Chosing the right phone is a personal experience, so I can just say what the best options are for the way I use my phone(s).

I am one of the lucky adults that suffers from ADHD. To help me keep focused and remember things, I have been relying on my BlackBerry Bold 9700 quite a bit lately. The fact that I can customize the color of the LED notification light based on who sent me a text or email is great. It also allows me to filter out stuff that does not need my attention while notifying me of things that do. As an example, whenever my wife calls, texts, or emails me the LED flashes bright green (her favorite color). Whenever someone from JAMM emails me, it blinks purple. If I get a random email that does not have a rule setup…it doesn’t blink at all.

Now, because I use a BlackBerry as my primary phone, I also carry around another device. The main reason is because the company I work for uses Exchange (without BlackBerry support), so I carry either an iPhone 3GS or the Nokia N900. I love both for very different reasons. I could never say the Nokia N900 would be the best phone though because it is truly a data device first and a phone second…or third. The iPhone on the other hand seems to be what I keep coming back to all the time because of the app ecosystem that Apple has built. It is a great option for those that can stand the AT&T network.

This is a really difficult question. To ask which is the “best” phone is extremely subjective. What is best for me may not work well for others. It really depends on your specific needs and priorities.

That being said, feature for feature, I have been more impressed by the WebOS interface than anything else I have used. But I would not say that the Palm Pre or Pixi are the best phones out there. The implementation and other issues which continue to plague the platform, as well as the lack of developer support do not make this an attractive alternative at the moment.

Right now, I am using the HTC Hero, which runs on the Android OS. It is a good phone, but not without its problems. I had been a long time fan of Windows Mobile, but the lack of forward progress frustrated me. That being said, I am really excited by Windows Phone 7, which is due to be released later this year. If one of those phones makes its way to Sprint, I will probably give it a serious look.

So, I cannot say that there is any phone on the market that I would term best. Some just work better in areas which are important to me than others.

Pick the carrier first.

Choose the carrier that best meets your budgetary and coverage needs. Verizon has the best national coverage, but is expensive. AT&T has a faster 3G network, isn’t as expensive, and has national coverage equivalent to VzW. Sprint is cheaper; but has a lot of customer retention problems; and their coverage ain’t that great, though its better than T-Mobile. T-Mobile has the best pricing plans; but their national coverage is generally limited to the larger metro areas and the interstate road system. You’re going to have to check coverage in your area for any and all carriers.

After that, pick your phone. Its going to be tough this year as there’s a great deal of change coming to most platforms, including the iPhone. Rumors are there are going to be cheap iPhones in June (tho nothing is confirmed). WinMo 6.x phones won’t be upgradable to WP7S, even the newer HTC models. Android is going to be in flux until devices like VzW’s Droid get the 2.1 update.

I’m in Chicago and I’m T-Mo bound. I’ll likely get a Nexus 1 or some other Android phone on that network when we switch over in a couple of months. However, I haven’t made my decision yet. However, after the problems i had with my iPhone in Chicago, I’ll never pick a phone first and then the carrier. The device has to function well in order to make the best use of the features it DOES have. if the network its on is problematic, its never going to be able to do that well.

Let me start this by saying that I’m a Verizon girl, so I am limited to the Verizon family. Right now, I am using a Palm Centro that I have had for about 2 years. Its a simple smartphone, and I love it. You are not going to get great multi-media and web browsing, but the call quality is great.

However, since we are talking about phones on the market, Centro is not really an option. For me, my next phone is going to be an Android phone. I’ve been impressed with all of the available apps, plus I love Google naviagation. I am just waiting for the right hardware to come my way. I felt the Droid was too bulky. With Snapdragon phones slowly coming out, I am waiting for the bump in processing speed.

I have alway been on unlocked phones, so for me carrier is not a problem. This because I want to be free in selling the phone ASAP if I find it is not good for me.

As a new HTC Touch Pro2 user I am pleased by it, and I think this is still one of, if not the, best phone currrently on the market now (thank you XDA-Developers!!). If carrier is something that you have to choose, the Pro2 is also available on all major networks.

However, I still miss my Palm OS smartphones (be it a Treo 650 or a Centro) and I think that the Pro2 is worse than those… but maybe I am getting too old