Right now, due to bombastic success of Iphone, Iphone 3g and Iphone 3G S, many mobile developing companies have turned their heads towards making better touch screen phones which can compete a good list of Iphone features.
Some mobiles have done it quite successfully and they have introduced greater features than Iphone.
Iphone 3g (and S) have become one of the most talked phones in history, that's why I believe that you already know their wonderful features and specs. Iphone 3G S offered more than what 3G used to offer us.
2X faster than its predecessor, 3MP camera, compass, landscape keyboard, voice control, and much more.
Well, if were to buy, then I would have liked the speed, compass and voice control features. Because everything else, is a matter of software update. Iphone 3g had no support for landscape keyboard and cut-copy-paste, features when it was launched. But with software update 2.0, these features came along with it.
As far as camera is concerned, it is true that any camera having same MP value can easily defeat a camera mobile. It would just a waste of hopes to think that you'll get awesome pictures with 3MP Iphone 3G S mobile and not with 3MP canon's digital camera.
Hence, if I were to put some mobiles in direct competition with Iphone 3G then I'll put these in the list.
1. Nokia N900 (resistive touch-screen, 3.5″ display, slide-out keypad, Maemo interface, fastest mobile ever developed by Nokia).
2. Nokia N97 (resistive touch-screen, 3.5″ display, slide-out keypad and some good features)
3. Samsung Omnia i8910 HD (capacitive touch-screen, 3.7″ display, virtual keyboard)
All of the mobiles stated above are A-class mobiles, means they have all those features which a premium PDA device must have. Like Wi-Fi, 3G, easy contacts sync, fast messaging, social net sharing, blazing fast platforms, etc.
What I want to state is, all three of the phones stated above have features greater than Iphone 3G and 3G S. Like if you want to compare Omnia's touch sensitivity with Iphone 3G S, then Omnia HD gets an upper hand.
While I searched on net for a touch screen mobile and what are the pros and cons of Iphone 3G (S is not available in India right now), I couldn't find many and finally when I got one, I really liked it (Iphone 3G). But I can't say that I loved it, because there are some problems which used to bug me. The main problem I used to face was rapid decrease in battery power while I worked on Wi-Fi (can't work of 3G as Airtel and Vodafone are currently trying to get 3G spectrum from government next year, in 2010). The mobile used to over-heat now and then and as a result, I had to put it off a while and then resume working.
These were such problems that I never faced with Nokia. As promised, Nokia had been keen to deliver good battery life and Blackberry is also performing great too (they have attached their mobiles with Idea network).
People used to say that Iphone 3G may not feature as great features as other phones right now (comments quite a while ago), but whatever it does, it does it elegantly and satisfactorily.
That saying cannot be justified in India (at least not for now) because just like we have a little greater faith in Brand-Nokia, we have greater faith in certain network operators too.
Samsung, Nokia, LG, HTC, etc., are performing great with their awesome PDAs'. Because we prefer the liberty of choosing our own operators rather than get tied up with pre-defined operators.
Yeah! It's true that Vodafone and Airtel are great companies and they are obviously quite dependable network brands. The main problem is, they don't perform likewise in every state and place. Same goes for rest of the network brands of India, i.e. Bsnl, Idea, etc. So, there are some places where Airtel can rock your world, but there are also those places where it can get dead as anything.
It is not a biggy here to role with many sim cards in your pocket. Some do it for fun and some for better accessibility for the place they are going to travel. It does help a lot.
In Maharashtra, Vodafone have become the most dependable mobile network brand, while in M.P. people are still preferring Airtel and Idea over any other operator. Likewise, in rural areas, Bsnl is all what they need and in here (M.P.), it feels like a networking fraud.
I hope you got my point. You can do two chores; you can either get an Iphone 3G (with Vodafone or Airtel connection) and a cheap mobile to switch over your extra sim card or you can buy any of the mentioned PDAs' (and there are other models too which are specific (either 3G or Wi-Fi) and less pricey).
The choice is up to you. There is no doubt that Iphone 3G is a great mobile and S will be launched soon enough. But if you want to get more flexibility and features then you must always choose a mobile which does not bind you with itself.
P.S. – You are the buyer and the user, not the mobile!
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