SmartPhones - The Pros & Cons

Although smartphones are the "in" thing today, people often wonder whether they should opt for a smartphone or a regular phone with user friendly features. Few consumers do not know the difference between the two and others are unaware of their existence.

Before buying one it is important to know the meaning of a smart phone. It is generally a mobile phone with a device that runs a multi-tasking operating system which is often developed by a different company than the one manufacturing it.

Smartphones have the ability to run many applications simultaneously, much like computers running Windows or Mackintosh operating systems. In addition to running multiple applications a smartphone can switch between applications. Some examples of smartphone operating systems are Symbian S60, Windows Mobile, Android, Palm, Blackberry OS, etc.
Pros:
The advantages of smartphones include the ability to download and install applications native to their OS. The normal feature phones on the other hand, lack this ability and in choosing to buy a normal phone you may be stuck with the built-in applications. Smartphones allow you to go beyond the Java applications unlike a regular phone that allows only Java.

Another advantage of a smartphone is that the native applications on smartphones have no such limitations. The developers have a clear idea about the devices that their applications will be installed on and hence write them in such a way that the application takes full advantage of the device hardware. Native applications have better access to the hardware than Java applications; thus, you can make them do a lot more, which is at times not possible on Java platforms.

Smartphones are no less than the computers that sit on your desks. They are capable of doing a lot more than you can imagine. Application support means that you don't have to rely on just the built-in applications in the phone and the limited functionality offered, but you can go on and add a lot more, such as support for more multimedia formats or support for office documents or an improved web browser than the one that is built-in. Most smartphones have support for Java applications, which increases the total number of applications substantially.
Cons:
But on the flipside there are certain things the consumers ought to know. Smartphones aren't essentially better than normal feature phones. The time when smartphones came into existence, they were powered by weak processors with very small memory. This rendered them distinctly weaker performers as compared to normal phones. With much more workload and weak hardware to handle it, smartphones earned a bad reputation for being slowcoaches.

Nokia 6600 was a good phone because it could do a lot as compared to its competitors during that period of time. But in the long run it proved to be a slow coach. Then there was some issue with viruses. The Symbian S60 OS also had its share of viruses. The virus would usually spread when files were transferred over Bluetooth. Slowdowns and sudden starts became a common feature. With S60's 3rd Edition; Nokia finally laid the virus problem to rest but some people still fear buying Symbian phones due to the fear of viruses.

The high power consumption was yet another problem. Most smartphones in those days hardly managed to complete a day on a single charge. Smartphones were bulkier and much more expensive when it was initially introduced.

Conclusion:
Yet the user friendly features seen in the smartphones today make them a desirable buy. The heavy pocket factor applies both in the literal and real sense for the cost has not ceased to decline. On the brighter side are the advanced features making possible better use of the high end applications.

By: Amrith K.A.

Top Selling Smartphones in India:

Nokia E71

BlackBerry Bold-9000

Samsung i900 Omnia

Books on Smartphones:
Smartphone Programming
Nokia Smartphone Hacks