Windows Phone Thoughts: Smartphone? PDA? Which Way Do I Go?

The Case for Smartphones
Cell phones have evolved greatly since they first started becoming widely used in the 1980s. Watch the first Lethal Weapon movie and you’ll see what I mean. They are much smaller, have better range and now pack features such as cameras, colour screens and desktop PIM synchronisation.

There are many devices that satisfy my earlier definition of a smartphone. So, to make things a little clearer I’ll name a few that I think qualify as smartphones. Remember, I am being operating system/platform agnostic.

• Motorola MPx 200;
  
• iMate/XDA smartphone;
  
• Nokia N-Gage;
  
• Sony Ericsson P900;
  
• Sony Ericsson T630;
  
• Treo 600;
  
• XDA2.

Now, I know you’re thinking that I must have lost my marbles. Basically, any phone can qualify as a smartphone. Well, given the way modern cell phones have evolved that’s probably true.

Smartphones offer you the ability to converge your cell phone and PDA into a single device. For example, with a smartphone you can make calls, check your diary and remotely access your email. Some even let you take photos and listen to music. However, where they differ most significantly to PDAs is with data input. While PDAs have touch screens, handwriting recognition and soft keyboards, smartphones are limited to the numeric keypad with a couple of extra keys and buttons to assist with navigation. That’s why, in my opinion, the smartphone is mainly a data reading device. The main exceptions to this are using SMS and entering some contact details.

Now, in my list of devices I consider smartphones, I listed some devices that could be considered somewhat controversial. The Nokia N-Gage is the only device that I know of that combines handheld gaming with a telephone. But don’t think of the N-Gage as a telephone. Think of it as a connected gaming device. It’s designed for playing multiplayer games over the Internet via GPRS. The fact that you can use it as a phone is merely a bonus. The Sony Ericsson T630 is on my list as it lets you easily synchronise PIM data from your PC.

For me, the really blurry area is the space covered by the Pocket PC Phone Edition devices like the XDA2 and the Palm's Treo 600. These devices are PDAs that include cell phone functions. I’ve had the good fortune to be able to use both and I was pretty tempted to give up my current PDA for one of these. But, I like my phone to be pretty compact so that I can carry it in the pocket of my jeans comfortably. However, both are splendid devices.