It is perhaps the time of the year when all cellphone makers are upgrading to the next level in touchscreen smartphone battle.
Just as Apple lifts the curtain off its upgraded, next-generation iconic device, Nokia has a ready touchcreen rival to take it on. Not far is the Korean giant Samsung, which already boasts of many new high-end smartphones in its kitty. And the latest to join them is US-based Palm which recently showed its strong iPhone contender. Not to be left behind is HTC which has launched its upgraded Touch Diamond 2.
All the companies are aiming to grab the growing touchscreen mobile marketshare, the segment created by Apple iPhone, which boasts of high-end multimedia features.
Here's a compare meter that evaluates iPhone 3G S, Samsung Pixon, Nokia N97, Palm Pre, HTC Touch Diamond 2 and LG Arena on various yardsticks.
1. LOOKS AND DISPLAY
Plam Pre: Measuring 59.5mm x 100.5mm x 16.95mm, the Palm's latest entrant weighs 135 grams. The phone boasts of 3.1-inch touchscreen with a 24-bit color 320x480 resolution HVGA display. The phone comes with a multi-touch screen as well as physical QWERTY keyboard that slides out.
iPhone 3G S: iPhone 3G S offers nothing new in terms of looks. The phone looks exactly same like its predecessors with same dimensions and screen display. Both 16GB and 32GB models will be available in Black and white colour options.
Pixon12: Measuring 108x53x13.8mm, Samsung Pixon12 features a 3.1-inch AMOLED touchscreen display. The screen boasts of a contrast ratio of 10,000:1.
N97: The sleek handset pairs a 3.5 inch touchscreen with a QWERTY keyboard. The slide-out QWERTY keyboard is a full 3-row. The smartphone transforms from a touch slate to a landscape QWERTY device. The touchscreen has a 16:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels.
HTC Touch Diamond2: The 13.7mm thick Touch Diamond2 has a 3.2-inch high-resolution wide-screen VGA display and packs a new touch sensitive zoom bar for faster zooming.
LG Arena: The phone has a 3-inch WVGA screen with around 16M colours with 400 by 240 pixel resolution.
2. FEATURES
Plam Pre: One of Pre's most promising features is its integration with social networking services such as Facebook. The phone is also strong on multi-tasking, the ability to have different applications open at the same time. Pre allows users to zoom in and flip through applications without closing them. It lets text messages and calendar appointments appear as notifications at the bottom of the screen.
iPhone 3G S: The new iPhone promises MMS capability allowing users to send each other photographs from the phone. Earlier, users could send text messages or snapshots via email only. The new version also has cut-copy-paste feature. The voice control feature in the iPhone 3G S allows users to dial by saying the name or number. Search features have also been enhanced in iPhone 3.0 with the addition of Spotlight.
Pixon12: The phone packs features like GPS, Bluetooth and an FM radio with RDS. Pixon12 offers a fast image saving feature that allows users to capture next shot in less than 2-3 seconds.
N97: The phone has a 3.5mm headset jack, microUSB port used for syncing and charging, Haptic feedback and 1500 mAh battery. The N97 introduces the concept of social location (So-Lo). Using the GPS receiver and integrated compass, N97 has the capability to always know where it is located and with social networking integrated it can broadcast that position to authorised friends and family. Nokia claims that the N97 will use a browser that supports Flash and Flash video.
HTC Touch Diamond2: One of the latest features that Diamond 2 packs is HTC Push Internet. It’s designed to ease slow downloading and rendering of Web pages on a mobile phone.
LG Arena: The phone features a new 3D S-class user interface to provide quality audio and video output. Arena is said to be the first phone in the global market to use Dolby Mobile from Dolby Laboratories meant to deliver enhanced sound experience.
3. CAMERA
Plam Pre: Pre has a 3 megapixel camera that can shoot in both horizontal and landscape mode. Pre is designed to let you scroll through your photos by dragging your finger across the screen.
iPhone 3G S: With iPhone 3G S, Apple has finally fulfilled a long time wish of its fans by increasing the megapixel count of its iconic device. The new phone now packs an improved 3 megapixel camera with video capturing, auto-focus mechanism and editing capabilities.
Pixon12: The phone's USP is its 12 megapixel camera which puts it miles ahead of its competitors. Samsung claims that it is world's first phone with 12 megapixel camera. Pixon packs a Xenon power LED flash and touch autofocus, which lets users decide the focal point with the touch of a finger. Pixon12 also has a 28mm wide angle lens and a Smart Auto feature. Pixon12 records with 720 by 480 resolution at 30 frames per second.
N97: The phone packs 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash.
HTC Touch Diamond2: Touch Diamond2 has 5 megapixel auto focus camera.
LG Arena: Arena packs a 5 megapixel camera with auto focus. The company says the camera is capable of recording DVD resolution videos.
4. STORAGE
Plam Pre: As for storage, Pre packs 8GB memory storage. It offers support for USB mass storage.
iPhone 3G S: Apple's latest version of iPhone has a higher 32GB memory capacity. The new model will come in choices of 16GB and 32GBmemory capacity. The iPhone 3G (second generation) comes in 8 and 16GB model versions.
Pixon12: As for memory capacity, Pixon12 comes with 150MB of internal memory and supports up to 16GB of MicroSD cards.
N97: Nokia's second touchscreen phone offers a 32GB memory with microSD for adding 16GB more (making it a staggering 48GB).
HTC Touch Diamond2: The phone packs 512 MB ROM and 288 MB RAM. The phone supports microSD memory card for expansion.
LG Arena: The phone has a 8GB of internal memory and a 32GB micro SD slot.
5. COST
Plam Pre: Palm Pre is selling for $199 with a 2-year contract and mail-in rebate in US.
iPhone 3G S: 16GB iPhone 3GS will cost $199, and the 32GB model will come with a price tag of $299. The price of the original 8GB iPhone 3G dropped to $99 from $199.
Pixon12: Samsung Pixon12 will be available for the European markets by the end of this month. The company says that the phone will reach other markets by October. However, Samsung has not revealed the pricing details so far.
N97: The phone is priced around Rs 35,000.
HTC Touch Diamond2: The comes with a price of Rs 29,990.
LG Arena: Priced at Rs 24,990, LG Arena is available in silver and black titanium colours.
6. OPERATING SYSTEM
Plam Pre: Palm's latest smartphone will run on Palm webOS.
iPhone 3G S: The device comes with the latest iPhone OS 3.0 mobile operating system that promises over hundred new features.
Pixon 12: Samsung Pixon is based on Symbian S60 OS 5th edition.
N97: The smartphone runs on S60, the latest version of Nokia’s Symbian operating system.
HTC Touch Diamond2: The phone runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 OS.
7. MISCELLANEOUS
Plam Pre: Pre packs a built-in music player. The Palm media sync feature allows users to transfer DRM-free iTunes music, podcasts, photos, and more to Pre.
iPhone 3G S: The new version also packs a built-in digital compass that will help users locate their way. The new Compass app will automatically reorient maps to match the direction.
Pixon 12: The phone's camera has touch-based focus, allowing users to tap on the screen to select what they want to focus. The phone also packs quad-band GSM/EDGE, dual-band UMTS/HSPA, Bluetooth and GPS.
N97: Unlike the iPhone and other smartphones which have applications, N97 has widgets. These widgets appear as square and rectangular icons and offer shortcuts to frequent contacts, calendar, music player and other phone features. N97 will be the company's first phone to come preloaded with Nokia's just-launched Ovi store. Described as a one-stop shop ecosystem for all things that a smartphone user might need, Ovi comes packed with over 20,000 titles from launch, including both free and paid applications and also podcasts, wallpapers and ringtones.
HTC Touch Diamond2: Among other features, the phone has gravity and an ambient light sensor, 3G, Wi-Fi, EDGE, Bluetooth with A2DP. It also has HTC’s latest Touch FLO 3D interface.
LG Arena: The phone includes enhanced Internet connectivity with HSDPA 7.2 networks, Wi-Fi and A-GPS.
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