When it comes to smartphones we at the Big Inja pound are naturally biased towards anything that runs Android. As mentioned in previous posts, we have drunk the Google coolaid and already jumped into the Google pit; too late for us! We are also slightly biased when it comes to phone features as the only ones we really give a growl about are those that make scanning barcodes easier (Camera features being the most important). Before we get our “Objective” phone review underway let us just list the most important features required to ensure scanning ease:
- Camera – the better the camera the easier it is to scan. The most important camera feature is auto-focus Cameras with auto-focus adjust automatically to quickly capture barcodes.
- Battery life – when you have your data dogs out in the field scanning and collecting data for you it is imperative that they have sufficient battery life to get the job done.
- 3G and WiFi – the phone should be able to connect to the internet no matter where you are. We want scans in real time to provide accurate recording of business interactions.
Ok ok…moving on. Now that we have had our little say please read on to see a review of the top 5 Smartphones written by Jessica Dolcourt (@JDolcourt) – she doesn’t work for us but rather writes for CNet – In the interests of objectiveness we thought it best to include a smartphone review by an independent!
In our opinion, in case we have sway, the smartphone battle is only currently between Samsung and Apple. We are quite the fans of the Samsung Galaxy Note – is it a tablet, is it a phone…no its an integrated life of bliss!
Sure you look dorky making a call on such a large phone but it still fits in your pocket and we like that you no longer need to carry around 3 devices (your laptop, phone and tablet). With the apps mentioned in our previous post installed, you only really need one! The one! This one!
We are seeing that more and more of the phones features are inherent in the operating system and your choice of business apps. This dilutes the smartphone debate somewhat; the phones are all progressing at a similar rate and so the differences should be assessed more in how the phones operate – hence it’s more important to take into account the operating system they run on…
