When evaluating handhelds or smartphones, you probably weigh your decision based on factors such as the size of the device, its features and its price. These are important considerations, to be sure; but more importantly, what about the operating system -- the core software that runs these devices? Most users know the differences between Windows and Mac OS, but what about Palm and BlackBerry? Symbian and Windows Mobile? How do these handheld platforms compare, and should you use them as the basis of your buying decision?
After weeks of poking, prodding and tapping on screens, we found the answers. We put the BlackBerry 4.1, Palm 5.4, Symbian 9.2 and Windows Mobile 5 operating systems through the wringer, checking their strengths and weakness in areas such as email, multimedia, Microsoft Office compatibility and ease of use. We looked at the number (and quality) of third-party applications, which can make the devices more like pocket computers than pocket organisers. And we delved into the core applications themselves to see which OS does the best job of managing your contacts, calendars and other critical information. Read on to see how they compare.
Palm
Ease of use and solid PIM applications have always been a hallmark of Palm OS. See what else it has to offer.
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile 5 offers more than just a stripped-down version of Microsoft's Office suite. Multimedia, anyone?
BlackBerry
Find out why BlackBerrys have earned the 'CrackBerry' nickname and what the future holds for these devices.
Symbian
Although it's not as well known as the other operating systems, Symbian brings solid productivity tools and versatility to the table.
Which OS is right for you?
Now that you have an overview of each handheld OS, find out which one is best for you and check out some of our top product selections.
Palm
Palm OS is currently in a state of flux. Its developer, PalmSource, was acquired last year by Japanese software maker Access, after spinning off from Palm a year earlier. Palm OS 6, code-named Cobalt, has been dead in the water since 2003 with not a single manufacturer -- Palm itself included -- releasing a device with the updated OS. All of Palm's latest models run a variant of Palm OS 5 (version 5.4, in most cases), which is now more than three years old. Fortunately, however, what was good then is good now. Save for a few multimedia shortcomings, Palm OS remains a solid operating system.
Ease of use
Simplicity has always been a hallmark of Palm OS. Although version 5.4 packs more features than ever, it's arguably just as easy to operate as the first version. To run a program, tap its icon. To enter data, write on-screen using the character-recognition software or tap-type on the virtual keyboard. Everything about the operating system seems logical, intuitive and uncomplicated.
We particularly admire the way Palm OS manages applications. You never have to 'exit' a program the way you do on a PC -- you just switch to a different one. And unlike some operating systems (yes, we're looking at you, Windows Mobile), the Palm OS never gets bogged down by multiple memory-hogging applications running simultaneously.
Core applications
Already solid when they debuted back in 1996, Palm OS's core applications have only improved over the years. For instance, you can now attach a photo to a contact -- a particularly nice feature for camera-equipped models such as the Palm Treo 650. The Tasks applet has added new buttons for quick sorting by date and category and lets you assign alarms to your tasks. In short, Palm's core applications continue to combine power and simplicity, and we still rank them top among handhelds.
Desktop compatibility
Palm OS handhelds offer two desktop-synchronisation options: Outlook and Palm Desktop. The latter is a fairly robust information manager that has the advantage of being much more user-friendly than Outlook. It also supplies the tools you need to copy photos and videos to your device, install new programs, and set up your email.
Office compatibility
Although it's not an inherent part of the Palm OS, DataViz's Documents To Go comes standard on nearly every Palm handheld (the sole exception being the entry-level £77 Palm Z22) -- so we'd be remiss if we didn't consider it. The program automatically syncs Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents between your Palm and your PC while keeping them in their native formats (meaning you can also instantly view documents received as email attachments -- no conversion required). You can edit Word documents and Excel spreadsheets and compose new ones, but PowerPoint files are read-only. The software also supports PDFs.
Email
Palm's VersaMail program has the enviable ability to fetch email over a variety of connections: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or even desktop synchronisation, the latter relying on your PC's Internet connection for mail commerce. The applet itself is solid, supporting multiple POP3 and IMAP accounts, embedded images and virtual private network (VPN) connections.
Multimedia
Although most Palm handhelds offer high-resolution screens and digital audio capabilities, Palm OS isn't the multimedia powerhouse it could be. For instance, you need third-party software (NormSoft's Pocket Tunes Deluxe) to play DRM-protected songs -- the kind you get from online music and subscription services. Palm bundles Pocket Tunes with some models, but the DRM-capable Deluxe version will cost you extra.
As for movies, Palm's Media applet can play them, but only MPEG-1 clips converted by Palm Desktop. For anything else, you'll need third-party software. In fact, to watch a DVD, you'll need two programs: a desktop converter and a handheld viewer. And if you want to play TV shows recorded on a Media Center or TiVo -- something Windows Mobile devices can do fairly easily -- you're pretty much out of luck.
Third-party applications
In terms of sheer volume, Palm OS continues to have an edge when it comes to third-party software. Users can draw from more than 20,000 applications to extend the functionality of their handhelds -- a number still unmatched by the Windows Mobile platform, although this is steadily changing. This isn't to say that software available for the Palm platform is better, only that there's more of it. And more software means more potential functionality.
Windows Mobile
Originally regarded as little more than Microsoft's answer to Palm, the Windows Mobile (formerly Pocket PC) operating system has come into its own. Last year's release of version 5 brought some much-needed improvements, including smarter mobile versions of Word and Excel, direct-push technology and persistent storage.
Ease of use
Windows Mobile is the better contact manager, offering a lot more data fields than Palm OS and an easier method of searching large lists. Tapping address-book-like tabs brings you to names starting with those letters. Even if you have 1,000 contacts, you can usually find the one you're looking for with just two or three taps. It's worth noting that all Windows Mobile devices let you record voice memos (a core function of the OS), while only some Palm OS models do. Windows Mobile's Calendar function is on a par with Palm's program, but we feel the latter offers a superior to-do list -- if only because it organises everything more logically.
Core applications
Over the years, Microsoft has made few changes to the Calendar, Contacts, Notes and Tasks applets. They're capable programs that synchronise well with Outlook, but we wish Microsoft would brighten them up a bit, as they're pretty stark. Windows Mobile 5 brought only one noteworthy improvement: you can now assign a photo (and ringtone, if you have a smartphone) to an individual contact.
Desktop compatibility
Windows Mobile syncs with Microsoft Outlook and only Microsoft Outlook (although a third-party program called The Missing Sync allows for synchronisation with Macintosh systems). The recently updated ActiveSync 4.1 utility makes this a seamless, nearly instantaneous affair -- although Microsoft inexplicably removed a few desirable features, such as the option to sync via Wi-Fi.
Office compatibility
With the arrival of Windows Mobile 5, Microsoft finally added native file support to its Word and Excel applets. Translation: it's no longer necessary to convert desktop documents to the Mobile format -- a process that stripped most of the formatting. As for the applets themselves, they've improved as well, with long-overdue features such as a spelling checker and support for embedded tables and images. And finally, there's a PowerPoint viewer called PowerPoint Mobile.
It still shocks us, however, that Microsoft offers no convenient way to synchronise Word and Excel documents with their desktop counterparts -- unless you relocate everything to a special folder.
Email
Email got a big boost with Windows Mobile 5 with the support of direct-push technology. Available through Microsoft's Messaging and Security Feature Pack, it allows you to receive messages in real time. Otherwise, the Outlook applet hasn't changed much, except for the name (Outlook Mobile was formerly known as Messaging). It can transact mail via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GSM and GPRS connections, and desktop synchronisation.
Multimedia
No other platform can touch Windows Mobile when it comes to multimedia. Right out of the box, it supports DRM-protected music (meaning you can play songs purchased or downloaded from various online services) and TV and movie recordings from Media Center PCs and TiVo boxes. Most recently, Sling Media launched SlingPlayer Mobile for the Windows Mobile operating system, letting you watch your own TV on your handheld.
Third-party applications
If there's a function you want your Windows Mobile handheld to perform, the chances are good there's a program that can do it. Sites such as Handango and PocketGear are home to thousands of third-party applications -- and some of the best games you'll find on any handheld platform. Among the more celebrated Windows Mobile titles are Age of Empires, Quake Mobile and Myst for Pocket PC.
BlackBerry
Although things looked a bit shaky for a while, BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion finally settled its longstanding dispute with NTP earlier this year and shipped new versions of its Enterprise Server software recently and, more importantly, software development kits (SDKs). And if we learned anything from the company's legal mess, it was how much people rely on these devices to stay in touch.
Ease of use
The darling of the corporate world (and many areas of government) wouldn't be so universally adored if it were complicated. Although an interface driven entirely by a thumb wheel might seem awkward and slow, users invariably find it easy to learn and quick to operate. The lack of a stylus and a touch screen -- staples of other handhelds – does slow down certain operations (such as hitting a link in a Web page), but the beloved built-in keyboard accelerates others, such as composing email. Ultimately, the BlackBerry interface may not be the most efficient, but it's certainly one of the easiest to use.
Core applications
The BlackBerry OS does a better job of managing your contacts than managing your calendar. The Address Book applet offers all the amenities you'd expect, plus contact grouping and unsurpassed integration with the phone and messaging programs. To send someone an email message, for instance, you simply highlight the person's name, press the click wheel and then select E-mail Joe Smith. There's no need to open the contact's record and navigate extra menus.
The calendar on BlackBerrys is a bit unwieldy by comparison, perhaps due to the awkward process for navigating between different days and views. The Week view is particularly cumbersome, requiring serious 'wheeling' to move the cursor from one day to the next. The Calendar applet itself is sufficiently capable, but suffers under the weight of the wheel-based interface.
RIM also supplies the obligatory memo pad and to-do list, along with an alarm clock, a calculator, a photo viewer and a password manager -- all functional but rudimentary applets.
Desktop compatibility
Like a traditional handheld, a BlackBerry can synchronise with your PC, swapping data with Outlook or Lotus Notes; the bundled Intellisync utility makes this possible. Of course, the BlackBerry OS also affords robust wireless synchronisation, allowing new appointments, contacts, memos and tasks to be 'pushed' from your office to your handheld (and back again), just like email. That gives BlackBerrys a fairly major advantage over handhelds that rely on more traditional synchronisation methods.
Office compatibility
Although the BlackBerry OS supports the 'big three' Office applications -- Word, Excel and PowerPoint -- it limits you to viewing documents only. You can't compose new ones or do any editing, which is surprising given the presence of a perfectly good thumb keyboard. As for PDFs, the OS can open them as well, but it strips most graphics and formatting in the process, leaving you with little more than text.
Email
Ever wonder about the origin of the 'CrackBerry' nickname? In a word: email. It's what the devices were designed to do, so it should come as no surprise that they excel at it. Ironically, it's not the email applet itself that's so addictive (although it deserves praise for its streamlined efficiency), but rather the 'push' method of email delivery. Instead of having to be retrieved manually, new messages just appear like magic on the device. Although Palm and Microsoft have now engineered similar systems for their smartphones, BlackBerry remains the undisputed email champion.
Multimedia
Fully aware of the BlackBerry's reputation as a serious business tool, RIM has limited multimedia features on its devices. Although the latest models can play MP3s as ringtones, there's no media player to speak of -- nor is there enough memory to hold more than a few tunes anyway. The same is true for videos, while the lack of a memory card slot means that even with third-party software, you'd be limited to very short clips. At least the OS includes a photo viewer, although you'll get a lot more mileage from one of the available third-party programs. Also, RIM has recently said that it plans to add multimedia features, such as music, video and photography, to its future devices.
Third-party applications
Software developers haven't given BlackBerrys the same attention that users have. We found only a few hundred third-party applications -- a drop in the ocean compared with the thousands available for the Palm, Symbian and Windows Mobile platforms. The essentials are there -- a password manager, a Sudoku game, the popular RepliGo document viewer and more -- and RIM promises plenty more to come thanks to new SDKs released in late 2005. But for now, the software pickings remain relatively slim.
Symbian
Symbian OS appears primarily on mobile phones and smartphones, and offers a broad array of personal information management (PIM) features, including contact and calendar management and a robust library of third-party applications. Yet because the OS is usually tailored to individual hardware (in other words, it can look and act differently depending on the device that's running it), there are only so many conclusions we can draw.
Ease of use
As mentioned above, your experience with Symbian OS depends on the phone. For example, on the keyboard-equipped Nokia 9300, we found Symbian OS fairly easy to navigate, though it certainly wasn't as intuitive as, say, the Palm or Windows Mobile operating systems. On the candy bar-style Nokia 6681 phone, the interface struck us as downright confusing, while data entry was as painfully slow as you'd expect. Overall, we'd say that Symbian has the steepest learning curve of all handheld operating systems, but just how steep depends on the hardware.
Office compatibility
Symbian OS incorporates full support for Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, but again the ability either to create and edit these documents or to just view them depends on your hardware.
Email
When it comes to messaging, Symbian is as versatile as any other platform -- if not more so. Out of the box, it supports the usual POP3, IMAP4 and Webmail accounts. If you want something a little more robust, you can choose from several push email solutions, including BlackBerry Connect and Visto. Symbian also supports the Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange platforms for maximum compatibility in the corporate world.
Multimedia
Symbian OS is pretty adept at multimedia, with integrated support for audio and video playback and recording -- although not all those capabilities are realised on the devices themselves. The Nokia 9300, for instance, comes with both an MP3 player and the mobile version of RealPlayer, which enables playback of RealAudio, RealVideo and MP3 files. However, the 9300 can capture neither audio nor video.
Third-party applications
A recent check of software site Handango revealed more than 5,500 third-party applications for the Symbian OS -- not quite up to Palm and Windows Mobile levels, but far more than you'll find on other mobile phone operating systems. That's another big point in Symbian's favour, especially if you're weighing it against other phones.
Which handheld OS is right for you?
Now you have a general overview of what each handheld operating system has to offer, but you still may be asking yourself: which OS is right for me? This will largely depend on what types of functionality are important to you. Palm and Windows Mobile handhelds offer mass appeal to individuals and companies alike with their mix of productivity and entertainment features. For years, these two handheld operating systems have competed fiercely to attract handheld buyers. But now, they're almost evenly matched in terms of the core applications: address book, calendar, to-do list and memos. Palm still holds the advantage in PC synchronisation as it works with both Mac OS and Windows-based computers right out of the box; it also benefits from a large library of third-party applications. However, Windows Mobile is by far the most capable multimedia platform.
For heavy email users, BlackBerry's combination of push technology and integrated QWERTY keyboard is hard to beat. And although they've generally been more business-centric devices, RIM has made a push to reach more customers with consumer-friendly models, such as the BlackBerry 7100 series. Still, for now, if you want any type of entertainment features, such as music or video playback, you won't find it on a BlackBerry.
Finally, while Symbian might not be the most recognised OS among the group, it offers corporate users powerful productivity and security tools, and the versatility of the OS opens itself up to more general audiences.
To further help you with your buying decision, we've rounded up some of our top product picks for each handheld OS. Check them out below.
| Top handheld choices by operating system | |||
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| Palm | Windows Mobile | BlackBerry | Symbian |
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Palm TX |
Orange SPV M5000 |
Black Berry 8700g |
Nokia E61 |
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Palm Treo 650 |
O2 Xda IQ |
O2 BlackBerry 7100x |
Nokia 9300 |
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Palm Tungsten E2 |
Fujitsu Siemens Pocket LOOX N520  |
RIM BlackBerry 7230 |
Sony Ericsson M600i |
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