It is a commonly accepted fact that operating systems are part of what makes or breaks a smart phone, and more often than not, gear heads would put aside the hardware issues as long as they get the right operating system.
This is because a good operating system will have an average phone performing well. Whereas a badly designed OS would make even a high powered handset seem clumsy and jerky to use. Take the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2, this smart phone has plenty of good hardware features, but the Windows Mobile operating system tends to slow it down a lot, and the fact that it relies on a resistive touch screen display means that it requires a stylus to be operated properly.
At the same time, the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini is a very mid range smart phone in terms of today’s hardware standards, but the Android 1.6 Donut OS 
makes it a very well rounded device. Speaking of the Android OS, the HTC Desire and the Dell Streak push the limits in terms of both hardware with their high speed 1GHz CPUs and software (with the newer Android 2.1 Éclair).
Some manufacturers rely heavily on proprietary operating systems. Take the Palm WebOS, RIM BlackBerry OS and the Apple iPhone OS. Since the devices that make use of these platforms are specifically designed to maximize the capabilities of the OS, the user experience is not only uniform, but the all of a phone’s features are also fully utilized.
This is why it is important for buyers to know what kind of operating systems they want before they decide to purchase a mobile phone. Even if the hardware seems like a good fit, if the OS is not compatible with a user’s needs then choosing a different device would be the wiser option.
Tags: Android-1.6-Donut, Android-2.1-Eclair, Apple-iOS, Blackberry-OS, Dell-Streak, google-android, HTC-Desire, Palm-WebOS, Sony-Ericsson-Xperia-X10-Mini, Sony-Ericsson-XPERIA-X2, Windows-Mobile