Android PDA phone comparison
This page is a comprehensive comparison of PDA phones, updated as of November 2009. The focus is on Android phones. Phones with other operating systems have not been updated since 2009-May, and I don't plant to update them. Android, while still not entirely mature, is my phone operating system of choice, and is rapidly gaining market share.
Current situation
- Nexus One
- amazingly fast GPS fix (under 15 seconds, even with the car moving at 65mph), with A-GPS ("Use wireless networks") disabled (!)
- - sunlight visibility suffers, but you can tilt the phone differently if you have a car holder
- CyanogenMod and other custom ROMs provide extra features vs. stock Android
- multitasks well between GPS navigation and audio playback, but Google Navigation directions mute playback
Requirements
- touch screen: resistive (i.e. you can use any object). Capacitive technology means you must use your fingers. No more operating the PDA on the ski slopes unless you take a glove off. On the other hand, resistive touch screens don't support multi-touch.
- - physical keyboard proved extremely rarely used and it only added bulk, but that was before the web2.0 era
- a compass is very handy during GPS navigation, when you are stopped somewhere and the GPS needs you to drive some distance (probably in the wrong direction) until it figures out where you are headed
- camera flash to light the impromptu shots you take when you don't have a real camera ready ("the best camera is the one that you always have on you")
As of 2009-July, phones with a digital compass and camera flash were xtremely few, and they all run Symbian, with the exception of Samsung Galaxy.
Operating systems
- open-sourced, based on Linux
- most actively developed; issue tracker
- unrestrictive; browse all apps, with ratings and reviews at http://www.cyrket.com/ and http://androlib.com
- free applications:
- location-aware apps: augmented reality displayed over what your phone camera sees, Where, Wertago (nightlife), places directory, Fast Local Search
- navigation: AndNav2, free traffic report (for US cities only), edit Google Maps overlays, record GPS tracks
- Free Dictionary Org, Thesaurus, Star translate, Translator
- ebook reader
- Shop Savvy - scan bar codes and get product prices at stores around you and online, Compare Everywhere
- GPS status; also, use it as a leveling tool
- voice recorder, stopwatch timer, text to speech, task tracking/todo list, Note everything, graphing calculator
- weather, ski snow report, iMap Weather
- sky map - point your phone to the sky and see the constellation names in that region
- calorie counter - scan barcode and get nutrition information
- Shazam - identify the song you're hearing
- Pintail - send an SMS to your lost phone and it will reply with its GPS position
- paid applications
- - as of release 1.5, resolution is limited to HVGA (480x320)
Windows Mobile
iPhone OS
- - proprietary, restrictive
- - no multitasking; needs jailbreaking for putting applications in the background
- (difficult) work in progress to run Linux on the iPhone
Symbian
Connectivity
- quad-band GSM is required and the vast majority of phones support it
- for data access, beware that in the USA, the UMTS (part of the 3G family, also called W-CDMA outside of Europe) frequencies are 850 and 1900 MHz, with T-Mobile operating on 1700 MHz. Most of the world uses 900/2100 MHz, which makes a lot of phones unable to use 3G with US carriers. For comparison, the Apple iPhone 3GS supports UMTS frequencies 850/1900/2100. The alternative to 3G/UMTS is GPRS (or the newer EDGE), but even EDGE is painfully slow at practically 7-12 kilobytes per second with T-Mobile's access point
epc.tmobile.com. EDGE doesn't work while a call is in progress.
Search and Comparison resources
- phonescoop.com search for PDA phones with World Roaming, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Camera (640 x 480) or more, and Video Capture.
NOTE: At the time of this writing, phonescoop.com did not include the HTC Touch HD in its database at all. Beware of missed results.
- equivalent GSM arena search, which did find the HTC Touch HD. Note that restricting display size to 3.0"+ from 2.8"+ removes 16 phones from the results. For GPS navigation, however, a screen that covers the height of the phone is more important than wasted space at the top or bottom.
NOTE: As of 2009-05-05, gsmarena.com did not have in its database the HTC 8125 (HTC Wizard) (launched in 2005, discontinued), nor the Samsung Instinct, announced on 2008-Apr-01. Beware of missed results.
- phonearena.com search
- pdadb.net: Top Windows Mobile smartphones - Big WVGA Comparison (February 25, 2009)
Non-Android phones
Apple iPhone 3GS
- - Apple's idiotic closed policy on applications
- + decent built-in GPS (tested personally among New York skyscrapers)
- - terribly crippled built-in navigation software (Google Maps)
- + compass
- - no camera flash
- + built-in 32GB of memory
- + 600MHz CPU
- - no card slot
Palm Pre
Android PDA phones
- - Camera: "5.0 megapixel color camera with auto focus", no flash
- Android
- 54 x 112 x 16, 135g
- 624 MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM
- 240 x 400, 3" display
- 5MP camera with flash
- dual-SIM, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900
- ? no compass?
- ? no GPS?
- no WiFi
- + dual-boot Windows Mobile, Android
- ? no compass
- 240x320, 2.8" screen
- 1600x1200 camera, apparently no flash
- GSM 900/1800/1900, WiFi, GPS
- 109.5x59x15.5mm, 115g
- - single-microphone, to save cost vs. Nexus One
- WCDMA 900/2100
- 5MP camera with 2x LED flash
- 320MB RAM, 1GHZ CPU
- Android 2.0
- WVGA 3.7" screen, AMOLED capacitive
- compass, GPS, accelerometer, microUSB, 3.5mm audio jack
- FM radio
- - obsolete
- - UMTS 1700/2100
- - no camera flash
- - GPS sucks (tested in Pittsburgh, not even in a high-rise building area)
- + Android 1.5
- - Verizon, CDMA (no SIM, won't work internationally)
- 528MHz, 288 MB RAM
- apparently no camera flash
- CDMA 1900/800 (Verizon)
- 117.5 x 58.5 x 11.9 mm, 130g
- 8MP camera with dual LED flash
- 1GHz CPU, 512MB RAM, 512MB ROM, 8GB built-in, 32GB SD card
- QWERTY keyboard, 320Ã480 pixel display
- CDMA 1900/800 (Sprint). 4G is 10x faster than 3G.
- 122 x 66 x 13 mm, 170g
- 8MP camera with dual LED flash, 1280x720 recording
- 1.3MP front camera
- 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, 512MB RAM, 1GB ROM
- FM radio, A-GPS, compass, 3.5mm audio jack, microUSB
- "QWERTY keyboard version of the Tattoo"
- owned since 2009-Sep
- - GPS may be very slow in getting a fix, esp. in a moving car or indoors; a reboot alleviates the problem, but the GPS chip in the Nexus One seems to work much faster
- - latest Android ROM is v1.6; Android 2 not supported yet
- - no camera flash (see pictures)
- - UMTS 900/2100 (no 3G in the US at all)
- + very good speaker, loud enough for the "Beep-beep-beep" alarm tone to be confused with a fire alarm (had it trigger accidentally in large halls etc.)
- poorly placed keys for right-handed users (the 'back" key is right at the base of the thumb, making it straining to operate). No dedicated camera key.
- + compass
- + comfortable feel in pants/jeans pocket; angled, beveled shape
- "best touchscreen typing experience" Engadget ever felt. Quite annoying in practice due to the capacitive screen registering only finger touches.
- slow photo taking
- ROM: 512 MB, RAM: 288 MB. That's all the built-in storage.
- battery life: could get about 4-6 hours of usage while GPS-ing with CoPilot and taking occasional photos (no phone calls, Wi-Fi or other usage).
- + new ROM that fixes lag issues
- apparently no chin
- - still no camera flash
- "No physical keyboard, 320Ã480 pixel display"
- "No physical keyboard, 320Ã480 pixel display"
- UMTS 2100/1700/900 (works on T-Mobile US)
- ~9 months of personal tests:
- GPS gets a fix way faster than HTC Hero or Samsung Galaxy, even indoors or in a car moving at 65mph, even with only "Use GPS satellites" ("Use wireless networks" disabled)
- very fast, thanks to the 1 GHz CPU and Android 2.1
- 3G connectivity issues, apparently software. WARNING: if the problem turns out to be a hardware one, warranty is void if the device is rooted. Installing CyanogenMod doesn't fix this issue.
- compass
- - the speaker sucks, and is way quieter than the one in the HTC Hero. Quiet enough that the same wake-up alarm tone that reliably woke me up on the Hero, on occasion did not work on the Nexus One. You can, however, setup the "Beep-Beep-Beep" alarm, which is loud enough.
- camera with flash, but bad auto white level with CFL lighting
- - no dedicated camera key
- 135g
- FM radio support with CyanogenMod 6.1.0-RC1
- - may be crippled vs. the HTC Bravo
- "QWERTY keyboard, 240Ã400 pixel display"
- - Verizon CDMA
- + 5MP camera with flash
- "No physical keyboard, 480Ã800 pixel display"
- - upcoming
- Windows Mobile officially, but an Android version may be launched
- Android
- nothing special
- no word about camera flash or compass
LG Eve (LG Etna, LG GW620)
- the international version of the Motorola Cliq, probably WCDMA 1900
Motorola Droid (Motorola A855, Motorola Calgary, Motorola Tao, Motorola Sholes) â
- extensive reviews
- Android 2.0 with Google Navigation
- CDMA 800/1900 (Verizon)
- physical keyboard
- + camera flash
- 3.7" screen
- 115.8 x 60 x 13.7 mm, 169g
- - upcoming
- AT&T, Android
- - physical keyboard
- lower end, smaller 2.8" screen
- the GSM version of the Droid, with European 3G (900/2100 MHz)
- Android
- - UMTS 900/2100
- no information on camera flash or compass
Samsung Behold 2 (Samsung T939)
- the Galaxy for Latin America, i.e. 850 & 1900 MHz 3G, compatible with AT&T
Samsung Moment (Samsung SPH-M900, Samsung Instinct Q)
- - expected release: 2010-Q1
- compass
- Android 1.6 or 2.0
- 4.69 x2.48 x0.51 (119 x 63 x 13 mm), 135g
- 480 x 854, 4"
- 1GHz CPU, 1GB internal memory
- 8.1MP camera w. LED Flash (also works as video light)
- A-GPS, FM Radio, accelerometer, 3.5mm audio jack
- preview photos and UI video
- the AT&T 3G (2100/1900/850) version of the Xperia X10
