Smartphone OSes invading the market in 2009

2009 has seen three new smartphone operating systems come to prominence in the mobile arena: WebOS, Android (which continues its march from 2008) and Maemo. Let's take a look at them.

Palm Pre, with WebOS

One phone beats all comers in the interface battle: the groundbreaking Palm Pre. You see, the Palm Pre is built on an entirely custom interface called WebOS, that is easily the slickest, most intuitive interface that's ever been released. With intuitive gesture controls and finger sweeps for EVERY action on the phone, the Palm Pre also brings in tight integration between its apps. Book a cinema ticket on one app, and the Palm Pre automatically updates your calendar with the time. Multitask many different apps, and watch the Palm Pre run without any effort or lag. In the world of interfaces, basically, the Palm Pre just cannot be beaten!

Motorola DEXT, with MOTOBLUR

The first important fact about the Motorola DEXT, and the bit that has made it so talked about, is its interface: Google Android, with MOTOBLUR riding on top. As it's the first Android phone to focus on social networking as its key feature, the Motorola DEXT has garnered an awful lot of trade and consumer interest. It's certainly more of a looker (especially in the interface, the newly designed MOTOBLUR UI) than previous Android phones, and that fusion of enhanced looks and the still-awesome power of Android makes the Motorola DEXT a very compelling phone indeed. If social networking is your thing, this is the phone for you.

Nokia N900, with Maemo

So, there's the Palm Pre, with its amazing interface. And there's the Motorola DEXT, with a incredible social skills. And now, they have a new rival, the Nokia N900. One of the big reasons why the Nokia N900 is so anticipated, and why it'll no doubt sell like hotcakes, is its operating system. A brand new, Linux-based operating system, called Maemo, gives the Nokia N900 a finger friendly interface, and on top of that, the phone has a built in QWERTY keyboard, so it has more ways to access the phone than ever before. It's not just about the interface, though, as the Nokia N900 is packed with high-end features. A 5 megapixel camera makes for superb photos, the multimedia playback is stunning, and with HSDPA and GPS, it's not short of connectivity options. But is it the best phone money can buy? Thanks to that brand new Maemo OS, it could well be...