Can you help me make sense of the different cell phone operating systems?

They all do many of the same things. Honestly, it comes down to what features you want on your phone and the learning curve you are willing to deal with. One of the advantages of the iPhone is that it is ridiculously simple to learn to use—especially since so many people already have an iPod or have had one, so they aren’t starting from scratch.

I believe Palms still exist (my friend has a PalmPilot phone) and they have another system all together.

I would say figure out what you want your phone to do. Go to the store. Tell them your list, then make them tell you what phones will work for you. Especially include things you want your phone NOT to do.

I’m so ready to be called out on this:
Business folks tend to get Blackberries, because they’ve been around the longest and are easiest to work with as a business when it comes to getting your e-mail sent to your phone. They also have permanent keyboards which lots of business folks like.

Kids, people who want the “next new thing”, Apple crazies, and the like get the iPhone. You should feel free to read that as “yuppies”. Does not have a permanent keyboard. I have one.

Sidekicks tend to be used by youths in less affluent areas. There’s a great editorial somewhere that I can’t find right now that is about how Sidekicks are the best phones ever and it makes some pretty interesting claims about why the rest of us don’t use it.

Annnnd Android is still new enough and came out, honestly, at just the wrong time to not really have a “type” yet. Had it come out a few months earlier, I might have waited on getting the iPhone to see which was better. Anyway, it’s by Google like you said, but I haven’t had a chance to see/use it.

So... ignore most of my answer and go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone

Read the bit on operating systems. I can go into a great deal of detail on the iPhone OS if you like, simply because I have one and know it.

BlackBerry has come from a company here in Canada called Research in Motion (RIM). The Palm Pilot came from a company called Palm, which is still alive but barely so from what I’ve seen. They existed before smartphones in North America were common or popular, their major offering was an internet-less personal organizer, so when the smartphone market came roaring in they were left with a device that does everything BUT connect to the internet or make calls, and were left scrambling for a few years. In fact I have yet to really see their comeback.

So to regroup your list, here’s how I perceive all smartphone OSes:
– iPhone OS
– Android
– BlackBerry OS
– All others.

The reason I say “all others” is that they really are inconsequential. They are often build in-house, have the same core functionality but different ways to get at the functions, and a different visual interface. The common link is they generally cannot be modified by the end user. In fact technically the iPhone OS could be put here as it also cannot be modified by users (although users CAN build apps for it if they pay to join the program and have serious code knowledge). The only OS that the end user really can muck around with is Android. All others are closed source OSes.

So now we’re down to three basic phone OSes: iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry. What makes each better than the other? Features basically, but now you’re getting specific to each phone model. Which is basically where you’re going to end up anyway – the only real OS worth talking about in terms of potential is Android as it’s the only one which you can really control. And most commonly phones and OSes are tied together – it will be a few months if not years before Android is fully compatible with the iPhone’s features.

So to get a better answer to your question, you may wish to go straight to comparing the phone models and the features offered by each: compare an iPhone with a BlackBerry with any Android compatible phone, we’ll pick the T-Mobile G1. Unfortunately I can’t provide any insight here as I don’t own a smartphone myself, although I do own an ipod touch so I can comment on that portion of the iPhone OS minus the phone capabilities (as they run the same OS).

All I know is that after a few rounds with the other guys I finally hooked up with an iPhone and I love it. Wouldn’t have anything else!

Wait, I think you’re missing a really important one: Symbian.

Nokia and Motorola along with some Samsung models (not sure on that one) use that.

Yup, Symbian is big. I would also add Windows Mobile to the list as that OS is getting pretty common as well.

Giz Explains: An illustrated guide to smartphone OSes

Of course my phone runs palmOS but no one seems to use that anymore except me.

Before smartphones, I really really like Symbian. I haven’t used Android before.
It really depends on what kind of phone you need. If you need one with a physical keyboard and don’t care for fancy touchscreens, get a Blackberry or a Nokia (I like the E71). If you want a touchscreen phone, go for the iPhone or a HTC (WinMo). If you like opensource, go for the G1.