Advice on smartphone OS

[Crockett12]

I've never had a smartphone and am in the market for one. I've got my form factor narrowed down but am unfamilliar with the different operating systems. I want to be able to:

1 - surf the web
2 - view and answer my e-mail
3 - view pdf's
4 - view and edit Word documents

Which OS's will allow me to do all 4 items and which ones won't?

Thanks,
Crockett12

[Adama D. Brown]

Windows Mobile and Garnet (sometimes called Palm OS) will both satisfy your requirements. I don't remember off the top of my head whether the Blackberry platform has a satisfactory PDF viewer. I know the Office clients are a bit pathetic on it, but Dataviz is supposed to be building a Documents To Go version.

[Antoine Wright]

All of them will do what is being asked, just to varying degrees of effectiveness. Overall, I would say Symbian and Windows Mobile would do all four as a whole better. Symbian has an edge in web browsing, and Windows Mobile has a more rounded office setup (both need 3rd party PDF readers, but come with them usually).

[Crockett12]

Thanks guys -- that answers my question. Next I've got to start looking at calling plans.
Thanks again,
Crockett12