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 3Gs 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 iPhones 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 3Gs 8 / 16 GB.
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 iPhones 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 iPhones 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 Ericssons 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 2.83 16M color screen - the list just doesnt 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 Xs safari and even beats it in some aspects.
The C905 is Sony Ericssons latest and greatestCybershot. 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 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 HTC Diamond review here. Note: The others who didnt make it to the list, for the sole reason that the top 5 were much better, were:
Samsung Instinct Nokia E90 Nokia N95 8 GB Nokia N82 LG Prada Motorola ZN5 LG KF750 Secret LG Viewty Sony Ericsson W960i
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Yawn, I really dont see what all the IPhone Fuss is about! Jt http://www.FireMe.to/udi
4
chemicaltomb
July 15, 2008 at 8:44 am
these are nice phones but i dont think there iphone killers i would take the original iphone over any of them&. iphoes i really well made and have a massive screen (for a cell) that coupled with the hipe&. nothing can stop the iphone
5
joe
July 15, 2008 at 8:47 am
is that a joke about a blackberry?! come on
6
josh
July 15, 2008 at 8:50 am
and.. the prices of these phones are? i know the HTCdiamond is far more expensive than the iphone. remember, you cant just beat the iphone in function, you have to beat it in price, too. (not to mention, who the heck wants to use windows media player as their jukebox?)
7
stirlo
July 15, 2008 at 9:00 am
blackberry = fail
8
focher
July 15, 2008 at 9:01 am
Man, Apple is really lucky to have such competitors. Its like printing money for them.
9
phone guy
July 15, 2008 at 9:01 am
Have you seen the full capability of iphone though? Only once you have jailbroken the phone and gotten your hands on all the cool apps does the full functionality emerge. The iphone store leaves a lot to be developed& have you tried: tap tap revolution - awesome game uses your music socks server - allows me to get internet on my laptop through my iphone! raging thunder: 3d racing game that uses accelerometer spoof app - uses caller id spoofing to change your caller id to anything and also record calls and change your voice voice notes - take voice notes on your phone video recorder: record videos on your iphone using the camera Emulators - play NES, SNES, playstation, genesis and gameboy advanced games on your phone. I have like 60 classic games including zelda, super mario brothers, etc. well I have about 80 programs installed, some great stuff, too much to write about here but the power of the iphone isnt in the hardware& comparing cameras and keyboards doesnt take into consideration that the iphone software will dominate the handheld industry. Windows mobile programs are lame compared to those for iphone. And by the way, I can type on my iphone at 30 words per minute consistently, sometimes higher. Maybe you can do better on a physical keyboard but 30 wpm is impressive. Once this cool software becomes mainstream, there will be no iphone killer. Theres no tap screen thats going to beat the iphone in terms of market share, iphone will win hands down. They might as well start developing the nanotech wristband phone cause apple already has the touch screen market in the bag.
10
ray
July 15, 2008 at 9:04 am
Totally on the mark. I mean the only reason that the iPhone is popular is that it has a touch screen. Anyone can make a touchscreen. Plus, once the Zune gets integrated into a Windows Mobile phone no one will ever buy an iPhone again.
11
stinkbug
July 15, 2008 at 9:05 am
All these devices will be releasing, hopefully, by the end of 2008. That about says it all right there. The iPhone G3 is already out.
12
Nirmal
July 15, 2008 at 9:08 am
My vote goes to XPERIA or Omnia and next comes C905
After reading the expected specs for these 5 devices youre saying may be better than the iPhone, I still dont know which one of them features one or a combination of the features you are knocking the iPhone 3G about. Which of these have copy/paste? Which can do MMS? Which have A2DP? Which support Flash? Hardware specs or the fact that WinMo 6.1 is better than 6.0 doesnt mean iPhone killer. Multitouch is a huge advantage in UI. Pretty icons or vibrating feedback means jack if it is still point and click around a kludgy Web browser interface. Furthermore, the rich development platform for commercial, prosumer and amature developers is what sets the iPhone apart from the rest of the also-rans. Manufacturers and carriers continue to put themselves up against the iPhone in a Smartphone VS mobile computing platform deviceand in this case, you cant compare their oranges to Apple.
14
Eddie
July 15, 2008 at 9:12 am
I have to say as with the ipod. Apple is 2 generations ahead of many phones and all this with just basically a year in the competition. There are few things that the iphone should add but many are software capable. And thats where the iphone is king! iphone 2.0 is years ahead of any of these phones or any outhere right now. It all has to do with the mac os X background&. All im waiting for to see is the new blackberry touchscreen. But even then theres no mac os x as an operating system so they are bound to fail!.. as with the ipod.. the iphone will prevail. Resistance is futile!
15
Bruce
July 15, 2008 at 9:14 am
Funny, I havent heard anyone talking about (for instance) an HTC Touch Pro killer. I wonder why not? Me, I want to see some Android phones.
16
sd
July 15, 2008 at 9:20 am
More like a list of iPhone roadkill!
17
Ajay Pathak
July 15, 2008 at 9:21 am
Sony Ericsson XPeria X1 is best iphone killer
18
Dan R
July 15, 2008 at 9:25 am
Ok, Ive been saying this forever& but Ill say it again. Windows Mobile can do everything the iphone does. It just doensnt do it well, do it responsively, do it without needing to whip out that stupid stylus. Ive beenusing winmo for the past 3 years with all manner of different roms and hardware. I just bought the iphone 3g, and I wont look back. Software matters. The iPhones software kicks the pants off of winmo, and all the powerful hardware in the world cannot make up for windows mobiles laggy, memory leaky, unresponsive software.
19
Nate
July 15, 2008 at 9:26 am
Yeah right, none of these have a CHANCE at dethroning the iPhone, it all comes down to software and interface, not features, and the iPhone kills the competition in software and interface. The app store has opened up TONS of possibilities for this phone. Have you seen a demo Super Monkey Ball for iPhone? It is Nintendo DS quality qraphically and is leagues above any other mobile game, hands down. If they can do this with games, imagine what they can do with other apps. This article is totally off the mark.
20
Sean
July 15, 2008 at 9:27 am
Unless Microsoft stabilizes Windows Mobile, itll never kill the iPhone. Many people use it because theres no other option, but what do you hear whenever anybody talks about it? Oh, my friend (coworker, brother, etc.) had one of those. He had to restart it all the time . Hrmm, does that sound familiar Microsoft? Thought so. They didnt learn with Windows and they wont learn with Windows Mobile. A phone that works trumps a phone with kick-arse features any day. The iPhone is a phone with kick-arse features and it works too. I like having my cake an eating it too. I used to hate Apple and hate Steve Jobs for his elitist attitude. I used to project iPod killers. I got sick of being wrong. The only people that have any hope of killing the iPhone are the Google Android phones, but before that can happen, the manufacturers need to pull their heads out of their asses and actually learn to build something thats sleek, sexy AND feature packed. If Apple can do it, they can too. So, why arent they. All of the above just dont have the sexiness that is the natural to Apple products.
21
font
July 15, 2008 at 9:27 am
None of these are iPhone killers. In fact, they are pale in comparison. Its the entire user experience of the iPhone that makes it a better device, not just feature A or feature B. Much like a BMW is a better car than every other car out there: it doesnt lead in every category, but it leads by far in the sum of every category. No one comes close to Apple or BMW when it comes to experience and satisfaction.
22
errr...
July 15, 2008 at 9:31 am
Hate to say it, since Im a Sprint customer, but the Instinct is a complete turd. At least now, around iPhone 3G launch, there is NOTHING out there for CDMA users thats even close in terms of featureset, apps expansion, and elegance.
23
Gajan
July 15, 2008 at 9:37 am
Plus, once the Zune gets integrated into a Windows Mobile phone no one will ever buy an iPhone again. - You say that as if the Zune is doing so well on the market. Theres something called the iPod and iTunes. Anyways& its pretty obvious on paper, there are MANY phones that seem better than the iPhone, but what it lacks in specs, the iPhone more than makes up in ease-of-use and flexibility. The software is a solid OS (even with the recent bugs with 2.0) and NO (yes, you heard me) phone on the market has come close to perfecting the touch screen (for lack of a better word) POWER of the iPhone. But seriously, a Zune phone being a threat to the iPhone? lol Thats like the Zune coming out 4+ years later to compete with the iPod. I aint a Mac fanboy, but seriously, Windows wouldnt have a chance.
24
Mike
July 15, 2008 at 9:40 am
Nope sorry. None of them have the App Store and integration with iTunes. *THAT* is what makes the iPhone a killer device. Hey, you know that software youve beenusing to buy music with? Well now you can use the same UI to buy games and apps for your phone & oh, and your movies and podcasts will sync over automagically too. Not to mention your email and calendars. Sorry, but Apple is the King right now and will be until the other manufacturers realize that its not a shiny case or touch screen that makes a phone & its ease of use and integration into the rest of your Digital Life . 1 million iPhone 3Gs & sold in 3 days.
25
Jams
July 15, 2008 at 10:03 am
The point being made against the iPhone is correct, there is no flash, a lousy camera and so on. But the UI in these phones isnt remotely close to the refinement and effectiveness of the iPhones. From someone whos life is UI design, I can say these phones couldnt dream of being half of the GUI on the iPhone. Somehow as far as I am concerned, no one has ever come up with an original UI that comes close to Apples mobile or desktop GUIs. And this is what makes something useable and enjoyable. Without this, its a bunch of unusable features. Why do you think Apple has so many disturbingly fanatical followers? Its because they enjoy and essentially fall in love with their gadgets.
Ray&you are hilarious! Just like when the Zune came out no one bought iPhones anymore??? Cmon. Non of those phones come close to iPhone 1st gen or 3G and we all know it. No one had a touch screen phone like iPhone until after it was released. And now all the copy cats are trying to jump on board (sound like iPod revolution??) But not able to create a suitable competitor. I wish they would, then iPhone would be even less expensive!
27
fisto
July 15, 2008 at 10:35 am
blackberry Bold definitely kills iPhone 3G
28
d3m0n
July 15, 2008 at 10:49 am
the i900 omnia has 8/16 gb internal memory and supports upto 8gb micro SD card, so the effective total storage is beyond iphone.
29
Seth
July 15, 2008 at 11:05 am
yea too bad all these phones are just about 1000, unlike the iphone which is 199
Which one of these killers will be selling a million units the first weekend they are on the market? I dont have an iPhone nor do I plan to get one, but I recognize that whether or not any of these phones are better than the iPhone they are not going to kill the iPhone.
31
nix0n
July 15, 2008 at 11:44 am
iPhone has no flash. Is that really Apples fault ? No, its that Adobe hasnt jumped up on the bandwagon to create a mobile version of a flash player. That, and the amount of processing power required to run a flash app? The time it takes to download a flash app (even at 3G speeds) ? Come on, as a tech-nerd youre focusing on lacking features - but most phone users arent going to even care at what Mhz the phone runs on. Theyre typical non-nerd users like your mom and grandma. Seriously? Omnia: $400 HTC Touch Pro: $800.00 Sony Ericsson XPeria X1: $900.00 Nokia N96: $800.00 Sony Ericsson C905: $1,400.00 HTC Touch Diamond: $700.00 iPhone (which mind you, now that it is on a 3G network is mostly controlled by software updates): $200 Now, for all these others phones& are they as streamlined, easy to use, and give you the option of having an all-inclusive online store? One place where you go for movies, music and tv shows (in addition to getting updates for your phone, and the ability to download even more applications?) Hardly think so. These are just phones with a few extra features, but at least twice the price. Luckily, I havent been sucked into the iPhone-phase. I dont own one, and most likely will wait for a few more things that I need - but I can honestly tell you that these phones are not iPhone killers. iPhone is in a class in all of its own. Inexpensive, intuitive, stylish, and you only need one application to use it. iTunes. Done deal. For your grandma, its the greatest phone on earth - and is definitely setting the framework for other future releases. But, honestly, if youre going to make a list - check the price points too. The price of the phone is much more important than if you had MMS messaging or not. Sorry, went off on a rant there. nix0n
32
His Shadow
July 15, 2008 at 12:01 pm
>> ray July 15, 2008 at 9:04 am Totally on the mark. I mean the only reason that the iPhone is popular is that it has a touch screen. Anyone can make a touchscreen.< Features
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