Comments on: Gizmodo’s guide to smartphone OSes

By: Jash Sayani

Jash Sayani — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:13:30 +0000

1. iPhone OS
2. Windows Mobile
3. RIM Blackberry OS
4. Android (Still not fully developed)
5. Symbian. (Very bad Application support.)

By: Evan

Evan — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:32:39 +0000

Anyone know of a guide that compares them from a developer’s standpoint?

For instance, for WM my impression is that you can program with the same APIs as you would use for .Net on windows. If you could use the same code base (or almost the same codebase) for both a phone version and a desktop version of a program, that could be extremely attractive. How true is this?

By: jbot

jbot — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:23:39 +0000

wow, i was brilliant this morning. i meant to say that the user who just wants to browse the web and listen to music would probably be happiest _with an iPhone_. with that bit of info, my earlier post just might make a bit more sense…

By: supernova_hq

supernova_hq — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:05:26 +0000

Actually, if you get a Nokia NSeries, you can run maemo on it. The N810 has it by default and possibly the N800. If it’s not there by default, everything right down to the N770 will run it if you install it yourself. In fact, not only do they not try to stop you, they post instructions on how to do it!

By: jbot

jbot — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:23:37 +0000

How can you possibly say one OS is better than another? Really, I am a believer in “it depends”.

Windows mobile and blackberry seem to have clunkier interfaces, and the user who just wants to browse the web and listen to music would probably be happiest.

Compare that to the needs/wants of a hacker. I know I personally would want something that doesn’t require a ton of work to customize. palmos and windows mobile are probably the most customizable, in that order. Least convoluted, anyway.

Don’t call out a bias, then show one yourself!

By: Bogy Bee

Bogy Bee — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:37:21 +0000

Dude, that’s Gizmodo, can you say: ‘biased’?

1 – windows mobile
2 – android ( taking up winmo’s position as soon as it spreads and matures a bit )
3 – iphone
4 – symbian
5 – crackberry

By: billy

billy — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:49:33 +0000

i hope android is the one that opens up the mobile web once and for all.

By: Craig

Craig — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:43:07 +0000

If you call the blackberry by RIM “completely closed and proprietary” (which it is) you should say the same about the iPhone. The blackberry, through it’s j2me support, is actually more open than the iPhone (at least you don’t need to sign an NDA to develop software for it).

By: Moonlit

Moonlit — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:24:26 +0000

In a similar vein, here’s a roundup of emulators of those particular OSs – enjoy! http://hak5.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=10083