Business Phones

Businesses need to offer employees the right tools to maximise efficiency and productivity. In 2007 the mobile phone is increasingly becoming one of the key tools that we rely on every day for a variety of business activities. Mobile business devices have to perform a vast array of functions which a home PC would have struggled with only 7 years ago.

As well as considering some of the main features you should look out for when choosing a phone to manage your business lifestyle we will look at some of the most popular phones from both Nokia and Sony Ericsson who are the clear market leaders in this field.

Usability is probably the most important factor and high on our list of requirements would be a large, high quality, colour screen as well as an easy to use and ergonomically designed keyboard. These are now standard with the PC but are still the main drawbacks when you try to carry out your normal day to day work away from the office. Most of the best business mobile phones seem to have a hidden keyboard and large 16 Million colour screen with either a slide, twist action or opening cover for protection.

Business mobiles need to have a full suite of connectivity features including Infra-red, Bluetooth, Wireless LAN, EGPRS and maybe even 3G. With these features you can connect your phone to most other modern devices and office networks to access and share your files wherever you are.

Most phones of this level will include a high quality digital camera and while this is not directly business related it is certainly a useful addition. Phones with cameras tend to have a large memory capacity which is a must for storing your files and email attachments. Try to choose a mobile phone with an expandable memory capacity and the ability to hot swap a common format memory card.

Some of the main features of business phones are as follows:

• Large colour screen
• WiFi capability
• Ability to open and edit Microsoft Word / Excel files and PDF documents
• QWERTY keyboard
• Good battery life
• Easy email access
• Fast internet connection and browser
• Tri or Quad band with roaming

A few of our favourite business mobile phones from our tests are listed below.

Blackberry 7100T Quad band Smartphone	Blackberry Pearl Smallest Smartphone	Nokia 6670 Business Smartphone	Nokia 9210i Large Screen
Nokia 9300i Wireless LAN	Nokia 9500 Qwerty Keyboard	Nokia E50 Business Phone	Nokia E61 Email Excel Files
Nokia E65 Business Slider	Nokia N80 3M Pixel Camera	Sony Ericsson M600i High end business phone	Sony Ericsson P910i PDA Mobile
Sony Ericsson P990i 3G Smartphone	Sony Ericsson Z710i Business Clamshell