In the PC world, lots of people like to discuss hardware, and finding the right hardware to suit their needs.

In some ways we're seeing the same trend in smartphones. But discussing advantages and disadvantages of a phone based on the power of the hardware seems like the wrong idea to me.

Most smartphone tasks don't require a huge amount of power and usually good design will have a much greater effect on the time it takes to complete these tasks than increased hardware power will. While having a dual core processor in your phone is impressive on paper, it seems utterly pointless to me, it feels a lot like overkill.

It feels like hardware manufacturers are trying to sell their phones on something which doesn't really matter, when software design should be a much bigger focus. That's not really their area of course, which means their approach is fair enough on some level, but it does beg the question of how important the hardware in your phone is to you?

I don't have a smartphone yet but I will most certainly be paying attention to it. I plan on mucking around with augmented reality stuff which involves quite a lot of rendering in real time so I imagine power will probably be quite important.

At first I wouldn't give it a thought, just mainly focus on the interface and features. Now that I have one, you really notice the difference in say, bringing up something as simple as your contacts. A regular phone would bring it up in a flash but my E63 takes a good few seconds. It applies to even bring up the main menu, sometimes it would come up in decent time but other times it a takes a while to load, almost like if the processor is busy doing something else.

So yea, I definitely care now.

I might, if I had a smart phone.

No1 is going to make anything that needs more then the lowest common denominator for phones anyways at best you get them doing things a little fast with the best there is, it's really pointless

the thing i dislike about smartphones as well as consoles, is the fact that you have to buy another one to get the "better" one after your hardware gets outdated, on PC however you can just upgrade it anyway you want to , and its much easier thing to do than most people make it out to be, i don't want to waste space and have a billion phones or consoles, i just want to have enough power to make the games work as they are meant to be.

I do. That's why I bought the Samsung Fascinate (verizon's Galaxy S) almost a year ago as it was on par with most hardware as others plus had a far better screen.

Next I plan on getting the Samsung Galaxy S 2 for the same reasons. It will be dual core and match/beat every other feature plus still have the best screen available.

As for UI, its Android. I can make it however, I want... just like my PC.

However, with phones, if your smart you be patient and get it for free.

I haven't paid for  smartphone in over 3 years.

I've owned 2 blackberries and 2 androids.

Give it time and you'll always find what you want for free (with upgrade) somewhere.

Additionally, you can then sell your older phone and actually make money. :)

How?  O_o; i never get anything for free.

You don't live in US, so it may not work for you.

In US, all carries offer 2year contract for their service in exchange for discounted phones. Additionally, various retailers will offer sales on top of those discounts.

So 99.9% of new smartphones will cost someone $199 with a 2yr contract. Then a retialer like Best Buy or Walmart will offer that same phone for free with a 2yr contract.

I simply wait for these free deals. Especially around holidays.