Choosing the best smartphone

The world of smartphones can be confusing, so what should you be looking for when you make a new purchase?

Smartphones have once again been thrown into the spotlight this month with the release of the iPhone 4.The newest creation from Apple offers video calling, HD video recording and allows people to use more than one of the plethora of apps at the same time.

Unfortunately, there have also been reports that when the iPhone 4 is held in a certain way it experiences a dramatic drop in reception quality and Apple is being forced to create a software update for the system, which will be available in a few weeks time.

What this incident does is highlight is the importance of doing your research and choosing the right product for your needs when purchasing a smartphone.

Smartphone satisfaction

Research conducted by ChangeWave Research earlier this year shows that overall people have high levels of satisfaction when it comes to their smartphone purchases.

Over 1,000 people who had purchased their smartphone in the past six months were asked to explain why they chose the model and how they would rate it, with the iPhone coming out top.

Some 77 per cent of people said that they were very satisfied with their Apple iPhone model. This was followed by Motorola smart phones with a score of 64 per cent and HTC with 51 per cent.

Sitting at the bottom of the satisfaction table was Samsung, with just 35 per cent of owners stating that they were very satisfied.

The research also revealed that making a call is way down the list of priorities for those who are looking at purchasing a smartphone.

Apps continue to take the world by storm, as overall the range of applications was rated most highly. This was followed by ease of use, and internet access.

When people were asked what they disliked most about their smartphone, battery life came top, followed by the screen, keyboard and service provider.

Choosing the best smartphone model

Looking specifically at the most popular model, the iPhone, 24 per cent of owners said that they liked the range of apps best, 20 per cent appreciated its ease of use and 11 per cent said they were most pleased with its internet connection.

Choice of service provider was the feature 22 per cent were least satisfied with on the iPhone, followed by battery life (19 per cent) and lack of multitasking (11 per cent).

Users of RIM phones, which make the Blackberry range, were most impressed with its email facilities (31 percent) but disliked the keyboard. Motorola owners were fans of the brand's range of applications and internet access, but had issues with battery life and the screen.

HTC phones, such as the Desire, were liked for their screen but users were unimpressed with the operating system.

Nokia, which was once at the forefront of the mobile phone industry, was not even included in the study. A separate YouGov poll revealed that the manufacturer's popularity is dropping, and again it all seems to be coming down to the apps.

Russell Feldman, research manager in YouGov's technology and telecoms team, said: "Where Nokia once led the market, it has drastically fallen by the wayside. Its OVI store continues to be significantly outperformed by both Apple's Apps store and Android Marketplace.


New smartphone releases

Even though it is the iPhone 4 which currently has the technology world talking, other manufacturers are also increasing the range of smart phones they have on offer.

LG recently announced the creation of the Optimus range, which will see ten new smart devices released on to the market this year. The devices will utilise a range of operating systems and the LG Optimus One with Google and LG Optimus Chic are the two smartphones which are currently being promoted.

The latest creation from Motorola is the Milestone, which features an eight mega pixel camera and is the first to have a xenon flash. Targeted at those who use mobile internet, the phone allows users to have eight browser windows open at once and manage a number of email accounts simultaneously.

Nokia is working on the release of its N8 model, featuring HD video, a home theatre connection, on demand web TV and 50 hours of music playback, and HTC recently released the Wildfire, which focuses on sharing capabilities with a new app widget.