Apple iPhone vs. Sprint Touch

VS.

Sprint has recently released its own all-in-one multimedia smartphone, the Sprint Touch. Featuring a touch screen, integrated Bluetooth, and a 2.0 megapixel camera, the new Sprint Touch has an attractive TouchFlo interface in a small compact device weighing only 4 ounces and measuring 3.9 inches long by 0.5 inches tall by 2.8 inches wide. The Sprint Touch also has rubber texture with an easy grip. However, the lack of a keyboard prevents much functionality with this device.

Like the iPhone is connected to the popular iTunes store online, the new Sprint Touch works with both Sprint TV and the Sprint Music store. The Sprint Touch runs Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional and is affordably priced at $249.99. The Sprint Touch lacks a proper text entry method and the microSD slot is inconvenient to find. Lacking an integrated Wi-Fi, the Sprint Touch also does not have the landscape mode option available in the iPhone, nor does it have a strong speaker system.

The pixel resolution is 240 x320 compared to the iPhone's 320 x 480 pixels at 160 ppi, offering better quality than previous Sprint handhelds but lacking the finesse, sharpness, and luminosity of the iPhone screen. Akin to the iPhone, the new Sprint Touch also has quick shortcuts to frequently used applications, all accessible via tapping and sweeping motions. The Sprint Touch does not offer anything radically different, new, or original from other Windows Mobile smartphones. The cellular phone has all the major cell phone features and also an address book with photographs, groups, ringtones, and contact information with a dialing-by-picture caller ID option as well.

Another positive attribute of the new Sprint Touch is a longer lasting battery life of 4.5 hours. The Sprint Touch has 3 G bandwidth support and can connect to Bluetooth devices. The smartphone also features a standard 2.0 megapixel camera with a small accompanying mirror. The photographic quality of the camera of the Sprint Touch has been rated poorly by many online review sites. This observation is in sharp contrast to the photo editing software, excellent screen resolution, ease of use, and clarity in iPhone photographs.

While the Sprint Touch smartphone does not offer all the features of the Apple iPhone, it still is a remarkable improvement in this line of smartphones in terms of integration of multimedia (video and audio), cellular phone, and internet communications in one device.