Words Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

(originally published in Speed Magazine, August 2010 issue)

As smartphones continue to improve in specs and capabilities they are fast approaching the realm of full-featured and truly connected handheld computers. However, just like any computer, they are only as good or as limited as their operating systems allow them to be.

The modern smartphone relies on three critical components in order to be competitive in today’s market: great hardware, a capable and stable OS, and an application ecosystem powered by strong developer support and app store.

If any of these elements are flimsy, then you just have an overpriced feature phone that will quickly become obsolete. Just look at the Palm Pre-it has a great OS but very little developer support and so-so hardware. And so it failed miserably.

The smartphone business today is booming and hyper-competitive and we have no less than six mobile operating systems clawing to the top of the heap. Let us check them out:

Apple iOS 4

With the announcement of a newer, cooler iPhone 4 and with the recent success of its iPad (sold every three seconds), Apple has become the mobile device juggernaut to beat. With 200,000 apps, a closed and completely controlled ecosystem and app store, Apple simply prints its own money at will. It has become successful largely because of the iPhone OS, which has now been renamed to iOS.

iOS 4 features multitasking, the ability to group apps in folders, a neat gaming achievements feature, video conferencing via Wi-Fi called FaceTime, and tap-to-focus video-among others. What’s not to like?

It also has the advantage of working on one device from only one manufacturer, which means better quality control and support.

iOS is successful because there’s an app for almost anything you might need. The caveat is that customers and developers have to submit fully and unflinchingly to Apple’s will. It really is a benevolent dictatorship. What will keep Apple and iOS triumphant are continued innovation and consistent improvements on functionality. Now, if they could only be present in more mobile carriers or if they decide to sell unlocked iPhones, they would probably be completely unbeatable.

Google Android Froyo (2.2)

Google’s share of the smartphone market is exploding. They have the biggest variety of devices and a confusing number of operating system versions available, the latest of which is Froyo. I’ve been using the Android OS since the beginning and am amazed at how it has improved. Froyo brings mobile Flash capability, a feature that turns smartphones into mobile hotspots (for data sharing), an increase in speed and efficiency, and a faster browser.

I’ve used Android as my personal device for many months now and I must say it has really come into its own. Sure, apps are not as good-looking or as polished as those on the iPhone and they are generally more expensive, but people who are more technically inclined and who love Google’s cloud services will really love Android.

As a cloud-based OS, Android does not require the use of an iTunes-like client to manage the device. Once you sign up on Google, all your services automatically sync with the Android handset. The variety of phones-some of which are just gorgeous-is another strong point. Users can choose from several phone form factors such as those with slide-out keyboards and large touch-screen displays.

The problem with Android may be the plethora of versions available; versions 1.5, 1.6, 2.1, and 2.2 are floating around. This could lead to a serious fragmentation that may cause problems for support and developers. All things considered, Android-especially the Froyo version-remains the most evolved and most exciting smartphone OS today.

Samsung bada

Samsung makes great handsets for Windows and Android OS, but the electronics giant also has ambitions of developing its own smartphone platform. bada, which means “ocean” in Korean, is featured in the new Samsung Wave. How serious is Samsung with its bada initiative? Well, they’ve opened up their own app store and even have ongoing developer challenges to draw in a community.

So we ask: If Samsung has devices that run Windows and Android, what is the point of bada?

bada is designed to replace the generic OS that runs on Samsung’s feature phones-which means that soon, all those phones will have smartphone capabilities. More importantly, bada’s goal is to democratize the smartphone market by allowing Samsung to offer higher-end features in cheaper phones without paying for software licenses to Microsoft and Google. This allows Samsung unparalleled flexibility in using the licensing money toward better hardware and features while maintaining full control of their development ecosystem.

Some of bada’s features include new UI controls, location-based services, Flash support, and sensor support, as well as in-app-purchasing, content management, SNS integration, and push notification.

Symbian^3

Now owned by Nokia, Symbian is in the most number of smartphones today, but many of them are older models. Now a completely open-source platform, Symbian’s been struggling because of fragmentation (UIQ vs S60 vs MOAP versions) which has caused a lot of its developers to flee to more standard and profitable platforms.

Symbian^3-the latest iteration set to launch in October 2010-o_ers HDMI support, support for 2D and 3D graphics, and interface tweaks. That’s all well and good but honestly unexciting. Truth be told, we’d love to see Nokia hardware sporting Android or even WebOS software. But that will never happen since Nokia is too invested in propagating its own proprietary OS-which may work out to their advantage.

Their N8 super-smartphone showcases Symbian^3 (as well as an excessive amount of tech like 12-megapixel camera) and will be one of the first penta-band HSDPA 3.5G-enabled phones.

Microsoft Windows Phone 7

Windows Phone version 7 is Redmond’s redemptive salvo in the smartphone space. Integrating all the best parts of the Zune and the Xbox 360’s user experience, it is very different from the geriatric stylings of Windows 6.5 that has all but been retired.

Windows Phone 7 has the disadvantage of arriving late in a party that’s already in full swing. It looks great and shows tremendous promise judging from early screenshots, but Microsoft is going to need to quickly sell millions of units, launch a kick-ass app store, and convince users that it is a vibrant, compelling, and capable OS with great hardware and oodles of functionality. It does have the advantage of learning from its competitor’s mistakes and hopefully not repeating them.

It seems that Windows Phone 7 is targeting the younger, multimedia-savvy set at the expense of the more conservative business customer, which has been Microsoft’s bread and butter pretty much until BlackBerry took it all. Still, this slick, media-centered smartphone OS looks extremely promising-but it has a looong way to go.

MeeGo

MeeGo is the lovechild of Nokia and Intel and an open-source project powered by Linux, and which hopes to create a universal appliance mobile OS that can work on phones, netbooks, car computers, set-top TV boxes, and other smart devices. MeeGo is actually the merger or Moblin and Maemo, which were minor tablet operating systems that made their way to a number of devices.

MeeGo devices aren’t expected to hit the market until sometime in 2011 but we’ve seen some proof-ofconcept tablets that display a fresh and totally usable multi-touch OS. MeeGo looks like it will run lightweight applications, streaming video interfaces, and basic games.

Will it have an app store and more importantly, enough applications to be compelling enough to compete against the iPad and Android tablets? Hard to tell at this point.

The Verdict

The only real war right now is between Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android OS, which are both pushing the limits of hardware and functionality. Both have very similar features and functionality. Apple looks to be the leader for the time being with the sheer volume of apps and the fact that it also has the iPad as a magical and revolutionary secondary device.

If I were to be asked what smartphone to buy today, I’d say go get an iPhone if you can and you won’t be disappointed. There are very few things it can’t do. If you’re considering Android, don’t waste your time with anything lower than version 2.1. Symbian, on the other hand, seems to have had its day (but it may still surprise us) and Windows Phone 7 may amount to something in a year or two but who knows where the rest of the world will be then. bada is cool and all, but right now, it’s more like an ambitious second-tier OS that has yet to prove itself.