Apple unveiled the next generation iPhone yesterday amidst a lot of anticipation and excitement.
As Steve Jobs had noted prior to the event, the announcements at WWDC 2010 did not leave the users disappointed.
In fact, Apple has claimed that iPhone 4 is “the biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone”.
Despite these major improvements on the new iPhone, Apple may not have it easy moving forward. This is because of the slew of Android handsets that have been unveiled in the past few weeks. Early this month, Sprint launched HTC EVO 4G, which is possibly the most advanced Android handsets to have launched till now. We had written about HTC EVO 4G in March this year. Back then, we had hoped for iPhone 4 to be a much better gadget than HTC EVO. So how do the two devices compare? Here is a feature-by-feature comparison of the two smartphones.
Display:
The HTC EVO boasts of a much larger display screen (4.3" compared to 3.5" on iPhone 4). However, iPhone 4 comes with a far superior 960×640 pixel "Retina display", which is the highest resolution among the current crop of smartphones.
Processor:
Apple has incorporated their in-house A4 processor chip in the new iPhone, which can apparently clock 1GHz of processor speed. While HTC EVO's SnapDragon processor too clocks the same speed, it needs to be noted that handset manufacturers routinely clock down the speed in order to boost the battery life. We may not be able to comprehensively judge the performance of the two processors at the moment as we still don't know at what speed iPhone 4's A4 processor is running.
Storage:
Both the devices offer a storage of up to 32GB. iPhone 4 comes in two versions offering 16GB and 32GB of storage. On the other hand, HTC EVO 4G comes with a 8GB microSD card that is expandable up to 32GB.
Network:
Like iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 too will work over 3G network. In comparison, HTC EVO 4G shall run on Sprint's 4G network, which is a lot faster. However, we need to note that the 4G network is still not available in large parts of the country and hence may not be a determining factor for a majority of the customers.
Camera:
Both iPhone 4 and HTC EVO come with a front-facing and a rear-facing camera each. The rear-side camera on the iPhone 4 is equipped with a 5-megapixel CMOS. HTC EVO on the other hand, comes with a much higher 8-megapixel rear-side camera. However, as we have noted in the past, a higher megapixel on the camera sensor does not necessarily imply better quality images.
Video Recording:
Both the smartphones allow users to capture HD video. The iPhone 4 however captures videos at a marginally higher frames-per-second and also includes video editing functionalities.
Video Conferencing:
Again, thanks to the front-facing camera, both the devices allow video conferencing. iPhone 4 users may use the natively supported FaceTime app for Wi-Fi based video conferencing. HTC EVO users will need to purchase the Qik app that is available for $5. A basic version of the app is also available for free at the Android marketplace. Video conferencing on HTC EVO may be carried out over the carrier's 3G or 4G network apart from Wi-Fi.
Battery Life:
An improved battery life has been one of the most significant improvement in iPhone 4. Apple claims that iPhone 4 will provide a talk time of 7 hours on 3G and close to 14 hours on 2G. HTC EVO 4G in comparison offers only up to 6 hours of talk time.
Operating System:
iPhone 4 will come pre-installed with Apple's new iOS 4.0 that includes more than 100 new features while HTC EVO 4G currently comes installed with Android 2.1. However, it should soon get the Android 2.2 update that was unveiled by Google recently, which brings new features such Adobe Flash 10.1, Wi-Fi Hotspot etc.
Price:
AT&T has retained the older iPhone 3GS price point for iPhone 4. Users can purchase the 16GB and 32GB iPhone 4 model at $199 and $299 respectively when it goes on sale on June 24. On the other hand, HTC EVO 4G is already available with Sprint at $199 after a $100 mail-in rebate. Both the plans come with a two-year contract period.
Also checkout the feature videos of HTC EVO 4G and iPhone 4:
As you see, there is not much to choose between the two phones in terms of hardware specs at the moment though in our opinion Apple retains its edge over HTC EVO 4G due to iOS 4.0 and the massive App Store, which now houses over 225,000 iPhone apps.
However, the important thing to note here is that Android phones like HTC EVO 4G will keep Apple honest and put pressure on them to keep innovating (not that they've needed the pressure), which is always a good thing from a customer point of view.
So do you prefer Apple's new iPhone 4 or the new HTC EVO 4G? Which one will you buy? We would love to hear your views in the comments so do drop us a line.
[via Wired]
