After contemplating about it for quite some time, I finally got myself a smartphone today. This of course makes me the ultimate hypocrite: just a few years ago, I had no cell phone at all. When asked about it, I would say that I was opposed to the idea of being "available" wherever I went. After I had gotten over that, I went through a couple of cheap pre-paid cell phones and finally got myself a proper phone just about two years ago. Of course in the meantime, the iPhone had come out and while I liked its slick design and the nice UI, I felt that it was too bulky to be useful... "and besides, who needs all these features? It's a phone for christ's sakes!" But when mobile internet became affordable, all of a sudden, the idea of owning a smartphone didn't seem so silly after all.

So which phone to pick? I decided that if I was going to get a cell phone that is essentially a computer, I wasn't going to let anybody tell me what application I could run on it. Specifically, I wanted to be able to write native code applications and run them on my phone without jumping through too many hoops. To my surprise, Windows Mobile (and to some degree Symbian) seemed to be the only platform that supported this and with Windows Mobile support built right into Visual Studio, I already had all the development tools I would need. Unfortunately, Windows Mobile was designed to be used with a stylus and that was a big turn-off for me. Enter the HTC Touch Diamond, a Windows Mobile phone with a proprietary touch-optimized UI. Long had I drooled over this phone until the successor, the Touch Diamond 2 was both announced and released. And now I'm glad I didn't get the HTC Touch Diamond because the Touch Diamond 2 is just infinitely more awesome. That's right, I am now the proud owner of an HTC Touch Diamond 2.

The Touch Diamond 2 is a stunning piece of hardware from its 3.2" WVGA (480x800 pixels, 290 ppi) screen to its 5 megapixel camera. It's a 3G phone, has GPS, a built-in FM radio, a second forward-facing VGA camera for video conferencing, a replaceable battery and a MicroSD slot, an accelerometer... it's essentially an experiment in how much cool technology you can pack into 107x53 centimeters (there's a dirty joke somewhere in there). Oh, and it runs ScummVM which means I can play all my favorite point and click adventure games from the 1990s while waiting for the subway train to arrive. How cool is that? Very cool indeed.

And now to answer the ultimate question: does a smartphone really make you smarter? I'm not sure, but I can now Wolfram-Alpha that for you wherever I go.