Dave Parker MVP had this to say in another thread, "Why It Is Hard to ID the "Best" Mobile Device":

"In my opinion the best way to determine the best devices wold be for the user to fill out a form about which features are most important, (grade 1 to 5 or something) and then overlay that onto a matrix of scores of how well each device features at each task. That's the only way to get a true indicationof the best devices for you IMHO."

Is there any interest here in actually having this kind of "Device Selector" created? I could work on this, or if there is a volunteer out there - maybe even such a form already started! - perhaps others could contribute...

I would imagine this could be something as simple as a printable PDF that could be filled out by hand and then "scored" by a rep, or it could actually be some kind of online form that would automatically evaluate your scores and suggest a list of devices...

And then the only problem becomes: What if your carrier of choice doesn't have the device available?

Bill Fisher:

I would imagine this could be something as simple as a printable PDF that could be filled out by hand and then "scored" by a rep, or it could actually be some kind of online form that would automatically evaluate your scores and suggest a list of devices...

How about using Excel for this.

Bill Fisher:

And then the only problem becomes: What if your carrier of choice doesn't have the device available?

Now that's the problem - maybe the device has yet to be made?

Excel would be a good idea. You could view it on your WM device then too.

I don't mind giving you a hand with this. I think it could be quite interesting. A lot of the scoring could be derived from raw hardware specs. I've seen a fair few devices in my time too.

This is why it's so important to ask questions, because most of my customers don't know what's out there, and they sure don't know what every device I sell does.

Some of the questions I use are:

What is your homepage? (mobile e-mail, search, other software)

What do you do online?

I am not so sure about this "Device Selector" idea. And even if it was true that choosing a mobile device is hard, adding this to the equation might help some but most people don't like questionnaires and they tend to avoid answering questions on paper (or electronically) just to buy a phone (even if it was just an option).

Personally speaking, I think the salesman just needs to ask "selected' questions verbally to the customer and that should narrow the device selection down. And there will always be cases where the customer will buy a device and ends up back to your store to return it. This is common and happens to all kinds of products in general.

I don't know about you guys, but I don't like surveys and questionnaires. And if I had the time and patience to complete one, it has to be at most 10 simple questions. And to use such a method just for buying a phone sounds a bit out of context. Might work for others though.

Nevertheless, people will keep going through numerous mobile devices through-out their lives because new devices with better features and faster processors will always come out and make people buy them.