Open a magazine these days and there’s a good chance you will read a story about smartphones. Smartphones are like cell phones on steroids. Often they are more like handheld computers that you can make phone calls from, rather than phones that can do other things. They can be amazing pieces of technology. Which leads to the question – when is the right time for you to buy one?

There are two answers to that question. The first is that if you work for a company that will provide you with one, it may be worth taking up your employer on a free smartphone offer. The other answer is a little more intricate: when your need for the features of a smartphone outweigh the extra fees of owning one, it's probably time to take the leap.  

 

What is a smartphone?

There is no real definition for a smartphone. It’s a term made up for phones that do more things than your average cell phone, the kind that only costs a few dollars with a new cell plan. A regular phone already has a ton of features: they can connect to the Internet, send and receive emails, instant message, text, set calendar appointments, take pictures and videos, play music, movies and games -- they can even make telephone calls!

What smartphones do is make all these tasks easier. They usually have a different physical shape to make it easier to write messages and navigate the Internet. They generally have special interface abilities, like a touch screen or a QWERTY keyboard that resembles a computer keyboard. Smartphones also have more powerful software and often connect to a faster cell phone service that provides a faster Internet connection from the device. Generally, smartphones can run third-party software applications that didn’t come with the phone. These applications can be anything from business software to games to programs that turn your smartphone into a television remote control.

The problem is that since there are so many different kinds of smartphones, it's difficult to explain those features in detail within the scope of a single article. Instead, we’ll cover three basic types of smartphones and point you in the direction of the major specifications to consider. This is not a comprehensive list, but it should give you an idea of what your options are before you do your own research.

 

iPhone

A lot of tech freaks will tell you that the iPhone is not really a smartphone, but they are mostly being elitists and talking about the first generation iPhone. They’ll tell you that the iPhone is more of a “lifestyle device,” something that people have because it looks cool.

Yes, the iPhone looks cool. It’s basically a thin, glassy rectangle with no buttons. Everything you do, from dialing, to navigating the Internet, to typing emails is done through the touch screen, which is smart enough to navigate multiple touches at once. It plays music and movies as good, if not better, than most handheld devices on the market. It also has perhaps the easiest and most intuitive Internet browsing on a handheld.

One of the biggest early complaints of the iPhone was that you couldn’t install third-party software on it; if Apple didn’t make the program, you couldn’t run it. Now, with the new iPhone App Store, a wide variety of software can be purchased and downloaded directly to your phone. The other frequent complaint is that it can be difficult to type quickly using the iPhone’s touch screen keyboard. It takes practice to get up to speed, but most users adjust after a reasonable amount of learning curve.

 

BlackBerry

The BlackBerry is one of the first popular smartphones and continues to remain one of the most successful. It was originally introduced as a two-way pager and although it is a fully functioning smartphone, it is still best known for its email and messaging capabilities. Because it's possible to integrate a BlackBerry completely into an email server, it is very popular with business users.

If your business doesn’t use BlackBerries, the biggest feature of the smartphone is its physical design. BlackBerries have physical QWERTY keyboards, which mean the letters are in the same position as a computer keyboard. The keys have been optimized for thumb typing and there is a nub for navigating through the phone’s screens. Some BlackBerries also have touch screens.

 

Everything Else

When researching smartphones, it’s important to note the manufacturer, which makes the phone, and the carrier, which provides the service. Often, a manufacturer will make a cell phone available for only one carrier. Another key specification to consider is the operating system, the underlying package of software that powers the phone (the equivalent of Windows, OS X or UNIX/Linux on a computer). Many of the other smartphones will run on either a Windows Mobile or Palm operating system. The different operating systems change how the smartphones work and the kinds of software that can be installed on them. You may find one OS more intuitive than another for daily use, or have specific requirements about applications you need to run on your phone that only work on one type of operating system. If you can find the time to head to a local carrier's storefront and try out the different types of OSs before making a purchase, this can be a great way to audition whether or not you favor a particular phone operating system over another.

Different smartphones will have different input devices as well. Some use a keypad; others fold a miniature keyboard underneath the screen. Still others use a touch screen, or require a stylus, a pencil-like tool held in your hand that acts like a mouse.

 

The Answer

Do you access the Internet frequently from your phone? Do you wish you had a computer with you at all times? Do you have a growing need to run specific programs on your mobile not included with the stock software? Then it might be time to buy a smartphone. Do you just want to talk, text, listen to music or watch movies? You might want to keep your old flip phone or slider for a while longer.