Making the right choice.
In smartphone market there are four choices: Android, BlackBerry Symbian, and Iphone. How to choose? Actually it is pretty simple.
If we want a phone with some advanced features and we were using Nokia Communicator or any other Symbian phone for quite some time without problems, go for any Nokia Symbian phone. Other wise buy BlackBerry. Yes the proper counterpart of BlackBerry is Symbian even if BlackBerry high end models are over priced.
Nokia and Symbian OS
Latest Symbian OS is Belle. Though Nokia is promising upgrade to Belle for many devices but all upgrades are not upto the mark. Choose the model which comes pre-installed with Belle.
BlackBerry and OS 7.1
As regards BlackBerry, its latest OS version is 7.1. Any BlackBerry phone installed with OS less than 7.0 in not worth buying but can be accepted as free gift. However if we rely heavily on GMail App which was available for earlier versions; it is not available for 7.0. But their are other choices. But before buying BlackBerry, be aware that its native programmes (bundled with device and produced by Research in Motion) work only with BlackBerry Internet Services which is priced at about four times the normal internet connectivity charged by Network Operator. Third party programmes work without BIS but would require little effort or tweaking.
Multimedia devices with phone.
Android and Iphone
Android and Iphones are not phones but multimedia devices with functions of phone as well.
If we want a multimedia device which may also be used as phone, choose Android or Iphone.
Now between them if I am of nerdy type who loves problems and is in habit of tweaking and have lived with Windows far too long, shall choose Android. It will be running out of memory everyday and shall be updating installed programmes everyday. Trouble shoot it everyday. But it is the most powerful OS (as a derivative of Linux) and is also available at cheapest prices.
However if my concepts of multimedia are clear and I want a stable solution for my fixed needs than Iphone would be phone of my choice. Though it may not give all the available options for file sharing and connectivity etc. inspite of my paying through nose.
As regard tweaking these phones, that is matter for some other time.