Instead of trying to work out which phone is the “coolest” or has the most advanced features I thought I’d go back to basics and consider what I actually want from a phone. Despite being a technology geek, I rarely use most of the functions on my current phone, and I hardly ever download apps. This might change in the future, but right now apps aren’t my biggest concern.

In fact, when I really thought about what I wanted from a mobile phone it was reliability, long battery life and quick internet browsing. A QWERTY keyboard would be a nice bonus but not essential, as I don’t send that many emails when not at home.

For these reasons I’m swinging away from the high tech smart phones. Not only could I save a lot of money by buying a less advanced phone, but it would probably increase the battery life and wouldn’t really affect what I wanted to use the phone for.

If any of my readers have suggestions for phones that match these requirements then I’d be very interested to hear about them. I’ll keep you updated with what I find in my research too.

I think the main problem I have with the phone is that it uses Windows 7 Mobile. I’ve heard good things about this OS from a lot of people I trust, but I still don’t see how it can compete with Android if you want full control over the way your phone looks and works. The customization features of Windows Mobile are inferior to Android in almost every way, and I think it’s a step back for HTC to start releasing phones on this platform (I know that not all phones are going to be released on Windows , but I think they should stick with Android completely).

There is one great feature of the HTC 7 Pro though, and that’s the slide out keyboard. It’s very useful to have a keyboard that slides out and automatically tilts the phone up at the same time. This feature would be perfect for typing while on the train or any other situation where you could put the phone on a flat surface. This is the main reason why I’d recommend the phone to people who send emails a lot.

It’s definitely not a phone I’d consider getting though. Even the sleek appearance of Windows 7 mobile couldn’t sway me.

The main reason is that I’m going to use an MP3 player, GPS, phone, eBook reader and maybe a video player while I’m travelling or out and about. It these things are all in one device it saves me having to carry four of five different ones around with me. Yes, it does seem to make the phone more complicated, but only because it gives you so many more options.

I can see what people mean when they say smart phones aren’t for everyone though. I certainly wouldn’t recommend it to my parents or anyone who isn’t tech savvy. When I see people with iPhones I often cringe when they tell me that they don’t know how to use any of the functions though – it really isn’t that difficult to learn as it’s all in the manual.

I’m hoping that more and more features will be added to phones in the future. When you think how far they’ve come in the last few years it’s exciting to see where they will end up! It won’t be long before we have a fully functioning computer in our pockets – some would say we’re there already.