Smart Phones

Everyone's talking about smart phones. You want one, but which one? iPhone? Android? Windows? What's the difference? It depends on what you need and the options you desire. Find out more here…

Tech Test Drive: Which smartphone should you buy? Well, that depends ...

iPhone 4

You may have heard a bit of iPhone-related hullabaloo.

Apple on released the fourth generation of its famed iPhone handset, called, appropriately enough, the iPhone 4. It promptly moved 1.7 million of the devices, as of Monday, and called it "the most successful product launch in Apple's history."

So, if you're in the market for a state-of-the-art smartphone, you should go right out and get an iPhone as seemingly everyone else is doing, yes?

Whoa. Wait just a sec.

I'll be the first to confess my love for the new Apple phone, but I've also been testing two of the latest Android-based handsets, and I like them a lot.

Motorola's Droid X and HTC's Evo 4G are the iPhone's closest competitors — at least until newer Android handsets are unveiled, which happens at seemingly weekly intervals.

"Android" refers to the handsets' operating system, spawned by Google for use by wireless carriers, hardware makers and others. Android products are collectively a smash hit and are Apple's primary competition in the smartphone market.

As one who loves Google-related services as much as I adore Apple hardware, the Android juggernaut has my full attention.

This brings me to the "Android vs. Apple" question, which I am getting a lot lately. My short answer is, "Apple for now." The iPhone is, overall, the best phone.

Smartphone shopping is complicated by a number of factors, though, so an iPhone isn't the best choice for everyone. Here are things to keep in mind:

Wireless carrier. The three phones I mentioned use different carriers. The iPhone 4 is on AT&T, while the Droid X is on Verizon and the Evo 4G is on Sprint. So, if you are on one of those carriers with no immediate prospects for switching without taking a financial hit, read no further. If you're a free agent, read on.

Overall size. It's striking how the iPhone differs from the Droid X and Evo 4G. The trim iPhone 4 has about the same width and height as its predecessors, but is thinner.

Motorola and HTC have super-sized their latest smartphones, though. In my recent Evo 4G review, I marveled at its unusually vast 4.3-inch dimensions. The Droid X is even longer, though it has approximately the same width. Neither Android phone struck me as a burden, but I prefer the iPhone's trim profile.

Screen quality. Here, again, the iPhone 4 and its Android rivals take different tacks. Apple, while keeping iPhone screen dimensions roughly the same, has dramatically hiked the pixel density to the point where individual pixels aren't easily discernable.

As a result, text looks remarkable, almost like reading it on paper. Imagery has more fine detail than I've ever seen on a handset

Droid X

display. Text and imagery on the Droid X and the Evo 4G don't look quite as sensational.

Sex appeal. This is an intangible quality, but a vital one to many, and the iPhone 4 wins hands-down. With sleek and durable glass on its front and back, and stainless steel all along the edges, the new iPhone looks killer. The Droid X, though, beats the Evo 4G on look and feel with a wedge-like profile and a nice, velvety texture. It's easily the sexiest Android smartphone in this country so far.

Snappiness. This is another squishy area, but also important. How snappy does the phone feel? The iPhone zips along, no question, while Android has always felt a bit sluggish even on the fastest phones. Sadly, the Droid X and Evo 4G don't beat this.

Multitasking. The iPhone and the Android phones take different tacks, and neither is perfect. Multitasking on the iPhone is limited to specific things, such as playing music in a third-party app like Pandora while reading e-mail. The Droid X and Evo 4G do too much at once, however, to the point where I've had to install a "task killer" app to shut stuff down.

Internet access. The iPhone uses the same AT&T data network as older iPhones do, but it has improvements in download speeds and especially upload speeds. That's fantastic, but there are Internet goodies on the Android handsets that also make me salivate. Both can be used as Wi-Fit hotspots. And when Sprint debuts next-generation 4G service in the Twin

Evo 4G

Cities this year, the Evo 4G will be faaast.

Multimedia. Apple has ruled the portable-media-player category with its iPods, and the iPhone has iPod features built in. No other phone is a match in this area. If you want the best music and video player, get an iPhone. I do like the new Android-based DoubleTwist app, a swell alternative to the default Android media player and a counterpart to the iTunes-flavored DoubleTwist syncing software for PC and Mac.

Google goodness. If you swear by Google services, as I do, you must take Android seriously. Most of my faves, like Gmail, work fine on the iPhone, but some goodies are Android-only. These include a Google Voice app (on iPhones you have to use a clunky Web app) and the Google Goggles visual-recognition app. Given the enmity between Apple and Google, I fear for the future of Google services on the iPhone 4.

App choice, quality. The Android Market has roughly 50,000 apps, and Apple's App Store has roughly a quarter-million apps. While that is a major gap, Google has momentum. Android users are certain to find decent apps for whatever they'll need. That said, iPhone apps tend to be better than Android equivalents. For instance, the Reeder app for tracking RSS feeds is a masterwork with no Android equal. Twitter's official iPhone app (formerly Tweetie) is vastly superior to its Android app.

Photography. Smartphones do heavy lifting as still cameras and video camcorders, but older hardware fell short due to sluggish performance and terrible image quality. All three new phones are vast improvements, capable of shooting high-resolution video and fantastic still pictures. I give the iPhone 4 a bit of an edge due to snappier performance, Apple's fab iMovie video-editing app and a vast array of third-party still-photo apps.

Videoconferencing. The iPhone and Evo 4G have second, lower-resolution, front-facing cameras, largely intended for phone-to-phone videochatting. But while Sprint relies on third-party video services to complete this setup, Apple has created its own FaceTime service for iPhone-to-iPhone chatting. FaceTime worked superbly in my tests. Apple is offering the technology for use on other devices; I hope this happens.

E-books. All three phones make great e-book readers because of their higher-quality screens and the broad availability of electronic books. Amazon has long provided a Kindle app for iPhone and has just released an Android version. Apple provides its iBooks app, also available for the iPad but not for Android (nor, strangely, the Mac, where Amazon also has a foothold). The Stanza app for the iPhone is also great. You can't go wrong with any phone here.

Battery life. It's awful on the Evo 4G, average on the Droid X and awesome on the iPhone 4.

The bottom line. As you've moved from category to category in this column, you have noticed a trend: The iPhone tends to have the edge. That, again, does not mean you should automatically buy an iPhone. If you're making a phone choice based on the wireless network, for instance, I'd suggest making Verizon your first choice. The Droid X is a sweet phone, and there are also tantalizing rumors of a Verizon iPhone.

To sum up, you won't go wrong with any of the phones I've reviewed here. They are all great, overall.