Choosing Between A Smartphone Or Netbook
Whether to purchase a smartphone or netbook is a choice that many people are facing simply because they are getting so close to each other in functionality that it is not as easy to choose between them as it once was. In fact, before long they will be almost identical, so which should you choose?
The likely answer is neither of them will meet the needs of the other fully, and that these choice factors will best be met by what might be the ultimate amalgamation of the netbook and smartphone, whatever that might be.
There will be a number of factors in your mind when trying to decide whether a smartphone or netbook best meets your needs. At the moment is it doubtful that each is equivalent to the other – in fact they aren’t! Looking at the basics such as battery life, the netbook battery lasts only 3-4 hours at the very most so it would not be of much use as a cell phone. It would have to be switched off to conserve the battery, and you could never answer a call in the time it would take to boot up.
A netbook on the other hand has a full keyboard, and you write text a lot quicker than using a smartphone. There’s no contest if you write letters a lot during the day and perhaps access spreadsheets. The netbook also wins hands down on net browsing. While the smartphone is fine for occasional internet access, the small screen can be a pain if you use it regularly.
To be honest, your decision as to whether to use a smartphone or netbook will be dictated by whether or not you use your phone predominantly as a cell phone and occasionally use some of the apps it offers. In such a case then the smartphone is the smart choice. However, if your internet browsing is more than just casual, and if you use office applications such as a word processor and spreadsheet frequently, then get yourself the netbook. You can use it for calls when it is switched on and get a cheap pay-as-you-go for incidental calls.
Otherwise there will be a conflict of interests. Those already owning a smartphone could also purchase a netbook if you need the larger keypad and screen for normal portable office computing. If you already own a netbook then all you need is cheap functional cell that accepts calls and nothing else. You can put your apps on the netbook.
The day will come when the two are the same: the netbook will have long stand-by battery life and the smartphone will have roll-out keyboard and extendable screen suitable for spreadsheets. Although the technology is available to achieve this, the day has yet to come before they are combined, but until then do not expect to use the netbook and smartphone as the same devices.
Roll-out screen technology is here and so too are roll-out keypads, but not in smartphones yet. When they are then the office aspect of the netbook will be solved in the smartphone. It might be slightly bulkier, but better than two devices. For now, though, there is no device that will do both jobs adequately, so you still have the choice between the smartphone or netbook – which to purchase?
Robert Mann supervises online technology products for a Fortune 500 firm. He has built an online application for finding the best product by sales rank located at http://www.BestProductSpy.com. This and other unique content ” articles are available with free reprint rights.
