Latest Mobiles

Today, touchscreen mobile phones are popping up everywhere and are offered by almost all mobile phone manufacturers. It you are looking to own your very first touchscreen mobile phone but not sure which one to choose from, read on. In this feature, we compare three of the latest touchscreen mobile phones, namely Apple iPhone 3G, HTC Touch Pro and Samsung Omnia SGH-i900. We checkout how good they are in terms of looks, user interface, features, and more.

Design and build quality

Apple iPhone 3G

The iPhone 3G has a larger surface area compared to the HTC Touch Pro and Samsung Omnia, but is the slimmest among them. Despite its size, the iPhone 3G is heavier than it looks. The rear feels plasticky though the overall build is fairly sturdy. According to the manufacturer, there is a scratch-resistant glass on top of the display that can handle aggressive usage, even with a stylus.

HTC Touch Pro

The HTC Touch Pro is the chunkier version of its Touch Diamond sibling and the reason, HTC included a QWERTY keyboard that slides from the left. This makes for the easy text entry. Needless to say, the Touch Pro is the heaviest of the lot at 165g, but the build quality is very solid. Flip it over and the rear reveals a familiar diamond-like exterior but in a non-reflective rubber material.

Samsung Omnia SGH-i900

In terms of size and weight, the Samsung Omnia SGH-i900 is inbetween the HTC and Apple with a two-tone black and silver finish. It feels a little like a plastic toy with average build quality. But the brushed metallic rear and the glossy front makes the overall appearance look very stylish.

Winner: HTC Touch Pro

While the HTC Touch Pro may look like an oversize candy bar, it should have no problem against accidental drops and bumps compared to the other two.



A view on the thickness of the touchscreen mobile phones. From thinnest to thickest: Apple iPhone 3G, Samsung Omnia and HTC Touch Pro.

User Interface

Apple iPhone

The Apple iPhone 3G incorporates iPhone OS and offers an easy-to-use interface to access the various applications and settings. The applications and settings are organized using icons, with 16 on each page (and four standard ones at the bottom - Phone, Mail, Safari and iPod). Because the touchscreen allows for easy and intuitive use you can easily navigate the menus through touching and dragging with your finger. Up, down, left, right, diagonally and even multi-touch.

HTC Touch Pro

Preinstalled with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, the Touch Pro uses HTC's proprietary TouchFLO 3D user interface (like the HTC Diamond) that not only looks neat, but is also easy to use. The Windows Mobile Start button is located at the top left hand corner of the screen, while at the bottom of the is the main menu - Phone, People, Messages, Mail, Internet, Photos and Videos, Music, Weather, Settings and Programs. You can scroll the menu by touching and dragging your finger left and right.

Samsung Omnia SGH-i900

Like the HTC Touch Pro, the Samsung Omnia is also powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and features Samsung's full touch based UI with Haptical touch feedback. The main screen comes with a widget bar on the left that allows you to access the time, date, music player, photo gallery, notepad and even games, simply by dragging the icon from the bar to the empty space on the right. Of course, if you prefer a more structured menu, just click the main menu at the bottom right of the display.

Winner: Apple iPhone 3G

The iPhone 3G has a neater looking user interface and offers a faster and easier way to access the applications and settings.

Features

Apple iPhone 3G

The iPhone 3G not only supports GSM/EDGE and HSDPA network, but it also offers 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, assisted GPS and integrated 2.0-megapixel camera for photo taking. However, the camera has no zoom capability nor can it take video. It also does not have an expansion memory card slot for additional memory, though it comes in 8GB and 16GB capacities which should suffice.


The iPhone 3G has an organized user interface that is extremely easy to use, especially with various multi-touch gestures.

HTC Touch Pro

Besides 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity, the Touch Pro comes with a QWERTY keyboard that slides out on the left for convenient data entry. It has a built-in GPS antenna, 3.0-megapixel camera with 2x digital zoom and a microSD slot for expansion.



The HTC Touch Pro features a QWERTY keyboard that can slide out from the left for ease of typing your emails and messages.

Samsung Omnia SGH-i900
The Omnia is on par with the Apple in terms of wireless connectivity and assisted GPS. However, it leads the pack with a whopping 5-megapixel camera and a front camera for video calls. The Samsung also comes with built-in 8 or 16GB memory and a microSD card slot that supports up to 8GB.

Winner: Samsung Omnia SGH-i900

In terms of features, the three phones are very much on par. However, the Samsung Omnia SGH-i900 has the highest megapixel camera and expansion storage capacity with the included microSD slot.

Battery Life

For battery life tests, we charge the touchscreen phones fully and leave their backlight on with no dimming. The display brightness for the phones are set at 40% and we measured the time each lasted before they automatically shut down.

Apple iPhone 3G

On a full charge, the iPhone lasted 9hr 51min in our battery drain test. But note that, with auto dimming and casual usage, it can last more than 17 hours before the need to recharge.

HTC Touch Pro

The HTC Touch Pro did quite well in the battery life tests. It lasted 10hr 39min before it has to shut down.

Samsung Omnia SGH-i900
In the end, it was the Omnia SGH-i900 that outlasted the HTC and Apple with an impressive timing of 11hr 02min.

Winner: Samsung Omnia SGH-i900

The test results are clear. The Omnia SGH-i900 is the winner in the battery life tests.


Conclusion

Let's face it. No touchscreen mobile phone is perfect as each one has their strengths and weaknesses and it is up to mobile manufacturers to come up with improved future models. In this touchscreen mobile phone comparison, the Samsung Omnia SGH-i900 edged ahead as the winner with its outstanding battery life and slightly more attractive features. You can get this phone from authorized retailers for S$1098 (without phone contract)

We enjoyed the Apple iPhone 3G user interface and usability. However, the bad news is, you can only purchase this phone from SingTel as a new subscriber or an existing subscriber renewing your contract. It is currently retailing at S$728 with a new SingTel Classic plan.

If you are a mobile phone user who can't live without a physical QWERTY keyboard and don't mind bulkiness, the HTC Touch Pro is your choice.