Russell Beattie on the Smartphone Market

Russell Beattie analyzes the current smartphone market and he says he even got to play with a Windows Smartphone. Here's his take on that:

And speaking of the other OSes, let me tell you that I finally got to fondle a Windows Mobile Smartphone for a few minutes the other day and it was surprisingly good. Actually, it was amazingly good. Compelling, easy to use, quick menus, all the functionality that I would expect (and more). As someone who (regretfully) uses Windows on a daily basis, I was completely at home with the UI and icons, etc. Seeing the Internet Explorer icon was obviously where I would browse the web. The MSN Messenger icon showed me I could chat, the File manager was clean, the back button worked intelligently and clearly, the home screen with the organized PIM info was incredibly useful.

Lest you take him out of context, please read the whole piece. Russell is a Java developer and he's not a Microsoft fan to say the least, but he's consistently insightful and entertaining.