WHAT REALLY MAKES IT A SMARTPHONE?

You probably will agree that you hear the term "smartphone" tossed around a lot. And as it is, we all know what cell phones are, but some don’t always know how to differentiate them from smartphones. Besides, have you ever wondered exactly what a smartphone is, well if at all you have, then you're not alone because many people are often eager to know how different a smartphone is from a cell phone, and what makes it so smart?

You can think of a smartphone like a miniature computer that can also place and receive calls. Though we lack an industry-standard definition of a smartphone, the simplest way to tell a cell phone apart from a smartphone is to determine whether or not the device has a mobile operating system. 

A mobile operating system is more or less like what’s powering your personal computer at home or at work. In the mobile world, though, the software goes by different names. While cell phones don’t have operating systems at all, smartphones can be powered by Operating Systems like:

•  Windows Mobile
•  iPhone OS
• Google’s Android
•  Symbian OS
• RIM’s BlackBerry
• Palm’s WebOS or
• Linux

The iPhone OS comes from other operating systems that are related to Unix. Palm’s WebOS and Google’s Android are built on top of Linux. Smartphones can typically view and sometimes edit documents (i.e. from Microsoft Office) but cell phones cannot.

While many cell phones now have full QWERTY keyboards, this is a basic requirement for smartphones. The keyboard is much like your computer’s keyboard. On a mobile phone, it can come in the form of hardware (i.e. a physical but small keyboard) or software (i.e. tapping digital keys on a touch screen like in most Tecno screen touch cell phones).

Cell phones can typically send and receive text, picture and video messaging. Many cell phones can email, too. Smartphones, though, typically go a step further by syncing with the email server of your personal or corporate provider.

SO MANY PHONES, SO LITTLE TIME

There are so many choices today when it comes to picking out a new smartphone or even choosing a service provider. Devices come in different sizes, with different software and even different network support. And wireless carriers, which all have different strengths when it comes to network coverage, offer different packages with different prices for their services.

So are you in the market for a new smartphone? Consider waiting for a few weeks or even a few months before buying. Plenty of interesting phones are available now, but even more are coming--and soon--from the likes of HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and Blackberry and iphone.

Samsung Galaxy S3

The Samsung Galaxy S3 is the company's flagship device of 2012. As one of the most anticipated devices of the year, this device is the first to come with a Exynos 4 Quad processor. It also has Android 4.0, a 4.8-inch 720p Super AMOLED display, 1 GB of RAM, and it is only 8.6 mm thick.

Samsung also went the extra mile by giving the device many features that will make your life easier. Picture taking, calling and sharing is smarter than ever with the Galaxy S3. This device is truly a beast.

iPhone 5

Tech giant Apple finally introduced its 2012 flagship phone last September 12. Some of its amazing features are 4G/LTE connectivity, 4-inch screen display and new operating system, iOS 6, packed with various capabilities. The new iPhone 5 is also equipped with the fast A6 chipset processor. According to Schiller, the chip is 22 percent smaller than the previous A5, available in the iPhone 4S, but is twice as fast and doubles the graphics performance of its predecessor.

Motorola Razr M

The smartphone is equipped with 4.3 inch screen display. It is powered by 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor. Razr M has NFC, and a powerful 2000 mAh battery that Motorola says can last up to 20 hours on one charge and has 4G LTE connectivity.

Nokia Lumia 920

The latest smartphone from Finnish mobile manufacturer is packed with 4.5 screen display with 1280x768 pixel resolution; 1.5 GHz dual core Snapdragon S4 processor. Most of all, the new Nokia Lumia 920 is run by Windows Phone 8 that promises great features

HTC One X

The HTC One X has Android Ice Cream Sandwich platform. 4.7-inch screen and is powered by a dual core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor.