Reviewer: Siddarth Rau
Apple products have always had an unusual charm to them. A lot of sophistication, elegance and refined taste go into creating an Apple product during its design phase. Even though I'm far from being a big Apple fan, their products tend to leave a lasting impression.
This article revolves around the widely hyped iPhone, set to be launched in India by Vodafone and Bharti Airtel sometime later this year. There weren't too many iPhone competitors out there in 2007; at least not in the Indian market but there were some available in international markets like LG Prada, BenQ's BlackBox, Meizu M8, Samsung F700 to name a few worthy competitors initially. However, you won't find any of the above mentioned so easily with legal retailers.
The HTC Touch Diamond, Samsung Omnia i900, Nokia E71 are the latest alternatives to the iPhone. Remember, these are handsets that offer a different solution and are not clones of the iPhone. The reason behind the usage of the term 'alternative' lies in the OS. Construction, aesthetics, connectivity, hardware, etc are some of the differences that influence our choice. Manufacturers, in an effort to tackle competition, try to level the playing field by replicating the competing models' specifications.
This article aims at highlighting the key features of the iPhone while comparing it to similar alternative solutions (with similar specifications) using a different OS. The OS is the key feature that creates a different user experience and smart buyers pay attention to this feature because switching from one OS to another is not an easy task especially when you need to familiarise yourselves in order to unlock the handset's full potential.
So let's begin our journey into what the Apple iPhone is all about and which other phones can provide a similar experience.
Photographs courtesy: Apple, HTC, Nokia
Also see: Can Nokia N78 3G replace the trusted N73 or N82?
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