Ok it’s “the future” and everyone now has a cellphone, but if you want to be on the top of your game you have to get the best you can afford. A smart phone is something that is absolutely essential in the news business whether it is a Palm, Blackberry, or iPhone you need to have an all in one solution. When I started I used a Palm Pilot personal organizer and cell phone to keep track of things but with today’s smart phones you have it all in one device

Now there is a debate similar to the Nikon vs. Canon war that has people praising both the iPhone and the Blackberry, there are other smart phone manufacturers but these companies have the biggest share of users. I personally used to use a Palm Treo but switched to the iPhone after seeing all it can do, since then I have been hooked and a loyal iPhone user. I have no experience using the Blackberry but I do know a lot of people who use it and love it so it is a matter of personal preference. Since I have no first hand experience of the other manufacturers and don’t want to turn this into a iPhone only lesson I will talk about are things you should have in your smart phone.

I love the iPhone because of everything it does, on those long news scenes you can turn on your iphone and enjoy some tunes or your favorite podcast. The iPhone is primarily a entertainment device and not as strictly a business only device like some of the Blackberrys but it does all that i need to and more!

Here are some things you should look for when choosing a smart phone.[private_pro]

• Camera
  This one is a no brainer so I won’t go into why one is needed.
• Calendar
  You need to have a way to manage your assignments and upcoming news events. I use Google calendar that syncs with my iphone. If you use outlook or any other desktop calendar program make sure it syncs with your phone
• Email
  The ability to access email and send out emails from your phone can mean the difference between making the sale or not. Be sure you have a full featured email app on your phone, the iPhone and Blackberry both have great programs to handle email.
• Maps/GPS
  You may have a car GPS system but having the ability to access google maps to not only see a map view of the area but a sattelite view can help you decide where to set up before arriving on the scene. I use google maps with the street view feature on my phone to check out the area before arriving to the scene.
• Twitter
  Being able to access Twitter on your phone may not seem important but Twitter is a great marketing tool as well as a way to gather information about the scene you may be at.
• Notes
  Hopefully your smartphone that you are considering will have a way to save notes or documents and ideally be able to sync the information with your desktop. Why would need to have documents on your phone you may ask? Good question you can have police 10 codes and signal codes in a doc for reference as well as apartment gate codes and district maps at your finger tips.
• Music and Entertainment
  Sometimes while waiting for your subject to appear or waiting for a press conference to appear you may get bored or even fall asleep. Having a phone full of your favorite music or podcasts can help with boredom on those long scenes.

Those are some of the things I feel that help me gain the advantage over the competition, the iPhone has many other apps available for download that will extend your abilities beyond the default apps included on the phone.

If you have an iphone here are some apps I reccomend:

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