Strut, turn, hold that pose. Whew, don t you look good with that smartphone. Choices are made less about feature sets and more about what seems to be the hot phone to have, University of Toronto computer science professor Eugene Fiume says of the urban
market. But that changes when you leave It s also worth it to take the time just to hold the city and things like coverage become the device, to make sure it s the one for you. more of an issue and a more careful choice Everybody s hands are different, Fiume must be made. says, before warning, Depending on the
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Making the right buying decision starts by data plan, you re going to be chained to this recognizing that while voice and texting are thing for potentially three years. encoded and sent through a voice channel, Screen quality not only how big, but email and web browsing go through a digital also the brightness and resolution is key data connection. Importantly, a service that is no matter what you re using the phone for, currently giving you good voice connections as you ll need the brightest screen you can on your cell phone may not be up to the job have for outdoor use.
for a smartphone. You want to make sure that you have a
The spectrum and coverage for voice good screen and decent connection times versus data can be different, and usually the so that you can look at a page, says Mark coverage for voice is wider than it is for data. Lepp, co-founder and business manager Coverage is variable and changing, which is of FarmLink Marketing Solutions. A lot of why you have to be aware of your local conditions, pages aren t designed for mobile use, so Fiume says. you need something with decent speed that
That means you smartphone decision is allows you to browse quickly. actually two decisions in one. But browsing can be an expensive proposition
We have this issue of coverage, which is without the right kind of data plan. how effectively a particular carrier covers an Anybody that doesn t have a data plan area, and also how a particular phone responds is just going to get creamed when they are to the carrier coverage, Fiume said. And the looking at five or seven minute videos everyday, best way to get information on that is for someone said Bill Smith, chief operating officer to go to a local shop, because they will be of marketing consultant Ag-Chieve. The able to give you better advice regarding local data plan is key. Get a really good data plan coverage than a central office. where you re paying a flat rate for access.
People using the handsets for work need Most data plans these days blend voice, to decide what kind of information they really data and messaging in some kind of package. want and whether they re looking for or sending With a smartphone, you d be hard pressed to information. get voice data and messaging for less than
I might be more interested in simply $80 a month. getting information like weather data, traffic As those packages catch up, a guy can patterns or commodity prices, which means have access to unlimited data and voice and for a little bit of typing, you get a lot of information be able to really basically use the phone like back, Fiume said. a little computer, and see, hear and access
In that case, you might want an Apple all the information that he otherwise would product, as they are strictly touch phones. have to be at home on a broadband connection They are easy to use, with wide-spectrum to see. That s a lot of value in a small coverage and maximized screen real estate package, says Smith. It s a considerable which isn t cluttered by a keyboard. amount of money but it s affordable, and if
If you re going to be sending information you look at it from a cost/return basis, staying back and forth, however, then you might want on top of stuff and being able to pull the something that has a built-in or slide-out keyboard, trigger at the right time, it can certainly pay like a BlackBerry, Motorola, or HTC. for itself a couple times over.
