The year 2008 was surely the year of Touch. The touch magic which caught consumer attention with the unveiling of iPhone in 2007, continued to dazzle in 2008.
Phone manufacturers across hue, from elitist BlackBerry to affordable HTC, launched a slew of touchscreen models. The two Google phones unveiled so far also sport a touchscreen.
The world's biggest phone manufacturer Nokia too made a long-awaited entry into the touchscreen market in October with Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. The company recently announced adding a touchscreen model to its NSeries also.
While many of these launches pose tough competition to iPhone with their better specs, others fall pale. Here we bring you a wrap up on some of hottest touchscreen phones unveiled during the year.
Apple 3G iPhone
In July Apple launched 3G iphone. the gadget got rave reviews for its unique design, touchscreen interface and other features, though many lamented lack of common features like higher megapixel camera, flash support, message forwarding and MMS capability.
With support for three 3G bands (850, 1900, 2100) and both UMTS and HSDPA networks, the iPhone 3G is well positioned for using high-speed networks all around the world.
iPhone features Safari — the most advanced web browser ever on a portable device. And with 3G and Wi-Fi, you can browse the real Internet really fast. iPhone also syncs your bookmarks from your PC or Mac and has Google and Yahoo! search built in.Access the web with Safari whether you’re connecting via EDGE, faster 3G, or even faster Wi-Fi.
In India, the phone is offered by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, who sell the 8GB model for Rs 31,000 and 16GB for Rs 36,100.
Samsung Omnia i900
To dampen the iPhone-effect, Korean giant Samsung launched its iPhone look-alike, Samsung Omnia i900, days ahead of 3G iPhone debut in India. The touchscreen smartphone comes with a 5 megapixel camera, 7.2Mbps HSDPA connectivity, built-in GPS and Wi-Fi.
The smartphone runs on Microsoft Windows Mobile software and comes with choice of 8GB or 16GB models. In looks, Omnia resembles the earlier version of iPhone in its dark, shiny finish, curved edges and slim form.
Dedicated to the music and multimedia in general, the "Diamond Touch" also includes 4 GB of internal memory (Samsung MoviNAND), a chip A-GPS (GPS chip Qualcomm), an FM tuner, a processor clocked at Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 Mhz and a digital camera with 3.2 megapixel auto-focus. Remaining relatively end with 10.7 mm thick, Diamond is compatible with networks tribandes GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS and HSDPA (7.2 mbps). nterestingly, some operators specify that the product will be compatible with the standard HSUPA.
It runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, comes with 4GB of internal storage with 256MB flash and 192MB RAM. Other features include Bluetooth with EDR, minUSB, integrated GPS and Wi-Fi.
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