BlackBerry, iPhone, smartphone: What's the difference?

By Lisa Phifer

Print Story | Email Story
Add to My Digital Landing

Related Articles

• Use your mobile phone when traveling
• Tips on using your wireless connection outdoors
• America's most wired -- yet wireless -- cities
• Text Messaging Dictionary
• Buyer's guide: Wireless broadband cards

Computers that fit into your pocket are no longer futuristic.  Drop into any airport or hotel and you'll find a flock of executives pecking away at their RIM BlackBerries, Apple iPhones, or Windows Mobile smartphones.  What the heck are these popular little mobile devices, and how do they differ from each other? We've got a glossary of terms to help you learn the difference between cell phones, PDAs and smartphones. Then check out the following to help you make a determination as to which is right for you.

Cell phones, PDAs, and Smartphones

Before digging into popular products, let's divvy the handheld world into three categories: cellular telephones, personal digital assistants and smartphones.

Once, cell phones were limited to voice calls and text messaging.  Today, they are more advanced – many can play tunes, take pictures, or surf the Web through a micro-browser. You can even connect to high-speed Internet via cell phone networks.

But their primary job is still to make phone calls.

A personal digital assistant, however, is really a tiny computer, slightly larger than a deck of cards, designed to install and run programs such as Pocket Outlook, Word and Excel. PDAs have limited processor and memory and most use a touch-screen for data entry.  As a result, PDAs run simplified "pocket" versions of common PC programs.

Smartphones actually combine PDA and phone functionality.  Like PDAs, smartphones can be used to check email or review documents.  Like cellphones, smartphones can place calls and be held comfortably to your ear.  They often lack a few PDA features, but smartphones try to wrap the best of both worlds into a single handset.

Hot mobile devices

So, how do these handheld categories relate to iPhones and BlackBerries and their Windows Mobile cousins?

Early Windows Mobile operating system ran on PDAs, often called Pocket PCs.  Microsoft later split Windows Mobile into two versions: one for smartphones with keypads and another for PDAs with touch-screens.  Today, handhelds that run Windows Mobile Standard are smartphones, while those that run Windows Mobile Professional are PDAs.  A few example Windows Mobile products are shown below:

 
Windows Mobile Smartphones                 Windows Mobile PDAs

In contrast, the BlackBerry operating system started out running on text pagers and cellphones made by Research In Motion (RIM).  Over the years, BlackBerries have matured into full-fledge smartphones (below).  BlackBerries are extremely popular among executives who need a good phone with convenient enterprise email access, but little more in the way of general-purpose computing.

Last summer, Apple entered the market with a big splash when it introduced the iPhone (below).  Because the iPhone cannot be used without a cellular subscription and only runs programs from Apple, we'll call it a smartphone.  But the iPhone is an extremely capable smartphone with a novel touch-screen that other manufacturers are scrambling to imitate.  Apple designed the iPhone for individual consumers, but many executives insist on using this hot toy for business anyway.

 

Which is right for you?

If you're purchasing a smartphone for personal use, think about how you intend to use the device.  If you want to download and install a lot of third-party programs, a Windows Mobile PDA is your best bet today.  If you want to spend a lot of time browsing the web from your smartphone, you really can't beat the iPhone.  If you think you'll spend most of your time checking email or talking on the phone, go with a BlackBerry or a Windows Mobile smartphone.

If you're purchasing a mobile device to support business activities, these considerations are still relevant – but they'll probably take a back-seat to requirements imposed by your employer's IT department.  Some companies support BlackBerries; others support Windows Mobile.  You must choose the right flavor, or you'll have a hard time checking your enterprise mailbox or accessing other mobile business programs.  Today, IT departments generally do not support iPhones, but that will likely change when Apple opens this device to third-party software.