I’m now entering my Nth week of cell phone shopping and researching the best mobile carriers. What’s important to me is being able to simultaneously talk and surf the net using my mobile. Furthermore, I like the option of using my cell phone as a modem for my laptop– aka “tethering” and is often listed as a “Mobile Hot Spot” service option.  So, if you’re looking for a new plan or cell phone, and you’re an email and Facebook addict like me, you may want to hear what I’ve discovered.

Each of the major carriers (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon) have different Mobile Hot Spot (aka tethering) data limits, data plan pricing and simultaneous talk-and-surf capabilities. I called each carrier’s customer service lines and got the answers below (as of today). I recommend checking for regional differences. The type of cell phone you use may also affect capabilities including iPhones and Evos. I hope this helps!

AT&T (888-333-6651)

* Simultaneously talk and surf the web? YES

* Mobile Hot Spot: $45 per month for 2GB, $10 per additional GB

Sprint (866-866-7509)

* Simultaneously talk and surf the web? It’s complicated. Basically, if your mobile phone is 4G capable and you’re in a 4G area, then yes, you can simultaneously talk and surf the web on your phone. However, if you only have a 3G-enabled phone or are operating in a 3G-only zone, then you are NOT able to talk and surf at the same time.

* Mobile Hot Spot: $29.99/mo for unlimited data

T-Mobile (800-866-2453)

* Simultaneously talk and surf the web? YES- as long as you are using phones that are capable of simultaneous talk-and-surf such as the T-Mobile MyTouch 4G and the BlackBerry Curve 9300 (3G).

* Tethering: $14.99 per month for unlimited data

Verizon (888-333-6651)

* Simultaneously talk and surf the web? NO

* Mobile Hot Spot: $20 per month for 2GB, $20 per additional GB

The verdict is that T-Mobile has the best offer with only $14.99 per month for unlimited. However, T-Mobile’s mobile phone selection is limited. Of course, data transfer speeds vary by mobile carriers and that may be another trade-off to consider when shopping for a new cell phone or cell phone plan. Also, pricing and limits are subject to change by the carriers.

Smartphones have been all over the news and chances are you know what smartphones are. You may only know that they are normal mobile phones that come under the specific name ‘smartphone’ with some added special features. Smartphones are mobile phones with mini-computer capabilities such as Internet searching capabilities and sending emails. But what is the main difference of smartphones from normal every day cell phones? A smartphone allows users to add additional programs to the phone such as downloading and installing different software and programs. The first smartphone was developed and introduced by IBM in 1992 and was named SIMON. It doesn’t have any physical buttons that you would actually use to dial or text. Consumers started using a touch screen to dial phone numbers and to access other functions of the phone.

There are many smartphones currently on the market. The best selling smartphone currently on the market is the Blackberry. According to market research the Blackberry was the best selling smartphone in the last quarter of the fiscal year. Blackberry Curve is the best smart phone collaborating with Reliance India Mobile and is more popular than an iPhone. The top and best selling smartphone of the year of 2010 is the Blackberry Bold 9700. It works as a powerful smartphone where one is able to do many types of messaging and web browsing tasks. It has a full QWERTY keypad that is touch-sensitive.

According to the market report in 2009 the best selling smartphone was Apple. It is one of the best phones that comes with all options of an iPhone. This Apple iPhone is called smartphones. In comparing the Blackberry and Apple smartphones, both are very similar in what they are able to do but they also have their own separate advantages without significant differences between them. Apple iPhones are highly compact and are great for social networking. Apple has the second best selling handset being one of the top ten manufacturers with more than one handset.

Motorola is becoming the third best smartphone of the year and has become more popular in the smartphone market. Motorola’s best selling Android smartphone did not include their ‘blur’ service that they have been trying to market. Google was able to dictate the choices of software for the Android in which they exchanged being the first handset maker to offer a phone with Android 2.0. Motorola is expected to participate in Google’s phone store, making the future of Motorola a mystery as to what products they will market next.

In the end, HTC and Samsung captured the market share respectively. The success of these two smartphones is directly attributed to the ease of use at a very low price. Many of the best selling smart phones have a QWERTY keypad or a touch screen. Smartphones are very helpful to those in the business especially for those who travel around the world for their job. Carrying a laptop is a bit difficult for them compared to a smartphone which is considerably large in relation to a mobile phone; the best thing is the smartphone has all the capabilities of a laptop. The touch screen smartphones have now become the most highly demanding mobile phone on the market.

Written by Roberto Sedycias. Article Source: ArticleSnatch. Mr. Seducias works as an IT consultant for Polomercantil.