Apple launched the iPhone last year. After the launch, the iPhone brought with itself a host of accessories, rumors, speculations, grudges and enemies. As far as I remember no other phone has gathered so mush attention than the iPhone. Apple has somehow made sure that their phone is like their other products, simply awesome and one of the best. However, I don’t agree to the fact that it is the best gadget around if you talk about a multi function mobile phone. But when it comes to the interface it provides to the user, the music functionalities, the iPhone is simply awesome. You must have read many people writing about the iPhone accessories, rumors and their own speculations. I really appreciate these people who put so much of time and brains behind putting all this together. The iPhone has also seen many other mobile companies launching phones that were touted as iPhone killers by bloggers, tech enthusiasts, and media people. On the top of that the 3G iPhone is supposed to be launched in June 2008 and this will create many more enemies for it. I have tried to compile a list of phones, which I think can be iPhone killers. These phones have already been launched and their manufacturers might have thought at the back of their mind that they will be competing with the iPhone. I have not ranked these phones. Here you go,
HTC Touch Diamond 
HTC, the guys who gave you the mobile phone with Touch Flo, technology, which was also called as the iPhone killer (but failed miserably), have launched the new HTC Touch Diamond. The HTC Diamond runs Windows Mobile 6.1 and has prism like look on the backside, which is not new, given the same look of Nokia Prism and the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1. The phone has unique touch interface called the 3D touch interface and is full touch screen without any external keys. It can kill iPhone with its 2.8 inch screen, 3.2 mega pixel clicker, a GPS receiver, Wi-Fi and other host of functionalities. It fails because it has Windows Mobile 6.1 OS, which is not that touch friendly; it hangs perennially. Though I am calling it the iPhone killer, it will actually make life tough for the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1.
[Image Via:
Newsmobile Italy]
Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1
Sony Ericsson launched the XPERIA X1 at the CTIA 2008, The X1 is from the XPERIA series of Sony Ericsson that emphasizes on the extreme multimedia capabilities in a mobile phone. The X1 has a unique and a never to be seen before UI from Sony Ericsson and runs the Windows Mobile 6.0 Operating System. The phone is Quad band, has 3G, HSDPA, HSUPA and UMTS support. The only drawback in this phone is the Windows Mobile OS 6.0, which I think would not be able to match the capabilities of the X1. I am calling it as the iPhone killer as it has 3G support, which the iPhone does not have, the 3.2 mega pixel camera of the X1 is far better than the 2 mega pixel snapper. However, the iPhone runs a derived version of the OS X, whihc is way ahead of Windows Mobile, literally on every front. The XPERIA X1 will be coming in September 2008, after the launch of 3G iPhone, which is planned in June 2008.
Nokia Tube or the Nokia 5800
Nokia showcased the Tube or some call it the Nokia 5800 XpressMedia at a recent conference. The Tube is being called as the next iPhone killer with full touch screen UI. iPhonecodec.com even got the specs of Nokia Tube from a Nokia insider. So let’s see why the Tube is being called as the iPhone killer. It is not that Nokia is working on this Tube project recently, they are working on this from months and may be this might be their first device running the S60 touch, which will also be launched recently. One main advantage that Tube has over iPhone is Java, the Tube is supposed to have Java built-in where as iPhone doesn't have Java support that makes it less attractive. The Tube will support mobile TV and will be easily able to upload photos to the web using a WiFi or a HSDPA connection. But it is not confirmed yet as to what kind of connectivity will the Tube support WiFi or HSDPA, if you ask me it will have WiFi or both but not just HSDPA, given the penetration and popularity of WiFi technology. Tube will certainly face competition from the upcoming 3G iPhone is the US and European market. Nokia has strong foothold in Europe but its not true when it comes to US, where the people are iPhone crazy. Ohh by the way the Tube is supposed to have a 3.2 mega pixel clicker, where as iPhone has 2 mega pixel clicker that also without flash and it is being frequently reported that Apple iPhone's camera is not that great. So the Tube will give tough competition to iPhone in the near future. Looking at all this I think Tube will be a tough competitor for Apple's iPhone, but that will take some time as Apple as already made people crazy with its iPhone and now those crazy mobile lovers are waiting for the 3G one whereas the Tube is yet to be launched. With built-in GPS and A-GPS support, Wi-Fi, Quad Band GSM, UMTS, HSDPA and EDGE, Bluetooth with A2DP support and a standard 3.5mm audio jack for your standard headphones Nokia Tube is ready to take iPhone head on.
RIM BlackBerry 9500 ThunderThis is the next iPhone killer in the making from the RIM’s stable, the guys who have given BlackBerry branded enterprise monsters. BlackBerry 9500, which will be a touch screen Blackberry with completely different interface. Some people are also saying that 9500 might be a next iPhone killer. The device is going to be called as Thunder and will be available on Vodafone and Verizon networks. Coincidentally, Vodafone is launching iPhone in India in the month of September and BlackBerry Thunder will also be launched in the month of September. Thunder 9500 will support 3G and like the BlackBerry Bold it will have a 624MHz dedicated processor. There is no detail on how this phone will look but some people say that it will be an Enhanced version of the BlackBerry Bold 9000. With the launch of the BlackBerry 9500 Thunder, RIM will kick-off its touch screen enterprise phone’s campaign and though it might loose to iPhone on the intuitive touch screen front it will beat iPhone by good margin when it comes to processing of enterprise applications. That’s why I think, 9500 will be the next iPhone killer.
Samsung F490
Samsung Mobile, has launched the Samsung F490, a 5 mega pixel touch screen camera phone, The company didn’t talk much about the phone in the on going CES2008. Anyways these are the official specs of this imaging monster:
• Tri band GSM (900/1800/1900), UMTS 2100, HSDPA 3.6 Mbps
• 3.2″ 262K Color 16:9 Wide Full Touch Display with Haptics feedback
• Croix interface
• 5 mpx camera, video recording (MPEG4, QVGA at 15 fps)
• Video playback at 30 fps
• 130 MB of Internal memory
• microSD card slot
• Bluetooth 2.0 (A2DP+AVRCP)
• Dimensions: 115 x53.5 x11.8 mm
• Weight: 102g
It seems companies like Samsung are thinking to take Nokia and Sony Ericsson in the mobile imaging market. Given the kind of resolution Samsung mobile screens have, the images clicked by the 5meg-pixel camera of F490 will surely look great and the kind of specs it is sporting F490 is here to give some tough time to the iPhone.
