People often ask for my opinion about which smart phone is the best. I don't know what is best for you, but I can give you this advice.
No smart phone is perfect. The designers have to make compromises or the device would cost too much and it wouldn't sell. Successful products that do many things really do one thing extremely well, a few things ok, and the rest just barely enough so the company doesn't get sued. The 7-in-one printer I have at home is really just a good printer. The scanner is pretty good but a real scanner would turn pages for me. The fax capability is minimal. I can't remember what the other 4 functions are. In fact, I could swear that this kind of device used to be called a 5-in-one printer but then someone started claiming that the power button is two features (can you name both?).
Generally a smart phone has some combination of these features: phone, music player, web browsing, time management (PDA) features, and some would say that the ability to run apps counts as another feature. Some phones do one or two of those well and fake it through the rest.
If X represents the set of features that were the focus and Y is the set of features that were not the focus, you can easily summarize a product's focus by saying, "it's an X that happens to do Y". For example, "it's a PDA that happens to make phone calls and surf the web." If you want to imply more disdain, add "in a pinch" to the end.
Think long and hard about what you want the most. To me the most important features are the PDA tools: todo list and calendar. To someone else it might be the ability to surf the web.
Here's my opinion of the utility of the most popular smart phones:
So what do I use?
Interestingly enough, I'm an example of the serendipity that only accidents can bring. I was very happy with my Palm Treo. I wanted a PDA that happened to have other phone and web features and it was perfect (especially after enhancing the PDA functions with DateBk 6 from Pimlico Software). Then my Treo phone was damaged beyond repair and I had an opportunity to get an iPhone. How bad could the PDA features be? Oh, they are non-existant? Ugh. I started muddling through using web-based todo systems like Google Tasks. What I discovered, however, was that the one feature I didn't plan on using became my favorite feature: the music/video player! I have a large music collection but I never have time to listen to it. There are many podcasts I'd like to listen to but I never have time to hear them. I didn't expect to use the iPod features of my iPhone but now I listen to about 20 hours of podcasts and music each week. I'm listening to music that I've owned for more than a decade that I've hadn't heard in years. I'm getting a huge education through TED.com videos and keeping up with the world through NPR and IT Conversations Network podcasts.
So much for following my own advice!
No smart phone is perfect. The designers have to make compromises or the device would cost too much and it wouldn't sell. Successful products that do many things really do one thing extremely well, a few things ok, and the rest just barely enough so the company doesn't get sued. The 7-in-one printer I have at home is really just a good printer. The scanner is pretty good but a real scanner would turn pages for me. The fax capability is minimal. I can't remember what the other 4 functions are. In fact, I could swear that this kind of device used to be called a 5-in-one printer but then someone started claiming that the power button is two features (can you name both?).
Generally a smart phone has some combination of these features: phone, music player, web browsing, time management (PDA) features, and some would say that the ability to run apps counts as another feature. Some phones do one or two of those well and fake it through the rest.
If X represents the set of features that were the focus and Y is the set of features that were not the focus, you can easily summarize a product's focus by saying, "it's an X that happens to do Y". For example, "it's a PDA that happens to make phone calls and surf the web." If you want to imply more disdain, add "in a pinch" to the end.
Think long and hard about what you want the most. To me the most important features are the PDA tools: todo list and calendar. To someone else it might be the ability to surf the web.
Here's my opinion of the utility of the most popular smart phones:
- Palm Treo: A PDA that happens to make phone calls and will surf the web in a pinch. (Actually, the web browser is excellent in a few respects: You can cache pages [important to me since I ride subways a lot] and it strips the pages down to text so they load fast. Really fast. www.nytimes.com doesn't look like the front page of the newspaper, but I get all my articles just fine.)
- iPhone: An iPod music player and web browser that runs apps that happens to make phone calls and is a PDA in a pinch. Actually it isn't a PDA at all, but the web browser lets you access on-line time management tools. This is good if you always have connectivity, which is not true for me; thus this violates one of my fundamental principles of time management: tools must always be available and fast to access.
- Android/T-Mobile G1: A phone that surfs the web that happens to play music. The music player is weak especially lacking in areas important to podcast listeners. The apps are getting much better over time.
- Palm Pre: I haven't used one but it seems to be focused on web browsing and PDA features. I'd love to get my hands on one. Sadly all I've done so far is watch someone unbox one for the first time.
So what do I use?
Interestingly enough, I'm an example of the serendipity that only accidents can bring. I was very happy with my Palm Treo. I wanted a PDA that happened to have other phone and web features and it was perfect (especially after enhancing the PDA functions with DateBk 6 from Pimlico Software). Then my Treo phone was damaged beyond repair and I had an opportunity to get an iPhone. How bad could the PDA features be? Oh, they are non-existant? Ugh. I started muddling through using web-based todo systems like Google Tasks. What I discovered, however, was that the one feature I didn't plan on using became my favorite feature: the music/video player! I have a large music collection but I never have time to listen to it. There are many podcasts I'd like to listen to but I never have time to hear them. I didn't expect to use the iPod features of my iPhone but now I listen to about 20 hours of podcasts and music each week. I'm listening to music that I've owned for more than a decade that I've hadn't heard in years. I'm getting a huge education through TED.com videos and keeping up with the world through NPR and IT Conversations Network podcasts.
So much for following my own advice!
I felt the need to correct you. The iPhone is a PDA. It syncs quite nicely with iCal and Address Book on a Mac, so all my appointments and contact info is with me all the time. It also has GTD apps like 'Things' which help me parse through my huge to-do lists. I've been using the iPhone since the day it was released in 2007 and I would never go back. My friends who have various other 'smart' phones never have the seamless syncing capabilities as I do. Just my .02 cents Buy whatever phone you want, the economy needs people to waste their money. :)