Is a SmartPhone really necessary for a University student? or is a cellphone sufficient?

The term 'smartphone' is so vague and overused these days. The term used to describe (3 years ago) the iPhone, and any other high end - generally touchscreen - device. Because the technology of touch screens and fast speeds and full page Internet was so new, people called phones that could do all that stuff 'smart'phones. However, these days any phone over �80 (sorry I'm not sure what that is in canadian dollars but its basically the cost of two games console games) is basically considered a smart phone nowadays. Almost every phone that is on the Market is can do all the stuff that even high end phones were struggling to do two years ago. Looking at your requirements it looked like you could make do with a small feature budget phone. However, when you said you wanted a good camera and wanted to use the maps, every thing changed. Only smartphones come with good cameras now and in order to see maps properly you need a big screen (minimum 3.5 inches - size of iPhone). For that reason it would be a good idea for you to go to your local phone shop and have a play around with what they are selling. But please do not be confused by the term smartphone - just think of them as normal phones. The old phones that have buttons and a tiny screen are truly just budget, pretty much rubbish, cheap as chips phones. Nowadays dual core phones are coming out like the Samsung Galaxy S2 and the HTC Sensation (the successor to the HTC desire hd) and these phones are called 'super'phones. Hope I helped sort out your confusion :)