By Lim Yee Hung

SMARTPHONES today are true-blue pocket PCs: You can watch YouTube videos, update your Facebook status, read the latest news, and remember, you can make calls on them too.

Some have Qwerty keypads, so you can input text almost as fast as you can on your keyboard. It used to be Palm which dominated the smartphone market, but the choices today are many: BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Symbian phones, and, of course, the iPhone.

So, what should you look out for when making your purchase?

Pick the right platform

For the business user, the Windows Mobile platform is attractive due to its seamless integration with Microsoft software such as Microsoft Exchange and Office.

However, other platforms have third-party applications that support Microsoft software as well, such as Quickoffice for Symbian phones.

BlackBerry phones stand out due to their push-mail capability and internal messaging service. Symbian phones, such as the Nokia E series, are popular too because of their intuitive user interface.

However, if you are using it for entertainment purposes, such as to play games, music and videos, then the iPhone stands out for the sheer number of fun third-party applications it offers, as well as its relatively huge screen and clear graphics.

Choose your must-have features

What will you be using your smartphone for? If it is mainly for producing documents or e-mail, then get one with a Qwerty keypad for fast and efficient typing.

Trigger-happy users should choose one with a high-resolution camera, so you get crisp and clear pictures. If high-speed Internet browsing is important to you, then choose a 3.5G HSDPA phone over a 3G one.

Touchscreen phones are attractive because of their ease-of-use and their cool factor, and you get a bigger screen to enjoy your videos and games with.

Have a hands-on with the device

You are probably going to carry the phone with you all day so you need to make sure you actually want to have it in your pocket.

If you usually wear slim-fit jeans then get a slim candybar phone. Rugged mobile users should look out for build quality, so that they do not end up finding pieces of their phones in their pockets.

If you are going to be churning out e-mail and documents with your device, then have a go with the keypad to check its tactile feedback and if you can get used to it.

Lim Yee Hung is a freelance writer

This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.

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