Apple iPhone 4: the alternatives

Posted in iPhone News by admin. Published June 15th, 2010

Apple iPhone 4: the alternatives

Pre-orders for Apple’s iPhone 4 begin tomorrow – but there are other options on the market, and all those featured here are cheaper. Prices vary by network.

Samsung Galaxy S

This is the only phone on the list that does everything the iPhone 4
does, and
more because it comes with free satnav courtesy of Google.

Samsung’s take on the Android interface also includes a Social Hub
that
aggregates social network data about all your contacts, and there’s a
4in
AMOLED screen and a camera with the ability to shoot HD movies, just
like
iPhone 4. With video calling Apps such as Fring, you can hold your own

teleconferences. All that remains to be seen is whether it will
acquire the
cache of an Apple device. It runs Android 2.1, but will get an update
in the
future.

More...

iPhone 3GS

Don’t be seduced in to breaking the bank for the sake of the iPhone 4’s
amazing screen and industrial design; many of its best new features
are
software-dependent, and the new Apple

mobile operating system, iOS4 will be available for free to all iPhone
3GS
users. The new software will breathe new life in to your 3GS, bringing
with
it Folders (for organising your apps), Multitasking (so you can run
more
than one app at once), unified Mail inboxes and the iBooks ebook app.

HTC Desire

Until the launch of the iPhone 4, the HTC Desire was the best-looking
handset
on the market. Solidly constructed, its design feels industrial
without
being unfriendly, and it runs Android 2.1. That means it offers full
multitasking, free satnav, video-calling via apps and there’s also
HTC’s
Sense user interface to add a whole new level of widgets and
slickness. An
upgrade to Android 2.2, which means a massive speed bump and wifi
hotspotting, is promised when Google officially release the new
software.

Nexus One

The first phone to have Google’s design influence over traditional
Android
handsets, the Nexus One remains a slick, desirable handset, and it’s
likely
to be the first phone that will get upgraded to FroYo (Android 2.2) –
it’s
intuitive, a viable iPod substitute when used with the Amazon MP3
store, and
the price is coming down rapidly. It’s also available in Vodafone
stores,
rather than online only as it was in America.

Dell Streak

Is it an iPhone rival? Is it an iPad rival? Who knows? This 5in tablet
computer is said by Dell to be very much a data-first device, albeit
one
that happens to make phone calls. Video playback is impressive too.
Use it
with a Bluetooth headset, and this is a handset that genuinely expands
the
possibilities of what you can do on the move. Sadly, it currently runs

Android 1.6, and no released Android app is yet a patch on those
available
on the iPad for reading magazines or newspapers. But give it time…

[Thanks: http://www.telegraph.co.uk]