A question I get asked very often is what kind of Smartphone I recommend. Many people have many different perspectives on this, so naturally I thought I'd share mine as well.
For the most part, many of the Smartphones available on the market are very similar, and do what you need them to do. Most everyone is looking for syncronization with Exchange email, contacts, calendar and tasks. Almost all phones offer this funcitonality to some degree or another, and for the sake of simplicity, I'm going to outline key differences between 4 of the most popular types of phones.
Blackberry: Blackberry is currently the market leader of Smartphones. The devices are simple and easy to use. These phones are geared towards being email devices for users. Because of this, they act less like a mini computer and more like, well, a portable email device. Exchange syncronization is simple, and less expensive than the Treo or Windows device with Good Mobile Messaging. Email, calendar, contacts and tasks are syncronized wirelessly in realtime. The one disadvantage of these phones is that they will not sync public contact folders wirelessly, something that the Treo and Windows Mobile devices with Good Mobile Messaging can do.
iPhone: The iPhone has had quite a year. Since its release, it has surpassed Windows Mobile in marketshare, and this is probably the most common phone I get asked about. While the iPhone offers a sleek design, it is not designed for business use. Even though Apple has announced plans to support Exchange in the future, currently the iPhone will only sync email wirelessly. Syncing email is achieved using IMAP, which is far less sophisticated and integrated than the other phones. Syncing contacts and calendar items is done through iTunes, via a usb cable. This means that Outlook or Entourage must sync to iTunes, which then syncs to the iPhone, which is only updated when you plug the phone in. This is unsatisfactory for many users who need everything to sync two way in real time.
Treo: Treos come in two flavors, Palm OS and Windows Mobile. I'll cover Windows Mobile in the next section. The Palm OS has been around for a long time, and those of you already familiar with it probably find it very easy to use. There are many applications available for these phones, however market share has been slipping, and I suspect Palm will ultimately drop this operating system in favor of Windows Mobile or something else and just focus on phones. Good Mobile Messaging is available (and required) for syncronization with Exchange. The software is very robust and can sync email, contacts, calendars, even contacts from public folders. The syncronization of public contact folders is unique to Good Mobile Messaging, and only available on Treos and Windows Mobile devices.
Windows Mobile: There are a variety of devices that use Windows Mobile. HP, Motorola, Samsung, and others make devices for all of the major wireless carriers. It's similar to Palm OS in that it's pretty simple to use, and if you're familiar with it already, you'll probably want to stay with it. Windows Mobile offers built-in support for Exchange syncronization, but like the Blackberry, it cannot sync public folders without Good Mobile Messaging. If you don't need that, then the buit-in Exchange Active Sync is probably good enough for you. Setup is relatively straightforward, and cost is minimal.
So maybe now you're thinking, thanks Dan, but really, which phone should I get? Well, it's tough to say, each person has different needs, but I can probably sum it up for you. If you use public contact folders and need to syncronize those to your phone, go with a Treo or Windows Mobile device using Good mobile Messaging. If you don't need that, I would recommend the Blackberry. They're stable, very easy to use, and the phones are generally less expensive than the alternatives I've discussed here. The cost for Blackberry wireless syncronization with Exchange is also about half the cost of Good Mobile Messaging. If you really want an iPhone, I would suggest waiting a while. Once they've been introduced into the market with support for Exchange, and the bugs have been worked out, I expect that they'll be a strong contender in the Smartphone market for business users.
