss a second of the action on Facebook. The good news is that smartphone prices have come down, making it an affordable upgrade or even the first phone for many users.

Powered by advanced processors, smartphones run operating systems (OS) that are similar to the ones that run on our PCs. The OS, in fact, makes the smartphone smart. Unfortunately, unlike PCs, we are stuck with the operating system the phone manufacturer provides. So, it is important to consider this factor before making the purchase.

The Symbian, is the most popular OS thanks to the popularity of Nokia. But there are many smartphones already available in Indian markets that run on Windows Mobile.

"Microsoft is pushing Windows Mobile and their new version will be released in 2008," says Amit Agarwal, a technology expert who writes at labnol.org.

"Windows is not as customisable as Symbian," says Venkatesh Ram, a security consultant who was using a Nokia smartphone before switching to a HTC S710 that runs on Windows Mobile 6.

"But my phone syncs nicely with Microsoft products," he adds. What he means is that transferring contacts and other data between your phone and laptop (running on any Microsoft OS) is seamless with Windows Mobile-based devices. Plus, connecting to Microsoft Live products like MSN messenger and Hotmail is easier on a Windows-based mobile.

The iPhone, which was released last year, opted for OS X, a modified version of their in-house Mac OS. Expect a further shake-up as Google launches its mobile-platform, Android, this year. The buzz is that Android may be hardware-independent.

The utility of the OS, however, depends on the number of software applications that can run on it. The Apple iPhone, for example, does not allow third-party software developers to program any tools for the iPhone. As a result, iPhoners are stuck with only those applications that Apple develops.

Unlike iPhone's OS X, Symbian and Windows Mobile have released software development kits to programmers. So, you have a large number of applications for smartphones that run on Symbian and Windows Mobile. After all, it's those little applications that add the fun element to our smartphones.