Choose thy love; Love thy choice.

This German proverb is particularly poignant in the modern world. We are surrounded every day by a vast array of choice. You go to get your morning coffee, and you can have it in a hundred different ways, your newsagent stocks fifteen different daily national newspapers, and when you get to work you can browse the internet via Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari… the list goes on.

When it comes to your mobile phone, it used to be fairly easy. You picked a tariff and were provided a number of handsets from which to choose from. Most did the same sort of thing, call, text, and gave you the ability to play snake. Now, it's a different story. With so many smartphones to choose from, all offering different things, it can be a tough choice to make. 

Which OS and handset should I choose?

When it comes to mobile phones for personal use, choosing your operating system (Apple iOS, Android, Windows, or Blackberry) is often based on app development and the handsets available. This is no different when choosing a phone for business use, except that the apps and features that you are looking for may be different.

You should make a list of the applications you need – do you conduct your business via email, over social media, do you wish to make video calls? And then you can check availability and performance across the operating systems. 

There are more apps available for Android and Apple iOS than for any other OS, but the number available for Windows is growing at a huge rate. Frustratingly, most round-up lists only tell you whether an app is available for iOS or Android – despite many of them now offering a Windows version. The most popular social media apps, like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, are all available. 

What else should I consider?

Some other things to think about when choosing your handset and operating system:

• Length of battery life, and whether battery is removable/chargeable from different outlets.
• Hardware design: size, weight, durability. Remember the furore over the ‘bendable’ iPhone 6 plus?
• Reliability and longevity. Do a bit of research: is the phone prone to any particular problems? Is the design one that will last, or a novelty which will leave you feeling (and looking) foolish after a few months?
• Fast performance.
• Storage/memory capacity. Don’t forget that – even if the specs state that your phone has 16GB of internal memory - the OS will use up at least 3GB of that. If you need more space, check if you can expand the memory with a miniSD card.
• Communication performance. 

Finally, it’s definitely worth considering whether your phone is compatible with your other devices. If you conduct your business via a windows PC, a Windows phone might be the best option; whereas if you are an avid MC user, you may prefer an iPhone. You have to love what you choose!