Look how far we have come

Eight years ago, when I started writing this column, Facebook was just a twinkle in Mark Zuckerberg’s dorm-room eye, Google was two years away from its initial public offering and the Financial Times’s Martin Lukes had yet to discover his BlackBerry.

From next week, my colleague Chris Nuttall will take over this role, so this seems a good moment to reflect on the dramatic changes in personal technology that have taken place in the past few years – in particular, the rise and rise of smartphones.

Why smartphones? There have been other important changes, such as the emergence of social networking services, the digital cameras that have transformed photography, or the astonishingly fast displacement of cathode ray tube television sets by high-definition flat-panel displays.

But smartphones, particularly the latest generation of handsets – such as the iPhone 4, Motorola’s Droid 2 or the BlackBerry Torch – embody the pace of change and sheer inventiveness of the always-innovating personal technology market.

These microelectronic wonders al­ready combine most of the features of a PC, personal digital media player, digital camera, GPS navigation device, PDA and phone – not to mention many other gadgets – into a pocket-sized device that few of us can imagine being without. They deliver instant mobile access to lots of information, are easily customised according to requirements and can be updated with new “apps” that add new features and capabilities. One app, called iStethoscope – increasingly popular among doctors – has been developed by Peter Bentley, a researcher at University College London. It can monitor a human heartbeat through the sensors in the iPhone, potentially replacing a traditional stethoscope.

Above all, smartphones are both useful and objects of desire.

I have been fascinated by these devices ever since I used a Nokia 9000 Communicator – the original brick-like smartphone – in the mid-1990s because of the potential opportunities it opened up. But it was my first BlackBerry – a 5810 model with a thumb-operated trackwheel and a plug-in earbud for voice calls – that sealed my love affair with smartphones. Research in Motion’s “push e-mail” service, which automatically delivered corporate e-mail to BlackBerrys, was the “killer app” in those early days.

But smartphones have changed almost beyond recognition. Models such as the BlackBerry Pearl and Curve have introduced a new segment to the market. Once the preserve of the rich and powerful, they are now a mass market consumer product as well as a business tool.

Apple’s first iPhone, launched in June 2007, also deserves much of the credit for this transformation and for the evolution of the default smartphone user interface from mini-keyboard to advanced gesture-enabled touchscreen. Although early Windows Mobile and Palm Treo smartphones had touchscreens, they looked pretty basic alongside the iPhone’s more sophisticated version.

Apple’s iPhone App Store, launched in 2008, has also become a key differentiator in the handset market because it enables users to personalise their devices and add a wide range of new software features.

Today, the smartphone market is defined as much by its leading smartphone operating systems – including BlackBerry, Apple, Android and Symbian – and the “app store” ecosystems that have grown up around them, as by the hardware itself.

Now, most smartphones fall into one of three basic design categories, each appealing to a different market segment: the influential BlackBerry-style smartphone with a relatively small screen and thumb-operated mini-qwerty keyboard; the multi-touch-enabled smartphone with a large screen – the iPhone or HTC Evo; and the hybrid “slider” design – such as the BlackBerry Torch – which has a touchscreen that slides up to reveal a qwerty keyboard, or the Motorola Droid 2, which has a big touchscreen and a large keyboard that slides out sideways.

Just like other personal technology devices, there is rarely a “one-size-fits-all” smartphone. More usually, several variants ad­dress different consumer needs and requirements.

Right now, the standard hardware configuration for new devices is a 1Ghz processor, Wi-Fi and GPS chips, at least one 5Mp video-capable digital camera with LED flash, 8Gb or more of internal memory and a microSD card slot for expansion. Typically, they weigh less than 170 grammes and their rechargeable lithium-ion batteries support more than five hours of talk time. Packing such power and versatility into so small an item was just a dream only a few years ago.

Perhaps more importantly, each of the leading operating systems has its own characteristics. Some, such as Apple’s OS and RIM’s new BlackBerry 6.0 operating system (currently only available on the BlackBerry Torch), are tightly integrated with the hardware, which arguably delivers a better user experience. Others, such as Google’s open source Android OS and Microsoft’s long-awaited Windows Phone 7, allow hardware makers a little more design latitude. This may be why Android has proved a success since the G1, the first Android-powered smartphone, was launched two years ago.

The other key factor determining the success of a smartphone operating system is the backing of third-party software developers.

My own current favourite is the latest BlackBerry Bold.

Sooner rather than later, all mobile phones will be smartphones. Already, the choice can be daunting, but here are a few suggestions:
● The fashion-conscious will gravitate towards the minimalist design ethos of the iPhone 4 – although I personally prefer the design, but not the performance, of its predecessor.
● Users wanting the largest display available will look at some of the Android-powered HTC models – those with HTC’s “Sense” interface and Samsung’s Galaxy models are a good choice.
● E-mail-centric users will continue to prefer the physical keyboard of the BlackBerry Torch.
● For those who want a pacesetting do-it-all handset, I would suggest one I have been testing in recent weeks – the Motorola Droid 2.

paul.taylor@ft.com