Conveniently, smartphones can also replace your camera, camcorder, GPS navigation unit and iPod. Oh, and they make phone calls, too! Regardless of your needs, budget or preferred carrier, there's no shortage of feature-rich, high-speed smartphones to choose from these days.
What to look for in a smartphone
• Smartphones come in all shapes and sizes, and the form of each hints at what it's good for. Some models have a QWERTY keyboard, for example, which makes them ideal for those who do a lot of typing (email, texting or instant messaging). Smartphones with large touchscreens are ideal for entertainment, such as watching videos or playing games.
If you want a basic phone that simply makes phone calls, don't opt for a smartphone at all; pick up a small, affordable flip phone with regular buttons instead of a keyboard. Be sure to hold any smartphone before you buy to ensure it's comfortable for you to touch, talk and type on.
3 smartphone operating systems to choose from
• Once you decide on the form of your phone, you'll want to figure out what operating system to go with. Because most BlackBerrys have a QWERTY keyboard, they are great for typing, but not as ideal for games or video.
The iPhone was designed to be used for media (it synchronizes smoothly with iTunes on your computer when plugged into your PC or Mac's USB port) and lets you download more than 425,000 apps, so you can personalize the phone in a number of ways. But the iPhone is a touchscreen-only device, so make sure you find it comfortable if you like to type a lot of emails or text messages.
Powered by Google, Android smartphones come in a variety of sizes and all have exclusive Google apps, a great web browser and access to hundreds of thousands of other apps from the Android Market.
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