Top iPhone 3G Alternatives

Abe Olandres July 27, 2008 · 1 min read

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While every iPhone fans are waiting for the supposed August/September release of the iPhone 3G in the Philippines, I’ve rounded up some of the top choices for iPhone 3G alternatives and compared them side by side.

I had 4 most likely candidates as a great iPhone alternative — the HTC Touch Diamond, Nokia N96, Samsung i900 Omnia and the Sony-Ericsson Xperia.

My choices were mostly based on large-screen, touchscreen smartphones — one major area where the iPhone claims supremacy.

Click on the thumbnail to see larger version.

Some specs, like that of the iPhone’s processor and RAM/ROM are not totally confirmed and were based on pieces of hardware clues taken from disassembled parts. Prices were not included because we can’t get final listings for each so for the meantime, let’s just compare them feature by feature.

For each row, I’ve highlightedÂ (when applicable) the feature that’s a clear winner among the group. The model with the highest number of highlights is likely the best candidate for an iPhone alternative.

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

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73 Comments

Admarketplace Removal · 15 years ago

I’d think this has gotta be some form of evolutionary trait to better understand what kinda person someone is. Whether they are out to get vengence, if they are friendly, someone that you need to be cautious about. Many would need to understand how to react to them.

rocketeer · 16 years ago

Help please, i tried running video streaming, however the display says “server or data timeout” em using samsung omnia ii. What does that mean and how will i correct that?

purplegleam · 17 years ago

I will go for samsung omnia.

john · 17 years ago

HTC Hero ata ang magandang alternatives sa Iphone (3GS) when it comes to UI.

Ang Iphone kasi, ang maganda sa kanya is yung UI.

Omnia II (i8000) for sensitivity ng screen kaya lang WinMO sya kaya walang wala sya sa Iphone kung icocompare ang UI.

Carlo Dimaandal · 17 years ago

Here comes the Palm Pre. ^_^

goosebumps · 17 years ago

omnia – definitely the best….

Chris · 17 years ago

Nice infos..mahal pa rin ng iphone grabe..

isarel ramos · 17 years ago

please do help me! Iam planning to buy a Laptop. can you advice me which one is the best buy. An apple macbook or a sonyvaio CS 16 model.thanx.

Wildug · 17 years ago

i wish i had the money to buy one of these… id love to have one

Ed · 17 years ago

Mukhang ok Samsung Omnia but I’d love to have an iPhone..

vienvienvien · 17 years ago

ano ba mas ok…. pros and cons naman diyan o

ano bas mas ok… OMNIA O X1

explain namn ….

ralph · 17 years ago

panalo d2 samsung omnia..

1. may external storage iphone wala
2. camera 5mp iphone 2mp lang nakakahiya
3. hsdpa 7.2 iphone 3.6 lang

Harry · 17 years ago

With the N97 coming out soon, another alternative will come in. I’m wondering how people will see the 5800 vs N97 comparisons.

artpologabriel · 17 years ago

Hey have you seen iphone 3g in web based 3d interactive interface? you can rotate, zoom in and out iphone like in the palm of your hands.

see cube-ads.com’s gallery, its awesome!

note: the interface requires the latest java runtime environment (jre) to be seen!

Eugene · 18 years ago

My comments on the 3g from globe:
Don’t, its not worth it. Better if you can get one from a reliable supplier in GH and have it unlocked.
With the unit from globe, no forwarding of text, no MMS, no sending of pictures, except by email. The one i have hangs for a while when ending a call. You have to jailbreak it to put applications and that voids the warrantee.
I have better luck with my 2G unit which i had unlocked and had applications installed. For heavy texters, it’s not good. Use it only as a phone and its ok, but use a headset, as your cheek will hit the screen and starts the other applications, or at the least make beeping sounds.
You’ll get a lot of pogi points when using it though.
I get better results with my E71.

francis9 · 18 years ago

im planning to buy iphone 3g here in US.. and bring it in the phils later… do any of u have some idea.. how will i get the iphone 3g in the “most” cheapst way…

Rouge Carey · 18 years ago

Nothing can be compared or will ever be an Apple iPhone…

Lexy · 18 years ago

Hmm..
Samsung Instinct isn’t locked with AT&T
it’s Sprint who owns it ^^

How bout LG DARE? It’s under Verizon and it’s pretty cool..

Instinct is pretty much like iphone3g but it’s surface is pretty simple..not really flashy..

HTC Touch Diamond has a 2-3sec lag whenever you use gallery or music player XD

iPhone 3g’s still missing alot of things but in Phil..3g is really useless :D

Yoru · 18 years ago

A few more things I’d like to see in the matrix – size & weight, and price :D

Phil · 18 years ago

For me, the best alternative is the Nokia E71.

vance · 18 years ago

@xxernan maybe around 20K +/- plus data plan..

xxernan · 18 years ago

So how much will iphone 3g cost here sa pinas?

vance · 18 years ago

@abe, yah forgot to add that hehehe.. its lock with sprint..

Andre · 18 years ago

dont forget i think the iphone 3g also cant do video recording? and no 3g conferencing? no frontfacing camera

bikran · 18 years ago

for me its n95 as alternative of iphone.

BrianB · 18 years ago

“By giving OSX the bacon, youâ€™re saying whatever rig uses the Apple Operating System becomes the winner regardless of the differences in hardware performance.”

The most advanced phones (in Japan) use Symbian. These phones can open garage doors and pay bills. Can OS X do this?

1knife · 18 years ago

why not the htc touch pro rather than the touch diamond? i think it’s better. i’d probably pick that one than the others. i’ve no idea about the samsung though.

BrianB · 18 years ago

I’m hoping XpressMedia 5800 (the Dark Knight phone) gets shipped this year, then I’ll buy that instead of iPhone.

Lyle, RN · 18 years ago

Jim,

I am not saying one OS is better than the other. Don’t get me wrong, my laptop runs on Vista while my desktop dual boots XP and Ubuntu Hardy Heron.

What I am trying to say is that the specs table should be discussed in context since they run on different OS. Each resulting to varying user experiences.

If one is to choose an alternative, the point of comparison should be as even as possible. 3 devices run on Windows Mobile while the Nokia is on Symbian.

Your last sentence nailed it. My point exactly though it doesn’t have to be an OSX.

jim · 18 years ago

Lyle,

The logic with injecting the OS in the picture is that it becomes moot and academic. Using your example, you can also say that an Cyrix 486DX4 75MHz running Leopard is way better than an Intel 486DX4 133MHz running Ubuntu.

By giving OSX the bacon, you’re saying whatever rig uses the Apple Operating System becomes the winner regardless of the differences in hardware performance.

Maybe the right question is — if you run OSX on the other 4 units, which one will work better?

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 18 years ago

@vance – didn’t add it because it’s locked with AT&T for the meantime. Same with the Motorola Blaze.

@Lyle – yes, you are correct. That is why I didn;t compare the 4 with the iPhone 3g but compared the 4 as an alternative. In a sense, I am comparing 4 apples and try to see which one of them will sell as good as that orange.

Jerome · 18 years ago

I go for Xperia

Lyle, RN · 18 years ago

I hate to rain on everyone’s parade but, this is like comparing:

X————————-X
PC 1 running on Linux with specs:
Quad Core CPU
4 GB DDR2 RAM
1 GB NVidia Card
1 TB HDD

VS.

PC 2 running on Windows or OSX with specs:

Core 2 Duo
1 GB DDR2 RAM
Integrated Video Card
80 GB HDD
X————————-X

On paper and in technical terms, PC 1 looks better but we all know that PC 2 wins in terms of user experience and usability for the typical average user.

Long story short–Put some context to the specs.