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2008 has to be remembered as the year when smartphone goes mainstream. Although many “analyst” and so called “experts” attribute it to the iPhone, personally I think the Samsung i600 and HTC Touch (at least in Singapore) played a much more significant role in introducing smartphone to the mainstream. Most importantly, these phones were available at an attractive price point, allowing people to try out these smartphones without burning a hole in their pockets. Today when it comes to smartphones, you can choose to go the way of Touch UI or the QWERTY models.

Touch UI

Personally I am not a big fan of these full touch screen phones, because any serious users will attest that the presence of “physical keys” is essential if you want to remain productive. However I do not discount the fact that the idea of a large “touchscreen” adds to the overall aesthetic value of the product, and is a much better attribute to sell to the mainstream consumer. The hottest products in the market right now excluding the upcoming 3G iPhone, are the HTC Touch Diamond, and Samsung i900 Omnia (Check out this review comparing the Omnia vs Diamond) . The biggest surprise to me about these 2 phones is not their feature sets, but rather the launch price of <$600 with a 2 year basic contract. I have not forgotten how just 6 months again, new smartphones by O2, HTC, and Samsung were launching their phones anything from $800 to >1k.

So if you’re in the market for one of these Touch UI phones, I suggest you stick to the two models mentioned above, because quite simply, the competition isn’t worth it (this includes the 3G iPhone). But before you make any decisions, you must understand the following:

• These are multimedia phones, positioned with media functions first, with standard phone capabilities.
• To truly enjoy surfing the web on them, a “mobile broadband” plan is essential.
• The OS is likely to be running Windows Mobile
• SMS or any form of texting is going to be a challenge.
• If you’re going to put a protective casing over it, don’t buy these phones.
• Be prepared to throw again your ipod, or any other forms of dedicated MP3s or media players.
• Battery life will never match up to your non-smart phone, especially so if you’re utilizing the multimedia functions.
• You are likely going to be disappointed with Touch UI.

Just my 5 cents worth, I will go for the Samsung Omnia over the HTC Diamond without any doubt.

QWERTY

Most people have probably never used a QWERTY phone before. These are smartphones with keypads representing individual keys on your standard keyboard. QWERTY have been around for a long time, most notably made popular by Blackberry and Palm Treo Phones. The main advantage is messaging is simply faster once you get the hang of it, but it’s growth has been hampered by the bulky nature of its design since the QWERTY keypad will take up the bulk of real estate, and keys that are too small will diminish the benefits of fast typing, too big and the phone looks like a brick.

However times have changed, and sexiness can now be associated with QWERTY phones, most notably, the Samsung i780, and Nokia E71. Both these phones are available for <$400 with a 2 year basic contract. Want to know whether it fits you, consider these:

• Once you are on QWERTY, you will never accept a TOUCH UI or normal keypad again.
• Two handed messaging is a must.
• A mobile broadband plan is essential.
• Your screen size will be limited. Good enough for video clips and MP3, but forget about full length movies.
• Multimedia functions are secondary to usability and functionality.
• You need to spend time customizing and installing 3rd party application to fully realize the phone’s potential.
• A phone like this can potentially last you a long time, barring any technological breakthrough in the industry
• People will think you’re a serious person. (You are not cool……)
• You need to understand which OS your phone is running on. These includes Windows Mobile, Symbian S60, Symbian UIQ, Palm, and Blackberry.

I will be getting the E71, which is running the Symbian S60, and I expect it to last me for a long long time.

Conclusion

Smartphones have been around for a every long time, previously limited to use by mobile executives and geeks. However, phone vendors have finally found a way to sell to the mainstream by not touting the features or functionality, but rather making use of the “smart” capability to design an attractive graphical interface, and selling it as a multimedia / mobile computing platform. This of course relates more easily to the mainstream user, resulting in the increase market share of smartphones in the market.

However we must not forget the true potential of a smartphone lies in its ability to install 3rd party applications to customize the phone to your needs. If you have bought a smartphone, be it a Touch UI, QWERTY, or even any phone running a Symbian OS or Windows mobile and have never installed any application on your phone, now is perhaps the time to jump into the world of 3rd party applications, and discover the true potential of your “Smart” phone, because a phone is only as smart as its owner.

If you’re looking to get any phones but its not available in your country, you might want to check this out.

(All prices quoted are in SGD)

Updates 12/07/08 – Article: What budget phones can do