Smartphones are everywhere you look, it seems. But not all smartphones are created equal. Here's a list of today's 5 best smartphones. Some have touchscreens, some have keyboards. Some have both. Read on to find out which phones make the list of today's best smartphones.
Putting the Motorola Droid X on top of this list of the best smartphones was an easy decision. It's big and beautiful, with an incredibly roomy 4.3-inch touch screen. It runs on Verizon's speedy 3G network, and boasts excellent call quality. And it packs in more multimedia features than I've ever seen on a smartphone.
Verizon Wireless
Motorola DROID X Smartphone - Verizon
CDMA, Bluetooth, 8MP, 8GB, microSD Slot - UPC: 00723755811829
As low as $179.99
Description: The DROID X by Motorola is a smartphone built for a fantastic video watching experience. It's essentially a pocket-sized home theater with a 4.3-inch vivid display, high definition 720p video recording and the ability to view it directly on your HD TV at home via an optional HDMI cable. Experience the web like never before with Flash-capable viewing and a fast 1GHz processor. DROID X is easily customized using thousands of apps and widgets from the Android Market. The advanced 8 megapixel camera with dual flash snaps impressive pictures that you can send to friends and family via multimedia messaging, email, or upload them directly to your favorite social networking site.
HTC Evo 4G Black Smartphone - Sprint
CDMA, Bluetooth, 8MB, 1GB, microSD Slot - UPC: 00821793005788
Description: With the HTC EVO 4G, you’ve got the power to do more than you ever thought possible with a phone.
With instant internet Internet access for up to 5 computers, the EVO 4G opens up all kinds of possibilities. The true HD camcorder captures the moment. And with the HDMI cable...
HTC Evo 4G Black Smartphone - Sprint
CDMA, Bluetooth, 8MB, 1GB, microSD Slot - UPC: 00821793005788
Description: With the HTC EVO 4G, you’ve got the power to do more than you ever thought possible with a phone.
With instant internet Internet access for up to 5 computers, the EVO 4G opens up all kinds of possibilities. The true HD camcorder captures the moment.
And with the HDMI cable...
Even without its 4G capability, the HTC EVO 4G boasts an impressive list of features:
a 4.3-inch screen, 8-megapixel camera, HD-capable video camera,
and version 2.1 of the Android OS. But the fact remains that it's the 4G part of the EVO 4G that has people so excited.
This is the first phone to run on Sprint's 4G WiMax network, which delivers download speeds up to 10 times faster than a 3g network.
The first thing you're likely to notice about Sprint's HTC EVO 4G is its size: this smartphone is big.
And so is its display, which measures a whopping 4.3 inches.
But pick up the EVO 4G and you'll be blown away by its speed. This is one lightning-fast phone--even if you can't experience the phone in all its 4G glory.
4G Wireless
As the first 4G phone to hit stores, 4G wireless support is the EVO 4G's headline feature.
Sprint says its 4G network can offer download speeds that are ten times faster than a 3G connection,
which will give the "HTC EVO 4G the fastest data speeds of any U.S. wireless device available today."
But 4G is still a new technology and the network isn't yet available in many places.
The network is not available in the Boston area, where I live and where I tested the EVO 4G. But I was still impressed by the phone's speed.
1 Apple iPhone 4 32GB Black Smartphone - AT&T
Sure, you've heard about those pesky antenna problems. But, let's face it: Apple's iPhone has never been lauded for its excellent call quality.
The iPhone is more smart than phone, but, overall, it remains an excellent package, offering an ease of use that has yet to be duplicated.
And the iPhone 4 remains the best iPhone yet.
The iPhone 4 is, without a doubt, one of the best smartphones on the market today. It's speedy, svelte, and certainly slick. But the iPhone 4 didn't impress me quite as much as I expected, and this phone is more of an incremental upgrade from the iPhone 3GS rather than a must-have device.
Price and Availability
The iPhone 4 is available from AT&T,
which sells the 16GB iPhone 4 for $199 and the 32GB iPhone 4 for $299 when you sign a two-year service contract with a compatible voice and data plan.
Design
One of the most obvious differences between the iPhone 4 and past models is the new look of the phone. For one, it's noticeably thinner: the iPhone 4 measures just 9.3 millimeters thick -- 24 percent thinner than the already-svelte iPhone 3GS. Apple says it is "the thinnest smartphone on the planet," and it certainly does look tiny.
The iPhone 4 measures 4.5 inches tall by 2.31 inches wide by .37 inches thick. The iPhone 3GS, meanwhile, measures 4.5 inches tall by 2.4 inches wide by .48 inches thick. Put the two phones side by side, and the iPhone is noticeably smaller, all around.
But the iPhone 4 feels heftier than the iPhone 3GS. Both weigh 4.8 ounces, but that weight is rounded up; the iPhone 3GS actually weighs 135 grams while the iPhone 4 weighs 137 grams. It's not a huge difference, but the iPhone 4 does feel heavier in your hand than the 3GS.
The iPhone 4 also is more squared-off in shape, with a thicker metallic border running around the phone's edges. The new phone doesn't feature the plastic backing found on the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 3G. Instead, the front and the back of the iPhone 4 are covered in aluminosilicate glass, which Apple says is found on helicopter and high-speed train windshields. It's designed to be significantly stiffer (20 times) and harder (30 times) than plastic, with a fingerprint- resistant finish. So far, the iPhone 4's case does seem to be resisting some smudges and smears, but I'll have to see how it holds up over time.
Display
One of the iPhone 4's most-hyped features is its display, which features an astounding resolution of 960 by 640. It measures the same size as the screen on the iPhone 3GS (3.5-inches diagonally), but packs in four times as many pixels. Apple calls it a "Retina display," and says it offers more pixels than the human eye can see. Experts have debated that claim, but the iPhone 4's screen does look remarkably crisp and clear.
Text looks sharp enough to jump off the screen. Colors look deeper and richer than they do on the iPhone 3GS, and images have a crispness that I haven't seen on another smartphone. The only complaint I have with the display is its size; after spending so much time testing out the 4.3-inch screen on the iPhone 4's 3.5-inch display feels small.
Making Calls
Apple's iPhone is known for many things, but excellent call quality is not one of them. I was hoping that the iPhone 4's new design -- with the antenna built in to the steel frame that rings the phone -- would improve matters. But my test calls sounded just like calls made over my iPhone 3GS: loud enough and mostly clear, but with a bit of a background echo.
Many iPhone 4 users have complained of dropped calls and interference with their cellular service when they hold their phone near the bottom left corner of the device. I tried to test this out, and the first call I made with the iPhone 4 promptly dropped. I was unable to repeat this experience though, and have had no more dropped calls. I also have not seen any reduction in signal strength by holding the iPhone 4 in this area.
Software
The iPhone 4 runs version 4 of Apple's iOS. As always, Apple's mobile operating system is intuitive and easy to use; it works as you expect it to.
iOS 4 adds several new features, including a long-desired multitasking capability, which allows you to run more than one third-party app at a time. Multitasking works as advertised; to switch between apps, you minimize the one you're using to a tray, which you can access to go back to another application. It's not multitasking in the way that your computer can multitask; you can't always start a time-consuming process, like a download, and then go back to it when it's complete. That's because, most of the time, iPhone apps will suspend or go to sleep when you minimize them, and will only resume operation when you go back to them. And not all apps support multitasking, as developers have to add the capability on their own, which more should do over time.
Other new features in iOS 4 include folders for organizing all of your apps, a new Mail client, and a Game Center. For more information.
Browsing the Web
Despite the "4" in its name, the iPhone 4 does not support 4G wireless networks. Still, you do have plenty of options for speedy Web browsing. The iPhone 4 now supports speedy 802.11n wireless networks, and you still get support for AT&T's high-speed 3G network.
The iPhone's Safari browser remains the best mobile browser I've used, without exception. You can see mobile or desktop versions of Web pages, can open multiple pages, and can zoom in and out with ease.
The iPhone's new iOS 4 also adds tethering capabilities, which allows you to use your iPhone as a modem to connect other devices to the Internet. Tethering requires the purchase of an additional $20-per-month tethering plan, though.
Camera
The iPhone 4 features a 5-megapixel shooter, which is a decent step up from the 3.2-megapixel camera found on the iPhone 3GS. It adds an LED flash and a 5x digital zoom. In my tests, images looked sharper and colors definitely popped, especially when viewed on the iPhone 4's gorgeous screen. But the LED flash wasn't terribly powerful.
In addition to snapping photos, the camera can record HD video clips at a resolution of up to 720p. Video clips captured with the iPhone 4 did look markedly better than those recorded with the iPhone 3GS.
The iPhone also features a front-facing camera for video chat through a feature called FaceTime. While FaceTime sounds impressive, it comes with some serious limitations: it works from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 only, and video calls can only be conducted over Wi-Fi networks. I was unable to test it.
Bottom Line
If you already own an iPhone 3GS, the iPhone 4 is not necessarily a must-have upgrade, especially when you consider that many of its cool features are available for free with the iOS 4 software upgrade. But if you're craving that slick, svelte design, or if you've been using an older iPhone or smartphone, the iPhone 4 will amaze you with its speed and plentiful features. As long as you can live with its middling call quality, that is.
2 HTC Droid Incredible Black Smartphone - Verizon
CDMA, Bluetooth, 8MP, microSD Slot - MPN: VRZDROIDINCREDIBLEB LK
As low as $149.99 from
Description: The Droid Incredible Smartphone blazes across the digital universe. It snaps stunning 8-megapixel photos.
It zips them instantly to all of your 8,000 friends. With such attention to detail on the inside and out, the name of this phone pretty much says it all.
With a name like the Incredible, this smartphone has a lot to live up to. But the HTC Droid Incredible manages.
Like the EVO 4G and the Droid X, it runs version 2.1 of the Android OS, and also offers a 3.7-inch display and an 8-megapixel camera.
The Droid Incredible is available from Verizon Wireless
Giving a phone a name like the Incredible can be tough. Out of the box, it already has to live up to its name.
Luckily for HTC and Verizon Wireless, the Droid Incredible is pretty darn impressive.
But I'd be more likely to use the word "incredible" to describe two of its Android rivals,
Price and Availability
The The Droid Incredible costs $199.99 when you sign a new two-year service contract with Verizon Wireless.
That price is the same as what Verizon is charging for the newer Droid X,
what AT&T is charging for a 16GB and what Sprint is charging for the HTC EVO 4G.
Design
At first glance, the Droid Incredible looks a whole lot like most of the other touch-screen based smartphones on the market today.
It's slightly longer and thicker than an iPhone 4, but shares the same basic design,
with a big touch screen and a sole hardware button on the phone's face. Unlike the iPhone, however,
the Droid Incredible has four touch-sensitive keys below the display, and its hardware button is actually an optical joystick,
which you can easily use to navigate through the phone's many options.
The Droid Incredible boasts a 3.7-inch screen with a high resolution (480 by 800 pixels).
The screen is bright and colorful, but not quite as sharp as the smaller (3.5-inch) screen found on the iPhone 4.
But when viewed next to the mammoth 4.3-inch screens found on the newer Droid X and EVO 4G phones,
the Droid Incredible's once-roomy screen seems to shrink in size.
The Droid Incredible is an all-touch-screen phone; no hardware keyboard here.
The on-screen keyboard is roomy enough for most typing tasks, though I did find myself occasionally hitting the wrong key.
Making Calls
Verizon's cellular network is well regarded, and it proved its mettle during my tests of the Droid Incredible.
I never dropped a call. Call quality was very good, too, with voices on both sides coming through loud and clear.
I didn't notice any background noise or distortion.
Software
The Droid Incredible ships with Android 2.1, which was the latest version of the Android OS when the phone launched.
Android has since been updated to version 2.2, though, which is already available on Google's Nexus One.
The Incredible should be updated to Android 2.2 later this summer.
Android has come a long way from its earliest versions, though, and even version 2.1 offers a refinement that previous versions were lacking. Navigating through the OS's many options has gotten easier, though I found the phone a bit sluggish at times, when switching screens or launching apps.
And Android is still a bit geeky enough to overwhelm some newbies. For more details on Android, read my complete review of the mobile
In addition to the Android OS, the Droid X features HTC's Sense user interface,
which offers some useful options for navigating through the Android OS. HTC has added new features to the Sense UI,
include one called Leap, which lets you view thumbnails of the apps that you have open,
so you can switch between them or close out of them. The Sense UI also includes Friend Stream,
which lets you view information such as social network status updates.
The combination of Android 2.1 and HTC Sense is a winning one.
The phone's interface and menus look slick and polished (something that's not always true of Android phones),
and navigating through its many options is a snap.
Web Browsing
The Droid Incredible supports Verizon's high-speed 3G network, as well as Wi-Fi wireless networks,
so you have plenty of options for speedy Web browsing. And, in even better news, the browser on the Droid Incredible is quite good.
Too often, Android's browser requires you to dig through menus to access simple functions (like the address bar or the back button).
Not so on the Droid X: the address bar is just where you'd expect to find it,
and you can use the handy back button below the display to move back through Web pages.
The 3.7-inch screen also offers a good amount of real estate for Web browsing,
and you can pinch and spread the screen to zoom in and out as needed.
What you won't find on the Droid Incredible -- yet -- is support for Adobe's Flash technology. You'll get this support,
which will allow you to view multimedia Web pages as you would on a desktop computer,
when the Droid Incredible is updated to the next version of Android.
Camera
Like the Droid X and the EVO 4G, the Droid Incredible features an 8-megapixel camera.
The camera includes a dual flash, and can capture videos in HD.
Overall, I was slightly disappointed with the camera's performance.
Many of my images were blurry, especially when I tried to capture moving subjects.
I experienced a noticeable delay between the time I pressed the on-screen shutter button,
and when the camera actually snapped the photo, so that I often missed the subject I wanted to capture.
Multimedia
The Droid Incredible offers a decent selection of multimedia features,
but nothing to rival the excellent multimedia options found on the Droid X.
The Incredible offers a basic, but very usable, music player, the standard YouTube app,
and an FM radio (though you'll need a headset to get reception).
Bottom Line
The Droid Incredible launched before the Droid X and HTC EVO 4G, and without competition from those two phones,
the Incredible would be the must-have Android smartphone. But the Incredible must now compete with both of those phones,
which diminishes its appeal. If I were about to spend $200 on an Android-based phone from Verizon,
I'd be hard pressed to come up with a reason why that money should be spent on the Droid X.
RIM BlackBerry Bold 9700 Smartphone - AT&T
Quad Band - GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900, WCDMA 850, WCDMA 900, WCDMA 1900, WCDMA 2100 - Bluetooth, Wi-Fi - GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA - Polyphonic, True Tone - 64K Colors - Bar - Black - MPN: BLKATTRIMBOLD9700
When the first BlackBerry Bold debuted late last year, I called it the best BlackBerry smartphone yet.
Now, I've gotten my hands on the updated BlackBerry Bold, the 9700, and I like it -- a lot.
But can it top the excellent BlackBerry smartphones that have debuted in the past year, like the BlackBerry Tour? Maybe. Just maybe.
Price and Availability
The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is available from both T-Mobile and AT&T.
Both carriers are charging $199.99 for the phone when you sign a new two-year service contract. That's less than the $300 the original Bold cost at launch.
Design
The Bold 9700 is considerably smaller than the original. It measures just 4.3 by 2.4 by .6 inches, and weighs only 4.3 ounces.
One of the trade-offs for the smaller size is that the screen gets smaller too; the Bold 9700's display measures just 2.4 inches diagonally.
But it does feature a high resolution (480 by 360 pixels), and it's absolutely gorgeous.
The other trade-off for the small size of the phone is a smaller keyboard. But I wasn't too bothered by the smaller keys;
the still sport slight ridges that make them easy to use for thumb typing.
Like the BlackBerry Curve 8520, the Bold 9700 forgoes the traditional trackball found on most BlackBerry phones in favor of a trackpad.
RIM reportedly is moving toward all trackpads in the future, and the change is welcome.
I found the trackballs often too loose to use comfortably, and they have long been one of the least durable parts of a BlackBerry phone.
The trackpads, meanwhile, are less susceptible to breaking, and are very comfortable to use, allowing you to scroll with ease.
Making Calls
The T-Mobile and AT&T versions of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 are nearly identical,
but there is one important difference between them: the T-Mobile version supports UMA (unlicensed mobile access).
This technology that allows you to make voice calls over Wi-Fi wireless networks,
not just a cellular network. This can allow you to make voice calls in places where you have a wireless network,
but the cellular coverage is spotty.
My BlackBerry Bold 9700 review unit was a T-Mobile model, so I was able to test the Wi-Fi calling feature.
Calls made over Wi-Fi sounded very good, with voices sounding clear and loud on both ends of the line.
Making voice calls over wireless networks also can save you from using the voice minutes on your monthly plan,
but it does require signing up for T-Mobile's Unlimited HotSpot Calling plan, which costs $10 per month.
Software
The Bold 9700 ships with version 5 of the Blackberry operating system, but even in its most recent version,
the Blackberry OS is mixed when it comes to software.
You do get access to BlackBerry App World (it wasn't installed on my review unit,
but I was able to download it by going to blackberry.com/ appworld on the phone's browser), RIM's application store which is growing nicely.
It lacks the enormous (and often overwhelming) selection of apps that you'll find in the iPhone App Store,
but you will find a decent selection of titles.
Like most recent Blackberry phones, the 9700 has the DataViz Docs To Go editing suite preinstalled,
but you only get the Standard Edition, which doesn't allow you to create new documents.
For that capability, you'll have to upgrade to the $70 Premium Edition.
Overall, though I find the Blackberry OS just a bit unorganized and harder to navigate than it should be.
That's largely because it comes with too many folders. For example,
you get one folder called "Applications" and another called "Downloads."
Since many of your downloads are actually applications, it's not always clear which folder they should be in.
GPS
The Bold 9700 features a built-in GPS radio. The T-Mobile version of the phone will come with a TeleNav GPS application,
while the AT&T version comes with AT&T Navigator. Both of these are extra-cost services.
Neither application was installed on my review unit, so I was unable to test their capabilities.
Messaging
Like all Blackberry phones, the Bold 9700 is a messaging champ. It will support 10 personal or business e-mail accounts,
and setting them up is a breeze. Several instant messaging applications, including AOL's AIM, Google Talk, ICQ,
Yahoo Messenger, and Windows Live Messenger, come pre-installed. You also get support for text and multimedia messaging.
While the interface of the built-in e-mail client is a bit bland, it's very usable. It's easy to see unread messages at a glance,
and typing messages on the 9700's keyboard is comfortable and fast.
Browsing the Web
The Blackberry Bold 9700 is T-Mobile's first 3G Blackberry phone; like the AT&T version,
it supports both the high-speed HSDPA 3G network as well as Wi-Fi wireless networks, so you have plenty of options for speedy Web browsing.
What it lacks, though, is a top-notch Web browser. The Blackberry browser is serviceable,
but it's still lacking the refinements found on rival mobile browsers. Accessing the address bar requires opening a menu,
and then going to an entirely new page -- you can type in a new URL while viewing an existing site.
And while you can go back a page by pressing the button below the 9700's display, you can only move forward by opening a menu again.
Camera
The 3.2-megapixel camera on the Bold 9700 is a notable improvement from the 2-megapixel shooter found on the original Bold.
The snapshots it captured were remarkably clear and colorful. You get an autofocus, too,
which is a nice touch -- unless you're trying to capture a moving subject.
The kids I was trying to photograph couldn't seem to sit still long enough for the auto focus to do its work.
The camera captures serviceable video clips, too.
Music and More
The included media player is not exceptional, but it's perfectly serviceable -- and that's not a bad thing.
It's easy to use as a way of organizing and playing back audio and video files. Music quality was very good,
and videos looked gorgeous on the 9700's sharp display.
The AT&T version of the Bold 9700 comes with some multimedia extras that the T-Mobile version lacks,
such as support for AT&T's mobile music service.
Bottom Line
The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is an excellent smartphone -- but is it the best BlackBerry yet? I think so.
It's sleeker than the excellent BlackBerry Tour, and it offers Wi-Fi support, which the Tour unforgivably lacks.
But the Tour has the benefit of running on the Verizon Wireless network, which may be enough of a draw for many users.
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