Picking the right phone for you: iPhone vs G1 vs Curve 8900

I recently went through the process of deciding on a new phone for myself, and with all the different models, brands, operating systems and so on, it can be a hard choice to make. So I’ve narrowed down three of the most popular devices right now and how you can choose the right one for you. And while this covers primarily these three devices/platforms, this advice should be applicable to all phones.

Input: For a lot of people, how you put information into the phone can make or break the device. Do you have to have a touch screen? Do you want a full keyboard? The G1 achieves the balance of including a trackball, a full slide out keyboard and a touch screen; unfortunately, the software keyboard has yet to be added, but is a planned feature. The iPhone features only the touch screen, and is fairly hard to type on until you get used to it. While the BlackBerry Curve 8900 has no touch screen but the usual keyboard and trackball. There are no winners here, but the G1 is the most flexible.

Applications: What are you looking for as far as applications go? The iPhone easily has the largest app store currently and also has the most variety. The downside is Apple is very controlling about what it allows on their marketplace, but that is easily made up for with sheer variety. Android has a very nice app store as well, but it has yet to have the full time to develop. As of this writing, the BlackBerry app store is the smallest, having just launched; and in addition the beginning price point (after free) is $2.99 compared to the others at $0.99. In addition, the BlackBerry platform is (supposedly) much harder to develop for, so it probably won’t see the large range or quantity of apps the other platforms see.

Connectivity/Browser/GPS: The iPhone 3G and the G1 both share very similar network connectivity, while the Curve 8900 is sadly lacking 3G support, a feature which makes an otherwise stellar phone stick out like a sore thumb. All three thankfully support wi-fi/hotspots/Bluetooth as well as internal GPS. By a fair margin, the iPhone has the best browser, being very full featured and very compatible. The G1 comes in a bit behind, and the Curve 8900 trails a fair bit behind with only decent compatibility and slow load times due to no 3G.

E-Mail/Messaging: In this category, the BlackBerry is king, having the most experience with mobile E-Mail, and the full keyboard that is always out is great for SMS text messaging. The G1 falls behind a bit, but is awesome if you are a gmail user and the keyboard helps. The iPhone falls behind the most in this category, but isn’t bad, the other devices are just so much more focused on this aspect. The lack of a real keyboard is a bit hindering for the iPhone as well, where peck typing long e-mails is a bit of a pain for most people.

Pictures/Video: In this category as well, the iPhone trails terribly, having no video support at all and only a 2.0 megapixel camera with no features aside from Geo tagging. The G1 comes in second here with a 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus; it doesn’t have any video recording capabilities yet, but it is another feature coming soon. Oddly the business phone is the winner in such a casual category; having both video and a 3.2 megapixel camera, it packs auto focus, image stabilition, flash and zoom.

Multimedia: While each supports a variety of formats, the iPhone is the clear winner here. The large, vibrant screen makes video look fantastic and Apple’s experience with the .mp3 player market clearly shows. Otherwise, the Curve has a very nice smaller screen but wins with more versatile formats while the G1 has the larger screen of the two.

My Verdict: If you’re still undecided, go with the G1. It has a lot of untapped potential and covers all the bases well. If you want great apps, web browsing and an awesome portable media player, go with the iPhone. If you want decent video/picture, business support and great e-mail/messaging, the BlackBerry is for you. I went through this process myself and personally and went with the G1.

Hope this helped!