Best Tech of 2010: Smartphones and, wait for it... Super Smartphones

2010 has been a great year for technology in general affecting various sectors and cultural groups around the world. Here is As I See Tech's rundown of the best technologies for mobiles phones, particularly smartphones, that made remarkable achievements in 2010...

From 2009 to 2010, mobile use worldwide has grown by around 4% matched with a 3% decline in desktop use. In the US, the growth is around 6% matched with around 5% decline in desktop use. This trend can be attributed to the popularity of high-end phones that could match computer-like behaviors, features and functionalities.

Smartphones
In 2010, smartphones are as common and varied as you can find chocolates in a grocery aisle. Leading manufacturers include Nokia, HTC, RIM Blackberry and Samsung. Most of these brands are popular in Europe and Asia. Nokia leads worldwide but is yet to penetrate the US market.

The most popular smartphones of 2010 are Nokia N8, Nokia E73 (a business smartphone), Nokia X3, HTC Smart (an awesome value for money entry smartphone) and sleek Samsung Wave S8500. Samsung and LG have many designs that are impressive but are not available in the US. RIM products are mostly smartphones but recently competes pretty strongly against the super smartphones so you'll be reading more about Blackberry in the following section instead.

The smartphone has changed a lot since 5 or 10 years ago. There are expectations with the modern mobile phone that should at least be met in order for it to be sold as a smartphone. Not so long ago, a smartphone is anything with a web browser and Java-apps support. Nowadays, the smartphone must have Internet connectivity, appreciable multimedia capture/playback/streaming support and a rich online/offline application inventory.

BTW: Must I mention the zombie Kin? Nah...

Super Smartphones
Better yet, 2010 is the year of the "super smartphones", which add more capabilities to the smartphone such as integrated social services, richer applications, enhanced gaming experiences and better connectivity features. While previous years played around with variety in order to target different interests (such as camera  phones, music/video phones, gaming phones, etc.), 2010 focused on putting everything in to just one device and letting the user customize the smartphone through applications.

The leading super smartphones are Apple iPhone 4, Android-based phones, Blackberry and the recently released Windows Phone 7 by Microsoft.

Apple's iPhone 4 was released in the spring of 2010. Despite it's signal finding shortcomings on launch, the iPhone still sells. The latest iOS version adds major features such as copy/paste, home screen folders, multi-tasking and video chat (via Facetime, which works only on Wi-Fi).

I have to mention RIM's Blackberry in the super smartphone section of this article because, as it turns out, it can compete directly with Apple's iPhone. RIM's Blackberry is a winner for business users. Blackberry phones continue to gain ground in the mobile market. In the US, Blackberry passed the iPhone in the #1 slot. Based on the trend worldwide, Blackberry might actually catch up with iPhone in 2011. In 2010, Blackberry Storm 2, Bold and Curve are the hottest models.

Various manufacturers worldwide bet on Android as the real iPhone killer. It is getting a good share of the market really fast and app developer support is likewise impressive. Most product reviews find Samsung Galaxy S, Sony Xperia X10Motorola Droid, HTC Droid IncredibleHTC EVO 4G and HTC Desire HD to be the best in class. A recent release is Samsung Nexus S which is developed in partnership with Google.

Windows Phone 7 is Microsoft's latest attempt to get back in to the mobile phone market. After failing with the Windows Mobile platform, Microsoft decided to redesign, not just the OS, but the overall experience as well -- by exploiting the Metro UI which they used successfully in Windows Media Center, XBox 360 and Zune. Windows Phone was released worldwide touting 9 device models manufactured by HTC, Samsung, LG and Dell. The best models are Samsung Omnia 7, Samsung Focus and Dell's Venue Pro (which is delayed and Dell's not being nice to early customers so, yes, you're allowed to have second thoughts about getting this one). Recent reports indicate 1.5 million units pushed and 4,000 apps published in 6 weeks since launch.

Read all Best Tech of 2010...

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