SINGAPORE: After SingTel’s long-awaited unveiling of the Apple iPhone 3G last week, fans might have been tempted to consider any mobile phone launches immediately afterwards a touch superfluous.
However, a trinity of phone releases on Tuesday proved that there’s still life here for handset manufacturers after the iPhone.
Research In Motion (RIM) launched its first 3.5G BlackBerry phone, the Bold; HTC followed its Touch Diamond up with a smart Pro version; and Nokia took the lid off the flagship of its N-series, the N96.
Each of the three mobile phones brings something to the table that the iPhone can’t.
Whether they are competitive as complete packages depends on your needs, but it’s clear that there’s still plenty of room left in the market for competition.
The iPhone is available now at SingTel shops while theTouch Pro, Bold, N96 and ZN5will reach our shores next month.
HTC Touch Pro
Of the three phones, the HTC Touch Pro ($1,248) competes most directly with the iPhone. Like the latter, it is primarily operated via a touchscreen, but it also offers a slide-outQwerty keyboard. That means you can use the 2.8-inch touchscreen for what it does best (Web browsing and viewing images or video) and the five-row keyboard for what it does best (text input).
The original Touch Diamond was one of the best touchscreen-centric handsets next to the iPhone. Its TouchFlo 3D interface hides the more unwieldy aspects of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system, and its petite size was a draw to those who want a less conspicuous lump in their trousers. Now, the Touch Pro’s keyboard seals the deal with something Apple might never provide. What’s also new is the addition of a microSD slot for expandable storage of up to 16GB, as well as a TV-out port for PowerPoint presentations on the go.
BlackBerry Bold
And while Apple seems intent on muscling in on BlackBerry’s mobile email turf, the way the iPhone handles email is still rough around the edges.
The BlackBerry Bold (price not available) does email the only way it knows how – with ruthless efficiency.
Throw in a spiffy Web browser and the ability to handle HTML email, and the Bold has what it takes to be the king of email on the go.
The Qwerty keyboard beneath the screen may not have the slickness of HTC’s slide-out format, but it will be instantly familiar to – and appreciated by – BlackBerry users.
Nokia N96
Nokia released a laudable BlackBerry competitor a few months ago, the E71. But its multimedia-focused N-series has been due a new king for a while. Enter the N96, successor to the popular N95.
Like the premium iPhone model, the N96 ($1,258) comes with 16GB of storage built in. That’s considerably more generous than the Touch Pro’s 288MB and the Bold’s 1GB. But unlike the Apple phone, you can heap on even more memory to the device. With an 8GB microSD card, you can have 24GB of storage memory in total.
While there is still no indication of when Apple will open its iTunes music store in Singapore, Nokia has had its Music Store in full swing for months already. You can easily buy songs on an N96 as long as you have reception. And you can’t with an iPhone.
Motorola Motozine ZN5
Aside from this latest trio of phones, also worth mentioning is the MOTOZINE ZN5 ($638) from Motorola, launched with a bang three days before the iPhone.
The fruit of Motorola’s collaboration with Kodak, the ZN5 boasts the one thing iPhone can’t do well — imaging. This WiFi-enabled number touts an ultra-fast 5-megapixel camera with auto-focus and a Xenon flash. Compare that to the 2-megapixel camera module on the iPhone, which can’t (gasp) take videos. - TODAY/sh