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 Hold onto your hats, because the smartphone market is moving at a blinding pace. From the introduction to the HTC Incredible, EVO 4G, and Google Nexus One, to massive upgrades for perennial mainstays Apple and RIM, the landscape is changing tremendously this year.
Smartphones are the hottest part of the mobile market. According to research firm IDC, the smartphone market grew 57% over the past year as folks ditch their old flip-phones for more powerful handheld computers.
Apps make smartphones special. While any phone can run a handful of downloadable programs, smartphones have huge, open app communities that let you turn your device into anything you want. Here at Computer-Wiz, we define a smartphone as a phone running one of several operating systems open to third-party apps: Apple's iPhone OS, BlackBerry OS, Google Android, HP/Palm webOS, Symbian, or Microsoft's Windows Phone.
All of these OSes have their strong and weak points. iPhone OS is beloved by many, but it comes on one phone, with one carrier. BlackBerry OS offers lots of hardware and carrier options and great messaging abilities, but its Web browsing and games really need help. Google Android is super-flexible and has lots of apps, but the quality of the experience varies widely from device to device. Symbian is great for communications tasks but doesn't feel as slick and modern as other OSes. WebOS is slick but lacks apps. And Windows Phone is basically in hiatus until a new version comes out later this year.
In terms of U.S. sales, RIM's BlackBerry smartphones are the most popular platform, buoyed by strong corporate sales and compellingly-priced phones on almost every carrier. Apple's iPhone, only available on AT&T, is number two. Google's Android phones, which come in many shapes and sizes, are becoming more popular quickly; they're selling a lot of units right now, although there are more older BlackBerrys in Americans' hands.
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Major Changes Coming Soon
But the market isn't sitting still. In February, Microsoft introduced Windows Phone 7, a fresh mobile OS that looks to banish years of nightmares surrounding balky Windows Mobile devices. We'll see the first Windows Phone 7 devices later this year.
In May, Google introduced their new Android 2.2 "Froyo" OS, which greatly improves Android's speed, includes Adobe Flash 10.1, and adds on a whole bunch of new features. App developers will now be able to load apps onto SD cards, which means there may finally be some truly great games for Android—provided phones get 2.2 upgrades in a timely fashion.
Palm's webOS has struggled, but it just got a huge boost from Palm's purchase by HP. HP execs are saying they're going to "double down" on Palm's award-winning webOS for new phones, tablets, and netbooks.
June 21, 2010 will bring the new iphone 4. Touting multitasking and a whole slew of improvements and a ton of Wow factor!
Also within the next few months, Research in Motion plans to deliver BlackBerry 6, a significant, if not revolutionary update to the nation's most popular mobile OS that could vastly improve the device's UI and Web browsing abilities.
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More Popular, Not Cheaper
Smartphones are becoming better deals but not because they're becoming any cheaper. It's because other phones are becoming more expensive to use per month, narrowing the gap between "texting phones" and smartphones. For example, Verizon recently began to require a $10-per-month data plan for powerful texting phones like the Samsung Rogue and LG enV Touch. AT&T followed with a $20-per-month required messaging and/or data plan for almost everything in the carrier's feature phone lineup. Still not satisfied, Verizon countered with a $30-per-month required plan for Microsoft's new Kin One and Kin Two messaging phones—the same amount of money Verizon charges for the HTC Incredible, Palm Pre Plus, and its other powerful smartphones.
Whether it's for greed, or because they're afraid of their fragile data networks being overloaded—most likely it's both—the high prices could tip many cell phone buyers over to more powerful devices.
Where does this leave today's smartphone shopper? Overwhelmed and wary. Since many of these developments won't come to fruition until later in 2010, that means someone buying a smart device now needs to choose carefully, for fear of ending up with an obsolete device in just a few months.
That's where we come in. Here's a guide to all the latest and greatest smartphones. We chose at least two powerful devices for each carrier, and listed some notes for each that help position the device against the above developments. |
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| AT&T |
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Apple iPhone 3GS (AT&T)
$199 with two-year contract
 The iPhone 3GS is still the best smartphone on the market. Its fast CPU, powerful Web browser, built-in iPod, and its third-party app market nearing the 200,000 mark make it a top choice. Make sure to buy the faster "S" and not the cheaper iPhone 3G, because the 3GS has much better app performance. The current model will get multitasking this summer when the new iPhone OS 4 comes out. But if you can wait until June 21, we're expecting to hear about the next iPhone model then. |
Nokia E72 (Unlocked)
$359 direct
 It's tough to choose a single Nokia unlocked smartphone, since they sell so many, and a number of them are excellent. Almost all of them work on AT&T's 3G network without you having to sign up for a contract. Our top pick is the E72, which offers a familiar slab form factor, but is arguably the classiest example out there. It also offers good call quality, very powerful e-mail connectivity, and free GPS navigation with Nokia Ovi Maps. |
| T-Mobile |
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Google Nexus One (T-Mobile)
$529; $179 with two-year contract
 It's tempting to call the Nexus One a flop thanks to low sales, but that's mostly because it's only now becoming available in retail stores, as opposed to being sold solely online. It's still a top-notch smartphone for power users that like a device they can customize the heck out of. Its 1GHz Snapdragon processor and 40,000-app, completely open Android Market mean the sky's the limit. |
HTC HD2 (T-Mobile)
$449.99; $199.99 with two-year contract
 This was a tough review. The HD2 is a thin, beautiful, powerful device with a huge 4.3-inch screen--just like the Sprint EVO 4G--and it's available today. But it runs yesterday's Windows Mobile 6.5 OS, which HTC did a great job hiding as much as possible. The HD2 is our current Editors' Choice for T-Mobile, but that's partially because all of T-Mobile's Android devices need faster CPUs. Don't get this phone if you like apps, as this OS is in terminal decline. |
| Sprint |
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HTC EVO 4G (Sprint)
$299.99 with two-year contract
 The first WiMAX phone in the U.S. is a terrific platform for streaming media and Web browsing, and it gets your laptop online with Sprint's 4G network. The huge 4.3-inch screen and kickstand mean this is practically made for TV and movie watching. Just keep an eye out for an outlet when you're using 4G, because battery life on WiMAX is pretty poor. |
BlackBerry Bold 9650 (Sprint)
$299.99 with two-year contract
 Sprint's latest BlackBerry is an incremental upgrade to the previous model, but it fixes some real pain points by adding Wi-Fi and replacing the balky trackball with a touchpad. RIM has said that this model will probably be upgradeable to the new BlackBerry 6.0 OS later this year, which will bring a much better Web browser and potentially Adobe Flash support. |
| Verizon Wireless |
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HTC Incredible (Verizon)
$199.99 with two-year contract
 You can argue that this is what the Nexus One should have been. Combine that device's hardware with the latest version of HTC's beautiful Sense UI, and you get a phone that shows what's possible with Google's fast-growing Android platform. Like all Android phones, the Incredible also offers free, voice-enabled Google Maps Navigation. |
Palm Pre Plus (Verizon)
$599.99; $29.99 with two-year contract
 By now it's clear that Palm botched the Palm Pre, but as with the Nexus One, it's not because of anything wrong with the device. Instead, it was the slow trickle of apps, plus a Sprint exclusive and some advertising snafus that left many smartphone buyers cold. That's OK, though; HP looks poised to rescue the excellent webOS platform. So far, I'd call its future much brighter than it was pre-HP-sale. Verizon's Palm Pre Plus takes the original Sprint version and adds a free 3G-to-Wi-Fi hotspot option—you can even use this to get your iPad online with the Verizon network. |
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