The Art of Choosing a Wireless Provider and Handset: Part 2

Now that you've picked your poison, it's time to decide what cup you drink it from. Picking a handset is way more difficult than picking a carrier, though picking a carrier has limited you to what handsets you have available, so that helps.

Before you choose a handset, you need to decide what you want to do with your handset. Handsets fall into one of three categories.

Phone Types
Basic
Basic handsets are just that: Basic. They make phone calls and can probably send and receive text messages. Customization is limited to changing the home screen picture and your ringtone. Some of these have cameras, but they're nothing to write home about.

Feature
Feature phones are kind of an awkward step between basic and smart phones. They do everything a basic phone does, plus can check your email and a very limited version of some web sites such as facebook or Yahoo. Because you still have to pay for a data plan, it seems to me like if you're going to do this, you may as well step it up to a smart phone.

Smart Phone
Smart phones are basically miniature PC's that make phone calls. They can browse the web. Their capabilities can be expanded through the installation of programs called apps. They can take pictures. They can shoot video. There is a lot that can be done with a smart phone.

iPhone
I said above that there were three basic categories of phones. If you can count, you counted four. Allow me to explain. One of the criteria of a smart phone is that it can browse the full web. The iPhone, as well as other iOS devices, cannot do this because iOS does not support Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight. The omission of Silverlight is not a big deal, but the lack Flash supports means that iOS cannot view more than 75% of all video on the web.

iPhone fans reading this will be quick to point out that YouTube, ABC.com, and many other video streaming websites have created iOS specific web sites so that iPhone users can access them. This is basically what was done to allow feature phones to access the web, but we don't claim that feature phones can access the full web. A feature phone can watch YouTube videos, but on a dedicated feature phone web site. However, iPhone is not a feature phone, because iPhone can be expanded through the installation of apps, features phones cannot. Therefore, as iPhone does not fit into either of those categories, it is only correct to put into a class all it's own, just above feature phone and below smart phone. So, it's more like there are 3.5 categories of handsets.

Operating System/Features
Basic
If you chose a basic handset, whether that be because you don't demand much from your handset or you're on a budget, you can be done reading. Nothing else I can say will make much of a difference. Basic phones are pretty much all the same.


Features
If you've chosen a feature phone, it really just boils down what features you want. Feature phones aren't expandable, so what you see is what you get. Samsung, Motorola, LG, and many other OEMs offer many different feature phones with many different features. Some lean toward watching YouTube videos, other toward social networking through facebook and twitter. It really just depends on what you want.

Blackberry (Research in Motion or RIM)
Blackberry is the smart phone operating system that has been around the longest. Palm is arguably the first, but doesn't exist in any recognizable form, though we will touch on it briefly here, as Hewlett-Packard (hp) has recently purchased Palm and is attempting to break into the market. Blackberry is starting to show its age, but still has many features not found in other mobile OS's.

Blackberry is not a touch UI (user interface). Handsets are more traditional brick or flip phones with full QWERTY keyboards and navigational buttons. Blackberry is preferred in the enterprise world, though that is rapidly changing, as competitors offer Microsoft Exchange and other business solutions on their own OS's. If you want a smart phone but feel that newer OS's such as iOS or Android are a little overwhelming, Blackberry may be what you need.

Blackberry can only be found on hardware manufactured by RIM. However, RIM makes a wide variety of handsets available on a variety of different carriers. Manufacturer options are singular, but handset designs are numerous.

iOS (Apple)
iOS is a touch UI and can only be found on hardware manufactured by Apple. This severely limits the number options you have for an iOS powered phone. Unlike RIM, Apple makes one iOS powered iPhone a year, and other than shell design, each phone is essentially the same. If you want a keyboard option, too bad. If you prefer more buttons, move along. If you'd like to side load apps from third parties, forget it.

Apple rules its iOS operating system, hardware, and ecosystem with a childish, iron fist. Apple claims this is to protect it's users from harmful software. This is accomplished, but this also allows Apple to limit what you can and can't do with a phone you own. This is a privilege Apple uses liberally and childishly, often times limiting apps simply because they don't like the content. Apple limits installation of apps to approved apps that it posts to the Apple App Store and reserves the right to deny any app for any reason.

Also, iOS devices (until iOS5 is released later this year) are not ready to use out of the box. iOS devices must be purchased at the store and then you must wait until you get home and connect your device to an iTunes account on your Mac or Windows powered PC. Most other phones are ready to be used before you leave the store. Most other phones could never be connected to a PC ever and still work perfectly fine. This is not the case with iOS.

As I mentioned above, iOS cannot access the full internet, like Android or Blackberry, as iOS does not support Flash or Silverlight. Once again, this is not because Adobe and Microsoft do not want to develop for iOS, but is because Apple CEO Steve Jobs claims that iOS does not need Flash or Silverlight to view the full web, because most of that video is also availble in an iOS friendly format.  Because of this, Apple's claim that iOS can view the full web is false. In order for such a claim to be true, a device would need to be able to play the Flash and Silverlight version as well as the new mobile device friendly version, as both exist on and make up the web.

iOS is also not very customizable. Apps are stored in a tile based UI and cannot be moved. This wouldn't be so bad, except that apps are merely stored in the order that they were downloaded, not alphabetical or any other more common sense method. Apps can be stored in folders, but that's about it. The background is black and cannot be changed. You can customize your ringtone, but not from one of the many songs you likely imported from iTunes. You must either purchase one from iTunes or create one of your own on a Mac or Windows powered PC.

On the plus side, iOS has available to it the largest and most extensive App Store of any mobile operating system, though Android is quickly closing that gap. iOS is stable, and the user experience is identical across all devices, unless you a have very old model.

At the time of this writing, iPhone is only available on AT&T and Verizon Wireless. You can expect to pay $200 for the handset with a 2-year contract and over $100 a month for a single line service plan on either carrier.

Android (Google)
Android is very similar to iOS in how it's used but differs greatly in other areas. Like iOS, it is a touch UI, but unlike iOS, Google does not make the hardware for the platform. Instead, Android is available to all OEMs to make hardware for. Like a Windows PC, many OEMs make hardware for Android and some customize (for better or worse) the operating system.

Android handsets come in all shapes and sizes. Some have physical QWERTY keyboards, others are touch only. Some have 2.5 inch screens, others have 4 inch plus screen. Some can make Wi-Fi calls and be used as Wi-Fi hotspots (serve as a wireless router so that you can use your data plan to grant internet access to other devices, such as a laptop or Nintendo DS), others cannot. Some are simple single core phones that aren't very powerful, others might put your laptop to shame in terms of processing power and speed.

Android also differs from iOS in terms of just what it's capable of. Google doesn't care much what you do with Android or where you buy your apps. Google provides the Android Market, but they rely mostly on users to monitor what's on it and what is not. This allows each user to decide what he should and should not do with the phone that he rightfully owns. If that sounds a little scary (it does mean that, sometimes, malicious software makes its way in there), Amazon offers it's own app store. Amazon, like Apple, polices its app store and makes each developer go through an approval process, though their approval process is significantly more relaxed. There are also other app stores that do not have app portals on the web. Downloading an app from one of these third party stores to your PC and then side loading it to your phone is very simple and intuitive and allows for an almost infinite expandability of your handset.

Android powered handsets do suffer form what is known as fragmentation. Because every handset is different (sometimes drastically), not every experience is the same. HTC skins Android with what they call Sense UI. Motorola uses a service called Blur to combine your GMail, facebook, and twitter, into one comprehensive system. Samsung skins their Android handsets with Touch Wiz. All of these OEMs and a few others also offer Stock Android, which is Android untouched (with the exception of maybe a few third party apps that you can't uninstall, but these don't change the user experience). Because of these skins and varying hardware, not every handset receives version updates at the same time or at all. This has become a cause of frustration for many Android users, but it's an issue that Google has made great strides to rectify. The vast majority of Android users are now running one of two version numbers of Android with tablets running a third non-phone version.

Android is also very customizable. Apps are initially stored in a single list of apps organized alphabetically, but shortcuts can be created on the home screen. The home screen background can be changed to any photo you like. Your ringtone and notification tone can be customized from a song or sound you already have on you phone plus purchases. And many apps come with live widgets that keep you updated on what the app is doing. For example, iOS will let you know that you have a new voice mail, but that's it. This is an iOS limitation, not an app limitation. Android allows for PhoneFusion Visual Voice to tell you that you have a new voice mail, how many you have that are new, how many are old, and how many are scheduled to be deleted. Your weather app can display the weather, temperature, and forecast all from the included widget that you can place anywhere on your home screen. iOS requires you to open the app before such information can be displayed.

Another really nice feature is the notification drawer. At the top of your iPhone or Blackberry, you'll find your signal strength, data, network, and time in a bar of sorts. In Android, that bar can be grabbed and pulled down to cover the screen. This reveals the date and any notifications that might require your attention. It displays text messages, emails, voice mails, who they're from, and when they were received. Each line in the drawer can be pressed and will take you to the associated app. When you're done with that task, pull the drawer down and address the remaining notifications.

The best part about all of this is that it can all be done at the same time. iOS and Blackberry do not multitask. iOS and Blackberry both save the state of the current app, close it, open the new app, save the state of that one, close it, open the first app back to where it was. Android does not need to close each app, making for a much faster and smoother experience.

If you really want to tinker and feel smart enough to do so, you can even remove the version of Android that came on your handset and install one you customized. This is really advanced stuff and you likely won't be doing any rooting and deep customization, but it's nice to know that you can if you want to. Rooting a phone allows you to remove unwanted OEM customizations such as HTC Sense or pre-installed apps that you can't uninstall. It also allows you to stay up to date on your Android version without the OEM and carrier first approving (or denying) a custom version of Android for your handset.

Windows Phone (Microsoft) and WebOS (hp, formerly Palm)
I know very little about either of these OSes. They exist and are very viable options for someone who doesn't want one of the more popular phones for some reason. Windows Phone looks very appealing but suffers form lack of support. I've seen pictures of WebOS. They're there. Keep them in mind when you do your research.

Sorry if my bias got the best of me. I like T-Mobile and I like Android and it flabbergasts me that anyone would want anything else. That's why you shouldn't take my word for it. Do your own research. Know what you're looking for before you visit a carrier's store. The sales people have a job to do and that is to make sure you buy something, anything. They aren't bad people, but they do need to eat just like the rest of us.

Research the plans. Research the OEMs. Know that if you buy an iPhone you may feel like you don't own your phone. Know that if you buy a Motorola Android that they have a pretty poor history of timely updates. Know that if you sign a Verizon or AT&T contract that you will be charge a fee for using to much data. Know these things ahead of time. You'll save yourself a lot of time, money, and headache.


Also, T-Mobile and Android rule. So start there.