gpoul's Out Of Memory Blog

Now that christmas is over I can now turn to more important aspects; like choosing a new smartphone :-)

Turns out though, that choosing a new smartphone is not that easy. Given I still haven’t decided what to buy I at least wanted to write about what smartphones I looked at and what I did and didn’t like. If there are any inconsistencies, inaccuracies, or you have a recommendation on what to buy, please help me out by posting a comment.

The following are essential smartphone capabilities that I need:

• Calling & Texting – it’s a phone, after all :-)
• Push e-Mail
• Contacts synchronization
• Calendar synchronization
• Offline Maps – to find customer sites and hotels even when roaming

The following are nice-to-have capabilities that I want to use every now and then:

• Navigation
• Tethering
• Google Reader, although this is also available as a website
• Social Media (Facebook / Twitter / Google+), also available as a website
• Google Talk / Jabber

I looked at the following phones and reviewed their capabilities.

Apple iPhone 4/4S:

- No offline maps, unless with an app like TomTom
- Google maps app is still tile-based
- Weird Google integration, the Gmail app might be a good first step to fix this
- No decent Google Talk
- Glass front & back that might easily break when dropped
+ Tethering with WLAN is now available on the iPhone 4 and 4S

Nexus S:

- No offline navigation
- It’s slowly getting old
+ Nice Google Reader app
+ Almost all apps available that you might want
+ All the latest Google apps

Galaxy Nexus:

+ Same as Nexus S
- Humongous form factor

Nokia Lumia 800:

- Weird Google integration, no Gmail app available
- No Google+ integration
- No tethering yet
- No native development environment on my MacBook Air
- No decent Google Talk
+ Offline maps and navigation built-in (Offline navigation only after an update?)
+ Improved Google Sync is now available for WP7.5 [via vowe]

Nokia N9:

- Supports Google Sync, but no Gmail-specific features available
- No Google+ integration
- Not too many apps
+ Offline maps and navigation built-in

Update 1/28: Also check out the visual size comparison of these phones. [via vowe]

Update 2/10: Added Nokia N9