I’m writing this article to give my opinion about Smartphones and bring into your consideration if this is the best option for you. Please consider that I’m not talking about regular cell phones as they are probably going to disappear in the next few years.
As technology grows also the human needs seems to change. It’s incredible that 10 or 15 years ago almost no one consider to even have a cell phone, now we can’t live without it right? In a few years we are going to be probably thinking how we live some many years with a cell phone without access to Facebook or Twitter.
I recently replaced my cell phone, to be honest I didn’t want a Smartphone, I just wanted a regular cell phone because that was what I needed or at least that’s what I thought. A friend of mine convinced me to purchase an Android Smartphone and after several discussions I agreed. When I received the device I start checking about what other things among calling could be useful.
I went to the Android market and a whole new world of possibilities were open right in front of me. It’s incredible the quantity of useful things you can do with these devices, when I say “useful” I mean it; I’m not talking about games even when there are many good ones too.
Some of the things that I’m able to do from my Smartphone are: connect to the Exchange Server of the company, this allows me to synchronize not only my email but my contacts, calendar and to-do-lists, synchronization with my personal Gmail account, view and edit documents in Excel, Word, PowerPoint or Adobe Reader, ability to print documents to almost any shared printer in the network, use the camera as a scanner, use networking tools to configure devices, post my pictures or videos directly to many sites and networks such as Facebook, Picasa, Twitter among others. I even downloaded apps for guitar chords, pace calculators, compass, dictionaries, health guides, etc. I never thought that I would need this in a cell phone but now that I have it my thinking is totally different. 
The question you must ask before purchasing a new cell phone or Smartphone is if you need it and if you are going to take advantage of its capabilities and applications, rather than just use it for calling or send SMS. It’s incredible the amount of people, more than 90%, that invest in a Smartphone and don’t take advantage of its capabilities.
With a Smartphone, you’ll be able to do many more things than just call or text messaging. If your job requires you to be reachable at all times, need to have access to your email or job’s email, or have access to applications that are functional to your needs, then your investment in a Smartphone will be worthy; if you just want the Smartphone for playing games or listening music maybe you’ll need to consider another type of device.
My preference for Smartphones are the ones that come with Android operating system, many companies such as Motorola, Samsung or HTC are developing their products under this platform. Android has a very comprehensive quantity of applications you can download easily. Other options, of course, are iPhone, Nokia or Blackberry; all of them are very good options too; however, iPhone has several issues running sites or applications in Flash so that’s something to consider. Nokia, in the other hand, has also thousands of apps, but the operating system only works with their brand same as Blackberry. I’m more the kind of person that prefer more “open” products but any of these options can provide everything you need and more. I haven’t explore the new version of Windows Mobile, but based on my previous experience with this OS I don’t want to even give it a try, I think Microsoft killed his cell phones market a long time ago.
Nevertheless, Nokia still dominates the segment of cheaper Smartphones aimed at emerging markets. But Analysis Mason predicts that Android will dominate the global Smartphone market by 2014, overtaking Nokia. “Smartphone markets in the developed world will continue to be fiercely competitive, but key handset manufacturers such as Nokia and Samsung are lining up to tap a new opportunity in emerging markets.”But the elements of a “successful mobile data proposition in emerging markets will be different to those in developed markets, and I don’t think that an iPhone will be one of them.”
Anyway, it’s important that you take a time to analyze and view the product before purchasing it, ask for opinions, check for reviews in the Internet, be clear about what things you can do and what things you can’t with the device. Also check for warranties and always select a proven distributor or company. Last but not least, be completely sure that your phone works in the country you are.
Please check the following site for specific Smartphone models reviews: http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphone-reviews/
