| There can be no doubt that iPhone is excellent. A large | | | | The reflection speed is attached with the most |
| number of Apple fans queued for scare buying since it | | | | importance by users. T-Mobile G1, which was listed on |
| was launched. But its faults - video recording, | | | | the bottom in last sections, ranks first with 4 mark in |
| unchangeable battery, MMS, only synchronization with | | | | this section. Nokia 5800, which adopted S60 5TH |
| iTunes, make some users disappointed. Almost all | | | | Edition, gets 2.5', ranking on the last place. The final |
| mobile phones are imitating iPhone's big touch screen, | | | | result shows that Blackberry 9500 is the champion, |
| florid users interface, and gravity sensor. Some | | | | HTC Touch Diamond and HTC Touch HD equal |
| copyists make a perfect reproduction in appearance | | | | second. |
| but with an odd interface. Anyway there are some | | | | Display (10') |
| brilliant copyists. In some aspects they have great | | | | Needless to say, display means a lot to "big touching |
| advantage. We call these phones "iPhone killers". We | | | | screen" phones. This section is divided into 3 parts - |
| find that these "killers" have much in common - they all | | | | size, resolution and subjective evaluation. In this section |
| have 2.8" touch screen and equalizer. And their | | | | HTC Touch Diamond gets only 4' for its 2.8" VGA |
| cameras are better than iPhone's 2MP, most of them | | | | screen. |
| supporting auto focus. Does iPhone still have | | | | Two 1920x1200 pixels pictures were applied to test |
| predominance? Let's see with this evaluation of 9 | | | | saturation and contrast of these phones' display. They |
| iPhone killers. | | | | are classified into 3 levels. Blackberry 9500 is the first |
| We make the basic standards in this contest: | | | | level, LG KC910, T-Mobile G1, LG KP500 and Samsung |
| 1. No smaller than 2.8" touch screen | | | | M8800 the second, Nokia 5800, HTC Touch HD, |
| 2. Built-in gravity accelerator | | | | Samsung i908 and HTC Touch Diamond the third. |
| 3. No lower than 3MP camera | | | | Users experience (20') |
| According to this standard we get 9 handsets which | | | | More than 20 users were invited to experience the 9 |
| are very familiar to us. They are HTC Touch Diamond, | | | | handsets. After 2 hours we received 17 questionnaires |
| HTC Touch HD, LG KP500, LG LC910, Samsung i908, | | | | about easy use and reflection speed. T-Mobile G1, |
| Samsung M8800c, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic - Nokia's | | | | HTC Touch HD and Blackberry 9500 are ranked the |
| first touch screen phone, T-Mobile G1, and Blackberry | | | | first three. |
| 9500 Storm - Blackberry's first touch screen phone. All | | | | Vedio play (10')iPhone only supports M4V, MP4, MOV. |
| of them stand for the most sophisticated and newest | | | | Let's see these "iPhone killers". We play 13 video |
| technology. | | | | formats, including avi, mp4, rmvb, wmv, etc, in these |
| Rules: | | | | sets. If the phone can play one, it gets 1'. We mainly |
| With regard to iPhone's biggest feature - user | | | | test the built-in video player, but phones with open |
| interface and web browser, we had some rule | | | | operating system will earn more marks. |
| adjustment. Practical functions such as user | | | | Because CorePlayer can be installed in HTC Touch |
| experience and video play are paid more attention to | | | | Diamond, HTC Touch HD and Samsung i908, they are |
| while hardware such as camera and CPU are less | | | | all added 2'. Though G1 doesn't have a video player it |
| valued. Appearance, battery life, and price are kept as | | | | can play 480x352 pixels, H.264, H.263 format video |
| usual. | | | | providing Video Player is installed in Market. We gave it |
| 1. Appearance (10') | | | | 2'. |
| 2. User interface (20') | | | | Web browser (10')iPhone's Safari is considered to be |
| 3. Display (10') | | | | the best web browser. Youtube video player counts |
| 4. User experience (10') | | | | more and more. Browser and Youtube are the two |
| 5. Video play (10') | | | | items we test in this section. |
| 6. Web browser (10') | | | | Add-ons (10') |
| 7. Add-ons (10') | | | | In this contest the hardware equipment is not valued. |
| 8. Battery life (10') | | | | However, data link and some hardware equipment still |
| 9. Price (10') | | | | need our attention. In terms of data link we compare |
| Awards: | | | | their data interface, flash memory, expansion slot, |
| The best "iPhone killer" phone 2008 | | | | earphone slot, GPS, camera and speaker. HTC Touch |
| The most popular "iPhone killer" phone 2008 | | | | HD gets the highest mark - 7'. |
| The most cost-effective "iPhone killer" phone 2008 | | | | Standby (10') |
| Appearance (10') | | | | It seems that these iPhone killers' batteries are not |
| All these mobile phones are their brands' flagship. Five | | | | better than iPhone's. Fortunately their battery can be |
| editors marked them and then arrived at the average | | | | changed. We tested their theoretical battery life which |
| mark. The result shows that HTC Touch Diamond is | | | | is awarded 4' and practical performance which is |
| the most beautiful device. HTC Touch HD and | | | | awarded 6'. Nokia 5800 XpressMusic proves to be the |
| Samsung i908 take the second and the third | | | | best one. |
| placerespectively. | | | | Total score: |
| The diamond cuts on the back give the phone a name | | | | When counting the total score by Excel, we found the |
| "Diamond" which tells us HTC Touch Diamond's | | | | champion is HTC Touch HD one more time! It was |
| appearance is far from being ordinary. It looks slim and | | | | "the best hardware-equipped phone" in the test "17 |
| delicate. If you have some knowledge about Windows | | | | windows mobile smart phones contest" we made last |
| mobile operating system which is adopted in this | | | | December. In this contest, it is "the best iPhone killer |
| phone, you will understand how difficult it is to make it | | | | phone 2008". |
| as thin as 11.35mm and its weight as light as 110g. | | | | Windows mobile smart phone HTC Touch HD was |
| A 3.2MP, auto focus camera is placed on a silver | | | | released at the end of 2008. The most specific |
| triangle among diamond cuts on the back, which is | | | | feature is its super-high resolution and 3.8" screen. |
| exquisite. There is not too much decoration on flanks | | | | Developing direction: |
| and interfaces for the sake of its compact style. | | | | A. Special User InterfaceiPhone's UI is simple and |
| Interface (20') | | | | delicate, and "iPhone killers" have their own special UIs |
| Besides the Apple logo on the back, the gorgeous, | | | | and operating ways. Simple, convenient, brilliant user |
| strong, and easy to use interface is iPhone's another | | | | interfaces are always smart phones' selling point. |
| selling point. That's why we award 20' on this section, | | | | B. iPhone's App Store is thought to be the most |
| including comfort when touching, equalizer's scope, if | | | | mature commercial software platform. Android Market |
| supporting rolling menu or not, the fluency of rolling | | | | develops very fast. However, Windows Mobile, |
| menu, and reflection speed. 5' are awarded in each | | | | Symbian S60 and Blackberry haven't built their |
| section. | | | | software shop online so far. Symbian's signature is a |
| In the section of "comfort when touching" Blackberry | | | | bother. There is no doubt that in the future easy |
| 9500 gets full mark because of its "SurePress". HTC | | | | software downloading and online shop are the trend. |
| Touch HD gets 4' for its 3.8" touch screen. 4 Korean | | | | C. As 3G becomes more and more popular, mobile |
| mobile phones with vibration feedback, LG and | | | | phones will be the commonest device for WWW, |
| Samsung, get 3'. T-Mobile G1 ranks on the last place | | | | RSS, Twitter, online video, blog, even online games. |
| for its mechanical and blunt touching feeling. | | | | Phone-end internet application will be iPhone killers' |
| We tested equalizer's scope as well as its speed and | | | | developing direction. Google Android OS is open to |
| fluency in the section of "equalizer's scope". Blackberry | | | | internet all round. Like iPhone, it is a typical phone in the |
| 9500's main menu supports auto turning and it's very | | | | hand internet era. |
| swift and free-flowing, thus it ranks the first again. On | | | | In fact these phones are not as convenient and simple |
| the contrary, T-Mobile G1's equalizer is not available in | | | | as iPhone though we name them "iPhone killers". |
| all its interfaces. Which goes to the bottom again. | | | | iPhone still has dominance. "Simple is beauty." is Apple's |
| "Rolling menu" refers to switching interface by finger | | | | maxim. Do these killers have their own maxim? |
| rolling. HTC Touch Diamond, HTC Touch HD, | | | | We wish these phones could do more than imitating; |
| Blackberry 9500 and T-Mobile G1 are tied for first | | | | we hope to see more and more creation and evolution |
| place in this section. Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and | | | | in future phones; we hope to see and use phones |
| Samsung i908 are tied for last place, only supporting a | | | | much more interesting than iPhone. That's the ultimate |
| scroll bar. | | | | goal of this contest! |