Speaking as a mobile phone sales consultant, and having worked previously in the softwaring and refurbishment of mobile phones, I have one or two opinions, with good backing.
Nokia is undoubtedly a market-leading handset, it was one of the first major manufacturers, even back in the days of the "Bricks", when you had the choice of Nokia, Motorola, and Phillips. Nowadays, with the ever-increasing and improving features on the handsets, there is much greater competition between the manufacturers. For instance, with the inception of Sony Ericsson, after the merging of the two companies, we have a new competitor, also Samsung, creating stylish, quality handsets, and with Motorola still high in the consumer list.
I'll give you a brief overview of the pros and cons of each manufacturer.
Nokia, world renound, absolutely fantastic quality phones, easy to use, good features, many come with games as standard, office tools, and now, with the integrated Symbian software, you can now use Microsoft Office programs on your handset, connect to the interet using a full browser, instead of a mobile browser, and even uplink SatNav software to your phone. The latest series, the "N" series, have this software available, as well as stunning digital cameras and mp3 players. For instance, the N73, a 3.15 Megapixel camera, the N93 has a 3.2 Megapixel camera, with a professional Carl Zeiss zoom lens, meaning you can record videos to DVD quality. The soon-to-be released N95 will have a 5 Megapixel camera. The N91 has 4 Gigabytes of internal memory, meaning you can store up to 4,000 music tracks, and all of these phones bar the N91 are 3G phones, which mean not only can you make video calls, but they have an increased connection to the internet.
The downside to these latest phones is the size. The N93 has retained the old-school "Brick" size, especially when opened, and as it is a flip phone, it does look rather rediculous when trying to make a call. The N91 has suffered many software issues, problems playing the music tracks, damage to the ribbons inside the slider, causing the phone to crackle when making a call. These phones have outstanding features, however the software is yet to be perfected, and although they do present a large screen, and have kept the ease of use that their predecessors had, the overall size of the phones is perhaps a little to big.
The main competitor, Sony Ericsson, have managed to overcome the size problem, whilst retained the all-important features. Although functions such as text messaging are different, there are still just as easy to use. The landmark phone, released midway through 2006 is the K800i, sporting a 3.2 Megapixel digital camera, with state of the art features, such as face-warping, picture editing, 3G feature, and a good quality mp3 player, to the same standard of its predecessor, the W800i, the first "Walkman" phone. The W850i, released in the 4th quarter of 2006 had a much-improved mp3 player, and while the camera was only 2 Megapixel, it more than made up for it with the music. Being the first sliding Walkman phone, it has a feature called "Track ID" where you could record a few seconds of a song, and it would search a worldwide database of songs, and match it up for you, and then allow you to download the song to the handset. The latest model, the W950i was the first mp3-orientated Smart phone, with touch sensitive screen, and 4 Gigabytes of memory. Unfortunately there was no camera with this model, however the sound quality and the speed at which you could access the internet is second to none.
The main problems with the Sony Ericssons are for example, with the K800i, the joystick had the same technical problems as the earlier handsets: Dust gathers inside the gaps, and causes the joystick to not respond, and the phones do not have the same kind of software as the Nokias, so no SatNavs. While size is much more convenient, the cameras in the more recent models have either been less than brand new, or non-existent.
Samsung have recently been having a series of hits in the market. The E900, touch sensitive controls, slim, sleek, looking very nice was a particular hit last year, and was the following model, the D900. With a 3 Megapixel camera, being the world's slimmest slider, it looked fantastic. You could take brilliant pictures, videos, and look very professional when using the phone. Without a doubt the best-looking phones on the market, and still very easy to use.
The downside with these phones is that they have sacrificed robustness for the sake of looks. The amount of times I have come across cracked screens on a D900, because of the slightest amount of pressure. The material from which they are made is not nearly as sturdy as the other manufacturers; it is too easy to scratch and damage the cosmetics, greatly reducing its value in the future. Also, the mainstream Samsungs do not have 3G capabilities, so no videos calls or high-speed internet.
Motorola, the final selection of the day. This company has a wealth of experience, having been around since the beginning. It's V3, although not a feature-packed phone, has been immensely popular, because of the stylishness of the handset. Once released in pink, sales almost doubled. The V3X won an award last year for the best 3G handset, and the lastest phone out, the K1 KRZR, and the RIZR have been going down a storm. Durable, and with much improved user-friendliness, integrated voice-activated-options, you can also link up a set of bluetooth headphones and watch films on the phone, and get superb sound quality. Of course, if you wanted, you could do that with the other manufacturers as well.
The downfall of Motorola will inevitably be the ongoing problems with the difficulty to use the phone. Whilst the newer phones are much improved, many people has such a difficult time using the original V3 that they left Motorola altogether, to try a different company. It will be difficult to get those people back. Also, whilst the V3X won a 3G award, there have been no real adjustments on that front, no new 3G phones, and the quality of the cameras has not exceeded 2 Megapixel yet.
To sum up, whilst Nokia has the best features on the phones, the most experience, and its handsets are the easiest to use, it has stiff competition from its competitors. The gap has closed on Nokia, and unless they act soon, Sony Ericsson, and possibly Samsung may well overtake them.