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Smartphone Operating Systems
Home » Handheld Electronics » Smartphones » Smartphone Operating SystemsThe type of operating system the smartphone runs on is a major consideration when choosing your device. Smartphones run on one of three main operating systems. The operating system determines which programs you can run on your smartphone. The three main operating systems are as follows:
• Symbian - Symbian has dominated the smartphone market, more so in Europe than the United States. The Symbian operating system supports a large number of third-party applications. It may take a bit longer to launch the applications with Symbian but the graphics are better. Symbian uses less memory and processor resources and is a very stable operating system. Smartphones running on the Symbian operating system are generally more user-friendly.
• Palm - Smartphones running on the Palm operating system are compatible with each other and with the Palm PDAs. The Palm systems are also very stable and quite user-friendly. However, Palm is not a true multi-tasking operating system and the graphics are not as good as Symbian or the Windows Mobile systems. The handwriting recognition programs that run on Palm are not recommended either. There are a large variety of industry-specific applications available on the Palm operating system.
• Windows Mobile - Microsoft has begun merging the Windows Mobile and Pocket PC systems. Smartphones that run on the Windows Mobile operating system are basically a cell phone with a built-in PDA. The Smartphones running on this system are fairly new on the market so you will not be able to find many third-party applications that work with Windows Mobile. With Windows Mobile, you do not have the advantage of a touch screen or a stylus for entering text. The numeric keyboard is not user-friendly and smartphones running off of this system generally have a low battery life.
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