You've thought about it but you're still not sure. You think it's the right move but you don't know which handset will do the job for you. The decision to adopt a smartphone has become harder than ever now that there are even more models to choose from. But it's also the kind of decision that warrants you asking yourself some basic questions about your habits and usage.
Here's a list of reasons why you might consider making the jump to a smartphone.
You love texting - and email
While it's true that cell phones have email options, they're nowhere near as varied as they are with a smartphone. Whether it's having your messages "pushed" to you once they come in or managing different email accounts, you can do more to customize your preferences.
Of course, the full QWERTY keyboards on smartphones certainly don't hurt. Not only are they easy for email but texting becomes a breeze, too. Indeed, much like learning the craft of typing on a cell phone, punching away at keys on a smartphone's QWERTY keyboard can help you big time with communicating remotely through text, email, instant messaging and even Facebook.
You have a need for a real Web browser
Browsing on a regular cell phone is getting better, but let's face it, it's not the same as a smartphone. The full HTML experience gives you Web pages that look just like they would on a desktop or laptop, so you won't need to adjust too much when surfing a site on a BlackBerry or iPhone, for example.
But smartphones take this further by also supporting RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feeds, so you can get your regular fix of whatever it is you crave without having to always surf to get to it. It also helps that some phones offer menu options specific to sites like YouTube and Facebook - or even create ones yourself with certain phones.
You need to organize the essentials
Contacts, appointments, grocery lists, reminders, and on and on. Organizing these in a smartphone is made a lot easier because the phones are designed to do just that. You've probably heard people fear the worst if they ever lost their smartphone, and the biggest reason is likely to be the information stored on there.
Between your multimedia (music, photos, video), GPS navigation, documents, email, contacts, calendar, Web browser and even the other basics like, weather and stock quotes - you have a lot to manage. Not to mention any other applications or functions that can be downloaded and installed onto the smartphone. Put all that together on a single handset and you have a pulse on so many aspects of your daily life. Perhaps that's why some people call this the "CrackBerry Syndrome".
You need to use one for work
If you've used a smartphone that your workplace provided for you, then you got the opportunity to see the advantages without having to deal with a monthly bill. Still, it's like driving a fully-loaded car with all the luxuries that you've never tried before. And while you might not want all the functions that come in a smartphone, you won't mind them being there anyway.
Using the smartphone as a tethered modem is also one of those functions that can come in handy when Internet access is either not available or too expensive (when data roaming, for example). Not all smartphones offer that, of course, but if it's something that you think you would need, then you shouldn't have a hard time finding one that does.
You can afford to do it
The cost of the smartphone itself is obviously the first part, but it's the monthly airtime and data that combine to make up the real financial commitment. Data plans from the carriers are still pretty expensive these days, but that's already starting to change with low-fee Web browsing and newer plans that drop the price while raising the data usage.
But the gist of it is this: If you really need a smartphone and you can afford to pay the cost of the handset and the monthly bill to follow, then you might as well go for it. Just take the time to find the right model and plan for you.
