Buying Guide: Business Handsets

Today a business class handset is very hard to classify as even the big brother of business handsets, Blackberry has deviated from its usual 'all about the work' norm. While they’re still catering to the hardcore business users, they now offer users quite a bit more. Like they say, all work and no play etc. This makes selection of device for business a little harder but here are a few tips to keep in mind that should help you decide what you want and how to go about looking for it.

Do keep in mind though even some of the higher-end handsets that manage to do almost everything a business class handset can do, might still lack a few features you might consider vital for a business class device.

Data entry
If you’re a business person who’s always traveling and is usually required to correspond with the office or clientele then the one thing you’ll have to be most comfortable with is the handset’s method of data entry and navigation system. Examples of navigation would include a trackball, five-way nav-pad or an optical trackpad system. Of course there’s the touchscreen which can be more comfortable for some users. Just decide which of these you find most convenient. 

The keypad is next. If you prefer physical QWERTY you have the option of a standard candy bar form or a touchscreen with a slide out QWERTY. I recommend the latter, as in most cases, you’ll have a large comfortable keypad with an obviously large display to work with. Of course you’ll have to use both hands for this (Mumbai commuters understand the difficulty here) whereas the former option will allow you to use just one, once you get used to that.

Touchscreen devices also give you the added benefit of having an onscreen keypad as well that gets larger in landscape mode. Some handset like a few from LG allow you select a standard alphanumeric mobile keypad on-screen for those who are still comfortable using that style. Swype is the new phenomenon for speed typing and quite a few of Samsung’s new devices come with it preloaded.

User Interface
The days of the Stylus is almost over and done with (thank goodness). Capacitive touchscreens are in now though the resistive screens still prevail in some of the lower end devices, but UI’s have bee designed to make finger usage more convenient. This is where the UI becomes absolutely imperative to consider. Is the layout of the UI easy to alter to your specific preference? Can you make the desktop the single point of access for all your frequently used apps? Customizing the home screen/s with widgets and shortcuts etc. makes accessing emails, messages, social networks and even the weather an easy task. UI’s like HTC’s Sense UI, Symbian ^3 and the upcoming BlackBerry OS6 are designed to make things simple for people who rely on their mobiles as a primary mode of communication. 

Display
If it’s a touchscreen handset you wont have too much of an issue in this area as most touchscreen handsets already have large enough screens with adequate display resolutions. It’s important, though to make sure that if it’s not a touchscreen handset that display is large enough for you to clearly view web pages and emails. 3 inches and up is perfect for comfortable viewing. Higher resolution screens on the non touchscreen devices like those on BlackBerry’s make the display vibrant enough to very clearly view even in bright sunlight. This is important as the last thing you want to see is your own stressed out face in your mobile display when your outdoors trying to send emails while on the go.