Top 5 iPhone 3G

The iPhone 3G has just released and we have reviewed it already. It is a great phone but definitely not the best out there. We take a look at some phones which, while priced similarly to the iPhone, have many features that are much better than the iPhone 3G. They can easily kick the iPhone 3G’s ass in a one to one face off. So here we present the devices, that we think, can dethrone the iPhone to become the king of smartphones. All these phones have all the regular features like calling, messaging, email, high speed web browsing etc, so we won’t be elaborating much on those points. We will highlight and compare just those features which are in direct contrast to the iPhone. All these devices will be releasing, hopefully, by the end of 2008. All new phones now have accelerometers, touchscreens and other sensors, all thanks to the iPhone. Do note that the devices are in no particular order.

Side note: The iPhone 3G has changed the history of mobile phone development and set the path for constant innovation. Its Multi Touch UI is its biggest asset. It was so cool and innovative, that even after a year of the iPhone’s release, no manufacturer has been able to beat it in terms of user interface capabilities. However even after the release of the iPhone 3G, it still has some very stupid shortcomings like - no video recording, no cut paste abilities, no MMS, no A2DP, no Flash support etc.

Top 5 iPhone 3G Killers

• Samsung Omnia i900 :

The creators of the Omnia i900 at Samsung definitely had the iPhone 3G as a target in mind when they made the Omnia i900. Whatever features the iPhone lacks in, the Omnia makes up for it in the best possible way. It is powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 and sports an iPhone esque Multi Touch interface - Touch Wiz. Though it is not as refined as the iPhone Multi Touch UI, it does come very close. It sports a superb 5MP cam and has everything that the iPhone does not - Flash, Video recording ( VGA at 15 FPS & QVGA at 30 FPS ), FM with RDS, A2DP. The audio quality is close in line with the iPhone 3G. Being a Windows Mobile phone, it offers a greater variety of softwares and games. It offers up to 8 GB expandable memory compared to iPhone 3G’s 8 / 16 GB.

• HTC Touch Pro :

The HTC Touch Pro is the most powerful and feature packed phone ever on Earth. It sports 288 MB RAM, coupled with a very powerful 528 MHZ processor. It runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro and features a very cool User Interface - TouchFLO 3D which is just as good as the iPhone’s UI. In addition it features many more softwares and games from the Windows Mobile stable. The 3.2 MP Cam with AF & Flash is much better than iPhone’s 2 MP Cam. It supports CIF ( 352*288 ) Video recording at 30 FPS. It comes with a QWERTY keypad too which slides under the back of the phone. It combines style (Multi Touch) with usability (QWERTY) and is much more suited for office executives.

• Sony Ericsson XPeria X1 :

The Sony Ericsson XPeria X1 is a slightly underpowered clone of the HTC Touch Pro. It marks Sony Ericsson’s foray into Windows Mobile phones. It is slimmer and lighter than the HTC Touch Pro and with a supposedly inferior UI. It sports 256 MB RAM, a little lesser than the Touch Pro. It has a 3.2 MP Cam too, with Auto Focus, Flash and VGA Video recording at 30 FPS. The other features are almost same as the Touch Pro which mean that it pretty much pawns the iPhone 3G except in the UI department. The QWERTY keyboard is much more comfortable when typing, compared to a virtual onscreen keyboard.

• Nokia N96 :

The Nokia N96, though not a touchscreen phone, has everything you could ever expect from a phone. A superb 5 MP cam with Auto Focus and Flash, Video recording - VGA at 30 FPS, 16 GB Internal memory, A-GPS, a DVB - H receiver, a Dual ARM 9 CPU, 128 MB RAM, a brilliant 2.8″ 16M color screen - the list just doesn’t end. It is powered by Symbian s60 V3.2 OS v9.3 - The most popular smartphone OS ever. It has huge 3rd party application support, second only to perhaps Windows Mobile. It has the most user friendly interface in smartphones. Even though it doesnt have Multi Touch, it easily surpasses the iPhone in terms of its easy to use UI. It is going to be the flagship Nokia smartphone and packs enough power to kill the iPhone 3G. The UI with the iPhone 3G comparison is subjective. Its Webkit based inbuilt OSS browser and Opera mobile are just as good as Apple OS X’s safari and even beats it in some aspects.

• Sony Ericsson C905 :

The C905 is Sony Ericsson’s latest and greatest Cybershot. It will have a mind boggling; yea, hold your breath, 8.1 MP Super Cam with AF, Flash, VGA Video recording at 30 FPS and the likes. It is the best camera phone ever and gets precariously close to digicam territory. Taking awesome pictures is in its genes. It has 128 MB internal memory and theoretically supports up to 32 GB. It has all the other regular stuff like 3G, A-GPS, Geo tagging, WLAN, Bluetooth with A2DP etc. Like the Nokia N96, this one also doesn’t sport a touchscreen, but WTH! , does one need Multi Touch with all such features packed in?

And Re-introducing the current nemesis of the iPhone 3G,

• The HTC Touch Diamond :

The HTC Touch Diamond is the current reigning iPhone 3G ass kicker. It will soon be surpassed by its successor, the HTC Touch Pro. It has similar features to the HTC Touch Pro - Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro + Touch FLO 3D, except that it doesnt have the QWERTY keypad and has less RAM - just about 192 MB. The only negatives with the Touch Diamond are the absence of a QWERTY keypad and the slightly laggy Touch FLO 3D user interface. You can check out the here.