Finding the Best Smart Phone Values

It's not enough any longer to have just a cell phone. With the evolution of smart phones users can now text faster, speed up web surfing, use GPS navigation and still update their Facebook and Twitter status. Smart phones like the Apple iPhone and BlackBerry who have been the leaders and have taken hand held computing to new levels. However, choosing the right smart phone comes down to choosing the right operating system that phone uses.

Various smart phones utilize different operating systems. These operating systems affect the smart phone's capabilities, how easy they are to use, and how quickly they perform. The various operating systems also determine the add-on applications that are available to your smart phone. The costs for these smart phone applications can range from hundreds of dollars to free. Let us take a look at the six leading operating systems currently being used by smart phones:

1. The Blackberry Smart Phone
The most common operating system is the BlackBerry OS. Blackberry started it's operating system years ago with the business community. Known for its messaging and e-mail systems, BlackBerry smart phones utilize the trackball navigation but have limited touch screen options. The BlackBerry operating systems has capabilities to edit Microsoft Office documents as well. The BlackBerry OS does not support as many smart phone applications as some other operating systems. To date there are about 3,000 applications including, Internet radio.

2. The iPhone Smart Phone
Close on the heels of BlackBerry is the iPhone OS. The iPhone operating system is a feature full system. It uses Apple iPod multimedia capabilities and is one of the largest using multi-touch displays. This OS supports HTML and advanced searching as well as intuitive navigation. With over 100,000 applications and rising, the iPhone OS supports more smart phone applications than any other OS.

3. The Android Smart Phone
One of the newer operating systems for smart phones is the Android OS. This OS is also found on some newer netbook systems. The Android OS is well supported by Google and has advanced searching and multimedia capabilities. The Android OS was built is an open-sourced software. This allows third party manufactures to develop smart phone applications from it. Currently the Android OS has about 10,000 applications however, with it's open-sourced architecture that number is sure to rise.

4. The Windows Mobile Smart Phone
Another well established operating system is the Windows Mobile OS. The highlights of this operating system is the integration it has with Windows Office applications. This application has the look and feel of a PC so that users can easily navigate it. Smart phone applications for the Windows Mobile OS are limited. Currently there are about 550 smart phone applications supported by this OS.

5. The Palm Smart Phone
Palm OS has been a well-known operating system know for its organizing, contacts and calendar strengths. However, Palm has done away with the Palm OS and developed webOS for its smart phones. A powerful operating system, the webOS is capable of touch screen, running multiple applications, advanced web searching and multimedia tools and messaging. With only about 200 smart phone applications currently available there are some limitations to this operating system.

6. The Symbian Smart Phone
The last of our smart phone operating systems is the Symbian OS. Many experts have agreed that the Symbian operating system is difficult to use. This OS is found primarily on Nokia phones and offers some touch screen features. There are about 5,500 smart phone applications associated with the Symbian OS.