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A few months ago I was asked what sort of mobile phone I would recommend for a journalism student. Knowing how tight student budgets are, and that any choice should have as much of an eye on the future as on the present, I recommended getting an Android phone.

The reasoning went like this: iPhones are great at certain things, and currently benefit from a wider range of applications than other mobile phones. But the contracts are expensive, the battery life poor, and Apple’s closed system problematic, for reasons I’ll expand on in a moment.

Currently, BlackBerry smartphones (apparently you can’t say ‘BlackBerries’) and high-end Nokias are probably the most popular phones for journalists. Both have excellent battery life and BlackBerry smartphones (yes, it gets annoying after the first time) have a particular strength in the way their email works.

But these are also expensive, and Symbian (the operating system for most high end Nokias) does not have a long term future, while its replacement, Maemo, has yet to build a present.

Which brings us to Android – the ‘Google’ phone – and the most affordable option for the student journalist looking at a multiplatform future.

• With Google behind the technology, Android phones have excellent email integration – not quite as strong as a BlackBerry, but more than good enough.
• Android’s app store – the ‘Market‘ – competes with Apple’s – and is catching up fast. Most of the must-have apps for journalists are already in there, and on this score it’s much stronger than BlackBerry or Nokia.
• The biggest weakness is Android’s battery life, which is around the same as the iPhone (some tips on that here).
• But apart from their affordability it is the openness of the Android platform which presents the strongest case for being the student journalist’s mobile of choice.

When I advised that student to get an Android phone, it was because I think that Android will seriously challenge iPhone both in terms of userbase (which is already happening) and app development.

Computerworld’s Jonny Evans (an “Apple Holic”) compares the situation to the struggle for the PC:

“[Apple's] insistence on a closed system means partnership deals aren’t open to it in the hardware space.

“So, where Android can deliver multiple devices for multiple niches at multiple price points to the market, Apple delivers a limited number of devices, hoping the quality of its software will make a difference. It seems to attract customers that way.

“As fellow blogger, Sharon Machlis, noted last week, the result of that strategy during the PC wars enabled Microsoft to seize monopoly-level market share on the desktop.

“The game’s not over.“

The same post, however, notes that “Apple’s key advantage against Android is its developer community”:

“Despite criticism of the way it curates its store, Apple does have an App Store that works, where 95 percent of apps are approved fast.

“This means developers already have a reliable and profitable route to market at 100 million iOS users – set to climb with the addition of at least 24 million more iPhone 4 users this year.

“Android developers may be able to develop more openly, but development is fragmented by the need to develop for multiple devices.”

Apple alienated parts of their community earlier this year when they released a new developer agreement. Then, a couple of weeks ago, Google provided a platform for a whole new community when it announced the launch of a tool that can only challenge Apple’s dominance: the App Inventor for Android:

“To use App Inventor, you do not need to be a developer. App Inventor requires NO programming knowledge. This is because instead of writing code, you visually design the way the app looks and use blocks to specify the app’s behavior.”

For the student journalist, this tool also offers an opportunity to experiment with mobile journalism and publishing in the same way that Blogger allowed you to experiment with online publishing and distribution, or Yahoo! Pipes allowed you to play with mashups (TechCrunch’s MG Siegler compares it with GeoCities). Tony Hirst has already written a series of posts exploring how the tool works (it’s currently in invite-only beta), which are worth bookmarking.

This tool seals the deal for me – it’s the difference between doing the job now and redefining it for the future.

But what do you think? What features do Android phones lack? What advantages do other phones hold?

For the record, I use an iPhone and an old N95. I use the N95 for phonecalls, texts and streaming video (because of its long battery life) and the iPhone for web browsing and apps – particularly RSS readers, Audioboo, editing blog posts and checking comments, Twitter, and email. Each handset is with a different operator, which gives me better 3G coverage options too. I also pay for an Android phone (a HTC Magic) in my household.

Nokia have unveiled the N97 and Robert Scoble makes a compelling case for its superiority over the iPhone. Curiously, many of his points mirror ones I had prepared in a blog post comparing the iPhone to the N95, giving me the perfect excuse to finally publish it.

The iPhone is overrated. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Yes, it’s got great usability, but for a journalist it just doesn’t compete. And here are 10 reasons why:

1. A crappy camera. 2 megapixels is terrible – the N95 has 5. Not to mention auto-focus, flash, etc. etc.
2. No video camera. Inexcusable in the YouTube age. Yes there are workarounds but…
3. You have to jailbreak the iPhone to use streaming services like Qik. Installing Qik (or Bambuser, or Shozu) on the N95 is pretty straightforward. The fact you have to jailbreak the iPhone at all says a lot about Apple’s attitude. Nokia’s Symbian operating system is open (if not open source yet).
4. You can’t save webpages. Once again, you can on the N95.
5. No alternative browser. Opera Mini is great on the N95.
6. Battery power. You can at least have a spare battery for the N95.
7. No recording of audio. You can on an N95, and email it to Posterous for instant podcast.
8. Walled garden for apps. Apps on the N95? Get them anywhere, without the worry that Nokia will lock them out in the future.
9. Fiddly keyboard. Particularly difficult when there are…
10. No external keyboards. You can buy a number of cute bluetooth keyboards for the N95 which make it possible to type updates and blog posts very quickly.

Virtual intern Natalie Chillington rounds up last week’s online journalism-related news

Google

• Google will announce a new metrics tool to measure web site audience, to rival current power players Nielsen and ComScore.

• Lots of debate over whether Google is making us stupid

WordPress

• Puffbox.com announces it will be sponsoring WordCamp UK in July,bringing together around 100 devotees of WordPress in Birmingham for aweekend of code and conversation.

Twitter

• Debate over whether you should use Twitter for live blogging at a conference.

• The same people behind the tech news site WebProNews have launched Twellow, a new search tool and directory for finding Twitter users

Social

• Facebook launched new mini-feed comments

• MySpace partners with NBC News and msnbc.com to find a citizen journalist to cover national conventions of the Democratic and Republican parties later this summer in the US.

• Nokia has acquired German social networking service Plazes,expanding it’s mobile internet services. Plazes offers a location-basedservice, with friends posting messages about their location and whatthey are doing from their mobile or PC – sounds like Twitter.

• Domestic Chinese mobile phone service provider MICAT has announcedan agreement with social-networking website, MySpace. Together, theywill be launching “MySpace MICAT,” a social platform for Chinese mobile internet users.

• Facebook introduces Chinese-language versions of its social networking website, marking its first move into the world’s largest internet market.

Web

• Interactive map shows the aftermath of Parkersberg tornado

• YouTube is home to nearly half of web clips watched in the UK

• Magazine publisher IPC Media buys gaming website Mousebreaker in an effort to increase its access to an audience of young male internet users.

• Yahoo to announce the results of a major staff reorganisation as internet firm tries to reassure investors and staff that it can improve its performance and competitiveness.

• The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was due to vote on new internet domain names this week. It is thougth that from early 2009, users will be able to acquire generic addresses such as .love

Media

• Debate over ‘Pay-per-view’ future of online journalism

• House of Lords report says growth of news sites is harming investment in news gathering

• Sky News Online prepares to re-launch with a new look

• CNET is also getting a new look

• The Associated Press will begin rolling out details of its new pricing to members this week, a plan that will return up to $21 million to its U.S. member newspapers.

• Debate over the usefulness of blogging to journalists continues

• BBC launches new revamped online catch-up service, iPlayer with integrated radio shows.

• Trinity Mirror launches a series of branded YouTube channels for the video content of its regional newspapers.

• ITN has signed a ‘six figure’ deal with Al Jazeerato make 800,000 hours of archived video content available to thebroadcaster. As part of the deal, the network and production companieswill have access to Channel 4, Reuters, Granada and ITN.

• The Independant hires the former head of the prime minister’s digital PR operation Jimmy Leach, to lead online development.

• Some journalists still opposed/scared of the internet

Other

• Freelance journalist Sean Langan released after being kidnapped by a group associated with the Taliban in a three-month ordeal.