Ask Engadget: What's the best iPhone 3G alternative?

We know, we know -- this one's going to be a doozie, but it's something that just has to be done. For folks out there too far from the reaches of GSM or simply unwilling to cough up the requisite dough to pay for AT&T's comparatively pricey plans, we figure Kevin's question will hit very close to home:

"What is the best alternative for the iPhone / iPhone 3G? I am looking for a touchscreen phone that has most of what the iPhone can provide, such as media and decent web browsing. I am also looking for a device with a lower cost (with or without a new plan). Could you please help point me in the right direction?"

Feel free to dish our your best options for GSM and CDMA, particularly if you've wondered this yourself and found your answer. Keep it civilized down there, alright? Got a question you'd like to pose to Engadget's fine, fine readers? Shoot it over to ask at engadget dawt com and hope for the best.

[Ian @ Jul 24th 2008 9:19PM]

OpenMoko!

[Asher Madan @ Jul 24th 2008 9:31PM]

Samsung Instinct! It has everything the iPhone has to offer and it looks really nice as well. I'm sure Kevin will like it.

[Asher Madan @ Jul 24th 2008 9:33PM]

@ Ian.

Samsung Instinct!

check it out at www.gsmarena.com
i think it also comes in cdma. you can buy it unlocked as well.

[rock99rock @ Jul 24th 2008 9:41PM]

If you are interested in something "like" the iphone but not the iPhone, I say hold off for a few (one or two) months and check out the HTC Touch Pro or the Sony Xperia X1. Both run on windows mobile software, from 2 of the best phone manufacturers. I can't wait! Good luck in your search.

[Asher Madan @ Jul 24th 2008 9:43PM]

Actually, its only CDMA in the United States. You can get another model in the middle east that GSM.

I found another iPhone competitor. It's GSM and it just came out like a week ago.

The Samsung i900 Omnia. Check this one out over there. It has GPS and the lot.

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i900_omnia-2422.php

[Andrew @ Jul 24th 2008 9:49PM]

Hell yeah OpenMoko for sure.

[Wii60 @ Jul 24th 2008 9:53PM]

You'd be right, if it at least had EDGE

[digitallysick @ Jul 24th 2008 9:57PM]

@Ian

Your sir, are an idiot , open moko isn't 3g

[James Lambert @ Jul 24th 2008 10:37PM]

I don't have one but the HTC touch phones look really awesome, they have windows mobile.
I do have a treo 750 and its not all shiny and super sexy but it is a great phone.

[Mike10010100 @ Jul 24th 2008 10:49PM]

I agree with rock99rock.

HTC Touch Pro is going to be awesome. I have an HTC Mogul right now and i definitely say that it is the most enjoyable phone i have ever owned.

But seriously, get something with a (pull out) keyboard. I played with the Samsung Instinct and the HTC Touch, and i didn't enjoy typing on the screen. Every time you put up the keyboard, the page was re-sized so small that you couldn't read anything.

[Trent Lot @ Jul 24th 2008 10:57PM]

I like the Digitalrise x99i. It has dual standby/dual bluetooth, is quad band and kind of looks like HTC Diamond... http://www.gadgetgreats.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=790

[bradwjensen @ Jul 25th 2008 1:32AM]

OpenMoko is exactly what I was thinking!

[Abhinav @ Jul 25th 2008 2:43AM]

As several commentors before me have noted the only good thing about the Openmoko is that it's totally open,
I'd go for the Sony Xperia X1 as the ultimate iPhone killer...
It's got everything the overly exaggerated iPhone has plus a qwerty keyboard.

[Spencer @ Jul 25th 2008 2:55AM]

I have a an HTC P340 - it's not a bad phone but I *really* don't like windows mobile.

My telco gave me an iphone though - free! Don't know why.It's pretty good too. I hate the Apple/Iphone hype though. Most mac fanboys think that Apple invented everything ...

[brickwood @ Jul 27th 2008 9:27AM]

modded LG Viewty ku990 ftw!

[JJV @ Jul 25th 2008 4:28AM]

@Abhinav

Well i have the iPhone and i do type with it, and if it doesnt have a qwerty keyboard then i dont know how i can be typing so quickly and efficiently....

the touchscreen keyboard is actually much easier to use than a tactile.... I end up making mistakes on tactiles because the keys are always put right next to each other with no space in between them...

The iPhones software really helps you adapt to the touchscreen keyboard.

[Sam @ Jul 25th 2008 9:40AM]

JITTERBUG all the way

[OneLove @ Jul 25th 2008 1:32PM]

no iphone

[Alan Strangis @ Jul 25th 2008 2:07PM]

I'm using the HTC Touch on Bell in Canada (the phone was free on a 3yr plan, and unlimited data for $7! - including free tethering to a laptop if you use PDANet), and with Opera 9.5, the web surfing experience is almost identical to the iPhone 3G in speed and render quality (except for screen size/rez of course).

There are a number of replacement keyboards available for free, and I prefer either PCMKeyboard (at pocketcm.com) which has some iPhone like skins, or the HTC Diamond QWERTY keyboard, which is nice and big, and you can hold a key down for a second to input alternate characters (@ : # / etc.)

There's also a youtube player called youtubeplay (free) but if you want to rock DivX/Xvid natively Core Player is the way to go (and has a YouTube search function).

And although the phone has GPS, it's up to the carrier to unlock the feature (which it is in the US on Sprint). Not so lucky here in Canada, but that's what xda-developers and ppcgeeks.com are for. :D

[Scott @ Jul 25th 2008 3:19PM]

The Instinct doesn't have WiFi. That's a pretty jarring omission when the claim is "it has everything the iPhone has and more."

[loosely_coupled @ Jul 25th 2008 7:50PM]

"looking for a touchscreen phone that has most of what the iPhone can provide, such as media and decent web browsing. "

Samsung Instinct? HAHAHAH. You have to be kidding me. I don't even own an iPhone, but it is LEAGUES above that piece of shit. Verizon's "Voyager" is just as pathetic.

I've owned or played with just above every single smartphone/media phone on the market, including three of four HTC models, Samsung models, SE, Nokia's latest, three Treos, and a few modern blackberry models. I've used every major mobile OS, and have stuck with Windows mobile or form of Symbian for the last 3-5 years.

Many of these phones are pretty good, and with A LOT of modifications and 3rd party software, Windows mobile was almost usable, other than the constant crashing and UI lag. Nokia and RIM are usually a step above the rest, S60/Symbian is pretty good, but (other than email) RIM's system needs some work.

After almost a decade of owning many phones though, I can honestly say that
for intuitive, simple to use real-world functionality, nothing really comes close to competing with the experience the iPhone offers. The highly refined user interface makes the phone truly a joy to use all day. The primary feature besides of course the iPod/media functionality is the UNMATCHED WEB BROWSER. If you want to browse the web on a mobile phone, there is simply NO OTHER choice, since the iPhone is literally years ahead of the rest. Also, I was highly skeptical about the practicality of the touchscreen keyboard considering their legacy in the past, but this is not your normal touchscreen. It is a capacitive-driven model, which results in an incredibly sensitive surface and the excellent software makes it very good experience for SMS and short/moderate length email.

However, If you don't need to browse the web (although I would think hard about this), and really only care about email/txt communication or you simply have to have a hardware keyboard, Get a high-end blackberry. Other than web browsing, these are EXCELLENT devices and for corporate and/or personal email focus, there is simply nothing better.

Also, obviously the iPhone is ONLY available with AT&T in the USA, and many other countries there are only 1 or 2 carriers with it. If you have to have service with a non-iPhone carrier, then I would get a new Blackberry. If you can wait a month or two, the new Blackberry Bold "9000 series" model is going to be TWICE as good as the current Blackberry models. It will have a beautiful hardware shell and a polished user interface similar in spirit to the iPhone. The screen is similar in size to the existing models, maybe a tad larger, but the resolution has been nearly doubled.

If you can wait longer than a month, Both RIM (Blackberry) and Nokia are supposedly working feverishly on their own full-touchscreen based "iPhone killers". How good they will be remains to be seen, but Nokia probably has the better engineering expertise, though I'm sure the Blackberry won't be a slouch.

On a final note, smartphones running Google's Android OS should be out in the Q3-Q4 timeframe, including the HTC "Dream". I'm sure Android will come a long way to displace Windows mobile, and I hope perhaps RIM will adopt it for their new Blackberry models. It will no doubt be a huge success unless the "open" nature of it causes the OS to be fragmented in to a million incompatible versions. The other potential problem is that Google is not stopping the carriers from tampering with it, so they will no doubt be "enhancing" (AKA ruining) Android by adding all their own expensive proprietary music/video/ringtone download services. I can only imagine what Verizon would do! UGH! However, if Google and the manufacturers can keep the carriers from locking down the platform/disabling features/screwing it up, then it could easily turn into a major iPhone OSX rival that would reach millions more people on low-cost devices.

anyways, just my two cents...

[namtastic @ Jul 27th 2008 10:18AM]

OpenMoko. Right.
http://www.vimeo.com/1366923?pg=embed&sec=1366923

[Si @ Jul 29th 2008 9:31PM]

That was certainly more than your two cents mr

[Pochi @ Jul 24th 2008 9:19PM]

I have an LG CG180. It is a dream come true. It does everything I have ever wanted a cell phone to do for me.

[le Chen @ Jul 24th 2008 9:20PM]

fast data for sure and better signal
3G phone
first of all,it's a phone.and then with 3G
so i would say data and signal

[teh_dahl @ Jul 24th 2008 9:32PM]

You really don't read too well, now do you?

[derX @ Jul 24th 2008 9:57PM]

It's clear you aren't answer the posed question but I'm left wondering to what question could you have possibly been responding?

[adam @ Jul 24th 2008 11:26PM]

brilliant. truly

[Matt Smith @ Jul 25th 2008 12:48PM]

hehe... I can't help but laugh... totally agree with above replies....

[mercz @ Aug 3rd 2008 5:36AM]

Oh thank u for ur input , George Costanza ...

[rdrr @ Jul 24th 2008 9:21PM]

Anything but an iPhone?

[SimonRichards @ Jul 24th 2008 9:25PM]

Seeing as this article is entitled "What's the best iPhone 3G alternative", lets think... oh yes, anything but an iPhone would be right. -_-

[Shinigami @ Jul 25th 2008 5:06AM]

How about HTC Touch Diamond?

[Deviant_Zairus @ Jul 26th 2008 1:23PM]

@simon
ok smartass
how bout a brick

[SimonRichards @ Jul 27th 2008 1:34PM]

Why on earth would you use a brick ad a phone? That's just silly. :)

[john nguyen @ Jul 27th 2008 12:39AM]

what will come out Nokia N96

[Volvoguy @ Jul 24th 2008 9:22PM]

Hands down... The LG Dare.
I say that a phone is only as good as its network, and there is no substitute for Verizon. In the northeast at least.

The touchscreen is responsive and easy to use. See my review on Youtube for more info.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyyz43TRXKg

The web browsing is ultra fast and you can get service pretty much anywhere.

thats my 0.02

[El Taco @ Jul 24th 2008 9:56PM]

which, with the cfrashing economy, used to be $1

[Taylor @ Jul 24th 2008 9:59PM]

Eh.. my roommate just got one, and i think it's terrible. The web browser is horrible, and i would NOT consider the touchscreen all that responsive. Whereas the iphone just requires your finger to come in contact with the screen, the Dare requires a certain amount of pressure, so often your finger knows it hit the screen and your brain moves on before you realize you didn't hit it hard enough. It also has no error correction when texting (and likely, ever), which makes the touch screen keyboard useless.
I can type on my iphone keyboard without looking because it fixes the occasional errors, but without error correction, messaging on a touchscreen keypad would be maddening (and indeed on the dare it was when i was trying it out).

So yes, i own an iphone, but i'm not a zealot. I owned windows mobile phones for years and mocked the iphone for a long time till i saw what you could do with jailbreaking, and how much better the browser was. The dare doesn't offer even close to the same level of usability as the iphone, and that's something i don't want to give up on a device i use every few minutes (i text a LOT).

When the iphone first came out i was really excited... not because i wanted one, i thought they were lame for being closed to development and non-3G... but i hoped it would raise the bar for other cell phone companies out there.... And sadly it just hasn't! HTC rocks but until android comes out they are still stuck with windows mobile, which just sucks. The LG dare is lame. I haven't tried the instinct, but at this point i wonder what value other phones will have to someone like me, who loves to customize, when soooo many people are developing for or hacking the iphone. I can't imagine a similar community cropping up for those phones so they will likely never enjoy the same level of customization as you can get with a hacked iphone. :(
-Taylor

[Eric @ Jul 24th 2008 10:19PM]

The Dare is what I would recommend for people stuck on Verizon for contract/service reasons. Certianly, not because its the best of phones.

[Abuzar Baloach @ Jul 24th 2008 11:01PM]

lol

Stephen Colbert is awesome!

[Matt Smith @ Jul 25th 2008 1:00PM]

I like the verizon network, I like the concept of the DARE, but after watching your video, I'd rather have an iPhone 3G. Thanks for making my mind up!

[bboy @ Jul 24th 2008 9:52PM]

i know you said touchscreen but i find the blackberries new series of phone, although not touchscreen to be the best phones on the market.

[hickhamt @ Jul 24th 2008 9:25PM]

lovin my Tilt... rockin with Opera, Orb, logmein, pandora radio, wifi, bt, 3mp camera.... added the smart touch interface from HTC, and the iphone "like" contacts app... im good to go!

[eric @ Jul 25th 2008 6:57AM]

How did you get pandora running on a tilt? what version of opera?

[kjb434 @ Jul 25th 2008 8:31AM]

TILT!!!!!!!!

I have opera also on it. It is so damn fast!

Also, with a couple of add-ons from HTC and other third party apps, it blows away anything the iPhone can do!

The Tilt supports the TouchFlo interface! My friends with iPhones get mad when i start using my finger so much on the screen to stuff just like them!

[Jack Storm @ Jul 25th 2008 9:08AM]

Yessss i love my Tilt

add skyfire and slingbox to that list, and theres no phone that can come close to it yet.

[Mam00th @ Jul 24th 2008 9:25PM]

The banana phone of course!

[teh_dahl @ Jul 24th 2008 9:33PM]

ring Ring ring ring Ring Ring ring ring...

[Andrew Moskowitz @ Jul 24th 2008 9:44PM]

I prefer the hamburger phone.