Touchscreen Superphone Comparison - Technology War

With the announcement that the Nexus One is coming soon, here's what it's up against in the Superphone market. The phones were chosen based on what seems to be the best phones from each manufacturer that have been recently released or are to be released very soon (Jan 2010). There are phones that are specialist in different departments, but the ones chosen are the all-rounders. Here are the main specs from the top superphones from the top 8 phone manufacturers.

Apple iPhone 3GS vs Samsung S8000 Jet vs Nexus One vs Nokia X6 vs Sony Ericsson Satio vs LG GC900 Viewty Smart vs Motorola XT800 vs BlackBerry Storm2 9520

Photo Camera

Apple iPhone 3GS - 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, autofocus
Samsung S8000 Jet - 5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
Nexus One - 5 MP, 2560х1920 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
Nokia X6 - 5 MP, 2592x1944 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, Dual LED flash, video light
Sony Ericsson Satio - 12 MP, 4000 x 3000 pixels, autofocus, xenon flash, video LED flash
LG GC900 Viewty Smart - 8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, Schneider-Kreuznach optics, auto/manual focus, LED flash
Motorola XT800 - 5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, dual-LED flash
BlackBerry Storm2 9520 - 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, autofocus, LED flash

Winner? Sony Ericsson Satio by a distance - 12MP, xenon flash (only one with a real photographic flash).

Video Camera

Apple iPhone 3GS - 640x480@30fps
Samsung S8000 Jet - 720x480@30fps
Nexus One - 720x480@20fps plus
Nokia X6 - 640x480@30fps
Sony Ericsson Satio - 640x480@30fps
LG GC900 Viewty Smart - 720x480@30fps, VGA@30fps
Motorola XT800 - 720x480@24fps
BlackBerry Storm2 9520 - 480x352@30fps

Winner? The Samsung S8000 Jet or Nexus One or LG GC900 Viewty Smart or Motorola XT800. Video samples needed to decide a winner.

Internet Connection

Apple iPhone 3GS - GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps. WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
Samsung S8000 Jet - GPRS Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48 kbps. EDGE Class 123G. HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps. WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
Nexus One - GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps. EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps. 3G HSDPA 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 2 Mbps. WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
Nokia X6 - GPRS Class 32. EDGE Class 32. 3G HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps. WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, UPnP technology
Sony Ericsson Satio - GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps. EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps. 3G HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 3.6 Mbps. WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, DLNA
LG GC900 Viewty Smart - GPRS Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48 kbps. EDGE Class 12. 3G HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
Motorola XT800 - GPRS Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48 kbps. EDGE Class 12. 3G HSDPA. WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
BlackBerry Storm2 9520 - GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps. EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps. 3G HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA. WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g

Winner? Nexus One with a range of Wi-Fi connections including wireless N. No surprise seeing as it's a Google phone.

Memory

Apple iPhone 3GS - 256MB RAM. Internal 32GB storage, 256 MB RAM
Samsung S8000 Jet - 128MB RAM. Internal 2GB/8GB. Card slot microSD, up to 16GB
Nexus One - 512MB RAM, 512MB ROM. Card slot microSD up to 32GB
Nokia X6 - 128MB RAM. Internal 32GB storage,
Sony Ericsson Satio - 256 MB RAM. Internal 128MB storage. Card slot microSD, up to 32GB
LG GC900 Viewty Smart - 128 MB RAM. Internal 1.5GB. Card slot microSD, up to 32GB
Motorola XT800 - 256MB RAM, 512MB ROM. microSD up to 32GB
BlackBerry Storm2 9520 - 128 MB RAM. Internal 2GB Card slot. microSD up to 16GB

Winner? Nexus One due to big RAM memory.

Display

Apple iPhone 3GS - 320 x 480 pixels, 3.5 inches
Samsung S8000 Jet - 480 x 800 pixels, 3.1 inches
Nexus One - 480 x 800 pixels, 3.7 inches
Nokia X6 - 360 x 640 pixels, 3.2 inches
Sony Ericsson Satio - 360 x 640 pixels, 3.5 inches
LG GC900 Viewty Smart - 800 x 480 pixels, 3.0 inches
Motorola XT800 - 480 x 854 pixels, 3.7 inches
BlackBerry Storm2 9520 - 360 x 480 pixels, 3.25 inches

Winner? Motorola XT800.

CPU Speed

Apple iPhone 3GS - ARM Cortex A8 600MHz, PowerVR SGX graphics
Samsung S8000 Jet - Qualcomm MSM6246, 800Mhz processor
Nexus One - 1GHz Qualcomm SnapDragon CPU
Nokia X6 - ARM 11 434MHz processor
Sony Ericsson Satio - ARM Cortex A8 600MHz, PowerVR SGX graphics
LG GC900 Viewty Smart - n/a
Motorola XT800 - Texas Instruments OMAP 3430 600MHz
BlackBerry Storm2 9520 - CPU Marvell PXA930 624MHz

Winner? This one is difficult to say without testing but it looks like the Nexus One wins on stats with a 1Ghz CPU.

Battery

Apple iPhone 3GS - Stand-by Up to 300 h. Talk time Up to 12 h (2G) / Up to 5 h (3G)
Samsung S8000 Jet - Stand-by Up to 422 h (2G) / Up to 406 h (3G). Talk timeUp 8 h 20 min (2G) / Up to 5 h (3G)
Nexus One - Stand-by Up to 290 h (2G) / Up to 250 h (3G). Talk time Up to 10 hours (2G) / Up to 7 hours (3G)
Nokia X6 - Stand-by Up to 401 h (2G) / 420 h (3G). Talk time Up to 8 h 30 min (2G) / 6 h (3G)
Sony Ericsson Satio - Stand-by Up to 360 h (2G) / Up to 340 h (3G). Talk time Up to 11 h (2G) / Up to 4 h 50 min (3G)
LG GC900 Viewty Smart - Stand-by Up to 330 h (2G) / Up to 350 h (3G). Talk time Up to 5 h 30 min (2G) / Up to 4 h 40 min (3G)
Motorola XT800 - Unknown
BlackBerry Storm2 9520 - Stand-by Up to 305 h (2G) / Up to 280 h (3G). Talk time Up to 5 h (2G) / Up to 6 h (3G)

Winner? Samsung S8000 Jet.

So based on these specs, which is the best phone to buy? All the phones range in quality in different areas - it depends what features are more important to you from a phone. The Nexus One seems to lead with a lot of the hardware, but battery longevity suffers due to the extra power needed, and it's photo camera isn't up to the Sony Ericsson Satio.

All of the phones have the capability to store at least 16GB of data (with most capable of 32GB) with or without adding memory cards so you'll unlikely fill it unless you transfer your music collection onto it.

Video recording is all very similar, but the cameras that can record at 720x480 have a distinct advantage because that's a similar resolution that what standard TV is broadcast at. So you can watch your videos on TV and they'll be the same quality as TV in theory. And with more TV's becoming 16:9 size it makes more sense to have video in that format. The Motorola XT800 HDMI-out is perhaps one of the most interesting developments as far as video goes because it means that the phone has the capability of turning into a HD media centre.

There's no clear winner with these phones because what a phone has in one department, it lacks in another. Here's a quick summary of Pros & Cons for the different phones:

Pros & Cons

Apple iPhone 3GS - Pros: TV-out, iTunes. Cons: No xenon flash, No radio
Samsung S8000 Jet - Pros: Speed, video editor, many sensors. Cons: No xenon flash, 16GB storage max not 32GB, no TV-out
Nexus One - Pros: Android open source, Wi-Fi super speed, fast hardware. Cons: No xenon flash, battery life, no TV-out
Nokia X6 - Pros: TV-out, stereo speakers. Cons: No xenon flash
Sony Ericsson Satio - Pros: Best photo camera, xenon flash. Cons: 640x480 video camera not 720x480, no TV-out, no 3.5mm earphones socket
LG GC900 Viewty Smart - TV-out, photo camera features. Cons: No xenon flash, no standard 3.5mm earphones connection
Motorola XT800 - Pros: HDMI-out, Android open source. Cons: No xenon flash
BlackBerry Storm2 9520 - Pros: BlackBerry OS. Cons: No xenon flash, no radio, 16GB storage max not 32GB

Resources

www.gsmarena.com
developer.motorola.com
www.google.com
worldwide.blackberry.com
www.clove.co.uk
www.apple.com
europe.nokia.com
www.sonyericsson.com
www.alibaba.com
en.wikipedia.org

Glossary of Terms

MB - Megabytes. 1024KB.
Mb - Megabits. 1024Kb. 1/8 of a MB
kbps - Kilobits per second
CPU - Central Processing Unit. The chip that does the main processing.
RAM - Random Access Memory. Temporary storage of data and instructions.
ROM - Read Only Memory. Like RAM but can't be modified easily.
GPRS - General Packet Radio Service. Old internet connection. Known as 2G.
EDGE - Roughly twice as fast as GPRS. Known as 2.5G.
HSDPA - 3.6 Mbps transfer capable
3G HSDPA - 7.2 Mbps transfer capable
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 - a=54 Mbit/s, b=11 Mbit/s, g=54 Mbit/s, n=600 Mbit/s