The tech world was eagerly waiting for the announcement from Apple about the new iPhone and there were a lot of rumors about the new hardware. But Apple disappointed even its fans by announcing a phone which is pretty ordinary. People were so disappointed and even the Apple shares got a 5% loss just after announcing the new iPhone 4S yesterday.

The main reasons for the disappointments are,

Where is the iPhone 5?

People were waiting for iPhone 5, but Apple announced an iPhone 4S with no physical change (jut like iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS). It is disappointing that a company like Apple took more than 1 year (15 + months) just to upgrade some of its hardware and there is no change externally. You can’t differentiate the new iPhone from the old. Also, the 3.5″ retina display is not enough for most people’s needs and people expected a bigger screen.

The hardware is just average

The main hardware changes are only the inclusion of an 1 GHz dual core processor (the same as in the new iPad 2) and an 8MP camera instead of the current 5MP. The changes are nothing revolutionary and is just average at best. The Samsung Galaxy S2 which is released 4 months back is still more powerful (1.2 GHz dual core and 21 Mbps HSPA+ support) and there are 1.5 GHz dual core phones are announced by many companies including HTC, Samsung etc.

The Siri assistant may not be useful outside US

The only cool feature about the new iPhone 4S is the Siri assistant with natural language processing and in fact it looks very good in the demo (It seems like a far more powerful Vlingo). But how does it will work in the real world is still yet to be found (even the current Siri application available in appMarket is not hugely popular). Also, outside US it will be limited by many factors (the accent, the availability of data etc).

It is not coming worldwide

Apple still considers US and some European countries as the world. Come on Apple, there are a lot of other countries in this world. When it is going to be released in these markets?

Conclusion

The new Apple iPhone 4S is nothing extraordinary and in fact, it is not powerful enough to compete against phones that are going to be released in the next one year. If you are planning to buy a new phone and disappointed by the new iPhone 4S, just wait a little more and consider the new Samsung Galaxy S II HD which is 1.5 GHz dual core, 4.65” Super AMOLED Plus HD display (1280 X 720 px). The display alone is revolutionary and it is going to be released in the last quarter of 2011. If you can’t wait, then the HTC Sensation XE is a good choice with 1.5 GHz dual core processor and is already available in some markets.

Related posts:

1. 10 reasons for not buying an Apple iPhone 4
2. Will Microsoft Windows Phone 7 sales beat Apple iPhone’s?
3. Iphone OS 3.0 launched yesterday, Bluetooth enabled in Ipod Touch, IPhone 3GS due tomorrow

Apple’s revolutionary iPad helped the tablet market to a great extent and now many companies have realized the potential of tablets and have either released or announced their tablet lineups. HP, Google and RIM have already announced/released their tablet platforms as well. It is rumored that Microsoft is also planning to make a tablet friendly version of its upcoming Windows 8.

Please read on to get an idea about major tablet platforms and devices. I have tried to compare almost all of the available tablets including the very recently announced Galaxy tab 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 8.9 (the thinnest tablets at 8.6mm thickness). It is a long article but I hope this guide will help you to choose the right tablet.

To navigate around easily, I’ve added links to the main sections of the article.

1. Do you really need a tablet?
2. Things to consider when buying a tablet
3. Tablet Platforms
4. Device Comparison Table
5. Bechmarks
6. The optimal screen size
7. Platform of my choice
8. Device of my choice
9. Final Verdict
10. What if you can wait a little more?

Do you really need a tablet?

Well, this is the most important question you need to answer before buying a tablet. A power user might like the idea of a more powerful laptop rather than a tablet and for mobility a smartphone may be a better choice. Also, you need to consider that many tablet platforms are just an extension of their mobile platform and most of the applications are available for their smart phones as well.

Still, there is something that makes the tablets useful. It provides a new and unique experience to the user. Unlike smart phones, the screen is big enough to watch movies, browse web sites, play games and read ebooks comfortably. The higher resolution and screen size allows the developers to design applications with a unique experience which can not be provided in the desktop / laptop PCs or mobiles. So if you want to enjoy that experience, buy one. If you’re planning to buy a tablet to replace your desktops/laptops then I don’t think you’re making the right choice. Tablets are just a new category of devices which can be placed in between mobile phones and laptops; it doesn’t replace any.

Things to consider when buying a tablet

When buying tablets, you should consider the following things.

Tablet platform and applications

This is the most important thing to check when buying a tablet. In which platform it runs and how many applications are available for the platform? The usability of the tablet will heavily depend on this choice. Please see the next section.

Screen size & resolution

The screen size should be balanced for portability and usability. For eg: a 5” tablet is too small to be considered as a tablet and at the same time a 12” tablet is not good for portability. So there should be a balance. As for screen resolution, the higher the better. Many tablets come with a resolution of 1280 x 800 px which is same as most of the 14 or15” laptops.

Capacitive or Resistive touch screen

Tablets with resistive touch screen are very cheap (for eg: the aPad) but it is not finger friendly and you’ll need a stylus for operating it properly. Tablets equipped with capacitive touch screens will cost more but provides better touch friendliness. Also, if you need the precision of a stylus you can always buy a stylus for capacitive touch screen. So, if you want a better tablet experience, always buy one with a capacitive multi-touch screen.

Form factor of the device

Form factor decides the portability of the device. The device should be thin and light weight to provide the true experience of tablets.

Ergonomics

The following are the important aspects of ergonomics.

• Are the buttons/switches easily accessible?
• Does it cause any difficulty in landscape or portrait orientation?
• How easy is it to use the device with one hand (by holding the device in one hand and operating it with the other hand)?

Tablet Platforms

In the following section, we’ll briefly discuss about the available tablet platforms. Most of these are an extension of the corresponding mobile platforms and sometimes the tablets just use the mobile platform without any change. To get an in-depth idea about the tablet platforms, please read on.

Google Android 2.x

Though Google has released the new Honeycomb just for tablets, some of the existing (Eg: Galaxy Tab) and forthcoming tablets (Eg: HTC Flyer) runs on Android 2.x (2.2 Froyo & 2.3 Gingerbread). Though it is not optimized for tablets, most of these devices are available at a value for money pricing.

Advantages

• Matured platform
• Application availability
• True multitasking
• Availability of devices with value for money pricing
• Full support for Adobe flash

Disadvantages

• UI is not optimized for tablets
• Lack of availability of extremely high end devices

Google Android 3.x (Honeycomb)

Honeycomb is Google’s Android version dedicated for tablets. With a cleverly designed interface and accelerated graphics, the platform is here to stay. Many dual core tablets are already announced on this platform.

Advantages

• Optimized user interface and applications for tablets
• Availability of truly high end devices with dual core processors and other bells and whistles
• Google’s Android applications store is the best non iOS app store
• True multitasking
• Customizable home screen with lots of useful widgets
• The best integration of Google services (gmail, google maps, youtube etc)
• Full support for Adobe flash (Adobe has already released flash player 10.2 beta)

Disadvantages

• Limited availability of tablet optimized application when compared to iOS (65000 vs a few hundreds)

Apple iOS

Apple revolutionized the tablet concept with the iPad. They’ve just released the iPad2 with more powerful hardware. iPads (both iPad & iPad 2), with the best app store, are expected to dominate the market. The availability of tablet optimized applications (more than 65,000) truly makes this platform unique and most sought after.

Advantages

• The UI is very simple and intuitive to use
• The best appstore with a lot of good quality applications and games optimized for tablets
• Both iPads have a battery life of 10 hours which is best in class
• The iPad2 is very thin and light weight

Disadvantages

• iOS is a closed platform and has many restrictions like bluetooth file transfer
• Lack of Adobe Flash support
• The home screen lacks widget support
• Multitasking is somewhat limited when compared to other platforms
• Wifi only versions does not have true GPS support
• Lack of official availability or priced very high in many countries (Eg: India)

HP WebOS 3.x

Palm’s WebOS was considered as one of the best touch friendly mobile operating systems. After acquiring Palm, HP did the right thing – they tried to incorporate this operating system into many devices including printers. Now, they’ve announced the new tablet friendly version as well

Advantages

• Critically acclaimed UI optimized for multi tasking
• Adobe Flash support
• HP plans to integrate this platform to PCs as well to attract developers and hence the application availability will be good.

Disadvantages

• New platform and no devices are available until the second quarter
• Limited number of applications

RIM BlackBerry Tablet OS

Research In Motion is known for its BlackBerry branded business class phones. Now they’ve realized the importance of tablets and announced a 7” BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. It features a new tablet friendly operating system based on QNX – ‘BlackBerry tablet OS’.

Advantages

• BlackBerry is a known brand which enterprise business users trust
• Device can be paired with BlackBerry phones using bluetooth for data usage

Disadvantages

• New platform and only one device is announced so far
• Limited number of applications
• 3G not available on device (but can be paired with BlackBerry smartphones for data usage using Bluetooth)

Microsoft Windows 7

Though not dedicated to tablets, there are a number of tablets which gives you the full power of Windows 7. Though the user interface is not optimized for tablets as the other platforms, power users might like the idea of a tablet which can do everything (well, almost) that their desktop PCs can. Also, Microsoft stated that, Windows 8 will work on a variety of hardware including System on Chips (SoC) based on ARM processors. It is also rumored that Microsoft is planning to release a tablet friendly version of Windows 8.

Advantages

• You can install your favorite desktop applications like Adobe Photoshop
• Application availability

Disadvantages

• User interface is neither optimized for tablets nor touch friendly
• Most of the available devices are bulky

Device Comparison Table

Check the comparison table to get an overall idea about the available tablets and their features.

Bechmarks

(Note: All of the benchmark results are taken from Anandtech.com. You can read their excellent iPad 2 review here. You will also find more benchmark graphs there)

As you can see the benchmarks were done using only the Apple iPad, iPad 2 and Motorola Xoom. However, as all the other Honeycomb tabs use the same nVidia Tegra 2 SoC as in Xoom, the results will be very similar. In most of the graphic benchmarks, iPad 2 won hands down because of the better and newer PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU. But the Android Honeycomb devices based on nVidia Tegra 2 won the browser mark benchmark and showed good performance in Sunspider Javascript benchmark. Also, Tegra 2 can handle Adobe flash. So, if you want to enjoy the full web experience with Adobe Flash, the Tegra 2 based Honeycomb devices are good. If you’re more into gaming the iPad 2 can perform well.

The optimal screen size

The screen size is not clearly defined for tablets. There are devices with 5 inches to 12.1 inches of screen size and all of them claims they’re tablets. If you don’t need ultra portability (for that you can always use a mobile), I don’t think devices with 7 inches and lesser screens are good. To provide the unique tablet experience, the screen should have a moderate size and resolution; at the same time a device with 12 inches (or more) does not make sense because it is too close to the 13” laptops and not good for portability. The ideal screen size is 8.9” to 10.1 inches and most of the tablets fall in this category.

Platform of my choice

In my opinion, the only contenders in the tablet platform are Apple’s iOS and Google’s Anroid 3.x Honeycomb. Both platforms are matured and there are lot of applications available in their appstore. Yes, Windows 7 tablets can install any desktop application and hence the availability of apps is the best. But in my opinion, it kills the true tablet experience with a non touch/tablet friendly interface and applications and hence I won’t choose Windows 7 for my tablet. Android 2.x is not bad if you consider the value for money devices. For eg: You can get a Samsung Galaxy Pad 7” device for 24,000 Rs. All the other platforms are new and need to mature a bit before it can compete with iOS or Android.

Now, the real battle is between Android Honeycomb and iOS. As a platform, both are good and touch optimized. iOS is the simplest and intuitive interface of the two. But a power user might prefer the more customizable Android Honeycomb over the simple and plain iOS. Also, Honeycomb allows a plethora of really useful widgets (including stacked data) for its home screen while iOS features the simple icon listing. So, as a platform, I think, Google’s Android 3.0 Honeycomb is the winner.

Now, what about applications? Both Android & iOS has good applications. But, if we compare the number of applications optimized for tablets, iOS wins hands down – there is no competition. Apple’s appstore features more than 65,000 iPad optimized applications while Honeycomb optimized applications count to just a few hundreds. May be Google will catch up as they did with the mobile applications. But for the time being, iOS is the winner here. Also, iOS 5 will be released in a few months and it is supposed to bring some widget functionality like Android.

Device of my choice

I need a powerful device with a nice form factor and hence I am only considering the latest devices with dual core processing power. I have shortlisted four devices and will briefly discuss about the pros and cons of each.

Apple iPad 2

The iPad 2 is the best looking tablet with a great form factor. At 8.8mm it is even thinner than the iPhone 4. The 9.7” IPS LCD panel with 1024 x 768 pixels resolution is good. The 4:3 aspect ratio is more suitable for portrait orientation and hence reading ebooks and browsing websites is a good experience in this device. iPad optimized applications and games are plenty in the appstore. With a 1 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor and PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU (Apple A5 SoC), playing games on this device will be a good experience (the iPad 2 scored excellent results in all graphic benchmarks).

Advantages

• The best looking device with a nice form factor
• Good build quality
• Apple A5 System on Chip is scoring high points in all graphics benchmarks
• Appstore with more than 65,000 iPad optimized applications and games
• Good as an ebook reader and gaming device
• Good battery performance with 10 + hours

Disadvantages

• The camera is the worst of the lot. It is not bad for 720P video but the still camera sucks
• Wifi only version does not support true GPS
• Availability in many countries including India is a problem. It is either priced very high or not available at all.
• 4:3 aspect ratio is not the best for enjoying wide screen movies and videos
• No memory card slots

Motorola Xoom

It is the only Android Honeycomb device available at present in the market. It features a 10.1 inch screen with 1280 x 800 pixels (in landscape orientation). The 16:10 aspect ratio is good for multimedia playback and the high resolution is equivalent to that of a 14 or 15” laptop’s. As we discussed earlier, as a platform the Android Honeycomb is more sophisticated and feature rich. The built in mail, youtube applications are really nice. All google services are nicely integrated. At present, the number of Honeycomb optimized applications are not comparable to that of iPads, but it will change eventually. Also, nVidia is in talk with many game developers and promises a lot of high quality games for the nVidia Tegra 2 platform.

Advantages

• nVidia Tegra 2 SoC has good potential
• 1 GB RAM
• 4G LTE upgrade available
• Adobe Flash player support
• Expandable storage (micro SD cards up to 32 GB)
• Decent camera with 5 MP and 720P video recording. 2MP front facing camera for video chats
• 16:10 aspect ratio screen with 1280 X 800 pixels resolution is good for wide screen movie playback

Disadvantages

• With 12.5mm thickness and 730 g weight, it is neither thin nor light as the iPad 2
• nVidia Tegra 2′s GPU is not capable as the one in Apple A5
• Number of tablet optimized applications are fewer in the Android marketplace when compared to Apple’s appstore.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

After the release of iPad 2, Samsung was not happy with the form factor of their early announced Galaxy Pad 10.1. Now, they’ve come up with the slimmest tablet – the redesigned Galaxy Pad 10.1. At 8.6mm thickness, it is thinner than the iPad 2 by 0.2 mm. It features a 10.1 inch (as the name suggests) screen with 1280 x 800 pixels resolution. The screen uses the new Samsung’s own PLS technology which is advanced than the IPS LCD technology equipped in Apple’s iPads (10 % brighter and better viewing angles). But unlike the early announced version, it does not feature 8MP camera or 1080P video. Instead, it is equipped with 3MP, 720P camera in rear and 2MP camera in front. If you want a better camera, you may opt for the original Galaxy Pad 10.1 (but Samsung says it won’t be released in US)

Advantages

• nVidia Tegra 2 SoC has good potential
• 1 GB RAM
• Adobe Flash player support
• Expandable storage (micro SD cards up to 32 GB)
• 16:10 aspect ratio screen with 1280 X 800 pixels resolution is good for wide screen movie playback
• 3G Speeds up to 21 Mbps

Disadvantages

• Number of tablet optimized applications are fewer in the Android marketplace when compared to Apple’s appstore.
• nVidia Tegra 2′s GPU is not capable as the one in Apple A5

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9

It is same as the Galaxy Tab 10.1 but with just 8.9 inches of screen. Also, unlike Galaxy Tab 10.1, it is not equipped with the PLS display technology. Other than that it is all the same. If you need a more portable device, you may consider this instead of the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

LG Optimus Pad

The 3D enabled (sadly, not glasses free 3D as in the Optimus 3D smartphone) tablet with stereoscopic camera for recording videos in 3D. The 8.9 inch screen has the same 1280 x 800 pixels resolution as Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Motorola’s Xoom

Advantages

• nVidia Tegra 2 SoC has good potential
• 1 GB RAM
• 3D screen
• Adobe Flash player support
• Expandable storage (micro SD cards up to 32 GB)
• Good 5 MP camera with support for stereoscopic videos (720P 3D video & 1080P 2D video) and photos
• 16:10 aspect ratio screen with 1280 X 800 pixels resolution is good for wide screen movie playback

Disadvantages

• Number of tablet optimized applications are fewer in the Android marketplace when compared to Apple’s appstore.
• nVidia Tegra 2′s GPU is not capable as the one in Apple A5
• It is not glasses free 3D

Final Verdict

First choice: Apple iPad 2

The sheer number of tablet optimized applications and the excellent form factor makes iPad2 a winner and it is the device of my choice. Also, it is an excellent device for gaming. But that doesn’t mean, it is the best tablet. It has some quirkiness like the camera quality and absence of true GPS in Wifi only models. I don’t think camera quality is a deal breaker because, taking photos using a large tablet is definitely not the best thing to do. As for video chats, the equipped video camera is good enough. Also, as I’ve stated earlier, the tablets gives you a new and unique experience and to enjoy that at best, you need lot of good quality applications that are optimized for tablets. Sadly, Honeycomb at the moment lacks that and hence my first choice is iPad 2. Starting from 499$ (for 16 GB Wifi only), it is not very expensive. But the availability will be an issue in many countries including India. Right now, in ebay India, these devices are available at a premium (more than 65K) which does not make sense.

Second choice: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

As a platform, Honeycomb is more sophisticated and customizable and it is more open in every sense. The number of tablet optimized applications will also increase eventually. So, as a second choice I will select Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. It has nice form factor and the feel of a premium device. At just 8.6mm thickness, it is the slimmest tablet. If you need a more portable device, the Galaxy Tab 8.9 is a good choice. The price range starts from 499$.

Budget choice: iPad 1 / Galaxy Tab 7”

If you need a budget tablet, you may try the iPad 1 (starting from 399$) or the 7 inch Galaxy Tab.

What if you can wait a little more?

As of now, the nVidia Tegra 2 is not powerful as Apple’s A5 in graphics performance (becuase Tegra 2 is a relatively older chip). If you can wait for another few months, nVidia promises the powerful new Kal-El chip. It is a quad core processor clocked at 1.5 Ghz. With the 12 core GPU, it is five times better than the current Tegra 2. nVidia says, devices equipped with Kal-El processor can hit the market in August (may be it’s too optimistic).

If you can wait one year, you may get the Apple iPad 3 which is supposed to get a high resolution retina display and possibly a more powerful processor (probably quad core or better) and GPU coupled with plenty of RAM.

Related posts:

1. Ten reasons for buying the Samsung Galaxy SII
2. 10 reasons for not buying an Apple iPhone 4
3. Five tech products I would like to buy this year

Main features

• 3.7 inch AMOLED capacitive touch screen with 640 X 360 pixel resolution (16:9 widescreen) – Simply gorgeous!
• 256 MB RAM, 600 MHz processor with PowerVR SGX graphics
• 8 MP still camera with image stabilization, smile shot, face detection, blink detection, geo tagging, high ISO (up to 1600)
• World’s first High Definition video recording in a mobile device (1280×720)
• 16 GB memory (8GB is also available) with micro SD slot (up to 32 GB)
• Stereo speakers with DNSe 2.0 (Digital Natural Sound Engine) and Virtual 5.1 channel Dolby surround
• Flash support in browser
• GPS, Digital Compass
• Wi-fi, DLNA, bluetooth 2.0, 3G (HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps)
• Battery standby time of almost 26 Days (600 hours)
• Accelerometer sensor, Proximity sensor for auto turn-off, Scratch-resistant surface

I had 5 phones in my list when thought about buying a new phone. They were

1. iPhone 3G
2. iPhone 3GS
3. Nokia N97
4. Samsung I8000 Omnia II
5. Samsung Omnia I8910 HD

I am listing the pros and cons of each phone and matching it with the Samsung Omnia I8910 HD. I hope this will be useful for anyone searching for a new phone. (Sorry for the long post, but I couldn’t make it any shorter)

iPhone 3G and iphone 3GS

My budget was around 30,000 Rs. The old iPhone 3G with an 8 GB version would’ve cost me 29,000 and was definitely within the budget. But when compared with Omnia i8910 HD, the phone lacks many features.

Advantages of Omnia HD over iPhone 3G

1. Better still and video camera – Iphone 3G has only 2 Mega Pixel camera and no native video recording support. Compare that with the 8MP camera of Omnia HD. Quality wise, it is definitely one of the best camera equipped in a mobile phone and features face detection, smile detection, blink detection, image stabilization, wide dynamic range, high ISO(up to 1600), geo tagging etc. And the best part is yet to come -  It is the first mobile phone which features High Definition (HD – 720 P means a resolution of 1280 x 720 px) video recording.
2. Better screen – Omnia i8910 has an AMOLED  screen with a resolution of 360 x 640 px 16:9 widescreen where iPhone has a 320 x 480 pixels resolution. The AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic LED) enables more appealing colors and brightness with better battery life.
3. Better sound – Omnia i8910 HD is equipped with stereo speakers (the speakers are located in the extreme ends which results good stereo sound out of the box) and DNSe 2.0 sound processor with virtual 5.1 channel Dolby surround.
4. Better processor – Samsung i8910 Omnia HD has the more powerful ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz processor with PowerVR SGX graphics while iPhone 3G has a slower ARM 11 412 MHz processor.
5. Better memory – The i8910 HD is equipped with 256 MB RAM. For storage, it has 8GB / 16 GB onboard memory and supports microSD cards up to 32 GB making a whopping total of 48 GB. iPhone 3G has only 128 MB of RAM and for storage it has 8GB/16GB onboard memory. However, there is no external memory slot available. Also, even the 8GB iPhone version costs more than a 16GB Samsung Omnia HD.
6. Outstanding battery life – The i8910 Omnia HD, equipped with a 1500 mAh battery, has a whopping standby time of 25 – 26 days on a normal (2G) network.
7. Better multimedia support – The i8910 HD supports almost all video formats (DiVX/XviD/WMV/RV/MP4/3GP) and sound formats( MP3 / WMA / WAV / RA/  AAC / M4A ). So unlike iPhone, you don’t need to convert media files. Just copy the files to your phone and enjoy.
8. Stereo FM radio with RDS – In India, the data charges are usually high and bandwidth is less. So internet streaming radio is still not an option for Indian customers.  Unlike iPhone, you can enjoy FM radio stations with the i8910 Omnia HD.
9. Can do multitasking – In iPhone you can only run very limited applications simultaneously (Like iPod & Safari). But the Omnia HD allows heavy multitasking with its large memory and powerful processor.
10. . Unrestricted Bluetooth 2.0 – Unlike iPhone, you can have full Bluetooth support. You can send/receive files, business cards etc.
11. Full flash support in browser – Unlike iPhone, the browser has full support for Flash
12. More value for money – Omnia HD is also equipped with a digital compass and Route 66 application for navigation (License for two years). With all these features, it still costs significantly lesser than the old iPhone 3G

Please check full comparison (GSM Arena) of Omnia i8910 HD vs Iphone 3G

iPhone 3GS

When comparing with iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S has definitely some advantages – better camera with touch focus, video support, digital compass. But can iPhone 3GS match the features of Samsung Omnia i8910 HD? Let’s find out.

The following are the areas where iPhone 3GS has improved. Lets discuss each.

Camera – Though iPhone 3G S has a better 3MP camera when compared with iPhone 3G, it is still ‘no match’ for Omnia i8910 HD’s 8 MP camera. Omnia HD camera is also equipped with a plethora of features like face detection, blink detection, image stabilization, smile shutter, wide dynamic range, high ISO up to 1600, panoramic mode etc. Omnia i8910 HD clearly wins in video department as well. HD video recording, slow motion recording etc are something that the iPhone 3GS can’t do.

Processor and memory – The iPhone 3G S is equipped with the same or similar processor and memory as i8910 HD. For storage, the 3GS has 16 GB / 32 GB options – but not expandable. Omnia i8910 HD can have more storage – 16 GB onboard + 32 GB expandable =  48 GB. So Omnia i8910 has a slight advantage here.

Price – iPhone is not officially available in India. You can find unlocked phones in ebay and some mobile stores. The price ranges from 45,000 Rs to 55,000 Rs. Yes, you can almost buy a MacBook for the price. It is definitely not value for money. You can have Omnia i8910 for almost half the price with more features.

Full comparison of I8910 HD and iPhone 3GS

Advantages of iPhone 3G /3G S

1. The iPhone OS is more polished and usable – This is an area where Symbian needs to improve. The S60 5th edition  running on Symbian 9.4 OS is just a touch compatible interface while the iPhone OS is optimized and designed for touch usage.
2. Multi-touch screen – You will miss the multi-touch gestures in iPhone/iPod Touch in Omnia i8910 HD, especially with images. However the default browser has a good alternative. Touch the screen for 2-3 seconds and the zoom is activated and by moving the finger up/down the zoom can be controlled. I think, the same option should have been applied with images as well. But apart from that you can’t feel much difference as the i8910 Omnia HD has a good responsive capacitive touch screen optimized for fingers.
3. Outstanding application availability – The iPhone application store is flooded with thousands of applications and most probably, you can find more than one application for any single task. Though the Samsung Omnia i8910 HD is equipped with all applications that you might need – it is almost complete with Office document viewer, dictionary, media upload application – finding new applications can be a little difficult. Nokia OVI store has a decent number of applications but does not directly support Omnia HD (though there are methods to hack this).  Samsung has started an application store, but the support for Omnia i8910 is yet to come. Hopefully, Samsung store will support this model soon. Also, a little bit of googling will help you to find applications.

My Decision

As I’ve pointed out Samsung Omnia I8910 HD is equipped with lots of features and iPhone 3G can’t match it. Also, for the price of an 8 GB iPhone 3G (29K) you can buy an Omnia HD with 24 GB (16 GB internal – 28K + 8 GB SD card – 1K ). So I had no problem removing iPhone 3G from my list.

Though iPhone 3G S is better in terms of performance and hardware when comparing with the older iphone 3G, it still can’t compete with the feature loaded Samsung i8910 Omnia HD. Also, the price is a big let down. Simply, the phone is not worth it. An Ipod Touch with similar features is available around 12 K. Now, what extras are there in the iPhone 3G S ? A camera, GPS, and phone. But price is almost 4 times of an iPod touch. How can any one justify the price?

Nokia N97

Nokia N97 is another touch screen mobile running on the same S60 Fifth edition. Certainly this phone has some good features like 32 GB onboard memory plus expansion slot. It also has a physical full QWERTY keypad.

Advantages of Samsung Omnia i8910 over Nokia N97

1. Camera – i8910 HD has better still and video camera when compared to the 5MP camera of Nokia N97.
2. Better screen – Though Nokia N97 also features a similar resolution screen, the technology is different. It uses normal TFT while i8910 is powered by AMOLED. Watching images and videos in this screen is simply great.
3. Better RAM and processor – Nokia N97 is low on RAM (128 MB) and processing power (ARM 11 434 MHz processor) when compared to I8910 HD.
4. Capacitive touch screen – While resistive touch screen is good for stylus operation it is not that good for thumb operation. For thumb operation, the i8910 HD is better as it has a capacitive touch screen.

Advantages of Nokia N97

1. Nokia OVI store – It has a decent number of applications for download from the OVI store.
2. Full QWERTY keypad – Nokia N97 features a full QWERTY keypad which makes it more suitable to business users.

Full comparison of I8910 HD and Nokia N97

My Decision

Though a full QWERTY keypad is an advantage, it makes the phone more oriented to business usage rather than multimedia. Also, the resistive touch screen technology is not optimized for thumb operation. Though it runs the same Symbian OS, Samsung has the touchWiz UI running on top of it which makes the interface more pleasant. Another deciding factor was of course the camera and screen quality. So now, only the two Omnias remain in the list.

Samsung I8000 Omnia II

Omnia 2 is released after the Omnia HD. The main difference is the Operating system. Omnia 2 has the  latest Windows Mobile 6.5 and it runs the touchWiz on top of it (which can be turned off if required) and the interface almost looks like that of an Omnia I8910 HD.

Advantages of Omnia HD

1. Camera – The camera in Omnia 2 is a 5MP one and there is no HD video recording.
2. Better color depth – Though the Omnia 2 has a better resolution and same AMOLED screen, the color depth is only 65K instead of 16 Million as in Omnia i8910 HD. This may not be differentiated normally, but gradient background may not look good.
3. Capacitive touch screen – The Samsung I8000 Omnia II is rather optimized for stylus usage as it comes with a resistive touch screen.
4. Better battery life – Though both batteries have similar ratings, the I8910 Omnia HD lasts longer as Symbian is not as resource hungry as Windows Mobile
5. Digital Compass – Digital compass is not present in the Omnia 2

Advantages of I8000 Omnia II

1. Better screen resolution – Though both features same AMOLED 3.7 inch screen, the Omnia 2 features a higher resolution (480 x 800 pixels) but sacrificing color depth.
2. Slightly better processor – The Omnia II is equipped with slightly better processor (some site reports it is 667 MHz while some other mention it as 800 MHz).

Full comparison of Omnia I8910 HD and Omnia I8000 Omnia2

My Decision

Though, it was a close battle between the two Omnias, I was more attracted to the Omnia HD because of the following reasons.

• Better still camera with higher Mega pixel rating ( 8MP vs 5 MP)
• Better video camera with HD recording
• Capacitive screen optimized for thumb operation
• Better color depth and the right resolution to watch movies and pictures
• Though the Omnia HD has a slightly lower clocked processor compared to Omnia 2, it is still a higher end processor for a Symbian device (as it is not resource hungry as Windows Mobile).
• Personally I am not a big fan of Windows or Windows Mobile

Conclusion

After a lot of research, I settled for the Samsung Omnia I8910 HD 16GB version and bought the phone for around Rs 28,500 with 5% cash back offer. The screen is really great to watch movies and photos. The HD video recording produced excellent quality video – though sometimes at a dropped frame rate. The still camera  is excellent with almost all the features available in a point and shoot camera. It has face detection, smile detection, image stabilization etc. Also there is a panorama made which can be used to take good quality panoramic pictures effortlessly. The phone has almost everything preinstalled so that you rarely need to install any other application. It is almost complete with a good dictionary, Office document viewer, media uploader, podcasts, a video player with subtitle support, a browser with full flash support etc. Also, firmware updates bringing some enhancement to the features like 3D task switcher, kinetic scrolling (like iPhone) in browser etc.

But if you want to install other applications, you might need to do some googling as the phone is not directly compatible with Nokia OVI store (well, there are some hacks). Samsung application store also does not support this phone. May be they will support this phone soon. (I am planning to do a separate post on the available applications soon)

After using the phone for two weeks I don’t have much to complain, in fact I am really proud of my phone – an unmatchable screen and the first (and the only, right now) high definition video camera in a mobile. Truly high end stuff with true value for money price. I will recommend this phone to anyone who needs the best multimedia phone.

But as I am an Ipod touch user, I miss those multi touch gestures sometimes – especially with images. Also, I feel, the S60 5th edition is not the best OS in terms of touch usability. It is a normal OS which was made ‘touch compatible’ – not designed or optimized for touch usage. I couldn’t stop wishing if this phone was on the Android platform!  I think, Android is the only platform which can compete with or probably overcome the usability and application support of iPhone OS. Insha Allah, my next mobile will be running on the Android platform

Thanks for reading this long post. Please post your comments and thoughts.

Related posts:

1. Samsung Application Store Finally Supports i8910 Omnia HD
2. Ten reasons for buying the Samsung Galaxy SII
3. Can I ever buy an iPhone (3G or 3GS) at a decent price in India?

Interface

The home page is simple with a  changing background (I think, it is changing daily – but it is nice).  The search result page  is almost identical to google showing sponsored links in right. But Bing has a three column layout and the related search is showing in the left sidebar instead of showing in the footer. It is unlike Google, and in my opinion, it is more usable because you don’t need to scroll down to see the related searches.

Also there is a preview of search results which will be shown on mouse over. It is a good concept. You can see a preview of the page before going to the actual page and it is more easy to find what you really want.

Search database

Bing finds only fewer (most of the time, less than half) results for any given keyword. For eg: I tried to searchfor “New Delhi” and it produced around 21 million results but Google produced more than 50 million results. But the results are incrementing; yesterday it was just around 20 million – within 1 day, another 1 million results are added.

Search Relevency

Most of the time Bing produced relevent and similar results as Google. (For eg: try searching “aamir khan” – both search engines produced almost identical results).

Search options

As expected, Bing doesn’t provide as much options as Google. But basic boolean, language, country, domain search etc are available and works well.

Image search

Image search is excellent with lot of options (Please click on the screenshot). The listing is also nice with different sizes of thumbnail options.

Video Search

Video search is also excellent with lot of options. You can search by length of the video, sreen size, resolution, source etc. Another excellent feature is, the video will start to play on mouse over. So you don’t need to visit the site for checking what video it is.

Conclusion

Though it won’t be a google killer, Bing is a good search engine and good alternative to google. Image & Video search are excellent with some nice concepts. Through time, it may add more features (it is still in Beta) and search options. It is surely far better than Yahoo search. Reports says that Microsoft upped its search share to 11.1 percent last week, as compared to 9.1 percent the prior week. Also it is rumored that, the launch of Microsoft’s Bing search engine has so upset Google co-founder Sergey Brin that he has top engineers working on “urgent upgrades” to Google’s service.  [Source: CNET]

It is a good start by Microsoft and we’ll get a more clear picture in the coming weeks.

Related posts:

1. Most useful search tricks for Google and Bing
2. Google Earth!
3. Look, who is tweeting… it is Microsoft