What Makes Smartphones Smart

Owning a Smart Phone is just like owning a regular phone—if it were a camera, an MP3 player and a portable game console. And that’s just for starters: You can send and receive email, and access the web with ease. There’s a full keyboard for easy typing. And even though some traditional phones offer a few of these features, none have them all in one package—and none function as well or as fast.

A Smart Phone is like a pocket-sized personal computer. Every Smart Phone has an operating system—such as Google's Android or Microsoft's Windows Mobile—running the show, working double-time to keep your device humming along quickly.

That operating system also enables a Smart Phone to run applications (better known as "apps"), which is yet another key difference from a "regular" mobile phone. There are tens of thousands of apps available, both free and paid, in categories including business, gaming, entertainment, cooking, and just about anything else you can imagine.

What matters most to you—screen size or a full keyboard? Take into account the phone's brightness, your eyesight, and your finger agility, as you determine which phone will fit most seamlessly into your life. If you're looking to shoot video, focus on memory capability. If you take pictures in dark settings, make sure your phone has a flash. And although pixels matter for taking good pictures, a quality lens is even more important. If you want to store large files—like music, pictures, or video—choose a phone with a high memory capacity.

Make your Smart Phone a brilliant purchase, geared precisely for your lifestyle and needs.