iPhone 4 vs The rest of the SmartPhone Pack

Here is another table from Engadet, for 5 phones, with some extra specs listed that are not in the PCWorld article above.

Compares iPhone4, EVO 4G, Nokia N8, Pre Plus, and HD2. The Nokia N8 (coming Q3 2010) is interesting, but low on screen resolution, battery life and large on size. But it covers every band one would want ( 850/900/1800/1900/1700/2100). (http://events.nokia.com/NokiaN8/)


"We know how the iPhone 4 sizes up against the aging 3GS -- but how does it fare against its fiercest competitors from all the major platforms? We wish we had some production Windows Phone 7 kit to check out here, but in the meantime, take a look at the results against the gruesome foursome of the EVO 4G, N8, Pre Plus, and HD2. You might be surprised by some of the results -- and sorry, RIM, you don't get to play until you bring some fresh, media-heavy hardware to the table. Nothing personal! "

iPhone 4 vs. the smartphone elite: EVO 4G, N8, Pre Plus, and HD2 -- Engadget


The quoted iPhone talk time of 7 hours on 3G is remarkable...hope it is close to true...well as true as the other quoted times..

 

Interesting. The iPhone4 was clearly ahead in the screen pixel category. The battery time was more-or-less the same for all (it will vary anyway, depending on how close/far you are from the tower, what apps you have running, etc.). The iPhone still having no removable flash card and battery is still a major negative in my eyes. I'm kind of suprised Nokia hasn't put a faster processor in their new top-of-the-line phone actually... otherwise, it's the usual tradeoffs, not one phone had top scores in all categories...

 

I think the 'talk times' are made putting the best possible foot forward, and any other battery draining features are turned off. Granted they are not 'real world' but they aren't meant to be either...just hours with pure 'talk time'. I have found this is equivalent, in my situation, to 'usage time'.

That being the case, all phones want to have the best time spec'd, however there is quite a variance: 7Hrs, 5.83hrs, 5.5, 5.3 hours, and 6 hours (for the HTC EVO 4G). 2 Hour variance is a big deal.

I do miss having a removable battery. But, I have to be honest, and say that I have a bunch of 2nd batteries for my Nokia's that only fit one phone and are now useless. And the few times that I have used them, I had to buy a special charger, because one can only charge one battery per phone. The same would have been true with my iPhone; each generation gets a bigger battery...what a waste of money. I now prefer these independent and portable USB battery chargers...I can use them for all devices and they can be charged independently of the phone. A big plus IMO. Plus, I don't seem to keep an iPhone long enough for the battery to actually die...

So, not just out of necessity, I have changed my mind a bit on that. But it is true, now I have a dangling battery tethered to my phone...

These kind of line ups only show the standout features, not all the little ones that make a difference to each individual. With a built in 32Gb RAM (on the iPhone), and with most of these other phones being limited with internal RAM , and max. 32 GB microSD cards, there is not importance that I place on that anymore. And I love the idea of having 'n' wifi to match my home 'n' wifi network.

Charlyee:

I'm a bit leery of Nokia. I have seen them advert an upcoming phone with all the bands before, only to split them up into 2 phones (euro and N. America) when they actually come out. Other than that possibility , it looks like a nice phone..but "no keyboard for you" (says the Keyboard Nazi.., which you would only understand if you watched Seinfeld on TV).

I LOVE the ipod media part of the phone, and the smooth sync with iTunes. Esp. listening to books on 'digital tape'

 

I have never just found my battery dead--it always gets low while I'm on a call. The external battery means not hanging up and restarting your phone to switch batteries.

I just can't see Symbian as a competitor in the new smartphone landscape.

I saw a chart of usage metrics with the top 5 used apps on the major platforms. The iPhone was the only one with a media playing app (iPod) in the top 5, and it was #2.

 

Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.80 (Android; Opera Mini/5.0.18302/18.738; U; en) Presto/2.4.15)

The media aspect is interesting. However its not really that difficult to get the droids the winmo or the BBs into your music. Its just that people don't want to bother. The thing apple has going for it there is their itunes store itself. Its a monopoly of sorts, practically every one buys from there. Droid especially needs to get another player like amazon and push the cheap music downloads and a just decent enough player and they will be fine. Actually they will probably be fine either way.....



But that aside, I don't find the new iphone to be some great leap forward. But its a good competitive player with great backing software/easy for user and PR/marketing wise...if that makes sense....