As mobile phone technology gets more and more capable, there are an increasing number of handsets out there that provide instant access to the internet and your email. But how to know which is the best? Here’s a quick guide to what to look for when buying a mobile phone for internet:
Is it 3G? The first mobiles to access the internet used WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) which was rather clunky and slow to use but now with HSDPA and 3G technology, mobile phones are much faster at downloading things such as music tracks or videos, and you can get much faster surfing speeds. Vodafone’s Latest Nokia N96 mobile phone has much higher browsing speeds than its predecessors.
Wi-Fi accessibility – this isn’t widely available on mobile phones yet but it’s generally a cheaper and faster method of accessing the internet than most mobile phone tariffs. So if you plan to use your phone for internet access very much, it might be worth looking out for one that’s got Wi-Fi capabilities.
Mobile phone internet can be expensive if your phone isn’t Wi-Fi capable. If you’re a light user it might be worth paying by usage (i.e. per MB, megabyte downloaded) but if you’re a heavy user often it’s better value to pay for a bundle that allows unlimited internet access.
Email – if you can access the internet you should
be able to access online email providers such as Hotmail
or Yahoo. Other handsets such as Blackberry handsets have
a ‘push’ feature which means that you’re
alerted each time you receive an email, in the same way
you would be if you’d received a text message. Still
others, such as BT internet email have a ‘pull’
feature, whereby emails are ‘pulled’ to your
phone when you request them. Of course, if you’re
going to spend a lot of time writing emails on your phone,
you’ll want to think about the keyboard – a
touch-screen phone might be more portable but most people
find them fiddly to write long messages. A phone with a
keyboard may be easier to write on, but may be less aesthetically
pleasing. Ultimately it’s up to you as to what suits
you best.
