|
|
提示: 作者被禁止或删除, 无法发言
|
马上注册，结交更多好友，享用更多功能，让你轻松玩转社区。
您需要 登录 才可以下载或查看，没有帐号？FreeOZ用户注册
x
Giz Explains: Illustrated Guide to Smartphone OSes By matt buchanan, 2:00 PM on Thu Oct 9 2008, 79,431 views
You're more likely than ever to buy a smartphone, not just becausethey do so much more than dumb feature phones, with real email, decentweb browsing and downloadable applications, but because they're cheaperthan ever. With the exception of some expensive assunlocked-but-unsubsidized European models, you generally don't have topay more than $300 for a balls-to-the-wall smartphone—though the voiceplan plus data fees can easily run you $80 or more per month. Here's arudimentary overview of your choices (more now than ever before), whyyou might pick them, and why they might suck for you.
ANDROID by Google
The splashy new entrant into smartphone land, Android is Google'sLinux-based open source mobile platform meant to bring real, constantlyconnected internet to phones. Even though it's debuting on a singlephone, the G1 from HTC,expect to see the free OS show up on tons of phones, from HTC,Motorola, and others. It's totally modern and powerful, and the factthat it's open source makes it incredibly appealing to some developers,so most signs point to awesome applications and mobile internet.
Why You'll Use It Unlike BlackBerry,iPhone or Windows Mobile, there are no limits on what applicationdevelopers can do. So its real strength is the power that developers hold—we'rehoping to see some of the wildest, most innovative applications hitAndroid first. You'll have tons of hardware options, from low to highend, and pretty much any input you want—touchscreen, QWERTY,whatever—once the ball gets rolling. This is the ultimate geek phone.
Why It Sucks Developers have to plug a lot of holes right off the bat, like the complete lack of business features. If they fail to come through, it could fall flat. Not as elegant as the iPhone (though it beats, say, Windows Mobile, by leaps and bounds), it still doesn't quite pass the "mom" test.
BLACKBERRY by RIM
Research in Motion's BlackBerry started out as a glorified two-waypager before evolving into what most consider the best smartphone foremail. It is also a shining validation of tightly integratedhardware/software model—they make the phones, they make the operatingsystem. Previously it was a phone that corporations gave to people insuits because of its BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which integrates itwith a corporation's email, plus its Exchange support and highsecurity. Now, though, it's increasingly popular with real live people.The BlackBerry Bold offers the latest version of the standard OS, while the recently announced Storm uses one modified for a touchscreen.
Why You'll Use It It has the best emailexperience around—in part thanks to their traditionally awesomekeyboards, so the touchscreen Storm is something of a risk. The OS isreally to easy use, with everything neatly presented up front usingrows and rows of icons. There's a reason it has surpassed Windows Mobile in marketshareand is the corporate drone phone of choice. Also, RIM seems intent onjuicing up its already solid dev community, so expect even more greatapps in the future. (Catching a pattern with the importance of apps?)
Why It Sucks It's totally closed andproprietary. You've gotta buy a BlackBerry phone to get the OS. Ifyou're not using the Bold, Storm or the Flip Pearl, it's not very sexyand can easily look dated. Also, in past models, the web browsingexperience was absolute garbage. Now just finding its stride as aconsumer device, it's not as media-centric as some others, but that isfortunately changing as well.
IPHONE OS X by Apple
Some haters still stay that the iPhone isn't reallya smartphone, but for all practical intents and purposes it is. Runninga stripped down but very real version of Mac's OS X, it's one of themost powerful and modern OSes of the bunch.
Why You'll Use It It's the most attractiveand usable smartphone around, period. It has the best mobile internetbrowser, largely thanks to multitouch navigation. But its killer featuremight be its ability to run third-party apps, which come from one ofthe most vibrant dev communities around, and are often—but notalways—actually useful. Not to mention that, as an iPod, it's also thebest music phone on the planet—at least until that mystery Zune phoneappears.
Why It Sucks For being so powerful andmodern, it can't do things even the dumbest phones do, like MMS, orcopy and paste, a smartphone standard. Also email and corporatefeatures aren't quite up to BlackBerry standards, lacking email searchamong other deficiencies. Apple tightly controls it, which might hurt development and innovation. And the whole making a phone call thing itself still kinda blows.
WINDOWS MOBILE by Microsoft
Unlike the iPhone and OS X, the only thing Microsoft's smartphone OSshares with actual Windows is the name. It has its roots in Windows CEand originally went by the Pocket PC monikerbefore becoming Windows Mobile. Mostly for corporate troopers, thecurrent version number is 6.1, and it comes in touchscreen andnon-touchscreen flavors. It recently fell behind RIM's BlackBerry in marketshare.
Why You'll Use It Diehards swear by itspower, even if it isn't so easy for Joe Six-Pack to pick up and runwith. It runs on handsets from a bunch of manufacturers, and unlike theBlackBerry and iPhone platforms, you can build your own device to runit. So much of the most advanced mobile hardware you'll lay your eyeson runs Windows Mobile, including the HTC Touch HD and Sony Xperia X1.It's got a corporate soul, so it's designed for business users, and ithas specialty applications (like in the medical field) that someprofessionals need and can't get anywhere else.
Why It Sucks There's a reason premiere Windows Mobile handset makers have become increasingly adept at covering upthe user interface: It's frankly terrible, especially when it comes totouch navigation. It isn't a great media phone, has a god-awful nativebrowser and doesn't look so hot either. Unfortunately the next version,WM7, is over a year away.
PALM GARNET
Oh, whither Palm. Without getting into the complicated story of Palm'svarious fits, seizures and splits, the Palm OS goes all the way back to1996, when it powered Palm's PDAs. All but dead now, its last hurrahwas on the Centrobefore Palm plunged ahead with Windows Mobile. Supposedly work on itsLinux-powered follow-up is well under way, but it's been delayedmultiple times.
Why You'll Use It Though dated, the PalmOS makes a great starter smartphone, hence the success of thecheaper-than-dirt Centro. The learning curve is shallow and it providesmost of the smartphone features you expect, even if it does look likeit's still trapped in 1996.
Why It Sucks Uh, it's basically dead. Youprobably won't see it on another phone post-Centro, Palm's more priceyphones use Windows Mobile, and prospects on the upcoming Palm OS overhaul are dicey. (They should take Android and use it as a powerful foundation for the next Palm OS, but that's just my two cents.)
SYMBIAN by Nokia
Symbian is the world's most popular smartphone platform,thanks to Nokia. The most prominent variant right now is S60. While itdoesn't seem so ubiquitious in the US, abroad it's far more common. Itpowers some seriously sick hardware, like Nokia's N series, and has a solid dev community, though the free side of that isn't as big as on other platforms.
Why You'll Use It Did you miss the"world's most popular smartphone" thing? Buy a Nokia multimedia phone,and you buy Symbian. It offers a lot of the best smartphonefeatures—strong email, web and calendar, plus a large globaldevelopment community—in a package that is far more usable than WindowsMobile. Also, it works with Macs with far less hassle than WindowsMobile.
Why It Sucks It can be overly complicated,and still not as easy to use as a BlackBerry or the iPhone. If you'renot using a really solid piece of hardware, it can bereally sluggish. Also, connecting to the web can be annoying. And whileit's on handsets from a couple of other manufacturers, for the mostpart, you had better love Nokia hardware.
And that's pretty much the lay of the land, at least for now.
Something you still wanna know? Send any questions aboutdumbphones, dumber people or Mark Wahlberg to tips@gizmodo.com, with"Giz Explains" in the subject line.
Read More: Windows Mobile, Android, Iphone os x, Symbian, symbian s60, Palm, Palm garnet, windows mobile 6.1, iPhone, Os X, S60, g1, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Nokia, Htc, Smartphones, Cellphones, Top, Feature, Giz explains, Verizonbestmodo |
|
发表于 25-12-2008 07:30:06
收藏
赞
踩
楼主
