Best cell phones – Yahoo! News
Just five years ago, finding the best cell phone meant choosing from just a handful available on every carrier. You might as well be buying car buying in 1912. Within just a few short years, the tech going into the phones has snowballed, and with it, so have the choices. The bigger challenge in 2011 might be walking into the local wireless store and walking out without a smartphone – the flip phones of yesterday are almost antiques. With that in mind, we’ve pared away the duds to narrow down the 10 best smartphones on the market today. Looking for a new cell phone on AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile or Sprint? Look no further.
*All listed prices require a two year contract.
Motorola Droid X$199.99, Digital Trends Rating: 8.5
Motorola’s Droid X joins the iPhone 4 and HTC EVO 4G in the top tier of superphones, boldly claiming its spot as the best Android smartphone on Verizon.
Read our full Motorola Droid X Review.
Apple iPhone 4$199.99, Digital Trends Rating: 8.5
Apple’s iPhone 4 delivers a super-sharp screen, clever videoconferencing abilities, and Apple’s iOS 4 is a major plus. Hardware specs aside, Apple’s unmatched app store is still the biggest draw for the iPhone.
Read our full Apple iPhone 4 Review.
Samsung Fascinate$199.99, Digital Trends Rating: 8.5
Samsung’s Galaxy S Fascinate holds its own alongside the popular Droid X, leaving room for both superphones on the nation’s largest wireless carrier.
Read our full Samsung Fascinate Review.
Samsung Epic 4G$249.99, Digital Trends Rating: 8.5
Even if you don’t or won’t have 4G service, the Epic is a flexible, light, fun and easy-to-use superphone. The Epic might be a value match for the EVO, thanks to its super-bright super AMOLED screen, slide-out keyboard and pre-installed 16GB microSD card, and even taking into account its minor operational annoyances and comparative specification failings in camera MP and hotspot connectivity.
Read our full Samsung Epic 4G Review.
HTC EVO 4G$199.99, Digital Trends Rating: 8.5
The EVO is a true breakthrough, not only for its impressive concoction of next-generation features and functions, but its overall look-and-feel. Even in “just” a 3G coverage area, the HTC EVO is an impressive cell phone, and will become more impressive as its 4G-enabled capabilities such as video chatting become available.
Read our full HTC EVO 4G Review.
Samsung Vibrant$99.99, Digital Trends Rating: 8
Samsung’s Vibrant has become the best Android phone on T-Mobile, and even outperforms its AT&T sibling, the Captivate.
Read our full Samsung Vibrant Review.
HTC Droid Incredible$199.99, Digital Trends Rating: 8
HTC’s Droid Incredible hits high marks for its speed, camera quality and light weight, but falls apart on cell phone essentials like battery life and voice quality.
Read our full HTC Droid Incredible Review.
Samsung Captivate$199.99, Digital Trends Rating: 7.5
Samsung’s iPhone-challenging Galaxy S Captivate offers a larger screen and blissful freedom from antenna issues, but has its own headaches, too, but the margins between the iPhone and Captivate are narrow enough not to make Captivate an uncomfortable non-Apple choice.
Read our full Samsung Captivate Review.
Motorola Droid 2$199.99, Digital Trends Rating: 7.5
Motorola’s Droid 2 takes only baby steps forward from the original, struggling to keep up with new titans like the Droid X.
Read our full Motorola Droid 2 Review.
T-Mobile G2$200
If you need a reminder just how far Android has come, look no further than T-Mobile’s G2, which makes its trail-blazing predecessor, the G1, look like an antique. While it keeps the trusty slide-out keyboard, the G2 rounds the G1’s chunky shape into a more pocket-hugging form, boosts speed and most importantly, takes full advantage of T-Mobile’s new HSPA+ network.
Iphone 4 Vs Droid X: Who Is Better?
Retina display, video calls support, HDMI port…are the feature which are emphasized in the advertisement of Apple iPhone 4 and Motorola Droid X. Experimental group (PC World) has tested these important criteria and made a direct comparison that we should consult.
Because Apple admitted and fixed the anten error and the sensor on iPhone 4, this article will not consult this criterion.
Cost of ownership
With the cheapest voice and data package, Droid X costs about $360 more over two years than the 16GB iPhone 4 does, but the Droid X plan includes unlimited data, compared with 200MB for the iPhone 4.
With the highest plan options for both smartphones, the Droid X costs $120 more over two years. The Droid X plan includes unlimited data, while the iPhone 4′s data is capped at 2GB per month (though, to be fair, few users will exceed the 2GB limit).
You should also consider the storage capacity. The iPhone 4 has the 16GB and 32GB models. The iPhone 4 does not have expandable storage. The Droid X, on the other hand, designs 8GB of storage, and increases the storage capacity by coming with a 16GB MicroSD card. The Droid X supports MicroSD cards up to 32GB which is approximate to the total storage capacity of 40GB.
Winner: Droid X
The total cost of ownership is not significantly high, compared with the unlimited data access and the bigger storage.
Voice quality and connectivity
In the connectivity department, the Droid X and the iPhone 4 both come with Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth. However, Droid X has an advantage that is to act as a Wi-Fi hotspot. For an extra $20 per month, the Droid X allows you to connect up to five compatible Wi-Fi devices and access date via Verizon network. Both the two phones have the noise-cancellation feature, which is supposed to
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improve call quality. Note that the test results only take place in San Francisco and the network status depends on the weather and the capacity.
Data Speed Winner: iPhone 4
The iPhone 4 showed an average download speed of 1958 kbps. The Droid X had an average download speed of 1130 kbps–still enough speed for Web browsing and standard-definition video watching. The two new devices posted similar average upload speeds; the iPhone4 – 434 kbps and the Droid X – 564 kbps. Those upload speeds are fast enough to share files but not enough to make a game group or videoconferencing.
Voice Quality Winner: iPhone 4
The iPhone 4’s calls sound more natural and are more pleasing to listen to and no dropped calls in AT&T network. In test calls using the Droid X, the audio is clear enough, but it didn’t sound as well as iPhone 4. The received voice sounds loud enough, but the pitch is not wide and one dropped call.
Screen
The iPhone 4 has a 3.5-inch, 960×640 pixel screen which is called the “Retina display” (the resolution passes the distinguish ability of the eyes). The Motorola Droid X uses the 4.3-inch screen which is larger than the iPhone 4′s display but its resolution is lower, at 854×480 pixels.
Winner: iPhone 4
The Droid X’s screen is larger and more convenient in browsing web, watching the video but iPhone 4 appears sharper with the bright background and zooming ability.
Operating system and multi-task
The iPhone 4 runs iOS 4, the latest version of the iPhone operating system which supports the multi task. On Droid X, Motorola interface still runs on Android 2.1 so that the speed is not higher than the latest 2.2 version (Froyo).
Apple is trying to control the multi-tasking application. Only the application that have been designed and approved for multitasking will work. And at the moment, the number of apps that support multitasking is limited. The interface is smooth and intuitive. You can double-tap on the home button to call up the multitasking bar. The bar shows four application icons which are automatically arranged the latest application at the left. You can flick your finger on the applications or close by pressing and holding the icon, then click the red circle.
The Android is more wide open, but harder to navigate. Android allows the apps running in the background (not change into the suspended state as iOS 4 does). The Web page might continue loading although you have left the browser to other applications. To see the opening apps, you can press and hold the home button but the interface views only six open apps at a time. The only way to see all of the opening apps is to enter Settings, Applications, Manage applications. You can scroll down to Controls and press Force stop to close the app. The third firm’s application currently is available to manage the application easier.
Winner: Draw
It depends on each user’s opinion.
Entertainment
According to Apple, the iPhone 4 supports the sound standard (AAC, Apple Lossless, Audible, HE-AAC, MP3, Protected AAC) and the video standard (H.264 720p, MPEG-4, Motion JPEG).
The Droid X supports the sound standard (MIDI, MP3, WAV, AAC, AAC+, and eAAC+) and the HD video standard via HDMI and DLNA, H.263, H.264, MPEG-4, and WMA.
Winner: Droid X for Audio, Draw for Video
The Droid X overpasses the iPhone 4 for better sound quality. Bass sounded deeper, while vocals sounded crisper and richer. iPhone 4 is not as good as Droid X (not much) but the quality is still quite good.
Video is played smoothly on both two phones which are not stuttered, paused or in pixilation. Though the video quality looks better on the iPhone 4, the larger screen for video on the Droid X is more attractive. With the Youtube HQ, the Droid X overpasses the iPhone 4. However, downloading movies for the iPhone 4 via iTunes is incredibly easy while using
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a third-party Website like H264info.com is risky and wastes time.
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