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I want email - do I need a Smartphone?
This is one of the more common questions, and the simple answer is no, you don't.
There are lots of handsets that have the capabilities of sending and receiving email, including some basic mobiles! However before you go and buy the cheapest email phone you can find, there are a few points to consider.
Push email
What is push email? It's a service that works much like the email application on your computer or laptop. As soon as an email has been sent, it is automatically received by (or pushed to) your mobile. This sounds pretty obvious doesn't it? You send me an email, and I get it straight away. But not all handsets offer push email.
What happens if my phone doesn't have push email? You will still get your emails, but not straight away, and you could be waiting a few hours for them to come through. When you set up your email account on your phone, (and it could be a existing Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo or any other service) you can set the frequency in which the phone will manually check for new emails.
So it all depends how quickly you want (or need) your new emails to be received.
Encryption
There are a few email encryption services available in case you want to send or receive sensitive material. However, this will almost certainly only be available on a Smartphone. The most obvious of which is BlackBerry's BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server) service. To run this service, there is an additional monthly charge which can be added to your account at point of connection. The BES service will encrypt your emails so that they can't be hacked into over the air. It also offers full over-the-air synchronisation with your desktop computer or laptop. This means that if you change a calendar event on your computer, it is mirrored on your BlackBerry instantly.
