Android, iPhone, Blackberry or Windows Mobile?

It’s that time again. Your mobile contract with your provider will expire soon and a hefty discount is waiting to be applied your next phone of choice. This essential trick is employed by service providers to keep the cash stream flowing from current customers, just in case you were allured by the offerings of a new service provider. But the question remains; do you switch platforms or stick with the same brand?

iPhone – The iPhone has a lot of appeal, simply because of the Apple brand. Of course, the appeal goes far beyond the name as the iPhone is the main competitor to the other giant in the smartphone market, Android. iPhone will likely continue to duke it out with Android for years to come. At this point, the iPhone has overtaken the Android in the US but has fallen behind in other regions of the world, like the UK where Android is the leading smartphone platform.

If you’re already using the iPhone, you will probably continue on the same path. Everything backed up by iTunes is stored in a proprietary format which is a pain to port over to certain Android vendors. You’ll also enjoy great, built-in services like the VoIP app, FaceTime, as well as the back-up utility, iCloud.

Android – Android is the platform of choice for the majority of mobile phone and tablet brands today. This is one of the main reasons that Android is such a major competitor in the mobile market. Because so many different manufacturers have adopted the Android platform, it has large presence in the market. Globally, Android holds an estimated 75% of the total smartphone market share.

The nice thing about Android is the ability to switch smartphone brands without losing data from a previous phone. Currently, the Samsung Galaxy SIII is probably the most powerful phone available, all platforms considered. Especially if you’re already a user of Android smartphones, this is the way to go. The only real performance edge Android has over Apple’s iOS is memory management, which is handled in a much smarter fashion than by iOS. If you like to tamper with your technology, rooting an Android is more rewarding and less risky than jailbreaking iOS, although this only appeals to a small percentage of users.

Blackberry – Blackberry enjoys an adoption mentality that can be compared to iOS. People purchasing a Blackberry are usually those who are already users of the brand, though the iPhone also has broad appeal to those who currently utilize a different platform. Blackberry tends to attract few new users, except in certain parts of the world such as the Middle East and parts of south Asia. Otherwise, Blackberry is mainly used by enterprises for its connectivity with the Blackberry Exchange Server.

Recently Blackberry has seen a major overhaul. The new L series phones and Blackberry 10 OS finally offer features to compete with the other major players in the market. Blackberry’s encryption technology is one of the most secure end-to-end encryption techniques of any encrypted connection. The Blackberry World marketplace offers apps for the everyday user of the Blackberry platform (not just the business user) so Angry Birds is available when you want to kill some time.

Window Mobile – This is the true underdog of the mobile market. Windows Mobile is perhaps the most under-utilized mobile platform, mostly because Microsoft lagged in regards to offering an app store as robust as Google Play or the Apple App Store. In reality, though Windows Mobile has one of the best mobile platforms – it simply lacks market appeal.

Windows Mobile integrates very well with the Windows based PCs. As Microsoft has the dominate market share of desktop devices, this makes it a breeze to transfer information back and forth between devices. Though Android is praised for its memory management processes, Windows Mobile has long since had the ability to run multiple apps and suspend memory usage for apps not currently in use. The current Windows Mobile interface parallels Windows 8, with a simple panel based interface that is easy to navigate, and may pose a legitimate challenge to the “dummy proof” design of Apple devices.