The Pros And Cons Of The iPhone's Competition

With the advent of the iPhone all set to take the "portable gadget" world by storm, other companies have chosen to set themselves against the potential offered by Apple's iPhone. With it's ability to fuse the best features of an Ipod, cell phone, PDA, and internet browser in one package, the iPhone's competition will be hard pressed to go head to head with this upcoming new technology. Here are some reviews on their offers:

Verizon

Verizon's LG KE850 utilizes a similar touch-screen concept to the iPhone. However, due to the company's specialization in PDAs, it's primary focus is more on a PDA that also has cell phone capabilities. To date, it lacks the MP3 player feature that the iPhone boasts. However, it will have swappable memory sticks, allowing for easier upgrades than on an iPhone. It takes a more business oriented approach as opposed to the iPhone's "for fun loving casual users" approach.

Samsung

Samsung's i760 and upcoming F700 look like they will give the iPhone it's stiffest competition. With plenty of experience in the cell phone industry, samsung's offer takes a more mainstream approach to cell phone design that will be instantly familiar with users. The iPhone's biggest drawback is that some features that mainstream cell phone users take for granted are either missing, replaced, or modified in the iPhone, requiring a new learning curve to operate. Samsung's control system will be much easier for old hand cell phone enthusiasts to operate.

Others

The two entries above are solid models that expect to see production alongside the Iphone. The biggest possible threat to the Iphone, however, lies in the other cell phone and PDA giants that have to date remained quiet about any offers they may have to go against the Iphone. Nokia and Sony Ericsson are well known for stable and high end products that set their own share of standards in the cell phone industry. They seem to be taking a "wait and see" approach.

Given this philosophy, quite a number of mixed reviews have come out regarding the iPhone since it's initial release in June, 2007. While some reviews are good, quite a number of them are also negative and have to do with various issues regarding the Iphone. These complaints include things like having an inconvenient interface, non-upgradeable memory and battery, and software incompatibility issues on the Iphone's browser. If the quiet giants decide to make an offer, the odds are fairly high they will seek to make products designed similar to the Iphone but with none of it's perceived weaknesses.