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Thinking of Buying a new Smartphone

Monday, September 13th, 2010

: Image via CrunchBase

I’m thinking of buying a new smartphone. The one I have at the moment runs Windows Mobile 6 and I think I’ve suffered enough.

What smartphone should I go for, though? I very much like the clean lines of the iPhone and I’ve been seduced into Apple products by my ipod Touch 3rd Gen and my Macbook, do I really need an iphone and an ipod touch, though? Then there’s the range of Android phones, particularly at the moment, those made by HTC or there’s the prospect of the new Windows Phone 7 (or whatever they call it). Or there’s always the Blackberry range but these, I am led to believe, are really just for email and not the browsing and app playing that I really enjoy.

Apple’s image has been tarnished by the iphone 4 fiasco, which is perhaps why the Android operating system is gaining ground. The trouble is with Android, it seems thefre are just too many versions of it floating around in the market; 1.6,2.1, and 2.2. Naturally, if I’m buying a new phone I want one with the latest version … but the adverts don’t always tell you what version each device is running or whether it will be/can be updated. Add to that, the fact that phone companies here in the UK tend to add on their own features or branding, which I sometimes don’t want and which, I’ve found, often prevents updating; witness the recent problems with Vodafone and O2 in updating the HTC Desire.

Another problem with buying smartphones, or any mobile phone for that matter, is that the manufacturers seem to be constantly bringing out new versions and new features. Do we really need a new model to be released every two months or so? One thing you can almost be sure about with Apple is that your phone is only likely to look out of date once during a year. That of course depends upon when you buy your Apple phone, it could be 12, 11, 6 or 1 month before the new one comes out but with other manufacturers your phone is likely to have been surpassed 3 or 4 times over by the end of a year.

So there’s Apple and there’s Android to choose from. Then, soon to be arriving, there could be Windows Phone 7. I’ve seen sneak previews of this on video and, not that I can see much, it seems good; certainly better than windows mobile 6. So should I wait for Windows Phone 7 devices to become available? Well, I’ve used Windows Mobile 6 for long enough and, as I’ve already said, I think I’ve suffered enough.

Another thing I don’t like about the Apple phones is the use of a new micro-sim card. I’m quite happy with my Sim card; it’s probably the one part of my phone that gives me the least problems. Why should I have to change to a new format sim card? That just seems like a way of trapping me in to one manufacturer’s range.

Then there’s the thing that really gets me. That’s the tariffs. The only reason I have kept on with my current phone for the past year and a bit is that they allow me a no contract monthly tariff that gives me a really good deal on calls, texts and data. I’m talking a couple of thousand texts a month and unlimited data; while still giving me change from £20 each month. It seems, though that if I get a new phone I will probably have to have a new tariff and one that will probably cost me more than £20 a month (even if I pay for the phone outright) and almost certainly not give me the unlimited data I wish.

So Android, Apple or another or … heaven forbid … should I struggle with my old phone for a while longer?

I want to throw in another thought, though. With the advent of smartphones, do we really have to have new operating systems? Is it not possible to have the same operating system on my smartphone as I have on my laptop, my netbook, my desktop and, perhaps, my television?