Tech Essentials | New Smartphone technology

The best in new business technology

Oct 1, 2009  

by Gunnar Blodgett

The Nokia E71x Many features, cramped on-screen keyboard, good value for a messaging device. With three-year plan from Rogers. $99 Samsung Omnia Faster than the Storm, pre-loaded widgets only, cramped on-screen keyboard. With three-year plan from Telus. $80 Palm Pre Good gadgets, features and multi-tasking, but occasionally sluggish, plus no video recording. With three-year plan from Telus. $150

The iPhone, Two Years On

It’s an iPod. It’s a smart phone. It’s a television. Well, yes and no. Apple’s iPhone changed the face of the smart phone market when it was released only two years ago. But is it a business tool?

The iPhone is enjoying the highest sales growth rates in the smart phone market. The June Mobile Metrics Report also shows it dominating the global smart phone traffic share, at 47% to Nokia’s 33%. It also dominates the smart phone application world, with some 50,000 applications. Many of these are not free, and run from $2 to $60.

There’s no denying the appeal of good hardware and programming, and Apple has delivered in spades. While the iPhone doesn’t yet offer a slide-out keyboard or a trackball nub, the interactivity of its touchscreen demonstrates superb design engineering. The iPhone 3GS is one of the fastest and smoothest browsing and media handhelds available.

Which doesn’t make it the best handheld phone. User reviews still describe the reception as “uneven.” Plus there’s still no USB transfer available. The iPhone 3GS with 16-gigabyte memory is available starting at $199 on a three-year plan from Rogers.

Fruit of Another Kind

The BlackBerry has made its mark in the business community and in government. Offering pin-to-pin secure instant group text, it has maintained market share despite the assault from Apple.

At the entry end, the Pearl is a smaller device whose keyboard is doubled up, two letters per key. The Curve 8330 offers a full keyboard. Both of these models have a “compressed” Internet experience; they lack the colour range and visual richness of the HTC and Apple devices. However, since the Pearl and the Curve do not offer 3G networking, they’re not really in contention with the HTC and iPhone models.

At the upper end, the Bold and the Storm offer 3G and a better monitor with a better Internet experience. A number of reviewers describe the Storm’s speakerphone as “choppy” and the handset itself as “sluggish,” though.

The Bold is available for $200 (Future Shop), the Storm from $99 (Bell), the Pearl for $0.01 (Future Shop) and the Curve 8330 for $30 (Telus), all on three-year plans.

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