Battle of the luxury smartphones

Posted: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 3:48 PM

Apple

If you haven’t read or heard about Apple’s new iPhone you must be living under a rock.

Not all high-end smartphones are alike, but they do have one feature in common – they’re expensive.

The iPhone sells for $500-600. I’ve seen unlocked LG Prada KE850 phones available in the $570 (and higher) range and Nokia’s N95 retails for a lofty $749 when they can keep them in stock.

We’ve set out to determine which of these new super smartphones is the heavyweight champ.

Is it the new iPhone – LG’s Prada phone - or the Nokia N95?

Apple’s iPod-cell phone
First, the iPhone. Arguably, it is the new standard by which all other smartphones will be judged. If you haven’t read or heard about Apple’s new handset you must be living under a rock. You can read my full review here

The iPhone’s user interface is the best on any cell phone anywhere. Every person who has tried my phone has been able to master navigating through the iPhone’s features within a minute or two.

The iPhone is a quad-band (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), GSM/GPRS/EDGE world phone with WI-Fi, Bluetooth connectivity and a 2.0 megapixel camera with no flash. It’s able to run Google Maps and YouTube videos and its Web browser is world-class.

Alas, the iPhone is not perfect. Its Bluetooth system does not let you connect to stereo Bluetooth headphones, the digital camera doesn’t let you record movies and there’s no Macromedia Flash plug-in applet for Safari browser so some Web sites don’t work the way you want them to. Other iPhone owners have found worse problems.

Keep in mind, though, that the iPhone is a first-generation device. Even if you harbor concerns about buying a brand new, first-generation device then you should wait. Allow Apple a proper shake-out period before buying – or wait until they announce a second-generation unit. In the meantime, expect to see Apple announce a series of small revisions and upgrades, hopefully in the near future, to help make iPhone even better.

For now, though, I still give iPhone an A rating overall.

Prada style

You know the Prada is pure luxury just by its name.

You’ll do a double-take the first time you see a Prada phone in person. It looks a whole lot like the iPhone. That’s because you also navigate LG’s chic KE850 handset by gliding and pressing your fingers on a large, its touch-sensitive screen.

The Prada phone is an original – not a copy of anything. It actually came first. Months before iPhone’s release, LG/Prada was selling their handset in Europe.

The Prada is a tri-band (900, 1800, 1900 MHz), GSM/GPRS/EDGE world phone with WI-Fi, Bluetooth connectivity and a 2.0 megapixel camera. Unlike the iPhone, it has an LED flash. Prada has a 3-inch diagonal touch screen – compared to iPhone’s 3.5-inch screen. The Prada handset is slightly smaller.

Also unlike the iPhone, Prada has a built-in FM radio. The internal memory is expandable by using interchangeable micro-SD cards. It has USB connectivity and its Bluetooth can handle stereo Bluetooth headphones.

The Prada phone is easy to use. The controls are simple to master. And the Prada oozes high style. What would you expect from a device with that fashionable name sold at Prada stores?

But Prada lacks two major items which currently gives iPhone the edge. First, Prada lacks the iPhone’s iPod heritage. There’s nothing out there to date that can top Apple’s iPod-iTunes juggernaut.

The other factor is that Prada is not sold by any U.S. cellular carrier. If you want one, you’ll need to buy an unlocked handset and figure out how to configure it for any network you choose.

Something else to consider, some users have complained that the Prada’s screen locks when you’re making a call – keeping you from some important functions.

Overall, I give the Prada Phone a B-plus rating.

Nokia’s ‘crown jewel’

Nokia

Nokia's N95 slides up and down.

The N95 is a smartphone, which doesn’t really look like a smartphone. It’s small, lightweight (3.9 by 2.1 by 0.8 inches and 4.2 ounces), easy to use and very smart in its own right.

I wrote about the N95 phone a few months ago when I called it the crown jewel of Nokia phones. It is a GSM/EGSM/GPRS/EDGE/WCDMA/HSDPA world phone which runs on the 850/900/1800/2100 MHz bands. Bluetooth (stereo devices accepted) and Wi-Fi connectivity are standard. It runs on the Symbian 60 OS as well as Java.

In addition to being a 3G phone (it connects to super-fast data networks) the N95 sports a world-class digital camera on the back. Unlike its competitors, which feature a 2 megapixel camera, The N95 sports a 5 megapixels camera with a 5.6mm Carl Zeiss Tessar lens. The images taken from it are far superior to the other two handsets. It shoots videos as well as stills.

N95’s come with a 1GB microSD card. I originally tested the phone with a 2GB card. Expect 4GB cards to become available later this year. This phone also has a built-in GPS navigation system and comes with Nokia Map software as standard equipment.

The N95’s best feature is the way you open and close it: the screen slides in both directions. Slide the screen up and you get the N95’s telephone keypad on the bottom. Slide the screen down and the well-thought-out digital media player’s dedicated controls are on top. Media choices include a built-in FM radio.

Nokia’s N95 is a terrific example of understated luxury and refinement. It is a smartphone that doesn’t look like a smartphone – and that should appeal to many users. Overall, the N95 gets an A-minus.