Best Smart Phones For Business Review

Ok, so why after two years is the Q9 still Motorola's business flag bearer? Probably because they seem to be spending less time on business people these days and more time on music-lovers. But the upside of this is a long reputable model life, and a price tag that won't cause you any worry.

Even with 2006 specifications, you'll still get Windows Mobile 6, a good 3.5G connection, stereo Bluetooth and a two megapixel camera. The phone's Qwerty keyboard is slightly curved for ergonomics and the whole device is pleasantly slim for those with other things to put in their pockets. There's no wi-fi or GPS, though, and storage needs to be facilitated through the phone's Micro SD memory slot.

The best features of the iPhone, from a business point of view, are its huge internal memory, its simplicity and its web browsing. The onboard Safari browser is probably the best in its class, while the ability to navigate, zoom in and zoom out of web pages using your fingers is absolutely brilliant.

Its 3G speed is a good bit slower than many of its HSDPA rivals, mind you, so browsing is a bit constrained. It comes with a mapping function, in the flavour of Google Maps, that displays a GPS location, of sorts, as you move about (in towns and cities, anyway). Also the iPhone's online Application Store offers hundreds of gaming, financial, lifestyle and other applications (some free others %u20AC1-%u20AC5 per application).

The downside to the iPhone is that it still does not offer some basic SMS services, such as the ability to forward a text. And it also has no removable battery.

I have heard that Palm devices are now described as competitively priced Windows Pocket PC devices, and this is certainly true of the Treo Pro, which features 3.5g, GPS,wi-fi and Mobile Office. The Qwerty keyboard is complimented by a modestly-sized 2.5-inch touch-screen while there is a (two-megapixel) camera included, too.

It has a decent built-in memory, at 256MB, and there's a memory card expansion supporting up to 8GB. If you want to load on a few tunes, theMP3 player will play your music back in stereo Bluetooth, facilitating wireless headphones.

Blackberrys don't give you much by way of memory, power or features. But at least the 8707g connects at 3G speed! If you've used a Blackberry before, the operation of the 8707g is easy, with the familiar jog-wheel on the side for easy (right-handed) operation.

And I like the tiny Qwerty keypad. However, I would not recommend this particular gadget if you want to store your life trappings on it - a tiny flash memory onboard (64MB), and no memory card expansion slot.

Also it doesn't offer GPS, wi-fi and, surprisingly, a camera. If these features are of interest, a powerful upcoming Blackberry (the Blackberry Bold) may be worth holding out for.

At the time of writing this (Oct 2008) Amazon did not offer any deals on this - but you can check as they might now.

Very bulky and very popular with those who want a keyboard that's bigger than the tiny micro-models supplied on most other smart phones. Solution - E90 folds out horizontally to reveal a soft-key Qwerty keyboard.

The good news is that the Communicator matches most of the current top specifications (GPS, wi-fi, 3G) sought after in a new device, although it does rely on expansion memory (via MicroSD cards) due to its modest 128MB internal memory. But it is good on entertainment features, with an FM radio, videoplayer and two cameras. Based on its own Symbian series 60 operating system, the phone uses Quick Office and Nokia Office Tools to synchronise with office software on computers at work.

The Nokia E61i looks a little like a Blackberry and a Windows clone, but uses Nokia's own operating system and productivity software. And what the E61i excels in is simplicity, having arguably the most user-friendly smartphone operating system. On the downside it does lacks some of the most up-to-date specifications, such as 3.5G,GPS and a proper amount of internal memory (with just 60MB onboard).

Wi-fi is included, however, and a memory card expansion slot supports up to 4GB of added memory. Its 2.8-inch (non-touch) screen is bright and colourful, while a two-megapixel camera is also included.