I’m in the market for a smartphone and in making a decision on what to buy, am having a serious, daily debate with myself about what matters to me most. After all, I will be tied to this thing for two years and want to make the right call. I imagine that, when smartbooks hit the market next year, potential buyers will be having the same kind of debate.
Here’s my list of important criteria. Oh, how I wish I could find a phone that encompasses all these features. Alas, in the end I will be forced to compromise. The question is what I am willing to compromise most on. The jury’s still out.
Weight: I checked out the Motorola Droid recently and it’s pretty cool save for two things. Its physical keyboard is cramped to the point of being unusable (however I can deal with this by using the virtual keyboard) and the weight. That thing is heavy!
Apps: Hands down, Apple wins the race when it comes to the volume, diversity and simplicity of applications in its store. This is important to me, as I use the many apps on my iPod Touch every day. I could get myself an iPhone today were it not for…
Network: Let’s face it. AT&T’s 3G coverage is, um, less than good. Calls and Internet connectivity are constantly dropped. Everyone I know with an iPhone (including my husband) complains about it. Network reliability (I have Verizon now and love it) is important to me. Maybe a slower network be offset by…
Speed: New phones from Acer, Sony Ericsson, HTC and others, with the speedy 1-GHz Snapdragon processor, are getting good reviews. Will the speediness of the phone somehow offset a slow network?
What’s important to you? And what are you willing to compromise on?
Lisa
