Samsung Vibrant

Design:

This cellular device is truly what its name describes: vibrant. With 16 million colors and a SVGA resolution, the images found on this device pop off the display screen. Its screen is a 4-inch AMOLED touchscreen, which makes it easy to see in bright daylight and in well-lighted areas. AMOLED, which stands for active-matrix organic light-emitting diode, is an especially bright screen that doesn't require a backlight to work. AMOLED screens are also difficult to break, and they consume less power than other display screens and are ideal for smartphones

The Samsung Vibrant is a thin device that is comfortable to hold and easy to slide into your pocket. Although the phone has a large display screen, it is not as large as the Droid X or the HTC EVO 4G. One feature that makes the Vibrant unique is that 40 percent of the materials used to build this phone are bioplastic, extracted from corn and which are 100 percent biodegradable. Although bioplastic is an eco-friendly addition to the product, we think it makes this model feel not sturdy enough for someone who frequently drops their smartphones.

Multimedia:

The multimedia features offered on the Samsung Vibrant are not all that astounding. Of course, you have the ability to choose from tens of thousands of apps to use on your Vibrant, which we appreciate. Also, a 5MP (megapixel) camera with a 4x digital zoom is included so you can capture those special moments no matter where you are. However, we didn’t like that there is no flash available. Most smartphones feature a flash for a camera with at least 5MP, so we think it is strange that Samsung didn't provide one on this device.

HD recording is also an option on the Vibrant, which really beefs it up. Also, a number of advanced editing options are available to choose from including an ISO setting, blink and smile detection, and a panorama mode which we like to see on all smartphones.

Call Features/Quality:

The call features on this phone are basic compared to other smartphones. If this device featured video calling capabilities, it would really spruce it up. With decent sound and high volume, the call features and quality are good – just nothing too extraordinaire.

Memory/Storage:

Up to 390 minutes are available on the Vibrant during a single battery charge. The AMOLED screen makes it possible to use less power, adding a little bit of extra time to the battery life. However, if the Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth functions are used frequently, the battery life quickly drains, which is the same for all smartphones.

Additional Features:

Each cellular device in the Galaxy S series features an Android 2.1 operating system. This system can be upgraded to 2.2 on the Samsung Vibrant, which will make it faster and more efficient. But the Vibrant does feature a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, which results in more detailed graphics and smoother playback, which makes gaming and watching movies ideal on smartphones.

Summary:

Overall, the Samsung Vibrant is thin and good-looking but it lacks a few key features. We are pleased with the design compared to some other smartphones but we wish it gave us more. If you are looking for a smartphone with extensive multimedia functions, long battery life and other features included in higher-ranked smartphones, you will want to keep looking.

LG Quantum

Design:

Smartphones with only touchscreens have become pretty standard. The LG Quantum bucks that trend by including a slide-out, full QWERTY keyboard as well. We’re among the many users who continue to find that typing on a physical keyboard is preferable, both in terms of speed and accuracy, to a virtual keyboard, despite improvements that have been made. There’s just no substitute for the tactile feel of the real thing.

The presence of the keyboard, while welcome, makes the phone a little thicker and heavier than is common among its nearest competition. It’s not problematic unless you want to slip the phone into some particularly tight jeans and, in fact, we find the heft to be stabilizing while typing. The touchscreen is vibrant though more subdued than several others in the category. At 3.5 inches, the screen would be large by previous standards but seems a bit cramped today.

Multimedia:

Windows Phones have a number of features in common because they’re required by Microsoft in order to use the OS. One of those requirements is at least a 5MP camera, which the LG Quantum has. It features 5x zoom, an LED flash and can record video in 720p high definition.

Like other Windows Phones, the LG Quantum smartphone incorporates a full-function Zune media player for music and videos. They can be synced with your computer, Mac or PC, with a USB cable or wirelessly via Wi-Fi. New music and videos can also be downloaded directly from the Zune Marketplace. If you’re interested in streaming unlimited music, you can get a Zune Pass subscription for an additional monthly fee. There’s also an integrated FM radio. To use that function, you must use a wired headset as its wire serves as the antenna for the radio.

Call Features/Quality:

With any smartphone you can expect all of the calling niceties that have become typical of contemporary mobile phones. There’s a speakerphone that we found clear and responsive though perhaps not quite as loud as we’d like. It also features call forwarding, caller ID, conference calling and call waiting.

Memory/Storage:

The LG Quantum comes with 16GB of integrated memory, which is likely to be adequate for most users. Nonetheless, we like the flexibility that’s afforded by having expandable memory and would prefer to have that option.

Talk time is a little on the short side at an estimated 300 minutes. Stand-by time is more competitive at 14.6 days.

Additional Features:

The LG Quantum smartphone has a built-in GPS receiver so all location-based services are available, including Google Maps. It offers both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. For online gaming, connectivity to the Xbox LIVE service is available. Web browsing is done via the Internet Explorer Mobile browser which includes Bing search.

Summary:

Windows Phone 7 takes a tremendous leap forward compared to previous WinMo operating systems. It’s a good alternative to iPhone, Android and BlackBerry devices that have eclipsed WinMo-based smartphones. The LG Quantum smartphone is distinguished from other Windows Phones by the presence of a great physical keyboard which we find an excellent addition.

HTC Desire

Design:

The design of the HTC Desire is ideal for watching movies, playing games and browsing the internet. This device has the same screen and is basically a look-a-like to the Nexus One. The 3.7-inch touchscreen provides a 480 x 800 screen resolution which results in sharp and vivd images. We liked the 3.7-inch screen on smartphones, which was larger than Apple’s iPhone 4, but not quite as big as the Droid X.

The HTC Desire is built with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard only contains four row of keys. HTC also added a few new buttons beneath the display screen which made navigation much easier for the user on this device.

Multimedia:

This cellular device is ideal for your multimedia needs. The 5MP camera provides an autofocus, flash and the ability to upload your photos straight onto Facebook, Twitter or any other online photo gallery. There is also the option to geotag your photos, which means you can indicate the location where the photo was taken on the photo’s file information, which is a feature we think all smartphones should have.

The large display screen makes this device ideal for watching movies and gaming purposes. With such a high screen resolution, multimedia images seem to pop.
Not only are smartphones used for enjoyable features, such as gaming and playing movies, but this HTC device makes every-day life easier. Using the HTC Desire you can access all business emails, calendar and contacts from a company directory. It also has the ability to switch between different screens, such as your email, weather reports or the internet browser, with just a pinch of your fingers on the screen.
The Desire uses HTC Sense, which is a way the user can capture, create and share multimedia content. Just this small addition to smartphones make it much more multimedia-friendly. It allowed us to perform all the tasks we wanted to on this device.

Call Features/Quality:

The HTC Desire isn’t anything special when it comes to call features. It provides your basic caller ID, call waiting and call holding, which is also found on almost all smartphones. We would like to see this phone provide video calling capabilities like the Apple iPhone 4 or the HTC EVO 4G.

Memory/Storage:

The battery life on the HTC Desire isn’t anything superb. It provides up to 390 minutes on a single charge. This was close to the average amount of time we found on similar smartphones.

This HTC product does offer a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, which was fast and made multitasking simple and much smoother. This is the same processor that is found on other smartphones such as the Google Nexus One, and we were just as impressed then as we are now. On the HTC Desire, we were able to browse the internet, check email and open our calendar with no hassle.

Additional Features:

The HTC desire offered its user a GPS that we were impressed with. This system used Google Maps Navigation, which was simple to use. Also, HTC Locations is found on this device, which offers the user an online mapping experience where they can download maps quickly, which is a feature we like to see on smartphones.

Summary:

The HTC Desire isn’t as advanced as its brother, the HTC EVO 4, but it is still a tough smartphone to beat. It is an ideal multimedia phone if you don’t want a lot of the bells and whistles that are found in many other smartphones.

Droid Incredible

Design:

The Droid Incredible really is, as the name says, incredible. HTC has been producing very solid phones for a few years now. With a design similar to other smartphones, this HTC device is an attractive phone. With a 480 x 800-pixel display, the colors will pop and bring a whole new world to the palm of your hand. Designed with a 3.7 inch screen, the Incredible has a much larger display than the Apple iPhone and is the same size as Google’s Nexus One. However, when comparing the Incredible to the Google smartphone, the Droid is chunkier and more difficult to hold in one’s hand. They are similar with very little difference, but the Nexus One contains a more sleek and fluid design.

This HTC phone has an optical joystick which is used to navigate on the phone instead of a trackball. Four small buttons, home, menu, back and search, are found on the front of the phone but these are so small that the touch screen is used for almost everything.

Multimedia:

Outdoing most other smartphones, the Droid Incredible features an 8MP camera and dual LED flash. For a phone camera, that's impressive. And this camera doesn’t stop there. The camera features built-in editing so you can edit your photos directly on your phone. The photo gallery is new and unique on the Incredible and can be opened in either a timeline or a grid. Even video can be captured at 640 x 480 pixels, which means it will look sharp and you will be proud to call the video footage your own.

The music player on the Incredible has some strong improvements when compared to other HTC products, such as the Droid, but it still does not top the list of media features. It offers the basic music functions and even comes with an FM radio, but headphones must be used to hear anything from those FM frequencies and sometimes that causes an inconvenience.
If social networking is more what you are looking for, the Incredible offers Friend Stream. Facebook, Twitter and Flickr updates are all brought together in one single place through this social networking feature. It saves you the hassle of signing into three different accounts and you get all your friendly gossip in one place quickly and efficiently.

Call Features/Quality:

The Droid Incredible provides more than five hours of continuous talk time on a single charge. If using moderately, the phone lasts just over a day on a single charge. But unfortunately, this Droid is not all that incredible when it comes to its standby time at a measly 146 hours. It isn’t comparable to the Nexus One’s 290 hours or even the Apple iPhone’s 280 hours.

Memory/Storage:

The Incredible takes advantage of the Qualcomm’s 1GHC Snapdragon Processor and makes this phone fast, real fast. This processor is one of the fastest out there and is also found in Google’s Nexus One. HTC designed the Incredible so the microSD slot isn’t blocked by the battery, and allows for expandable memory space easily. The phone will accept a 32GB card, so memory should not be any sort of problem.

Additional Features:

For such a heavy feature set, the Incredible weighs in at a surprisingly diminutive 4.6 ounces. The phone runs a newer version of HTC Sense, a user interface which gives it quite the advantage over other phones, including the Nexus One, which uses Standard Android UI. HTC Sense gives a more user-friendly interface and the primary functions are improved and well-organized. This new version includes a widget that allows you to view all your email instead of just one message at a time, helping you be more productive at a quicker pace.

The Leap Screen is another huge advantage for the Incredible. By pinching your home screen, the phone brings up a thumbnail view of all your home screen panels. This way you can leap easily from one screen to another and access widgets easier. This phone’s main goal is to make your life easier, and that is exactly what happens.
Of course Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS are included in the features, along with the other Google must-haves such as Gmail, Google Talk, YouTube, QuickOffice and the Android Market.

Summary:

The HTC Droid Incredible is rightly named. With advanced features, top of the line software and improvements over the Droid, the Droid Incredible keeps you in sync with the world around you. It really is incredible.

BlackBerry Torch 9800

Design:

The overall design of the BlackBerry Torch 9800 is impressive, compared to other smartphones. Featuring a 3.2-inch touchscreen and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, this device was designed to make navigation simple and quick. Below the touchscreen there is a trackpad. We like the trackpads on other BlackBerry devices but feel the touchscreen on this model is large enough to enable easy navigation without the need for one.

Thanks to a new operating system, this top smartphone features a pinch–to-zoom effect. By pinching your fingers on the display screen, you can zoom in and out of the display. This makes browsing the internet and reading emails much simpler and more user-friendly than other smartphones.

Multimedia:

BlackBerry Torch 9800 provides several multimedia features but nothing too extraordinary. A 5MP (megapixel) camera with flash, along with auto-focus and image stabilization is featured on this phone. Also, the smartphone offers 11 photo modes and the ability to record video.

This device features an integrated social network and has the ability to access RSS feeds, as well as apps. A few featured apps included are Primetime2Go, Evernote and the Kobo eReader. It also includes a music player that allows you to view full-album art and track listings, which is a multimedia feature we like that is found on smartphones.

Call Features/Quality:

We didn’t have any problem with the calling features on this product. The calls are easy to hear and the calling menus are straightforward. Dialing a call, placing the call on hold or even 3-way calling is simple to do using this BlackBerry smartphone.

Memory/Storage:

The battery life on the BlackBerry Torch 9800 is not nearly as strong as the Apple iPhone 4 or the Droid X. The BlackBerry 9800 features a battery life of 330 minutes and up to 432 hours of standby time. The phone didn’t seem to drain the battery too quickly for us, but of course the more frequently you use your phone, the quicker your battery is drained.

This smartphone provides 8GB of memory, which should get you fairly far, but it also has the ability to expand to 32GB with a micro SD card.

Additional Features:

A vast improvement over previous BlackBerry operating systems, the Blackberry OS 6 is included on the Torch, which features new animations, graphics and a webkit-based browser. There are not a lot of differences between it and the interface of the OS 5, so BlackBerry users who want an upgrade won’t be confused in navigating the improved operating system.

Not only is the new BlackBerry OS 6 a great addition to the phone, the Torch provides a few additional features that give it a little security and pizzazz. For example, the 9800 provides password protection with a keyboard lock, which prevent others from going through your emails or other important documents. Also, a sleep mode is offered on the smartphone to avoid the battery from quickly draining.

Summary:

The BlackBerry Torch 9800 has a few new features, such as the BlackBerry OS 6, but it still doesn’t feel quite up to par with other smartphones. Users who just want to perform business tasks will appreciate this phone. But if you want a few more smarts on smartphones, this model isn’t the best choice for you.

HTC EVO 4G

Design:

The EVO not only has increased speed and power compared to other Droids, but also increased size. This HTC is a big and thick phone. With the generous screen-size of 4.3-inches, this phone needs to be bulky and firm to deal with the demand media it likes. Sharp colors and vibrancy are also important with such a grand display, and the EVO will not disappoint with a screen resolution of 480 x 800 pixels, which is the same sharp resolution you will find on both the Nexus One and Droid Incredible.

Multimedia:

The EVO 4G is not shy when it comes to multimedia features. This HTC phone features both an 8MP primary camera and a 1.3MP front-facing camera, supported by two white LED flashes. However, a drawback to the photo setup is that the lenses are flush-mounted on the back of the phone and not recessed into the metal case, which could make it a target for scratches--an easy way to ruin a prized feature on the phone.

A top feature of the EVO is the ability to download, view, edit and share High Definition (HD) content directly from the phone. The HTC device features an HD video capture which then easily lets the user watch the video on an HDTV using an HDMI cable. It also features the option of outputting pictures and slides into an HD format and live video sharing with Qik.

Call Features/Quality:

As previously stated, the 4G coverage is great for those who live in select areas and are able to bask in its glory. But even for those who don’t use it on a regular basis, this phone includes a mandatory ten dollars per month “Premium Data add-on” for using WiMAX when in the 4G market. An extra ten dollars per month can add up for rarely using a network. Well, at least until it expands drastically. New metropolitan areas are being added to the 4G network each month, so chances are you'll be near one of them soon enough.

Memory/Storage:

Running on the 1GHz Snapdragon processor and using Android 2.1, the EVO is similar to the Droid Incredible’s processing features. However, only 1GB of internal memory is stored on the phone, making it a poor comparison to the Incredible’s 8GB. But similar to other HTC phones, there is provided a microSD card slot that will support up to 32GB of additional storage.

Additional Features:

A new feature that will make all the other Droids jealous is the kickstand found on the back of the phone. This is a great tool for allowing easy media or web viewing. And of course the EVO 4G includes the Google mobile services such as YouTube, Gmail, Google Talk, Google Voice, Google Maps and more.

The award-winning user interface, HTC Sense, is also found on the EVO. The HTC Sense includes a “leap” thumbnail to switch between home and other screen panels, which improves multi-tasking, and also Friend Stream, which takes the contacts from Facebook, Twitter and Flickr and brings you updates in one place. This user interface also includes interactive widgets and a polite ringer.
The EVO 4G is similar to all other Droids with features such as GPS Navigation, Bluetooth technology, digital compass, proximity and motion sensors and a loud speakerphone. It also has a pinch-to-zoom feature and automatic text reflowing which provides easy web page views.

Summary:

Even though the 4G network is getting all the hype, until it expands to a broader area, it is hard to get too excited. HTC EVO 4G is one of the best smartphones out there and will only improve once the 4G network grows.

Apple iPhone 3GS 8GB

Design:

The iPhone 3GS catches up with some of the top smartphones by finally offering document editing features. Cut, copy and paste are available and work particularly well with the new landscape mode virtual keyboard.

Multimedia:

The Apple iPhone 3GS still has the features that made its predecessors so popular. Most notably, it’s a perfectly good smartphone that just happens to have an iPod built-in. Just as the iPod essentially created and continues to dominate the digital music industry, the iPhone invented and rules the world of mobile apps. Despite the launching of competing app stores by several other smartphone makers, they all pale compared to the tens of thousands, and rapidly expanding, of apps available for the iPhone.

iPhone’s rather weak 2.0-megapixel camera has been updated to a 3.0-megapixel shooter which is better than previous smartphones but is still not among the best smartphones available. Nonetheless, Apple has made great strides with the Tap to Focus system that give the user a lot more control over pictures to be taken. Oddly, there still isn’t a flash. The new iPhone does satisfy users who bemoaned the lack of video capture capability. That’s a feature that is rapidly gaining importance with meteoric rise in popularity of posting videos online. It also includes a great video editing tool that should help users improve the often dubious quality of those online posts.

Call Features/Quality:

Increased speed is the central improvement of the iPhone 3GS. Apps load faster and just about everything runs more smoothly. Network speeds also tend to be improved. Still, if multitasking is an important feature on smartphones for you, this device will be a disappointment. You might want to consider other smartphones such as the top rated BlackBerry Torch 9800.

Memory/Storage:

Among the chief complaints about previous editions of the iPhone was the absence of a user replaceable battery. That hasn’t changed but at least Apple has equipped the new device with a battery that seems to be providing markedly improved performance. We like the AppBox Pro app that, among other things, estimates how much battery life is available for various smartphone functions. We’ve found that it does a good job of predicting actual battery life on smartphones. If you’re a heavy user who likes to have a backup battery, you’re out of luck.

Additional Features:

Stereo Bluetooth capability is finally available on the iPhone 3GS, an omission from previous smartphones that we failed to comprehend on a device that has multimedia as a focal point. Less noteworthy but welcome additions include a voice recorder, tethering capability and turn-by-turn directions for the GPS functionality. As of this writing, tethering has still not been activated by AT&T and the turn-by-turn directions feature will require an as yet unavailable third party application. In the event that the iPhone 3GS is lost or stolen, individual users now have the ability of wiping data from the phone remotely. That was a feature previously available only to enterprise users.

Summary:

When considering the remarkable abilities of the Apple iPhone 3GS, it’s easy to think that things just can’t get any better for smartphones. On the other hand, when considering its shortfalls, one can see that, despite Apple’s noteworthy efforts, there remain many lost opportunities. Reality lies somewhere in between. It likely is the most capable, user friendly smartphone on the market for the widest range of users. For those with different sets of criteria, the good news is that there are a number of worthy alternatives.