Netbooks vs. Smartphones: Making business mobile

What we traditionally think of as a smartphone is changing, as data is overtaking voice in terms of use. However, netbooks are beginning to become more and more pocketable – but which is better for someone who wants an office on the move?

As mobile manufacturers start to develop their products to encapsulate the whole business on the move ideology, it comes as no surprise that both Samsung and LG have jumped onto the netbook bandwagon to keep up with demand for more flexible ways of working.

Netbooks have been around longer than smartphones, but it’s smartphones that have accelerated in development.

A decade ago, the suggestion of a mobile phone with the capabilities of a netbook would seem impossible. Mobile phones barely included WAP, let alone had the ability to view full web pages on a 2-inch screen.

The PDA gets a makeover
As PDAs and mobiles phones merged to produce smartphones, demands to keep track of business applications became paramount and the PDA’s glory era faded away. Stable platforms such as Symbian, BlackBerry and Palm were developed to capture the working environment on a handheld device.

But PDA functionality was also injected into something a little larger; the netbook.

The first netbook was introduced to the market in 1997. The HP OmniBook 800CT ran on Windows 95 and featured a 1.3GB hard drive. It was a little beefier than the ultra-light netbooks we know of today, but with a 10.5-inch screen (albeit active-matrix rather than the 10-inch led backlight 1024x600 pixel screen of the MSI Wind released earlier this year), the OmniBook could certainly be regarded as a netbook.

New contenders for the PDA throne
But it’s the evolution of smartphones and netbooks that have resulted in people scratching their heads about which is the best mobile business device.
“It's really about portability and connectivity,” says Bjarte Vosseteig, director of products at Opera Software.

“Netbooks have the obvious advantage of bigger screens, better keyboards and better hardware performance. However, the smartphone has other advantages, such as better portability, a longer battery life and better connectivity.”

Smartphones may be a better option if you’re hopping on a plane and don’t fancy checking in an extra bag, but the size comes with a price. To make something fit in a pocket, the screen size is going to be the biggest hit. Although many handsets come with a large, high-resolution screen, in mobile terms, even a 3.2-inch QVGA display won’t do the same job as you’d find on the smallest netbook. Mobile phones - even high-end devices aimed solely at working on the move such as the somewhat old school Nokia E90 with a 800x352 pixel, 4-inch wide screen - won’t show a whole web page in its full glory.

“Whether smartphones or netbooks are better for mobile working, it all comes down to use cases,’ added Vosseteig.

“We know several companies are using Opera Mobile for their sales force, field employees, in store employees and more. With the power of the full web available today, and with business apps like salesforce and web front-ends for ERP, CRM and other business critical systems, a mobile phone with a full web browser like Opera is very flexible.”

The netbook option
Netbooks were never designed to do anything but check email, surf the internet or write basic word documents on the move. They don’t star any higher end features, such as a fast processor to rival a desktop, a cheap but expansive internal memory or gaming features.

You’ll seldom find a decent music player or video player, and unless you’re willing to pay a little extra, Linux-based operating systems are the norm.
This means extra applications are hard to come by and will often be pricier than they would be for a more open sourced platform such as Symbian or Windows Mobile.

The smartphone option
However, take a smartphone such as the Windows-based HTC Touch Pro, and you’ll find Windows onboard, with Windows Media Player, the ability to play java-based games and a processor that’ll do these things all at once without much strain.

Smartphones are built and optimised for working on the move – netbooks use the same software as laptops and notebooks so aren’t as optimised to go mobile.

Another huge advantage to using a smartphone is the fact that they’re connected to a data connection wherever you are. Mobile internet solutions may now be universally available, but who wants to add extra bulk to something that’s already chunky when compared to a smartphone?

Manufacturers have started developing netbooks with integrated HSUPA 3G connectivity. Take the LG X110 for example; the integrated SIM card is a useful addition in reducing the bulk, but another luxury that bumps up the price. It’s also a little hit and miss whether networks will fully support putting their data inside a netbook.

Overcoming hurdles
To overcome this, netbook manufacturers and operators, including HP, Dell and even Asus have begun offering package deals including a free netbook when you sign up to a mobile broadband package, but this generally means you end up paying more over the lifetime of the deal.

But manufacturers are also taking steps to make the hardware cheaper.

Traditionally, netbooks use lighter, more rugged solid-state drives. Unfortunately, these are more expensive and don’t offer the same capacity flexibility as hard drives. Although it’s pretty straightforward and cheap to buy a USB flash drive to bump up the space, that’s yet another thing you’ll have to purchase. Now, as the demand increases for more features from a netbook, hard drives are beginning to pop up, taking away some of the portability, but cutting the price.

Many smartphones - take the Nokia N96 or Samsung i8510 for example - not only feature a 16GB hard drive as standard, but also a microSD card slot too, allowing you to bump that capacity up to 24GB if need be.

However, there are signs that the price of netbooks will drop considerably. Recently, Asus president Jerry Shen announced that a netbook below $200 (£130) will appear on the market next year. In a move to produce a lower-priced Eee PC, Asus will phase out the 7-inch and 8.9-inch models, instead favouring a larger 10-inch mini notebook. Is this taking a step back in portability, or a step forward in operability?

Vosseteig concludes that the future of portable business devices is down to how that equipment works on a hardware, rather than software basis.

“[In the future] I think we’ll see better user interaction with web better integrated into the platform, touch and high-resolution screens, with better performance overall,” he added.

“Complexity of the device needs to be accounted for as well, especially with mainstream users. Business people on the move want a richer, more powerful experience with their mobile devices.”