PocketMatrix

What would be the best smartphone model as far as market penetration and most representative set of features are concerned ?

In other words, if I wanted to purchase a smartphone for the development and testing purposes , which model would be the best suited for this task ?

I would say that the Cingular 2125 or TMobile SDA are both very available devices.

They are nearly identical hardware, so what works on one will work on the other in the same way.

Yeah, it all depends who you're developing for. You need to consider the different operating system versions out there when developing. WM5, WM2003, etc.

I have an Orange SPV C600 and i-mate SP5, and they're both real good.

As far as phones requiring a SIM card. You don't need to have service activated to actually use the phone as a test device. Just buy a SIM card and don't activate service on it and you should still be able to use the phone for development. I've done it with my i-Mate and SPV. Although, if your application is connected, you'll probably want service on it for testing purposes.

Do you guys have pre-pay SIM cards? Here you can just fill in a form on the phone company's website and have a handful sent to you.