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Skip Navigation LinksPC Authority > Group Tests > Smartphones Roundup
Smartphones Roundup
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Smartphones Roundup

by Jonathan Bray  on Mar 26, 2008
Tags: Smartphones | PDA | qwerty
How We Test
Choosing a smartphone isn’t a straightforward task. You can’t simply shop by the numbers as you can with PCs and laptops, comparing processor speed, RAM and hard disk capacity. You have to get a feel for what a phone can do before you can properly assess its worth, its ergonomics and how easy it is to use.

Not every phone is suitable for all situations. While one phone may have every feature under the sun, it might be too bulky to double as a personal and business phone. And, while another may be easy to use with an excellent keyboard, it may not be the best for document manipulation or web browsing.

We’ve tried to encapsulate this as best we can in our testing procedures, subjecting the phones to real-world tests, investigating their capabilities and, at the same time, factoring in subjective panel-based assessments to find which offer the best all-round smartphone experience.

Ease of use
The ease with which email can now be picked up and answered on the move – and the huge amounts of data processed by the modern smartphone – demands an efficient way of entering text.

Unless you’re an absolute whizz with handwriting recognition, the most reliable way to do this is with a built-in keyboard. This is why we decided to restrict the test to phones with some kind of hardware keyboard, and why a large part of the Ease of Use score comes from a subjective assessment of how easy a device is to type on.

It’s equally crucial, however, with all that message data to plough through, that other aspects are up to scratch. We assess how intuitive each phone’s user interface is, how good the screen is at accommodating such information comfortably and how other hardware aids, such as D-pads and scroll wheels, contribute to the overall experience.

Points were also awarded for how responsive each phone felt in general use. We loaded each phone with more than 400 contacts and a couple of weeks worth of email to see how quickly each performed in its core tasks of locating phone numbers and collating messages.

We also tested each phone with a suite of standard file types, ranging from zip files to Word documents and PDF files, to see how many each would open, and whether the files could be edited. Finally, we awarded a score to call quality.

Features & design
Modern smartphones have a bewildering array of capabilities and features so, in this Labs, we’ve taken an absolutely ruthless approach and only given points to phones that stand out from the crowd.

We’ve awarded points, for example, to phones with 3G and HSDPA, Wi-Fi adaptors and premium extras such as GPS receivers. We also think that, in this day and age, the use of proprietary cables for synchronisation and charging should be long gone, so phones using standard USB connections were awarded extra points, too.

Portability is a crucial aspect of smartphone design, so we’ve taken into account not only the size and weight of each device, but also how easy each one is to slip into a pocket.

Value for money
Unfortunately, it seems that due to the high-end (and in some cases, cutting-edge) nature of this month’s smartphones, there are virtually no big discounts to be had by buying a subsidised handset along with a monthly plan from any network. Even the Vodafone-optimised Palm Treo 500v is available at full price no matter what Vodafone plan you buy it with.

As such we’ve used the full SIM-free price of each smartphone and combined it in a weighted average with the Ease of Use and Features & Design scores to achieve the final Value for Money score. However, phone plans and availability change all the time, so be sure to check all the purchase options available from all the networks before you do buy.

Overall
The Overall score is calculated using the mean of the Ease of Use, Features & Design, and Value for Money scores.

Ratings explained
The star ratings you’ll find at the bottom of each review are relative only to the products on test in any particular Labs. A one out of six rating doesn’t mean the product is the worst of its type to be made, just the least impressive that month. Likewise, a six out of six score isn’t necessarily an indication of perfection.
This article appeared in the March, 2008 issue of PC Authority.
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Comments: 13
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
RickJames
Apr 2, 2008 3:32 PM
 What is a good Windows Mobile Smartphone? I have heard that Windows Mobile is good for email and calenering, but not so easy to make and receive calls - has anyone got any experience with it?

Also - there is a lot of ads on this site for the new imate Ultimate. Does Anyone have any experieicne with it?

http://www.imate.com/product.aspx?product=ultimate8502


Comment made about the PC Authority article:
Smartphones Roundup?
We test 11 keyboard-based smartphones to find the best tools for staying connected on the move

What do you think? Join the discussion.
geller
Apr 2, 2008 3:35 PM
 At a glance the new iMate 8502 you mention looks good – Telstra Next G compatible by looks of it, plus WiFi.

I’d have a quick play with a Windows Mobile phone for a day – I didn’t enjoy my experience with Windows Mobile, but you might find it’s ok.

Are you wanting push-email?
Caelum
Apr 2, 2008 3:37 PM
 I have experience with both WM5 and WM6, and i think they are GREAT messaging platforms, specially for email and appointments etc when combined with Exchange Server 200x and push.

The majority of the devices i've used have been iMate's, however i have also used a Samsung Blackjack(from memory) which does not have a touch screen, but rather relies on the buttons of the phone itself to control the system. A far more clunky way of getting about things, when a simple touchscreen would increase flexibility significantly.


Phone functionality(apart from sms/mms/etc) is the weak point of WM platforms, without a doubt. However the flexibility of WM5/6 is a strongpoint, and allows the use of a huge array of software out there developed for WM.
RickJames
Apr 2, 2008 3:42 PM
geller wrote:
At a glance the new iMate 8502 you mention looks good – Telstra Next G compatible by looks of it, plus WiFi.

I’d have a quick play with a Windows Mobile phone for a day – I didn’t enjoy my experience with Windows Mobile, but you might find it’s ok.

Are you wanting push-email?



Geller - yes - Ideally I am after push email and calendar from my work's Exchange server.

Caelum - in your experience - how expensive is the data packages you need to support this kind of phone. I know it depends on how much data you use - I receive 100+ emails per day, and probably send around 50. Any ideas what my data costs may be on this?
nix
Apr 2, 2008 3:46 PM
 I had a WM6 device for 6 months, and basically the #1 flaw was that it was too damn slow. The power was all there, but for day-to-day use the clunky sluggishness of the interface was too much... for example, opening an SMS would take 0.5-1.5 seconds, which doesn't sound like much but BOY does it get on your wick after a while.

Eventually I ended up buying a Nokia Series 60 device, which are amazingly cheap for the power you get. Not regretting it one bit so far.
Caelum
Apr 2, 2008 4:11 PM
 RickJames - most of our staff ended up with between $50-$150 phone bills at the end of the month, so when it comes down to the additional productivity these devices can provide, well worth it.
geller
Apr 2, 2008 5:15 PM
 Rick James - If you're wanting Exchange functionality, maybe your choice is made (Windows Mobile). do you even have a choice?

I'm getting from others around here that WM is poor as a phone, but has the apps/Echange compatiblity.
Caelum
Apr 2, 2008 6:38 PM
 You got it geller.

There really isn't a better 'mobile productivity' platform around that i've come across so far.
geller
Apr 2, 2008 11:21 PM
 nix, i has the same slow load times on WM - this might vary , but the phone i used was just too laggy.

So what ARE the other options for mobile PDA style office functionality? There's blackberry but what else? I see Caelum mentions Nokia Series 60 - what is that?
Caelum
Apr 2, 2008 11:29 PM
 I didn't mention it, it was nix.


basically a series 60 nokia, is one of the 'smartphone' series of nokias, and can be anything from an E61 and E65, through to some of the higher priced, and specced models.

Based on the symbian operating system, with a nokia GUI thrown over the top.


I've heard good and bad reports about them though, as you would with any system that you look at.
RickJames
Apr 3, 2008 6:40 PM
 so can you get the same levels of functionality with a symbian OS as you can with windows mobile?
Caelum
Apr 3, 2008 6:44 PM
 Not in my opinion, no.

WM5/6 has far greater application availability, and support - In my experience.
nix
Apr 4, 2008 3:55 PM
 WM5/6 is still more of a smartphone, really. Series 60 is just much smarter than your average phone -- you can install third party software, etc.

For MS office, for example, you could try: http://www.quickoffice.com/store/s60-3rd-edition/quickoffice-50/ -- not a recommendation, as I haven't used it, but an example of how surprisingly powerful Series 60 is. The web browser is also amazing -- it's a full port of Webkit, which means if Safari can render a page, so can your Series 60.

For reference, the phone I'm using is the Nokia 6120 Classic: http://www.nokia.com.au/A4519098

It was cheap and decent looking, seems to do the job, drops calls occasionally (actually that might just be Three... grr)
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