You're more likely than ever to buy a smartphone, not just because they do so much more than dumb feature phones, with real email, decent web browsing and downloadable applications, but because they're cheaper than ever. With the exception of some expensive ass unlocked-but-unsubsidized European models, you generally don't have to pay more than $300 for a balls-to-the-wall smartphone—though the voice plan plus data fees can easily run you $80 or more per month. Here's a rudimentary overview of your choices (more now than ever before), why you might pick them, and why they might suck for you.

ANDROID by Google
The splashy new entrant into smartphone land, Android is Google's Linux-based open source mobile platform meant to bring real, constantly connected internet to phones. Even though it's debuting on a single phone, the G1 from HTC, expect to see the free OS show up on tons of phones, from HTC, Motorola, and others. It's totally modern and powerful, and the fact that it's open source makes it incredibly appealing to some developers, so most signs point to awesome applications and mobile internet.

Why You'll Use It Unlike BlackBerry, iPhone or Windows Mobile, there are no limits on what application developers can do. So its real strength is the power that developers hold—we're hoping to see some of the wildest, most innovative applications hit Android first. You'll have tons of hardware options, from low to high end, and pretty much any input you want—touchscreen, QWERTY, whatever—once the ball gets rolling. This is the ultimate geek phone.

Why It Sucks Developers have to plug a lot of holes right off the bat, like the complete lack of business features. If they fail to come through, it could fall flat. Not as elegant as the iPhone (though it beats, say, Windows Mobile, by leaps and bounds), it still doesn't quite pass the "mom" test.

BLACKBERRY by RIM
Research in Motion's BlackBerry started out as a glorified two-way pager before evolving into what most consider the best smartphone for email. It is also a shining validation of tightly integrated hardware/software model—they make the phones, they make the operating system. Previously it was a phone that corporations gave to people in suits because of its BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which integrates it with a corporation's email, plus its Exchange support and high security. Now, though, it's increasingly popular with real live people. The BlackBerry Bold offers the latest version of the standard OS, while the recently announced Storm uses one modified for a touchscreen.

Why You'll Use It It has the best email experience around—in part thanks to their traditionally awesome keyboards, so the touchscreen Storm is something of a risk. The OS is really to easy use, with everything neatly presented up front using rows and rows of icons. There's a reason it has surpassed Windows Mobile in marketshare and is the corporate drone phone of choice. Also, RIM seems intent on juicing up its already solid dev community, so expect even more great apps in the future. (Catching a pattern with the importance of apps?)

Why It Sucks It's totally closed and proprietary. You've gotta buy a BlackBerry phone to get the OS. If you're not using the Bold, Storm or the Flip Pearl, it's not very sexy and can easily look dated. Also, in past models, the web browsing experience was absolute garbage. Now just finding its stride as a consumer device, it's not as media-centric as some others, but that is fortunately changing as well.

IPHONE OS X by Apple
Some haters still stay that the iPhone isn't really a smartphone, but for all practical intents and purposes it is. Running a stripped down but very real version of Mac's OS X, it's one of the most powerful and modern OSes of the bunch.

Why You'll Use It It's the most attractive and usable smartphone around, period. It has the best mobile internet browser, largely thanks to multitouch navigation. But its killer feature might be its ability to run third-party apps, which come from one of the most vibrant dev communities around, and are often—but not always—actually useful. Not to mention that, as an iPod, it's also the best music phone on the planet—at least until that mystery Zune phone appears.

Why It Sucks For being so powerful and modern, it can't do things even the dumbest phones do, like MMS, or copy and paste, a smartphone standard. Also email and corporate features aren't quite up to BlackBerry standards, lacking email search among other deficiencies. Apple tightly controls it, which might hurt development and innovation. And the whole making a phone call thing itself still kinda blows.

WINDOWS MOBILE by Microsoft
Unlike the iPhone and OS X, the only thing Microsoft's smartphone OS shares with actual Windows is the name. It has its roots in Windows CE and originally went by the Pocket PC moniker before becoming Windows Mobile. Mostly for corporate troopers, the current version number is 6.1, and it comes in touchscreen and non-touchscreen flavors. It recently fell behind RIM's BlackBerry in marketshare.

Why You'll Use It Diehards swear by its power, even if it isn't so easy for Joe Six-Pack to pick up and run with. It runs on handsets from a bunch of manufacturers, and unlike the BlackBerry and iPhone platforms, you can build your own device to run it. So much of the most advanced mobile hardware you'll lay your eyes on runs Windows Mobile, including the HTC Touch HD and Sony Xperia X1. It's got a corporate soul, so it's designed for business users, and it has specialty applications (like in the medical field) that some professionals need and can't get anywhere else.

Why It Sucks There's a reason premiere Windows Mobile handset makers have become increasingly adept at covering up the user interface: It's frankly terrible, especially when it comes to touch navigation. It isn't a great media phone, has a god-awful native browser and doesn't look so hot either. Unfortunately the next version, WM7, is over a year away.

PALM GARNET
Oh, whither Palm. Without getting into the complicated story of Palm's various fits, seizures and splits, the Palm OS goes all the way back to 1996, when it powered Palm's PDAs. All but dead now, its last hurrah was on the Centro before Palm plunged ahead with Windows Mobile. Supposedly work on its Linux-powered follow-up is well under way, but it's been delayed multiple times.

Why You'll Use It Though dated, the Palm OS makes a great starter smartphone, hence the success of the cheaper-than-dirt Centro. The learning curve is shallow and it provides most of the smartphone features you expect, even if it does look like it's still trapped in 1996.

Why It Sucks Uh, it's basically dead. You probably won't see it on another phone post-Centro, Palm's more pricey phones use Windows Mobile, and prospects on the upcoming Palm OS overhaul are dicey. (They should take Android and use it as a powerful foundation for the next Palm OS, but that's just my two cents.)

SYMBIAN by Nokia
Symbian is the world's most popular smartphone platform, thanks to Nokia. The most prominent variant right now is S60. While it doesn't seem so ubiquitious in the US, abroad it's far more common. It powers some seriously sick hardware, like Nokia's N series, and has a solid dev community, though the free side of that isn't as big as on other platforms.

Why You'll Use It Did you miss the "world's most popular smartphone" thing? Buy a Nokia multimedia phone, and you buy Symbian. It offers a lot of the best smartphone features—strong email, web and calendar, plus a large global development community—in a package that is far more usable than Windows Mobile. Also, it works with Macs with far less hassle than Windows Mobile.

Why It Sucks It can be overly complicated, and still not as easy to use as a BlackBerry or the iPhone. If you're not using a really solid piece of hardware, it can be really sluggish. Also, connecting to the web can be annoying. And while it's on handsets from a couple of other manufacturers, for the most part, you had better love Nokia hardware.

And that's pretty much the lay of the land, at least for now.

Something you still wanna know? Send any questions about dumbphones, dumber people or Mark Wahlberg to tips@gizmodo.com, with "Giz Explains" in the subject line.

HappyWakeUp runs through your normal alarm clock and won't delay the alarm any later than you have it set for. Rather, it's meant to wake you if you're in a lighter state of sleep 20-30 minutes before your wake up time, and could actually make getting up easier. [HappyWakeUp via Computerworld via Raw Feed via Wired]

•Sony Ericsson P1i
•Sony Ericsson P990i
•Sony Ericsson W960i
•Sony Ericsson W950i
•Sony Ericsson M600i
•Sony Ericsson G700
•Sony Ericsson G900
•Motorola Z8
•Motorola Z10

[Sling]

US readers only (sorry), click here to sign up and enter the beta code: gizmodo, all lower case. You'll get a text message with a download link. Let us know how it goes! [Skyfire]

The full list of specs are as follows:

•2.8-inch QVGA (240×320 pixels), 16m colors
•8 megapixel camera with auto-focus, xenon flash and 120 fps video recording
•UMTS with HSDPA support, WiFi, GPS, TV out, DivX support, dedicated 3D graphics chip
•Optical mouse (same as i780 and i900 Omnia)
•200 mAh battery
•106.5×53.9×16.9 mm metal case
•16 GB internal memory (possibly an 8 GB version as well)

Impressive. Conflicting reports have the i8510 running either Feature Pack 1 or 2 and there is no word on whether we are talking tri-band or quad-band GSM here. However, as with any rumor, we will just have to wait and see what holds true. [Forum2 via Estato via IntoMobile via BGR]

Nokia to acquire Symbian Limited to enable evolution of the leading open mobile platform
June 24, 2008

Visionary move embraces openness and accelerates innovation

Espoo, Finland - Nokia today announced it has launched a cash offer to acquire all of the shares of Symbian Limited that Nokia does not already own, at a price of EUR 3.647 per share. The net cash outlay from Nokia to purchase the approximately 52% of Symbian Limited shares it does not already own will be approximately EUR 264 million.

Nokia has received irrevocable undertakings from Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ), Panasonic Mobile Communications Co. Ltd. and Siemens International Holding BV to accept the offer, representing approximately 91% of the Symbian shares subject to the offer. Nokia also expects Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. to accept the offer.

The acquisition is a fundamental step in the establishment of the Symbian Foundation, announced today by Nokia, together with AT&T, LG Electronics, Motorola, NTT DOCOMO, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone. More information about the planned foundation can be found at www.symbianfoundation.org.

"This is a significant milestone in our software strategy" said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia. "Symbian is already the leading open platform for mobile devices. Through this acquisition and the establishment of the Symbian Foundation, it will undisputedly be the most attractive platform for mobile innovation. This will drive the development of new and compelling, web-enabled applications to delight a new generation of consumers."

"The wide support for this initiative, uniting the industry around the Symbian platform, reflects the strong gravitational pull it has for application developers and other ecosystem players. We will drive efficient, open innovation by unifying the platform and simplifying the software supply chain, leveraging our experience from mobile devices. Nokia is strongly positioned to realize the benefits of open innovation, as well as accelerating time to market, enabling us to meet and exceed consumer expectations for leading converged devices and experiences", Kallasvuo continued.

Symbian Limited is the software company that develops and licenses Symbian OS, the market-leading open operating system for mobile devices. User interfaces designed for Symbian OS include S60 from Nokia, MOAP (S) for the 3G network and UIQ, designed by UIQ Technology, a joint venture between Motorola and Sony Ericsson. A privately-owned company established in 1998, Symbian has its headquarters in London, UK and other offices in the United Kingdom, United States and Asia (Bangalore, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo).

"Ten years ago, Symbian was established by far sighted players to offer an advanced open operating system and software skills to the whole mobile industry", said Nigel Clifford, CEO of Symbian. "Our vision is to become the most widely used software platform on the planet and indeed today Symbian OS leads its market by any measure. Today's announcement is a bold new step to achieve that vision by embracing a complete and proven platform, offered in an open way, designed to stimulate innovation, which is at the heart of everything we do."

Mobile devices based on Symbian OS account for 60% of the converged mobile device segment (source: Canalys, 12 months to Q1 2008). Symbian OS represented approximately 7% of all mobile device sales in 2007, up from 5% in 2006 (source: Strategy Analytics). To date, more than 200 million Symbian OS based phones have been shipped, over 235 models, from 8 vendors and on more than 250 mobile networks around the world. More than 4 million developers are engaged in producing applications for Symbian devices.

Nokia expects the acquisition to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2008 and is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. On a reported basis, Nokia expects the transaction to be dilutive in 2009, approximately breakeven in 2010, and accretive in 2011. On a cash basis, Nokia expects the transaction to be dilutive in 2009 and accretive in 2010 and 2011. After the closing, all Symbian employees will become Nokia employees.

Note to Editors:
A press conference will be webcast live from London today at 11:00 UK time and will be available for replay later. To see the web cast, please visit www.nokia.com/press or www.symbianfoundation.org

Further information about the Symbian Foundation is available at www.symbianfoundation.org.

About Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. We make a wide range of mobile devices with services and software that enable people to experience music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games, business mobility and more. Developing and growing our offering of consumer Internet services, as well as our enterprise solutions and software, is a key area of focus. We also provide equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks.

About Symbian
Symbian is a software licensing company that develops and licenses Symbian OS, the market-leading open operating system for mobile phones. Symbian licenses Symbian OS to the world's leading handset manufacturers and has built close co-operative business relationships with leading companies across the mobile industry. During Q1 2008, 18.5 million Symbian mobile phones were sold worldwide to over 250 major network operators, bringing the total number of units shipped up to 31 March 2008 to 206 million. Symbian has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom, with offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Asia (India, P.R. China, and Korea) and Japan. For more information, please visit www.symbian.com.

[intomobile]

• The free demo available at Taproot Systems will support only one Wi-Fi connection.

• Though the system will work with any 3G platform (provided the WinMo or Symbian smartphone has Wi-Fi, duh), it will only allow voice calls through on HSDPA networks like that from AT&T.

• Taproot wants to sell this software to carriers and not to you, dear individual readers. Man, if I don't see a ridiculous monthly fee being attached to what would otherwise be an awesome use of bandwith you're already paying for!!!!!.

If you get a chance to test it out, though, please let us know how it works. [PC World]

Update: There's also a free one for Windows Mobile phones called WM WiFiRouter. -JC

Note: The back of the phone has a new designer texture that we like a lot more than the now generic velvechron grip coating you see on a lot of handsets. We didn't get to play N-Gage on this phone to test out the gaming-specific button backlights (another upgrade from the N95) but we'll have some video of that next. I would not recommend it as an upgrade for existing N95 owners, but those interested should be reminded that the DVB and the non-US frequency 3G won't help you much.

The working prototype here is very rough. It's missing animations between picture swipes and lacks truly natural menu swiping. It also doesn't support multitouch here, but that's a matter of hardware—and this is early software, so we should be not too harsh on Symbian for updating their great OS to keep up with the Joneses. But we can conclude one thing from this demo: Despite doing a good job of building a touch UI on S60 without alienating current users, Symbian is far behind Apple in UI development, by months, if not years.

Nokia N96: The one to watch Most advanced multimedia computer optimized for entertainment Mobile World Congress 2008, Barcelona, Spain/Espoo, Finland - Nokia today unveiled the Nokia N96, a multimedia computer truly optimized for video and TV. With a large 2.8" screen, 16 gigabytes of internal memory and support for high-quality videos in a wide range of formats, the dual-slide Nokia N96 represents an exciting new chapter in mobile media. The Nokia N96 multimedia computer is expected to begin shipping in the third quarter of 2008 with an estimated sales price of approximately 550 euros, before subsidies or taxes. "In 2007, the Nokia N95 became an icon of convergence of Internet and mobility. With over 7 million units sold to date, the N95 has changed the way people use their mobile device. The Nokia N96 we introduced today builds on the success of N95, further enhancing the experience," says Jonas Geust, who oversees Nokia's Explore category. "Through the power of the Internet, video and TV are becoming even more prevalent in people's lives. With its large, bright screen, and a range of high-speed connectivity options and the enhanced Nokia Video Center, the new Nokia N96 is a personal window to entertainment." Accessing internet videos is quick and simple. The Nokia N96 supports common video formats including MPEG-4, Windows Media Video and Flash Video, making favorite videos easy to view. Transferring and accessing videos is even faster with the high-speed USB 2.0 connection and WLAN and HSDPA support. In select markets, the integrated DVB-H receiver offers live broadcast TV with an automatically updating program guide. The massive memory can store up to 40 hours of video content. The storage capacity of the Nokia N96 can even be further expanded with an optional microSD card, such as the new Nokia 8GB microSDHC Card MU-43 which increases the available memory of the Nokia N96 to a total of 24 GB. For added convenience, the Nokia N96 features a 'kickstand' on the back cover that allows for hands-free viewing. The Nokia Video Center offers one place to discover and access a variety of mobile content ranging from movie trailers and comedy to news from world-leading content brands such as YouTube, Reuters, and Sony Pictures. The catalogue of internet video feeds is continually expanded with more regional and country specific content. For a superb music experience, the Nokia N96 features media keys, a 3.5 mm headphone connector and built-in 3D stereo speakers. The Nokia Maps application offers richer maps with urban details and satellite views and has upgrade options such as City Guides, turn-by-turn pedestrian mode and voice-guided car navigation. The Nokia N96 boasts a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, flash and video light. It allows DVD-like quality video capture at 30 frames per second. Further, with the integrated A-GPS, consumers can now 'geotag' their pictures with location data and share them with their online communities. The Nokia N96 naturally supports the Ovi family of Nokia internet services, including maps, music, media sharing and more. Nokia Nseries is a range of high performance multimedia computers that delivers unparalleled mobile multimedia experiences by combining the latest technologies with stylish design and ease of use. With Nokia Nseries products, consumers can use a single device to enjoy entertainment, access information and to capture and share pictures and videos, on the go at any time. www.nseries.com

The cellphone will run an OS that will be based on Symbian OS v9.2 and S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1. Support for push email functionality will also be incorporated. There's no mistake this handset is going to be a strong multimedia orientated device, in fact, LG have said as much, "[KT610 users] can take full advantage of a rich suite of multimedia features and applications." Couple this with the earlier KF700 model we spotted, and it looks like our friends at LG are going to have quite a show. [Pocket-lint]

N-Gage was a bit of a joke as a hardware platform, their booth at E3 always embarrassingly vacant. But the N-Gage platform on every mid-to-high end Nokia phone sounds like a better proposition than having to deal with side talking on a taco handset. If you've got an S60 phone, Symbian Guru says you can just unofficially download the app and give it a whirl. There's a lot more over at [AllAboutSymbian and Symbian Guru]

Smartphones running Symbian, Linux and Palm OS all fall behind Apple's iPhone. This is ever more stunning because the iPhone is only available via one carrier, in contrast, the other platforms can be procured from various cellular networks. This dramatically increases their market penetration. From the perspective of a business model, these figures are simply astronomical. Who's running scared? Apparently, Symbian is:

Every year, Symbian publishes detailed figures demonstrating how they are the biggest, baddest platform in the world. Guess what? This year, they didn't release the detailed figures on their Symbian Fast Facts webpage. Why not? Take a look at the image—the numbers are no longer working in their favor.

All in all, things aren't looking too perky for Apple's competitors. Sure, RIM may be flying high at the moment, but if this growth continues even at a fraction of the rate it is currently, RIM won't be high and dry for long. Android, in you we trust. For a fantastic run through the figures, and a more detailed look at the likely ramifications of Apple's impending dominance, checkout the full report by hitting the link. [Roughly Drafted Magazine]

He added:

"There's 10, 15, 20, maybe 25 different Linux platforms out there. It sometimes appears that Linux is fragmenting faster than it unifies."

"I think if you look at the market share slides you'll see we're no stranger to competing with big brands... We're the market leader, and we aim to remain the market leader."

[Gearfuse]

For good measure, Nokia is also throwing in a Flash-capable browser, which we doubt will be relying on a shitty EDGE network. If Nokia pulls this off, the development may propel the company even further up the tables, and we'll be in for a handset at a reasonable price point, with open source potential (proper 3rd party apps) and usability surpassing even that of the iPhone. Who knows? We may even see a user-replaceable battery in the mix! We might be fanboys, but hell, if Nokia makes those promises come true, they can have our iPhones. Hit the video to check out a prototype in action. [Nokia]

To that end, they're looking to bring in another company at some point in the future, though for now the board'll be evenly composed of Moto and SE people. The deal itself sounds kind of messy, so let's hope the platform they put out is decidedly less so. [Reuters]

The side-mounted stereo speakers were so powerful while the phone was placed on a table, bouncing music off the table top. They're far louder than those on an N95, and drivers are protected by a really nice looking mesh screen, and they image stereo with surprising clarity. The headphone jack is a 3.5mm headphone connector, and the phone has 3G (European bands) and Wi-Fi.

As far as gaming goes, the phone's four-way pad works as a D-pad when the phone is flipped on its side (like the Helio Ocean). However, like the Ocean, you can be pretty certain that on launch there won't be a large number of landscape games designed to be played in that orientation. In light of the of the N-Gage announcements and game download service, maybe this is a serious asset to the phone, but last time I checked, N-Gage was still pretty sad.

The phone will be sold in Europe for $599 with 8GB of internal memory, or $499 with 2GB of removable microSD that can be swapped out for a card up to 4GB in capacity.

Nokia N81: Entertainment made simple
With up to 8GB of memory, dedicated music and gaming keys, 3.5 mm headphone connector
and 3G and WLAN connectivity, the Nokia N81 multimedia computer is a true mobile
entertainment powerhouse. With a sleek, polished surface and keys that light up when you
activate them, accessing content on the 3D multimedia menu is fast and intuitive. Equally
impressive, the Nokia N81 is configured to find, buy, manage and play music and games
purchased from the Nokia Music Store and N-Gage games service. The estimated retail price
of the Nokia N81 is 360 EUR before subsidies or taxes. The Nokia N81 8GB is expected to retail
for 430 EUR before subsidies or taxes. Both versions are expected to begin shipping in the
fourth quarter of 2007.

Even though the P1 isn't fantastic, with points knocked off for so-so reception and mediocre battery life, it has good outgoing sound, high volume and quite a sexy design. The whole package together was good enough to earn an 8.5 from phoneArena, which leads us to say that prospective buyers who are familiar with the Sony Ericsson smartphone line will love it, but previous users of Windows Mobile or Palm OS will have some getting used to. [PhoneArena]

First of all, it's the hardware is much sturdier in this phone than any other Nokia I've seen in awhile. Credit goes to the steel chassis.

Even the lid stood up to a firm twist. Software and spec wise, the N76 very similar to the 2MP, Symbian 60, N75 clamshell I wrote about two months ago, so you can look for more info there. The software inside lacks the Cingular additions the N75 has. If you missed it, the keypad is very RAZR like.

The N76 isn't subsidized like the N75, so its $500 and unlocked. And it doesn't have 3G/UMTS. Other than that, I love it like I love all N Series Nokia phones. And this comes in red.

Because of the price, and the lack of 3g, I might consider the AT&T N75 to be a better deal, but you have to worry about that pesky contract. I'd go for the contract. – Brian Lam

N76 [Nokia USA]