{"id":973,"date":"2011-05-21T16:26:48","date_gmt":"2011-05-21T16:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2011\/05\/21\/mobile-phone-decisions\/"},"modified":"2011-05-21T16:26:48","modified_gmt":"2011-05-21T16:26:48","slug":"mobile-phone-decisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2011\/05\/21\/mobile-phone-decisions\/","title":{"rendered":"Mobile Phone Decisions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I had a <a href=\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2011\/03\/18\/remember-windows-mobile-6-5unfortunately-i-do\/\">moan recently about my current mobile phone<\/a>, a HTC Touch 2 running Windows Mobile 6.5 and that I was counting the days until contract renewal. <\/p>\n<p>Well that day has finally come which has meant I\u2019ve had a decision to make about what handset I\u2019m going to be using over the next 18-24 months.<\/p>\n<p>In a lot of ways though it\u2019s not really about the handset, more the platform. <\/p>\n<p>So I\u2019ll get it out of the way.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m going with Windows Phone 7. Specifically a Samsung Omnia 7 (because this is the only Windows Phone 7 I could get with network we\u2019re using!)<\/p>\n<p>I wanted to cover the other platforms and why I didn\u2019t go for them first though.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Blackberry<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/blackberry_torch_9800_8.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 7px 12px 7px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"blackberry_torch_9800_8\" border=\"0\" alt=\"blackberry_torch_9800_8\" align=\"left\" src=\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/blackberry_torch_9800_8_thumb.jpg\" width=\"170\" height=\"240\" \/><\/a>Never really a contender to be honest \u2013 I don\u2019t really \u201cget\u201d the attraction. Seven or eight years ago maybe when the concept of push email was still pretty new and they were the only ones doing decent business handsets but nowadays if I use Exchange for my email then just about every handset you\u2019d consider for business supports ActiveSync. I know you have the option of more control over the devices from a management perspective but in my business we\u2019ve only got a couple of handsets so it\u2019s not a huge need. Having to install BES Express isn\u2019t my idea of fun either, though I\u2019m going to have to anyway as my business partner went for a Blackberry Torch 9800!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Android<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/android_logo.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 7px 12px 7px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"android_logo\" border=\"0\" alt=\"android_logo\" align=\"left\" src=\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/android_logo_thumb.gif\" width=\"169\" height=\"127\" \/><\/a>You\u2019re spoilt for choice  in terms of handsets when it comes to an Android based device. Google have to be applauded for getting a platform out there that can be considered a serious contender as an iPhone alternative when people like Microsoft and Nokia were dragging their heels. Having seen some really nice Android devices, under other circumstances I\u2019d have gone for one. There is also a growing library of applications though it\u2019s un-moderated nature means there have been a couple of security scares recently.&#160; <\/p>\n<p><strong>iPhone<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/iphonedevelopmenttutorial3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 7px 12px 7px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"iphonedevelopmenttutorial3\" border=\"0\" alt=\"iphonedevelopmenttutorial3\" align=\"left\" src=\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/iphonedevelopmenttutorial3_thumb.jpg\" width=\"134\" height=\"240\" \/><\/a>We all know what the iPhone is right? <\/p>\n<p>Apple deserve a lot of respect for turning the mobile phone market on it\u2019s head. When people use the term SmartPhone most people instantly think you\u2019re talking about the Apple variety. Laying down the law to the mobile networks can\u2019t have been easy either. No phone I\u2019ve ever owned has had a software update despite them being available as in the past you were at the mercy of the networks who very obviously weren\u2019t that bothered. <\/p>\n<p>The large number of useful <\/p>\n<p>So I went with Windows Phone 7. I\u2019ve seen quite a few of them recently and I\u2019m interested in the change of direction Microsoft have taken since Windows Mobile 6.5.<\/p>\n<p>The live tiles look good and the office integration is very appealing&#160; as well as the ability to make use of Xbox Live. <\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll be honest Microsoft are in the last chance saloon for me when it comes to mobile. I moved from Windows Mobile 6.1 to 6.5 when I could have tried something new and was bitterly disappointed. <\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not sure if I\u2019ve said this before but I find it really hard to get excited about mobile phones because of being tied into a contract. As result I only really think about it once a year and in more recent times once every 18 months.<\/p>\n<p>The decision has been made now though and I\u2019ll have my shiny new Samsung on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>A review of that will follow in the coming days!<\/p>\n<p>What phone are you using? Are you happy with it? Will you be switching next time around?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I had a moan recently about my current mobile phone, a HTC Touch 2 running Windows Mobile 6.5 and that I was counting the days until contract renewal. Well that day has finally come which has meant I\u2019ve had a decision to make about what handset I\u2019m going to be using over the next 18-24<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"readmore\" href=\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2011\/05\/21\/mobile-phone-decisions\/\"><span class=\"arrow-right icon\"><\/span>Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-phones"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.11 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mobile Phone Decisions - Andy&#039;s Techie Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2011\/05\/21\/mobile-phone-decisions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mobile Phone Decisions - Andy&#039;s Techie Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I had a moan recently about my current mobile phone, a HTC Touch 2 running Windows Mobile 6.5 and that I was counting the days until contract renewal. 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