Smart Phones

The world is in the palm of your hand, if you’re holding an iPhone.

From GPS to web browsing, the iPhone and its closest competitors share many similar features, but it’s the operating system that sets the iPhone apart.

“It’s a computer that’s designed to have phone capabilities rather than the other way around,” explains Chris Potrebka, owner of Macfix Computer Services, a Mac support company. “It’s completely different.”

Blogs galore on the Internet tout the efficiency of the iPhone. Praise is given for the fast, eye-pleasing web browsing capabilities and for the touchscreen format.

“It’s really a timesaver,” says Potrebka, who admits to using his iPhone on a constant basis. Whether it’s for a quick math calculation, watching YouTube videos or finding the nearest pizza place, Potrebka finds a place for his iPhone in much of his life.

“It’s hard to put down,” he says. Essentially what the iPhone has become is the world’s tiniest laptop, which has some people drooling, but what you are looking for in an all-in-one may affect how impressed you are.

Not everyone is concerned with having the Internet at their fingertips all day long, but most like to be connected via email and reap the same multimedia benefits included with the iPhone.

“I don’t have a need to go online when I’m away from the computer,” says small business owner David Lewis, who currently uses a BlackBerry Curve for scheduling, phone calls, Emails and texts—and that’s all he wants.

“I can enter information anytime about upcoming events and it keeps everything consolidated.”

All smart phones work with various desktop or laptop operating systems, syncing schedules, music libraries and information.

The new BlackBerry Thunder is likely to give iPhone some fierce competition after its release, which is rumoured to be late fall.

The phone is highly anticipated by BlackBerry diehards and will feature an upgraded operating system and touchscreen.

Maintaining the cost of smart phone plans has become more feasible with advances in technology including Wi-Fi capabilities. Plans are generally around $100 a month. Potrebka says a personal plan with iPhone is about $75 a month.

“A regular cell is about $50 a month, so for 25 bucks more you get way more capabilities than a standard phone.”

The Canadian government hoped that a recent bandwidth auction would open up airwaves to more providers and in effect, create competition and lower prices of cellular access for consumers. Industry Minister told reporters last July “it will be approximately a year before we see new competition.”

Another auction, to be held in just over a year, would see 700-MHz airwaves up for bid. These airwaves are said to be valuable because of their long-distance range and ability to penetrate obstacles such as buildings and thick walls.

The ability of smart phones is likely to become more fascinating as software development continues. Long-term speculation by some smart phone fans has even included phones becoming virtual banks or a way to pay for goods and services.

“I don’t think there are any limits,” says Potrebka when asked about future possibilities.

He says the doors are pretty much wide open for the development of mobile phone software applications.

We all remember the days of the suitcase phone. It weighed about 10 pounds and we all marveled at the ‘magic’ of wireless. Flash forward a decade plus and here we are debating over which smartphone is better based on applications that help with budgeting, playing video games, downloading movies and faster email service. Lucky for you Winnipeg Men has tested some of the top models in the category to help you make your smartphone choice.

HTC Shift

Not a cell phone or smartphone, but we had to start with a true travelling cell-enabled computer. The HTC Shift is the ultimate in mobile computer technology. Far smaller than a laptop, the Shift weighs in at 800 grams and offers up a dual-mode operating system of Snap Vue and a full version of Windows Vista. The device—featuring a 7 inch, tilting touch screen, full keyboard and mouse pad—is constantly connected via Snap Vue without using full power, meaning emails, contacts and your calendar are always available. Operating in the Snap Vue mode, HTC estimates two-day battery life but operating in Windows Vista can cut down battery life dramatically. The Shift is available with either a 40 or 60GB hard drive and has an 800MHz Intel Stealey processor. The device features a USB port, built in camera, Bluetooth compatibility and has a range of connectivity options including Wi Fi, GSM, EDGE and HSPA.

Price: $1,599.99 with a three-year plan or $2,099.99 straight up

Available at: Rogers

Blackberry Bold

The Bold is iPhone’s closest competition and is sure to appease BlackBerry junkies who want a little more flare. The phone features an upgraded BlackBerry operating system and has a 624MHz processor. The manufacturer says the screen is the best on a BlackBerry so far, with a resolution of 420 by 320 pixels and the Bold has its traditional Qwerty keyboard and trackball for input. The Bold is recommended for how efficiently it handles email and scheduling, both of which sync with your home or office computer. And while Internet browsing, GPS and BlackBerry Maps features are functioning better than on previous models, they’re still somewhat time-consuming to operate. The phone features video capabilities as well as a media player and two-megapixel camera. The Bold has only 1GB of on-board memory, but that’s easily expandable with an SD card. Connectivity options range including Wi Fi and Bluetooth and the phone’s battery life is said to be five hours of talk time and 13 hours of standby.

Price: $399.99 with three-year-plan

Available at: Rogers

Nokia N95 8GB

The N95 is marketing itself as a more practical all in one. Having dropped in price by a hundred dollars since being introduced earlier this year, the N95 is aligning itself with new competition. The phone uses S60 software on a Symbian OS, has a two-way slide form going vertical and horizontal for different functions and features a 2.8-inch screen. Setting itself apart from the others, Nokia focused on creating a practical digital camera within the N95 including five-megapixels, 20x zoom and Carl Zeiss optics—a far cry from most camera phones. Video is captured with a MPEG-4 VGA format option and another function is GPS. Email access is restricted to certain POP3 email accounts, not including Gmail. The phone also only has a traditional cell phone keyboard on the number pad. Extra perks include Rogers Vision features (which you are likely to pay for) such as Video on Demand and Radio on Demand. The 8GB phone is said to have 210 minutes of talk time and 280 hours of standby time.

Price: $199.99 with three-year plan 

Available at: Rogers

iPhone

Said to be revolutionary versus evolutionary (like most things Apple), the iPhone is the ultimate all in one mainly because of the agility of its operating system. The iPhone uses a full-functioning Safari browser on a 3.5-inch touch screen. The GPS capabilities out-do that of the competition because of the quickness and smoothness of the software, while email has a tendency to be a bit slower. The phone handles media such as music, video and photos similarly to that of the iPod Touch and features either an 8 or 16GB memory. The iPhone syncs with your home of office computer to combine iTunes libraries or schedules and is compatible with PCs. For Internet connectivity, the phone has a variety of options including Wi Fi and 3G. It also has video capture ranging from 1.5 to 2.5 Mbps formats and has a two-megapixel camera. Battery life of the Bluetooth-compatible phone ranges form five hours of talk time to 300 hours standby. An extra perk is various applications available for download to customize your iPhone to your needs.

Price: 8G is $199 with three-year plan, 16G is $299 with three-year pan

Available at: Rogers, Fido