I thought it would be both fun and informative to do an article on my smartphone of the year 2009. It was unfortunate that we didn’t get good participation for the MobilityNigeria 2009 Phone Awards. Thanks to all those who did drop their nominations.

Anyway, in this article, I will list all the smartphones I used in 2009 and do a sort of countdown to my top smartphone for the year just gone by. Here goes!

The contenders, in the order that I came in touch with them:

1. Nokia E90 communicator (October 2008) **
2. T-mobile G1 (May 2009)
3. Nokia E75 (June 2009)
4. Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 (August 2009)
5. Samsung B7320 (December 2009)

While I got the E90 in 2008, I did use it for several months in 2009, so it qualifies.

Number 5

At number 5 is the Android-powered G1.

I loved the keyboard on this device, being one of the most functional I have used, but the choice of colour of the keyboard area made reading in daylight difficult.

The Android user interface got me hooked too. Download, installing and updating applications from the Android Market was a joy. But while the G1 had USB charging, its battery life was one of the most appalling I had experienced on a smartphone. With the G1, my eye was constantly on the battery indicator. On an average day, I had it plugged to the mains more than not.

Email management was flawless on the G1, and web browsing was good, though the browser wasn’t as capable as Opera Mobile or S60 Web.

Again, the G1 could not be tethered without the use of a 3rd party app (or having to root the phone), had no Bluetooth file transfer, and – the straw that finally broke the camel’s back – no built-in office viewer/editor. The available 3rd party viewers were plainly underwhelming.

I love Android and look forward to its maturing. Then, you can be sure that I am game.

Number 4

At number 4 is the Symbian-powered Nokia E75.

The E75 was a good piece of hardware and felt solid to hold and to look at. The keyboard was good, but in my experience did not match those of the G1 or the E90.

While it had a 3.2 megapixel camera specified same as that on the E90, the camera did not perform as good. Whenever I needed good pictures or video recording, I kept going back to the E90.

Web browsing was standard S60 Web, but for some reason, Nokia had still not sorted out the issues with its messaging/email client. The E75 let me down at critical times in the area of email management. In my line of work, that is unforgivable.

Number 3

The Windowsphone X1 from Sony Ericsson is my Number 3.

The X1 had a good camera. Being Sony Ericsson, I wasn’t expecting less. The keyboard was not as tactile as on the E90, E75 and G1, but it worked.

Email management on the X1 was flawless and I had no issues with web browsing. As a matter of fact, there was little to dislike about the X1. But those few include a not-so-loud loudspeaker and the lack of a built-in task manager,which was annoying.

Being Windows Mobile powered, the X1 allowed for customisation by way of custom ROMs from XDA Developers.

Number 2

By now, many of you are guessing that the number one spot is surely going to the Nokia E90. Unfortunately, if that was your thought, you thought wrong.

At number 2 is the venerable Nokia E90.

Ah! A 3-year old smartphone that still rocks. Excellent 5-row keyboard with several shortcuts, glamorous huge display, very loud speaker, and a really good camera, it is hard not to like the E90.

With a keyboard like that, a huge screen and oodles of RAM, web browsing was a joy on the E90.

Also, the E90 feels as sturdy as a tank. Holding one in a corporate setting is good massage for the ego. It simply feels good in the hand.

Unfortunately, the email client was again plagued with issues. For some reason, setting up Gmail on the E90 simply brought the mail client into a comatose state.

To compensate (and because the E90 was really hard for me to part with), I used Gmail’s mobile app to handle my personal mails and notifications. Of course, having to do that was a kludge. I had to manually check for mails at intervals.

Note that I also tried out Nokia Messaging, and it worked well for a while before the same issues popped up.

I love the E90, but I found a new love.

Number 1

My smartphone of the year 2009 is nothing short of a miracle. It is testimony that good things are not necesarilly big or expensive.

The Samsung B7320 OmniaPro is a Windowsphone. it runs version 6.1 and is upgradeable to 6.5. So far, I have found only two major things to complain about:

1. Older version of pocket internet explorer
2. No flash with the 3.2 mega-pixel camera

Just two, and those two are not quite earth-shattering problems. There are other smaller niggles, of course, but certainly nothing that 3rd party apps didn’t fix. The B7320′s key strengths are:

1. Very good battery life
2. Very good loudspeaker
3. One-handed use and interface
4. Highly functional QWERTY keyboard with preset & customisable shortcuts

Before you go on about Windows Mobile not being user-friendly, note that there are two versions of Windows Mobile – Standard (non-touchscreen devices) and Professional (touchscreen devices). The B7320 runs Windows Mobile Standard and has no touchscreen. I found it surprisingly intuitive to use, different from the Professional edition that.

The screen is large, though much smaller than the E90′s, and the keyboard packs a wallop – very tactile and usable, and with several preset shortcuts. You can also set your own extra shortcuts for your favourite applications.

On the negative side, I am disappointed at Pocket Internet Explorer. No multiple tabs here and rendering is not as good as what obtains on Opera Mobile or S60 web. But it gets the job done for most of what I need to do. Where it is restrictive, I use a 3rd party browser.

Email management is flawless. Both my corporate mail and Gmail work flawlessly, with audio notifications as mails arrive.

The camera is good, but performs badly in low-light situations because of the absence of a flash. Forgivable. The speaker is also quite loud.

Oh, and since there is an ongoing discussion about one other particular manufacturer skimping on RAM, the OmniaPro comes with 256mb RAM in all, and has about 175mb RAM free after booting. I run between 7 and 10 apps on the OmniaPro at a time and still have about 120mb free.

I’ve never gotten one of those out-of-memory messages yet. I’ll try running 30 apps and see

Lastly, and very important, this is one smartphone that I have not had to worry one bit about the battery life. The battery simply goes on for days, even with an always-on 3G connection for email and web browsing. Even the E90′s battery life pales in significance.

The B7320 has 90-95% of the E90′s functionality packed into a small, handy and lightweight device – and at less than half the price. That’s a pretty good deal. Guess who’s happy?

Moving On…

I am looking forward to trying out a couple of new devices this year. Hopefully, Palm will release the GSM versions of their Pre and Pixi this year. I really want to try out the Pixi. Perhaps also the Motorola Milestone. 2010 is promising to be a year of the Droid, so maybe other manufacturers will give us a candybar Android with QWERTY?

I am waiting for Windows Mobile 7 and trying not to fret while at it. The guys at Redmond need to hurry! As for Symbian, perhaps we will see something really good from the old guard too, though I am not so excited at prospects from that direction (for reasons I have already stated on this site). Some announcements have been made at CES 2010 already, and I expect more when Mobile World Congress 2010 holds.

What is your smartphone of the year 2009? And which smartphones do you have your eyes set on this year?

The Android-powered G1 is a great device. From a distance, its looks can throw one off, but get close and experience the functionality and usability packed into the device, and you are likely to get hooked.

I haven’t had this combination of fun and productivity from a mobile device in years! The Android OS is a hit, and developers are lapping it up.

Here’s a collection of pictures of the T-mobile G1 in action, with my commentaries appended. Enjoy!

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

Okay, folks. That’s it for now: my small gallery and commentary on the G1. I am loving the Android OS and its first spawn, the T-mobile G1.

Even more exciting is the fact that a number of key manufacturers have announced that they will be releasing Android devices this year. On that list are: Samsung (Galaxy, BigFoot), HTC (Hero, Lancaster), LG, Motorola (Heron/IronMan, Calgary), and Acer (A1), among others.

Andy Rubin, Google’s Head of Mobile, is reported to have said that 18 to 20 Android phones will be launched this year alone. Indeed, if this happens, I must agree with the folks at Phandroid that 2009 be named the year of the Android.

But whether or not we see 18 to 20 phones this year, I have seen the future of mobility, and it is full of robots. Pun intended.

PS: It is now my firm belief that Android is on its way to giving Symbian a run for theeir money in terms of market share. What do you think? Am I simply infatuated?

I thought I would start my Android/G1 series by highlighting the things I do not like about the G1. It is a good way to keep the balance, since I have sounded like the G1 (or Android) is the best thing that happened to mobile phones since….. who knows?

Anyway, here is my list of gripes about the Android-powered T-mobile G1:

1. Battery life. Battery life is frustrating! The G1 simply burns fuel like a race car. With semi-intensive use, a full charge barely lasts 7 hours. And that is with the 3G, Wifi, and GPS radios turned off. Go figure.
2. Keyboard backlight. It works well in the dark, but in daylight, the white backlight on the grey/silver keys simply means that you can”t see the characters on the keys without having to turn the device at an angle.
3. Multi-tasking and Application Management. The G1 has multi-tasking, but since there is no way to terminate applications by the user, it is up to the device to determine what applications running in the background to close. At times, it simply closes the very one you would love to have left running. There is at least one 3rd party app that provides this functionality though.
4. No Bluetooth file transfer. Yup; sorry guys but you cannot send or receive music, pictures or any file for that matter via Bluetooth. Bluetooth on the G1 exists only for audio. No way; this is not happening!
5. Inability to install applications on external memory. You can install apps only to built-in memory. Install heavy apps and run out of space ASAP.
6. One general Gallery. All your media files – pictures and videos are presented under one general gallery. Yes; there are sub-folders, but not in a very elegant way. again, 3rd party applications offer alternatives
7. No built-in file manager. Again, 3rd party apps to the rescue here!
8. No built-in MS Office viewer or editor. Once more, 3rd party apps fill this vacuum…

Err… that list contains 8 gripes; right? I tried. I hunted for two more to complete the list but came up with nothing else.

Up next: “Ten (or so) things I like about the G1!”

PS: Apologies to all those who submitted comments to this article. We were in the middle of a server upgrade and lost your comments. Please re-submit. Thanks.