What's The Best Windows Phone Out Now?
The new OS for mobile phones, Windows Mobile 6.5, nicknamed Windows Phone is out. I'm pretty sure all of you have seen it advertised. This new version of Pocket PC brings improved simplicity, organization, and a little bit more user friendliness over previous systems. Windows Phone is also very customizable and as a result, a slew of new and improved phones have hit the market, each with their own interfaces that uniquely identify their manufaturer or service. HTC was the one to pioneer this on Windows Mobile 6.1 with their TouchFLO 3D interface. The top three players on the Windows Phone field as of now are: AT&T's Tilt 2, the much-awaited Samsung Omnia II (SCH-I920) for Verizon, and the Samsung Intrepid (SPH-I350) for Sprint. JustForPC feels that the PC experience does not end at home, but stems out to business and leisure, including the mobile phones we use. Therefore we will test and compare these three in order to identify the best new Windows Phone available now. Introducing the Windows Phone Review.

In our research, we acquired and tested each phone in many different aspects. Let's start with the Tilt 2, AT&T's version of the Touch Pro 2. Being the only version of Touch Pro that ships with Windows Mobile 6.5 out of the box, it has improved finger friendliness and a faster, smoother user experience altogether, compared to its predecessor. It includes a full, physical slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and a 3.6" screen that, yes, Tilts about 40 degrees proving useful to view all types of media. It is equipped with a 3.2mp camera with auto-focus. The main downside of this phone is its lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack and therefore its dependency on a bulky adapter. Overall a great experience and a pleasure to use.

Now, on to the Omnia II. An impressive 3.7" screen with 480x800 resolution adorns the face of this new addition to the Omnia line. It is also equipped with the new TouchWhiz 2 interface, the sequel to the UI that graced the first Omnia. This time around, it has AMOLED technology that actually shuts off pixels to produce the color black improving battery life, and creating more vivid graphics. It also has 8 GB of internal storage and an 800mhz processor, sprinting light-years ahead of competition in processor speed. It features lightning-quick response in starting/running apps, web-browsing, installing/downloading that is basically the fastest out of any phone on a major carrier right now. The downsides would be the lack of a directional pad, no built-in stylus, and overload of Samsung widgets that basically mask the true power of Windows Phone, disable some. Either way, with its weight being super-light, a 5mp camera, and DVD quality video capture, it basically meets every expectation as one of the best Windows Phones out there. 

With all the fancy user interfaces out there, sometimes you need simplicity. Something that just works. Well, let's check out Samsung Intrepid. At first glance, it looks like your Blackberry-type phone, but packs a bigger punch. It has a 2.5" touchscreen that is very responsive (a huge step up from BlackJack or Epix), 320x240 resolution, no dressing up Windows Mobile 6.5 here so you get the full, intended experience. The keyboard is surprisingly easy to type on, and it is equipped with a 3.2mp camera. It also comes with SmartReader, an application that scans business cards or documents for their text using the Intrepid's camera. On the downside, the directional buttons are hard to hit because the raised center button gets in the way, web-browsing could be faster and you have to zoom in on the browser to be able to read anything on a webpage. The most exciting feature on the Intrepid is its TellMe application that uses location-based sevices and voice recognition. Usually, programs like these leave much to be desired. Not this one. It actually works. Just hold down a button and speak the name of a restaurant...It'll automatically tell you the nearest location. Hold it down and tell it to call your friend, it will. Search for a search term on your favorite search engine or ask for the score to the game, it will tell you. Even dictate entire text messages, it will compose and send them. Kinda Scary, eh?

So...Which Windows Phone is best? Well, you decide. They equally have their own set of pros and cons so it depends on the user. For instance, one might benefit you on the business end because you might just need it for emails and Excel, but the other might be better for web-browing. Either way, the Windows Phone OS makes it easier for your phone to keep you organized, keep you in the know, enjoy your favorite media, or keep in touch with your favorite social networks. We expect to see a lot more phones be released running this version of Windows, these are just the best at the moment. See a side-by-side comparison view of these phones with the chart provided below. Also, read "My, How Far We've Come: The Cell Phone Era", by JustForPC News for an interesting article on cell-phones. Hope this helps you--JustForPC Reviews :-)