Smartphones are for those who demand everything from productivity to voice services, without compromising on the looks of the handset. There’s an overwhelming variety of handsets in the market which only makes the decision even more daunting for smartphone lovers. Here are 2009’s most deserving business phones.
Leading the charts is Nokia E75, purely because users find easy to adapt to its familiar looking interface. The unique feature that sets E75 apart from other Nokia phones is its ability to offer integration of email and messaging services. A three-step process and you are all set to support up to 16 email accounts along with third party email solutions such as Gmail and Yahoo. Another first is a 2.4 inch landscape slide out keyboard that makes life for executives a little simpler. For those who would like to use E75 as a multimedia device, Nokia has included a 3.5mm jack and an SD card slot and a 4GB SD card is included in the box. A 3.2-megapixel camera with built-in LED flash completes the multimedia offering. You would pay Rs 26,299 for this workhorse.
Blackberry Storm 9500 closely follows the leader. At Rs 27,990 and available on Vodafone networks, the device can be an attractive upgrade for Blackberry addicts. Storm can disappoint conformists who know that nothing can replace a physical QWERTY keyboard, even when the Storm's entire screen acts as a virtual keypad. But reading emails, browsing the web and playing music is a doodle on the 3.25 inch screen. While the Storm also has the usual corporate features, such as push email and administrator control, it has more bling than all Blackberry devices put together.
HTC Touch HD is the costliest of the lot, at Rs 41,990, but there are some inimitable features that scream for attention. As a Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone, it comes with Microsoft's own suite of productivity applications. So, this keeps track of your address book and appointments to email, even working with Microsoft Office files. If you use Microsoft Outlook at work, then you can synchronise Touch HD with your PC. A fine combination of a 3.8 inch touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera, fast processor and excellent battery life makes it capable winner in smartphone category. HTC's user interface, TouchFLO 3D, goes on to make the device easier to use with a fingertip (just like the Apple iPhone) . The phone gives an easy access to all commonly performed tasks like checking email, playing music, documents, surfing the web and so on.
For the design-conscious consumer, a pretty phone does not necessarily mean that they would forgo on the features. This explains why vendors are bringing in good-looking devices in various colour palettes to please consumers.
Samsung Ultra Touch has quite a step up from the plastic slider phones that Samsung previously released. This one is an interesting mix of an 8 megapixel camera, full touchscreen interface and a physical T9 keypad . Priced at Rs 27,500, Samsung Ultra Touch has the potential to warm its way with the elite fashion-seekers. The 2.8 inch display might feel a bit small for internet browsing but other multimedia needs like music and videos viewing are served nicely on a display of this size.
Retailing at little more than Apple iPhone’s price, the Asus P565 costs Rs 35,000, and gives you the same touchscreen that you see on iPhone. Don’t write off Asus as a new player in the mobile phone market, as it has pushed out some fairly impressive smartphones till date. The P565 comes with 256MB of flash memory which is fairly huge. Asus has also thrown in a nice programme that allows you to upload photos and videos to Flickr and Youtube conveniently. This may not seem like a big deal, but you can directly share your pictures and videos from anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection. A 3 megapixel camera and the auto-focus feature (not commonly found in lower resolution cameras) guarantee that you click good pictures.
Research in Motion’s (RIM) Blackberry Pearl Flip 8220 outshines the candybar Blackberry Pearl. The new Flip is less professional looking and lighter than any other RIM device. The newly acquired smooth curves, metal trim and a glossy embedded front display are just fantastic. Priced quite right at Rs 21,990, the Flip is available on Vodafone and Airtel networks. The new built-in web browser in the Pearl Flip is better than it was on Blackberry Curve and Pearl handsets. This browser offers a desktop PC like mouse pointer that is controlled with the trackball which facilitates smooth scrolling on web pages. And lastly, you won’t feel let down by the bundled 2 megapixel camera (with a 2x digital zoom and LED flash). Overall, Flip stands out as smart buy for a smart user.
