As I was browsing through my content over the past few months, I realized that the vast majority of posts are about social media. In fact, if someone only recently started reading my blog, they would never know I was a mobile geek. The truth of the matter is there are mainly two reasons I have written mostly about social media and not mobile developments over the last few months. For starters, it is what interests people and it is what interests me. Social networks and the industry supporting them are evolving and changing daily in a major way. While the mobile industry is booming and there are new phones introduced hourly, there really is nothing new to speak of. The technology is really all the same, some phones have better processors, some better UIs, but all in all, nothing revolutionary. Social media on the other hand is renewing itself on a regular basis.

Another reason I have not written about phones as much as I used to is because there are just so many. How do you choose between the new Sony Ericsson phones, some of them with 12 megapixel cameras, and the new Samsung phones that are looking cooler with every new device? How do I decide whether to blog about the new Nokia phones, which clearly started taking the latest trends into account, something Nokia once ignored, and the new HTC phones, which use the latest edition of the Microsoft mobile OS as well as the most current versions of Google’s Android? It is all very overwhelming, so my natural response was to look to other topics for my blog posts, and what better than the most talked about and hyped space, social media?

Having said all that, the mobile industry is in fact booming, and some new announcements do get us geeks excited. So, I decided to finally overcome my intimidation of the mobile space and talk about five recent phones that really stand out from the crowd.

• BlackBerry Bold 9700 (Onyx): As a Bold user, this is probably the most exciting new device to be released soon. It really offers two main improvements over the original Bold. It is smaller. While this is of course something most people will praise, I am not sure it is a good thing. It is true that my Bold is quite large compared to other phones, but the keyboard, which is a direct result of the phone’s size, is the best on the market. I, for one, am willing to add a few millimeters to my mobile device, if it adds comfort in the text input department. So, for me, the size of the Onyx will not make me go out and get one. The second improvement, is the camera. The original Bold’s camera has Bold users wondering what RIM was thinking adding a way below average 2 megapixel camera to such an awesome device. I know that most Bold users are business users and do not need a fancy camera, but still, 2 megapixels? Really? The Onyx has a 3.2 megapixel camera, which puts it in line with the iPhone and other similar devices. It aint an N95 or a Memoir for that matter, but it will suffice.

• BlackBerry Storm 2 (Thunder): The original Storm was to phones what Vista was to operating systems. It was the most hyped up and disappointing phone to ever hit the shelves. People hated it. For starters, no Wifi! To me, that is a complete deal breaker. Then there was the touch screen. Why, can you please explain to me, would someone want a touch screen that you need to press down on, in order to type? Isn’t the whole point of a touch screen to recognize your touch? If I wanted a keyboard I needed to press down, I would get a hardware keyboard. Am I missing something? Rumor has it, the new Storm has Wifi, and the whole SurePress mechanism is much less annoying. The new Storm will supposedly also have more Ram and Flash memory. Judging by the various videos online, the new Storm is gonna be more like Windows 7.

• HTC Hero: Moving on from BlackBerry, you can not discuss mobile trends without mentioning Google’s Android OS. According to experts, Android is headed in a good direction with almost all manufacturers jumping on board. So far, Samsung, HTC, Motorola are some of the major mobile players who are beginning to adopt Android. As you might know, I have had the privilege of using the HTC Magic or G2 as well as the Samsung Galaxy, both extremely impressive Android devices. However, both these devices, left me thinking Android has a long way to go before catching up with Apple. The HTC Hero, on the other hand, left me thinking that Android is now a lot closer than I thought. The phone is fast and responsive as any phone I have ever touched. The build quality is amazing, and the specs are extremely impressive. To just name a few details, the Hero has a 5 megapixel camera, an impressive 750 hour standby time, as well as 8 hour talk time. It sports a 3.2″ capacitive touch screen, a nice trackball for easy navigation, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and a thin 14 mm body.

• HTC HD2: After using almost all the different mobile operating systems out there, I can safely say Windows Mobile is the worst. I stay far away from any mobile device that runs on Windows. However, this one is different, or at least I hope it is. It runs on Windows Mobile 6.5, which according to experts, offers a totally new experience. So, if that is true, this phone might become a huge success based on its specs. It has a tremendous 4.3″ touch screen, which dwarfs the iPhone’s 3.5″ display. It is also the first Windows device to use a capacitive touch screen as opposed to resistive. The standard Wifi, A2dp, HSDPA, and HSUPA are all present. This device also joins the 5 megapixel category and adds auto focus and an LED flash. What makes this device a home run is its processor. It joins the Toshiba TG01 with its Snapdragon 1GB processor, making it one of the most powerful phones on the market. Again, judging by its specs, the HD2 could turn out to be a huge success, I just hope Windows 6.5 doesn’t ruin the party like 5 and 6.1 did.

• Nokia N900: Some might say I have saved the best for last. Nokia surprised everyone with their new Linux Maemo 5-based device. It is a little bigger than other mobile phones with a waist line of 18mm, but given its functions, you should be comparing it to a computer, not a mobile phone. The N900 has a 16million, 3.5″ capacitive touch screen, as well as a full QWERTY keyboard. The phone comes with a whopping 32GB of online storage with the ability to add a memory card of 16 GBs. Like the N97, this gives you the ability to store up to 48GBs on your phone. The phone has a 5MP camera with a Carl Zeiss lens, auto focus, dual LED flash, and supports Geo tagging. Unlike many other phones, the N900 has a secondary VGA camera for video calling. There is not much else to say about the N900 besides, I want one. The pictures and videos I have seen have displayed a very impressive UI with an awesome looking phone. The keyboard is only 3 lines compared to the HTC Touch Pro 2’s 5, so that might present a problem, but hey, no one is perfect, right?

There you have it, some of the world’s most advanced mobile devices. Which one excites you most or did I miss one? Please let me know in the comments. As for me, I am sticking with my Bold for now, it just does everything I want it to (would’t mind a better camera).

–Hillel