I'm in a real quandary, perhaps the biggest one of my gadget obsessed life. I've always been a fan of touch phones and PDAs, and have had plenty of different ones in the past. But what do I do now? Tell me! Please!! I was very excited by the launch of the original iPhone last year but not excited enough to get one. Why would I? At the time I had an SPV M700 that gave me touch screen, an mp3 player, 3G, GPS, office document management, push email etc. So I let the iPhone pass me by. But I've had my M700 for over a year now and it's bulky, looking dated and slower than its competition. When the 3G iPhone was announced I was again in a dizzy spin, and this time it had 3G and GPS - the two major features I thought were holding the previous model back. So I paid up on my existing phone contract (6 months' worth) and got my PAC ready to migrate. And then what happened?? I heard about the HTC Touch Diamond! I was really impressed with it and was ready to change my mind regarding the iPhone. But there's a lot of uncertainty over the Diamond's UK release date (you can buy it now but it'll cost around £450), and it only has 4GB capacity compared to the iPhone's whopping 16GB (top spec). And not forgetting that the Diamond has a significantly smaller screen that would make surfing a bit awkward (as is the case with my similarly sized M700). But it's nice. It's very nice. It looks stylish, the screen looks fantastic and it's got a few bonus features including an FM radio. My current most significant concerns (read uncertainty) with the iPhone are how the GPS software (Google Maps) will work and also how easy it is to manage MS office documents. I know what I'm getting with a Windows phone (I haven't had the bad experiences others have), I can easily edit and manage documents and I know my GPS will work fine when I'm out of transponder range. Some say office documents are just as easy to manage on the iPhone using Google Docs, and some say that Google Maps doesn't need a constant data feed for your iPhone to keep track of your location. However, I've also read articles that suggest otherwise. So I have an element of uncertainty with the iPhone and I don't know whether I'm comfortable with that. I simply know what I'm getting with a Windows 6.1 phone, and if I'm going to go into an 18-month contract I don't want to do it blindly. So it became a battle between the Touch Diamond and the iPhone... for about 10 days. And then the Samsung i900 was announced! What are you guys trying to do to me? You're having fun messing with me. I want it to be easier than this. The i900 is again Windows 6.1 but I'd consider it a closer match (compared to the Diamond) to the iPhone. There'll be 8GB and 16GB models, the screen size is very similar and battery life is fairly comparable. Perhaps its biggest issue compared to the iPhone is its screen resolution - a measly 400x240. But it has a few bonus features like TV-out, FM radio, a 5 megapixel camera and a pretty fast CPU. Seriously, what do I do? I created a spreadsheet to compare the three phones and used a very rudimentary scoring system: 3 points for a phone per feature if it was the best (or equally best), 2 points for second best and 0 points if it was the least impressive feature of the three phones. You can see the spreadsheet below - green is best, amber is second best and red is third best. 
There are at least two issues, though: firstly I have given each feature equal ranking (it was easier and didn't tax my brain that way) and, secondly, I had to scrape around the internet to fill in some of the gaps so they may not be 100% accurate. I thought it would do to start with though. Please correct me on anything that you see is (or may be) wrong. So, as you can see the i900 is a clear winner. So why am I still not convinced?? I'm still being drawn to the iPhone.. for a few seconds... and then I'm drawn back to the Diamond... for a few more seconds... and then I'm back to the i900. To be honest, availability may win this round. The i900 isn't expected in the UK until around August and the Diamond seems always to be just out of touching distance (so to speak) with its UK launch being delayed. I know the iPhone comes out on the 11th July. What do I do? Phone a friend or ask the audience? Help! Dan
Which phone should "i" touch?