By Suzanne Choney, contributor
Introduction
The iPhone is nearly two years old, yet it’s still one of the coolest – and most imitated -- phones out there with its large touchscreen, easy-to-see-and-use Web browsing and easy-to-read e-mail features. “Considering almost no phone had a touchscreen before the iPhone, now just about every phone has one,” says Allen Nogee, In-Stat’s wireless and infrastructure technology analyst. Apple’s introduction of the App Store last summer only strengthened the iPhone’s appeal, with nearly a billion downloads so far of more than 25,000 iPhone programs, some free, some paid, ranging from the silly (gas-passing noises) to the serious (budget-management help). Now, everyone and their brother, it seems, has or will be starting an app store, from BlackBerry to Verizon with its Hub home phone. About 17 million iPhones have been sold. A new iPhone -- including, perhaps, a $99 model (the lowest price now is $199) -- is due out in June or July. Meanwhile, new iPhone-like mobiles continue to multiply, with some focusing on specialty interests, such as scheduling, GPS or camera capabilities. Read on to learn more.";
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Palm Pre
Palm is reportedly readying the Pre (rhymes with “tree”) for a possible mid-May release, pushing it ahead of the originally announced June/July schedule. That’s smart thinking on the smartphone maker’s part, with a new iPhone due out in June or July. Along with BlackBerrys, Palm’s Treo, and then Centro, were among the more popular smartphones until the iPhone made a dent – some might say a gash – in Palm’s market. The Pre may preempt further incursions. The 4.76-ounce phone will have a 3.1-inch touchscreen plus a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, something that’s lacking on the iPhone. The totally revamped Palm operating system will include something the iPhone and other phones do not have: the ability to give users one view of all their contacts from different sources, including Outlook and other e-mail accounts, as well as from Facebook. Users will also be able to multi-task by keeping more than one program open at a time. The Pre will include Wi-Fi, GPS and a 3-megapixel camera. No word on pricing yet, but the Pre will be carried exclusively by Sprint.";
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Samsung Impression
Samsung’s Instinct last year led the way for a subsequent series of snazzy phones from the company that played upon the Instinct’s strengths and improved on it. The Impression is among the newest, and also is the first phone in the United States to be sold with an AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) screen. That means the colors really pop off the screen, while sipping less power than traditional cell phones. Another differentiating feature of the phone is that it’s quadband so it can work on four different GSM frequencies, a plus for travelers in Europe and Asia. The 5.3-ounce Impression is rated for up to three hours’ of talk time, and up to 250 hours on standby. The phone has a 3.2-inch resistive touchscreen that uses haptic feedback, so when you touch an icon on the screen, you feel a little vibration as a confirmation of your touch. It’s not considered a smartphone, but it is a fun feature phone that does a good job with text messaging, especially with a fairly responsive slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It also includes a 3-megapixel camera. The Impression costs $199.99, after a $50 mail-in rebate and signing a two-year contract with AT&T.";
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BlackBerry Storm
Research In Motion’s first all-touchscreen phone pleased some Verizon Wireless customers who wanted an iPhone-like device. But they might have been happier if AT&T, the exclusive carrier of the iPhone, and Verizon Wireless, exclusive carrier of the BlackBerry Storm, swapped products. The Storm lacks what BlackBerrys are known for, their excellent, physical keyboards, and the Storm’s three touchscreen keyboards have been difficult to master by even those with the most deft digits. Don’t rule out the Storm yet, though. A new and improved version is rumored for this fall and may include Wi-Fi, which the current Storm does not. The phone’s 3.25-inch screen is ample for viewing e-mail and Web sites, and makes a good canvas for programs from RIM’s new App World, which lets users directly download programs to the phone. The Storm weighs 5.46 ounces, includes a 3.2-megapixel camera, video camera and voice-activated dialing. It costs $199.99 with a two-year contract with Verizon Wireless.";
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Garmin-Asus nuvifone
GPS device-maker Garmin and netbook manufacturer Asus have gone outside their comfort zones and teamed up to make phones with location-based services at their core. Two models, the M20 and G60 are due in the coming months, although there’s no word on pricing or wireless carriers yet. The G60 will be a Linux operating system-based phone; the M20 will use Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional with enterprise e-mail. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.) Both phones will have “turn-by-turn voice-prompted directions,” and will “automatically” recalculate if a turn is missed along the way, the companies say. Reflecting its GPS mission, the G60 will have a 3.55-inch display, slightly larger than that of the iPhone’s 3.5-inch screen. The G60’s screen will display three main icons: “Call,” “Search” and “View map.” The M20 will have a 2.8-inch screen, and include Microsoft Office and Exchange ActiveSync for Outlook e-mail. Nuvifones will also include “Ciao!” a program that “helps users stay up to date on their friends’ whereabouts and status by linking numerous location-centric social networks,” the companies say. “Through Ciao! nuvifone users will see their friends’ location on a map and then be able to navigate to that location with ease.”";
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Sony Ericsson Idou
Right now, it’s an idea, not an Idou, and even the name may change by the time it’s released later this year. But when it is, it should appeal to those who use their cell phones for many of their snapshots. The Idou (technically known as the W995 Walkman) will have a 12-megapixel camera. Samsung’s new Memoir phone is about the nearest competitor in that arena, with an 8-megapixel camera. Most phone cameras are 1.3- and 2-megapixels, with 3 megapixels and higher getting into the “Yup, I think I’ll try to save this picture rather than delete it” category. The Idou, with a 3.5-inch touchscreen, won’t just focus on photos, though; it will also be a prime candidate for music, games, movies, TV and video clips. No word on pricing or carrier yet, but the Idou will be a GSM phone. In the United States, AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM networks; Verizon Wireless and Sprint use CDMA networks.";
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T-Mobile G1, aka the 'Google phone'
The G1, carried by T-Mobile exclusively, is made by HTC and is also known as the “Google phone” because it runs on Android, Google’s open-source based operating system. Released last fall, the G1 was the first, and until now, the only Android-based phone, but an update may be in the works and other Android models are coming from HTC and Samsung. If you live your life around Google, the phone is a good fit for using the company’s programs, including search, Gmail, Google Docs, Google Maps and Google Talk (instant messaging). So far, no programs are available that let the G1 work with Microsoft’s Exchange ActiveSync. An over-the-air update of Android itself, version 1.5, is also due out soon and will provide features such as speech recognition and a touch keyboard. At 5.6 ounces, it’s a little clunky, but not onerous. The G1 has a 3.2-inch screen, slide-out QWERTY keyboard and 3.2-megapixel camera. The phone is $179.99 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile.";
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LG Versa
Like a lot of touchscreen phones now (except for the iPhone) the Versa also has a QWERTY keyboard. But with the Versa, the keyboard doesn’t just slide out; you can also detach it from the device if you don’t want to take it along with you, then rely on the virtual on-screen keyboard for punching out a quick text message. The Versa has a 3-inch display and can be used for playing games (although there aren’t many out yet). But you’ll need to buy the optional gaming controller first (around $29), which snaps onto the phone, in place of the keyboard. The Versa, which weighs 3.81 ounces, includes a 2-megapixel camera and camcorder. The phone is $199.99 with a two-year contract from Verizon Wireless. "; Tech_iPhoneWannabees[i++] = new Array("","HTC Touch Diamond2","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/090417-TouchDiamond2-vmed-1026a.hmedium.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "HTC", "273", "160", "#000000", "", "", "", ""); Tech_iPhoneWannabees[i-1].body = "
HTC Touch Diamond2
The Touch Diamond2, a Windows Mobile-based phone, is the newest version of HTC’s successful Touch Diamond, carried by Sprint. The original Touch Diamond was one of the smaller touchscreen phones – maybe too small -- with a 2.8-inch screen. The Touch Diamond2, available later this year, has a 3.2-inch screen. It will also include a 5-megapixel camera, compared to the 3.2-megapixel camera in the existing Touch Diamond. Both versions have video-recording capabilities. HTC says the Touch Diamond2 also includes a touch-sensitive zoom bar “for even faster zooming of Web pages, e-mails, text messages, photos or documents.” No word on pricing yet. Until the Touch Diamond2 arrives, the original Touch Diamond costs $199.99 with a two-year contract from Sprint.";
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