As recent trends continue to show an increase in the number of mobile and remote workers, enterprises will continue to see more smartphones and PDAs appear in the work environment -- whether they are sanctioned or not. Yet both employees and employers seem to agree that these handy little devices truly improve worker productivity. The question that remains is: Which device is the best mobile device for use in the enterprise? Respondents to our SearchNetworking Product Leadership Awards were kind enough to tell us what they thought.

In a surprise upset, the Tilt from AT&T received the gold award. The Tilt debuted only in October 2007, but apparently has quickly won a loyal following.

Considered by many -- including Brighthand.com's Ed Hardy -- to be an innovative extension of a current and popular design, the Tilt uses a landscape orientation for its main function, which can be accessed when the screen is tilted into a semi-upright position on a slider rather than a hinge, inspiring some to say that it more convincingly resembles a miniature laptop. Though Hardy says the QVGA display causes the screen to feel slightly cramped, the tilted screen design innovation may be the reason the Tilt stood out so prominently from all of last year's innovative devices and garnered a high 83% rating of good or excellent for quality of display.

Another highly touted feature among survey respondents was the Tilt's keyboard and its ease of use. Owing to a design that allows the screen to be slid and tilted up to reveal a QWERTY keyboard and two soft-button keys, Tilt users are able to enjoy greater ease of use when typing and navigating with the soft buttons. Survey respondents indicated their approval for the feature, with 83% rating the keyboard good or excellent.

In addition, 75% of survey respondents found the Tilt's overall performance to be good or excellent -- suggesting that a combination of device design, the Microsoft Windows Mobile operating system, and available hardware and software features provides the user with a quality experience that meshes well with a business user's expectations of an enterprise-level mobile device.

Receiving an overall 77% rating of good to excellent, survey respondents indicated that the Tilt has won over its enterprise-level users with its strong ease-of-use features and solid design. Respondents also gave the Tilt a strong 79% rating of good or excellent for design and construction, and the same percentage felt that they were receiving good or excellent return on their investment from the Tilt.

As mobile devices continue to evolve and incorporate more cutting-edge features, as innovative devices like the iPhone appear, and as high-efficiency devices such as those from RIM continue to inspire brand loyalty, it is clear that the Tilt's surprise win means that AT&T has been building a solid new base from which to develop its next generation of mobile devices.

Kate Dostart, Associate Editor