InfoTart

Let’s say that you’re tethered to Sprint — a CDMA network. Which means that you can’t buy any of the cool unlocked European smartphones from Nokia or Sony-Ericsson (which all run on GSM).

Despite such a tough situation, all hope is not lost if you’d like all of the benefits of buying a smartphone. True, you won’t be able to use an Apple iPhone, but there are other very good devices out there that will help you stay connected to your emai and calendar, plus let you do fun stuff like browse the web, play music and videos, open & edit Microsoft Office documents, and install great third party games and software. Such are the benefits of paying a few bucks more for a “smartphone” rather than one of the cheap-o — and limited — mass market phones.

So a buddy of mine called me today to ask for recommendations on a smartphone and he’s tied to Sprint for another year or two. He currently owns an old Palm Treo device which is definitely past its prime. Here is what I wrote to him in an email.

—————–

Okay, here’s the good news. If you decide to go with any of the devices listed here, I’m sure you’d be happy. So don’t sweat over the decision too much. What you should do is find a device whose style you like, and which you find “easy to use”, however you define that for yourself. Definitely check out some reviews online, as well, before visiting the store.

PALM OS
If you go with a PalmOS device, then I might recommend the new Centro. I was chatting with a guy at the bar the other day who had one and he loves it. It’s stylish, compact, and lightweight. It runs PalmOS, so if you have invested in any software, those products will be able to work on this device, as well. It’s also pretty inexpensive.

WINDOWS MOBILE

• Moto Q 9c: It’s stylish and runs Windows Mobile 6. By connecting your Exchange account to the device, you’ll keep your contacts, calendar, and email seamlessly sync’ed on the device, just like a BlackBerry. The web browser is reasonably ok. It has GPS (yay!). You can also add an SD card to add more memory (think your favorite music & video on the phone!). This is my current favorite Windows Mobile device (though I don’t own one) and I find it to be suitably responsive. (Don’t confuse it with the original Motorola Q, which is uglier, older, and not as cool.) Not a touch screen.
• Samsung ACE: I’ve never used this one, but I suspect that it is essentially the same thing as the BlackJack, which was very popular and which I thought was okay. Though I did find the keys to kind of hurt after awhile of using. It also runs Windows Mobile 6 and is expandable with a memory card. And like all of Windows Mobile-powered devices, ought to sync with Exchange over the air. Not a touch screen.
• HTC Mogul: A buddy of mine has an older version of this device an loves it. I find them annoying, but that may be just me. The cool thing is it runs WM6 Professional (aka PocketPC), so it’s a touch screen, and it has a slide out qwerty keyboard. Oh, and it supports memory cards and has built-in WiFi, which I find to be useful for updating email or browsing the web at home or the office.
• HTC Touch: It’s a little gimmicky, but HTC put a nice “skin” over WM6 Pro to make it work better with fingers and which is prettier and much cooler than regular Windows Mobile. It was released before the iPhone and has quite a following, especially in Europe. It has all of the benefits of being a WM6 device (like integration with Exchange; multi-media) and it supports memory cards, but I don’t think it supports WiFi. Still, it’s a slim, sexy phone and a lot of fun. There’s no qwerty (or even regular) keypad, so entering long email or text messages would be a pain, but for shorter messages, I’m sure it would be fine. You can find lots of reviews on the web for more information.

I don’t think I could recommend the Treo 700wx because it runs the older Windows Mobile 5 PocketPC, which feels very dated. I’ve used that device before and wasn’t blown away by it at all. Plus, Windows Mobile 6 fixed many of the worst problems that afflicted WM5.

- Anthony