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Updated March 2008
This is my recommendation for the current best-of-breed in
mobile devices. If you want to rate other platforms and solutions, see my
Grid of PDA/smartphone solutions, to see how they
compare to each other.
What should you buy?
Now, obviously, everyone's different, which is why I put
together my Grid, so that you can add your own
weightings. But I thought it might be useful to describe what I currently use
and why.
My choice here is the black beauty that's the Nokia N95
8GB. It's quite simply the best smartphone ever made, ticking all the boxes
except one. From multimedia playback to camera to GPS and navigation to
gorgeous 2.8" screen, it's just the best. The only box is doesn't tick is that
of a qwerty keyboard, for which duties I use a Bluetooth k/b from Think
Outside.
Do you want to buy the
N95
8GB for free now?
Alternatives to the N95 8GB? Well, for those on a budget,
the Nokia E61i has a surprising amount of functions in a smaller and
cheaper package.
The Nokia E90 also has a lot of goodness (e.g. GPS,
VGA video filming) in a non-qwerty form factor, but is somewhat heavier and
clumsier and is lagging behind a bit in terms of firmware updates from
Nokia.
And the Apple iPhone? Well, I love Apple's
presentation of it as something new and revolutionary, but in effect it's more
of a wide-screen iPod with a phone and web browser built-in. There's no 3G
data, there's little support for 3rd party apps, the camera is only 2
megapixels, and so on. And the use of a touch-screen means that you'd better
not be planning on using it much outdoors. But I do applaud the drive to make
applications easier to use - this at least should provide a kick up the
backside and help streamline the interfaces of the various Symbian and Windows
Mobile platforms.
See also my comparison Grid, which
explores the various attributes of most of the current contenders and helps you
choose what's best for you. |
