As part of my role at Hugh Symons I am tasked to visit prospective business clients and consult on mobile email solutions, the most frequent question I am asked is “Which Windows Mobile PDA” or “Which BlackBerry” or indeed “Which solution should I be looking at”?

From here I normally suggest the importance of stepping back from ‘What device / solution” and take a look at your technical infrastructure – this will determine what you can get from your device, you will be generally one of the following two categories:

Individual / SOHO – POP3 or web based (hotmail type) email only

SME / Corporate – Exchange email (email delivered from a central server to desktop computers)

Now you can understand what functionality, in addition to phone calls, you can get from either Windows Mobile PDA’s or BlackBerry devices.  If you are individual/SOHO you can receive/send email but will be limited on synchronisation of calendar / contacts.  However, if you fall into the SME / Corporate category then you can receive / send email and have FULL synchronisation of calendar / contacts – basically what you do out of the office will be mirrored inside the office on your desktop PC.

We now know what we can expect from the device, now its time to make your selection on whether it’s Windows Mobile or BlackBerry.  It’s also time to be honest with yourself; do you want a device that is technically advanced and requires a level of IT experience or a device that an 80 year old can pick up and use within 5 minutes?

Windows Mobile devices are superb whether you are an individual / SOHO or SME / Corporate.  They look great, good sized screen, makes phone calls, can play video, show pictures, have a large amount of data storage and contain word / excel and PowerPoint to name a few.  If you want all of this on your mobile device then you should choose Windows Mobile as your solution, however, just remember that they require you to have an element of IT knowledge – to set them up (we can assist) and in the event settings are changed by accident whilst the device is stored, unlocked, in your pocket (rare but can happen).

Alternatively you can have BlackBerry, great as a mobile email device but look ‘brick like’ when holding up to your ear when making a phone call.  A BlackBerry will always work; it’s very difficult to change the settings which is good news.  But they do not generally have a camera, screen size is fairly small, they cannot play video, cannot store files and do not have Word / Excel or PowerPoint.

So, in short – if it’s a sexy looking device packed full of features and you have some IT ability it’s Windows Mobile for you – just visit www.devicewire.co.uk and take your pick of devices.  If it’s a ‘sort of’ mobile phone that’s good on email but has no other features then BlackBerry could be for you as an alternative.

Good luck with your choice and I hope this has helped.