WM vs. iPhone vs. Symbian

I have always been known by my friends as the guys who always picks the big mobiles phones, the heavy ones, etc. I have always preferred a big SmartPhone, than a small and tiny normal phone. My passion for SmartPhones led me to the point that I have three of them. Now I am about to do a short comparison between the power of the different Operation Systems.

HTC Diamond – The Windows Mobile beauty

Great phone ! Incorporating the power of Windows Mobile at full. I have always been saying that Windows Mobile is the ultimate platform for mobile devices. The device is small enough, beautiful and stylish. The WM is fast enough and when you have such an open platform you can virtually do anything.

Pros

• -Open platform – direct access to the file system is possible
• -Tons of free software
• -.NET Compact Framework available, which makes writing of new software and communication with desktop software very easy
• -GPS software is very powerful

Cons

• -Quite heavy, many devices lack of performance with it
• -Still no universal place to get 3rd party software (soon will be fixed with the Microsoft Store)
• -Not quite convenient for inexperienced users.
• -Not all operations can be performed without stylus
• -Not a dedicated multimedia device

Apple iPhone 3G

I have had the iPhone for much less time than the Windows Mobile one, therefore I have much more experience with the WM. Nevertheles, I completely LOVE the iPhone. It is very uniquely awesome, but I cannot image having it, without having the WM also. Because, despite the power of the iPhone OS, it still has some nasty limitations which makes it stand just a few steps behind the WM business power.

Pros

• -Great sleak design with beautiful menus
• -Great OS performance
• -You don’t need a stylus at all
• -Great iTunes App Store
• -Also tons of free applications
• -Great multimedia device

Cons

• -The platform is ABSOLUTELY closed. No access to the file system, no installation of non-iTunes software. If you want to overcome this, you need to jailbreak it, which I personally don’t like
• -The usual iPhone cons – no MMS, no Video Recording, no Bluetooth transfer
• -No way of setting custom ringtones for free
• -Many of the applications which are actually needed are paid
• -Lack of GPS software besides Google Maps (which doesn’t still support nice turn-by-turn navigation)

Symbian – Nokia N85

Another great phone using the latest version of the non-Touch Symbian OS. I am saying non-Touch, because technically the latest version of Symbian OS for Nokia is the one being created for the Touch-Screen phones.

The nice thing about this phone is that it incorporates the business power of a smartphone and in the same time it is a great multimedia device.

Pros

• -Powerful smartphone features
• -Great video and audio
• -GPS working very nice
• -Working relatively fast
• -Great user experience in web browsing

Cons

• -Installation of unsigned applications is pain in the ass, almost impossible
• -Much slower than earlier versions of Symbian
• -Hard to find GPS software different than Nokia Maps, but not impossible

Conclusion

All of the three operation systems are great. It basically depends on what you expect to do with your phone. Different people have different needs. So my suggestions are as follows:

If you want great user experience and you want to do a lot of web browsing and social networking (Facebook, Twitter, Blogging) – You should choose the iPhone.

If you want powerful business device that is capable ot doing absolutely everything in terms of business applications, tech support and you are not SO much into multimedia – you should choose the Windows Mobile.

If you want to merge between the two worlds of multimedia (but not as great as the iPhone) and business (but not as powerful as the WM), but you are not so god damn picky – then the Symbian OS definitely your system !

And if you are tech-geek, like me, and you want it all, get them all three