Are you sending your newly graduated son or daughter off to college in the next few weeks? Want to make sure you stay connected with your college student? (Do you really think they will be texting you or calling unless they need money?) Regardless of your expectations for communicating with your offspring, the line-up of the top Smartphones is impressive. Matthew Miller, ZDNet, has listed his top 3 Smartphones from each of the major carriers. Interestingly enough, he only lists one BlackBerry phone among the top 12. Matthew抯 list is broken down by the following carriers: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon. Even though AT&T will be acquiring T-Mobile, until this merger goes through, T-Mobile customers have a large market share.
AT&T ?The top 3 Smartphones listed by Matthew Miller are the Apple iPhone 4, the Samsung Infuse 4G, and the Samsung Focus. I抦 not sure why anyone would buy an iPhone 4 when the new iPhone 5 is due any time. Matthew had a hard time choosing between the HTC Inspire 4G and the Samsung Infuse 4 but went with the Infuse 4G because of the 4.5 inch Super AMOLED Plus display, it runs Android 2.2, has an 8 megapixel camera, and is the thinnest 4G Smartphone at just 8 mm thick. The Samsung Focus has the Windows Phone 7 OS, of which Matthew is particularly fond. I personally prefer the Android OS.
Sprint ?Matthew抯 top 3 Smartphones on the Sprint network are the Motorola Photon 4G, the Samsung Conquer 4G, and the HTC Arrive. Matthew says the Motorola Photon 4G is one of the fastest Smartphones around with some of the highest specifications on the market. The Samsung Conquer 4G is an affordable Smartphone with Wi-Fi hotspot capabilities for hooking up your laptop at college, and the HTC Arrive has a full QWERTY slide-out keyboard. The Arrive doesn抰 have WiMAX radio or WiFi hotspot functionality but I think Matthew picked it because it is a Windows Phone 7 that can be upgraded to Mango.
T-Mobile ?Until AT&T fully acquires T-Mobile, many T-Mobile customers may want to purchase new phones. Matthew picked the HTC Sensation 4G, the LG G2x, and the HTC myTouch 4G Slide. Matthew抯 favorite T-Mobile Android is the HTC Sensation 4G. He likes the HTC Sense experience and it works very well with Android on the HTC Sensation 4G. He chose the LG G2x for its glass wrap-around design as well as the simple Android interface. Matthew especially likes the HTC myTouch 4G Slide抯 camera. He says 搕he camera taking experience is one of the best I have ever seen on a mobile phone.?The myTouch Slide 4G also has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
Verizon Wireless ?Of all the Smartphones Verizon offers, Matthew likes the Apple iPhone 4 (again why buy the iPhone 4 when the iPhone 5 is coming soon), the Samsung Droid Charge, and the BlackBerry Bold 9930. The Samsung Droid Charge has a 4.3 inch Super AMOLED plus display that is amazing and brilliant while the LTE network is the fastest 4G network of any U.S. wireless carrier. The BlackBerry Bold 9930 (in Matthew抯 opinion) has the BEST QWERTY keyboard of ANY Smartphone ever made.
Which cell phone provider do you have? Before you buy a new Smartphone, be sure you want to stay with the cell phone provider you have. If you want to change, be sure to check out the calling and data plans with each carrier. Keep in mind that if you are a current Verizon customer, you probably have a data plan that has been 揼randfathered?in and gives you unlimited data. You may not get that if you try out a different carrier. That being said, choose your Smartphone carefully. You will have it for a 2 year contract. No matter which Smartphone you choose, you may want to have a get a spare cell phone battery charger for your car or for traveling. (These Smartphones are battery vampires!)
