WM6 Phone vs Blackberry vs Symbian vs Android - Pros/Cons of OSs?

[Mysticle31]

I've been reading about phones to get a replacement for my 6700. I've only known Pocket PC. I want to make sure I consider all my options and not miss anything. I know you guys are PocketPC orientated and would like to borrow your experiences.

What are the pros an cons of each os/phone type?

I have read that Blackberrys are more email specific phones vs Pocket PC is more multimedia and more of a PC replacement. However is that still true?

If I go with Blackberry I can get

• Keyboard and small screen
• GPS via monthly fee
• Data
• Does it do pop3 or only it's own little format?
• Search for movies, local food, gas..etc (via same fee as gps?)
• Has Contacts/Phonebook. (Does it sync with outlook?)
• Internet - (Any of them as good as Opera Mobile?)
• Media Player - I would assume it can play various video formats and stream.
• Stability
• Battery Life

If I go with Pocket PC I know I can get

• many 3rd party apps. Some of them I use are Music ID, XM Streaming, VJCandalia, Pocket Stars, ESward, 1Calc, Metro (for public transit), WiFiFoFum, Microsoft Voice Command
• Sliding Keyboard and larger screen
• GPS via mo fee or external app
• Data
• Gmail via POP3 or Java applet
• Search for movies, local food, gas..etc via external app
• Has Contacts/Phonebook that syncs with ActiveSync some of the time
• Media player - I know it can play many formats and stream youtube..etc
• A reset switch which is used often
• Make sure to charge it.

What did I miss?


I don't know much about android or Symbian. Although my impression is that Symbian is more of a phone with a few extra features rather than WM and Blackberrys which are PDAs with a phone.

[hoddy4]

If having Slingbox, XM and Sirius radio, and using your phone as a wireless access point mean something to you, then you'll want a WM Mogul, Diamond, or Touch Pro. Also, depending what plan you have the monthly cost, including data, should be lower than the Blackberry.

[indevolatile]

Personally, I'm holding out for the Sprint Android phone in Q1-2 of '09. Having an honest to goodness open source mobile platform is going to take the term "custom ROM" to a whole other level.

[schettj]

Originally Posted by Mysticle31

I don't know much about android or Symbian. Although my impression is that Symbian is more of a phone with a few extra features rather than WM and Blackberrys which are PDAs with a phone.

Yeah, that's kinda outdated.

At this point, its a toss up on the feature bingo-card-checklist thing for WM/Android/BB/iPhone. You'll be able to surf, email, txt, talk, PIM sync, and play media on all of them. I'd shoot for "how does it fit in my hand, can I enter info on it successfully, can I see the screen, can I carry it, will it actually get a signal, can I hear it" kinda questions. And of course "can I get it from my carrier of choice?"

For example, here's an interesting question.... do you travel? Do you need to use your phone overseas? Getting a GSM phone with a sim, that is unlocked (or unlockable) would be pretty important. There is nothing like slapping a pay as you go $15 sim card in your phone when you land

So, rather then listing the features each phone prints on their box, what do you want to DO with your phone?

[dello04]

player

[Geekcop]

Something to remember about BB email is that it uses a 3rd party server. In this configuration the mail leaves the originating server, goes through RIM 's (Research In Motion-BB's parent company) server then proceeds onto it's destination. This past year, RIM suffered a couple or three outages of their email server, one of which was worldwide. This means you are wholly dependent on RIM maintaining their email server. If it goes down, you're out of luck. If email is important to you, then go with a WM device.