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Better Than iPhone: 8 Mobile Handsets That Outclass Apple

There are many phones far more functional, and -- hard to believe, I know -- cooler than Apple's iPhone. The biggest contenders come out of Windows Mobile partner HTC in Taiwan, though many of its offerings aren't available in the United States. There's also an uber-cool handset waiting in the wings. (Can you guess from whom?) Check out my list, and the pictures which prove my point, and see if you don't agree that these eight handsets are better than the iPhone.

Why am I apparently on an Apple-bashing tear? It's not that I don't find much to admire about the company. Mostly, I'm in awe of Steve Jobs's marketing skills. He could sell Intel processors to Mac users. Oh wait, he does.

What bugs me most is the meme that anything Apple does is the best. That's a load of nonsense. Apple's hardware, especially now that the company uses the same Intel processors as everyone else, is just more expensive computing dressed up in fancier boxes. (OK, it's got better software.) IPods, while legitimate category-creators, are no better designed than, say, a Samsung MP3 player. Plus, iPods are prone to breakage and battery problems.

As for the iPhone, well, it's a case of perception beating out reality. But rather than shutting up, I'm putting up. Here are the eight mobile handsets I believe currently outclass the iPhone.

HTC TyTN II and HTC Touch

The coolest smartphones out there come from Taiwanese vendor HTC (formerly High Tech Computer Corp.), which has strong connections to Microsoft.

HTC was founded in 1997. It's got a close strategic relationship with Microsoft. There was possibly some investment by Redmond in HTC, or at least a partnership to help launch a big factory HTC opened in 2001. Microsoft sent reps to the opening, as did HP. That's because HTC was a big partner in the HP/Compaq iPaq PocketPC. Today, HTC is a prime mover behind the increasingly important Windows Mobile platform.

HTC TyTN II. (Click to see a bigger shot of the TyTN II, and then advance to the second picture to see the HTC Touch and the other "better than iPhones.")

Why am I such a sucker for smartphones from this Chinese vendor? I dunno; maybe because they look good and have even better (better than the iPhone) features. I've picked two HTC models for my "better than iPhone" comparison.

My favorite is the TyTN II. OK, so that name is definitely not as cool as iPhone. I don't even know how to pronounce it. Is it Tie-tin? Or Tin-tin? Trying saying "Tie-tin two" three times fast. I think I'm digressing into Andy Rooney territory, so let me get back to the phones.

The TyTN II is essentially a good quality PDA plus phone. It's got a full keyboard, built-in GPS, Microsoft Outlook, and fast Web surfing. It looks great. Not available in the United States, though. (Not really available anywhere yet. HTC has just begun shipping it to phone dealers.) On the downside, it's more than twice the price of an iPhone, at about $970.

Like the TyTN, the HTC Touch is so new it hasn't really started showing up at dealers yet. With the TyTN, you can make an argument that I'm just giving Apple a hard time. But the Touch is clearly the real, iPhone-killing deal. Look at it; it's beautiful.

Along with the 2.8-inch, backlit touch screen, it's got a replaceable battery and an expandable microSD card slot. The Touch is so new that no European dealers seem to have it in stock yet, so I can't hunt up a street price. It's a good bet that it's expensive, though.

Eten Glofiish X500

The Glofiish X500, made by Eten Communications of Taiwan, sounds like it was named after a James Bond villain.

Its most notable characteristic, and the reason it's on the list, is it's billed by Eten as the "World's thinnest Pocket PC Phone." It's equipped with both Wi-Fi and GPS (the iPhone has the former, but not the latter. Few phones available in the United States do.)

Eten Glofiish X500. (Click to see the other phones.)

As for its sleek, block-like look, I can't decide whether it's truly stylish, or whether it's got that almost-but-not-quite-right look common to high-end Chinese cars. Still, it's definitely got an honest enough feature set to make my "better than iPhone" list.

Nokia 6120 Classic

Want the smallest and lightest smartphone in the world? Want one that can store 35-Mbytes (expandable to 2-Gbytes) worth of MP3 files? Then you want the Nokia 6120 Classic. (Also, here.) It's got high-speed Web browsing, the aforementioned multimedia capability, and weighs 89 g (that's 3.1 oz., where I come from). It'll set you back about $280.

Samsung BlackJack, BlackBerry Curve, Nokia E61

I won't bore you by recounting at length the virtues of three well-known smartphones you can buy anywhere. My colleague Elena Malykhina covered them admirably in her June story, Nine Alternatives To The iPhone.

Of the nine phones in her story, my clear picks for my "better than iPhone" list are the Samsung BlackJack, BlackBerry Curve, and Nokia E61. Personally, I'm a huge BlackBerry fan. I think they combine the best of business and personal into a single model you can happily use on a daily basis. My only quibble is that I wish corporate models like the 8700c came with a built-in MP3 player.

Google Phone

I can't show you a picture yet of the No. 1 smartphone on my list that's not an iPhone, because it's still in development. Reportedly, Google has shown a prototype of the phone to select vendors.

But we’ll see it soon, and then Apple will finally have some competition in the buzz department, to match all the already better technical competition I've outlined above.

Here's one interesting angle to consider: The Google phone might not be a feature-laden behemoth like many of the smartphones I've talked about above. Perhaps it will be simple. Talking and surfing, without a surfeit of features which drag battery life down. (Maybe something like the Grundig G550i, below. This isn't a perfect example because it doesn't have a browser, but it's the closest I could find to the phone I wanted to hold up as a possible Google model. That would be the Grundig Dreamphone, a very interesting but failed Linux design from several years back.)

How can I speculate that the Google Phone will be better than the iPhone? I look at it this way: Both Apple and Google are arrogant, but their respective conceits are different. Apple's is rather cult-like, where all reverence basically extends upwards toward the exalted figure of Steve Jobs.

Google, on the other hand, is still young enough that its "we're better" corporate story is focused on its products. Which are damn good. Google search on your phone? Yeah, yeah, I know you can search Google on your iPhone. Tell me that search isn't going to be a better experience on a Google phone. Then tell me the Google Phone isn't going to give the iPhone a run for its money. Even that Apple faithful, in their heart of hearts, know that's true.

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