touch screen mobile phones
The interface called touch screen has been developing for several years. A Japanese company first developed a touch interface that was to be used in computers for the purpose of writing Japanese ideograms. Wacom's signifies the measurement of both the area of pressure and direction of a pen for writing. Such pen is now named as stylus, which is used in various high end gadgets, touch screen phones or PDAs. In the history of touch screen interfaces, Apple Newton was the first device. It was not a computer, rather a kind of PDA. But, it didn’t last for long as the size was very big and the weight was heavy too. Palm Inc then introduced Palm Pilot, which was second generation of PDAs. It was a nice device, but needed less battery power to function. It was in 2006, when the touch screen phones started to take off. This was the time when the craze of iPhone was just a year and a half away. There were some keen followers of such phones but the entire viewpoint of using the touch screen in order to carry out any major data work was intimidating and annoying. This was because of the fact that the software was no up to the mark to match up the requirements and also the menus were not developed in a user friendly manner.
iPhone – among the first touch screen phones
iPhone was among the first that created touch interface by implementing touch screen on iPhone or iPod. The touch interface is astonishingly responsive to both manifold points of contact and the traveling direction. The perfect combination of software and hardware has made the iPhone such graceful and stylish equipment that allows user to pinch for zooming out, stretch for zooming in, and a fingertip flick for rolling through the play lists or contacts.
Touch Screen Phones - Drawbacks of iPhone
iPhone was the first touch screen phone that utilized the technology of touch screen completely, but the high price kept several customers away from experiencing it. In fact, it was so unaffordable that fresh marketing tricks thrived by the means of a free iPhone as a recompense for those were eager to shell out a vast amount of cash in lesser amount for various products until they received a free iPhone. Thus, the huge cost of the touch screen iPhone was its major limitation. Another drawback of the phone was the selection of the carrier. The mobile phone was supposed to work with one provider only and AT&T was the available option at that time. Thus, the interested users were required to leave their existing carrier to enjoy the facilities of iPhone. Those who didn’t shed extra money to own iPhone at that time, actually gained a lot as few years later, there were numerous touch screen phones. Many of these new touch screen phones offer some of the vital features of iPhone also. Not only that, some of these phones includes such features that were not present in the iPhone.
Touch Screen Phones - Vital features of touch screen phones
One such important feature that was not present in the iPhone is Bluetooth®. iPhone used wire based earphone technology. The new touch screen phones offer Bluetooth® that gives excellent wireless audio experience. Not just Bluetooth®, the new touch screen phones are also equipped with 3G technology that makes surfing Internet and media streaming a cool and stress fee experience. The storage capacity varies from phone to phone. iPhone features 16GB capacity and the other touch screen phones also capable of featuring high storage options. A phone that does not feature memory option as high as 16GB, storage options up to 8GB is definitely possible. 8 GB memory is definitely not a small memory and the user can easily store music, videos and movie files. Some of the other prominent features of these new touch screen phones that iPhone does not featured are memory card slots, voice dialing capabilities, ability to play WMA files, removable battery packs, etc.
Touch Screen Phones - Affordable Options
Some of these touch screen phones are amazingly affordable, if we compare the features they provide with the price. There are several providers that offer discounted rates on touch screen phones; some even offer the phones absolutely free if the customers enter into new contract. The option is not just limited to AT&T as there are numerous providers that are bringing on touch screen phones with attractive packages. Touch screen phones are very stylish and attractive; on top of that, when they are offered with attractive packages and the customers enjoy win win situation. If the customers select a good plan, they can save good money in future and the best part is that they got a touch screen phone at discounted rate or for free.
Factors to consider while shopping for touch screen phones
Are you interested to shop for a touch screen phone? There are certain things that you need to consider. No matter what enticing feature you find in the phone, remember that the calling aspect is still very crucial. Hence, it needs to choose a proper calling plan. If you go for a 3G phone, it is obviously vital to have an internet plan along with different usage and pricing structures. You should have a good idea about your internet usage. If you need to use maximum internet then obviously it is better to opt for an unlimited plan. Before you sign up for two years with a carrier, make sure that you have checked all the charges related to call and data usage.
QWERTY phones and Touch screen phones
Smart phones of higher level are chiefly distinguished into two varieties – one is touch screen phones and the other is QWERTY keypad phones. The main difference between a QWERTY phone and a touch screen phone is that a QWERTY device comes with full keyboard that is included into the key panel or hidden under a sliding panel whereas, in the touch screen phones, there are no keys or buttons. Every operation is conducted by mere touch of fingers on the screen. There are active points on the screen and pressing those points give the users with desired control over the applications. Few touch screen phones come with various function keys or a navigation pod. The market leader of touch screen phones is Apple iPhone where BlackBerry is the leader in QWERTY keypad phone segment.
The design of touch screen phones is definitely attractive, but at the same time these devices are not appropriate when large amount of data is needed to be entered like numerous SMSs or sending Instant Messages. Preparing PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, writing or editing Word documents, emails, etc are some of the vital feature in the business field. In such cases, touch screen phones are not comfortable and hence QWERTY keyboard phones are right choice. QWERTY mobile phones such as HTC, Palm W class, Pantech, etc run Windows Mobile operating system. This gives the users with easy operation as they are well known with Windows environment. Other benefits on these Windows based mobiles are ability to view and manage documents, manage tasks and calendar, better web browsing and email functionalities, etc. Now, let’s consider the entertainment aspect in the QWERTY devices. It is agreed that QWERTY phones are apt fro business purposes, but it is a smart phone and hence the entertainment features cannot be omitted. Hence, digital cameras, music player, video players, etc must be present in the smart phones. Whether it is a QWERTY phone or a touch screen phone, these entertainment features are a must.
Is there any advantage or touch screen phones over the QWERTY phones? Yes definitely! There are certain features in the touch screen phones like iPhone that are yet to be unrivaled. For example the memory and the battery options. All iPhones, the leading touch screen phones feature memory in the range of 8 GB to 16 GB. The capacity of memory varies according to the specifications of the phone. On the other hand, a QWERTY mobile device generally features much-backward 128 mega bytes of built in memory. However, the memory option can be increased by using the expandable memory cards in the MicroSD™ card slots. Depending upon the requirement, buyer needs to purchase an appropriate MicroSD™ card. Touch screen phones huge memory options gives enough opportunity to the user to load maximum number of music files, videos or movies. Now, let’s compare the battery feature of touch screen phones and the battery phones. Considering a general example of iPhone for the touch screen devices, it can be said that the battery of iPhone can give back up for five to six hours of talk time even after using WI-FI® web browser time. Moreover, 300 hours of standby mode can also be availed in the touch screen phones. Such battery option is not provided by the models of QWERTY mobile phone.
New touch screen mobile phones 2009 Reviews
Here we are featuring some of the best touch screen phones.
Apple iPhone
This is among the first phones with new touch screen interface. This device runs on Apple's OS X operating system. The screen size is really huge that displays icons. There is a joy stick that will enable you to use and control the menus. It also works as an iPod as it includes 8GB memory that can play loads of songs with the similar superior quality of an iPod. Camera features include 2 mega pixels camera and several other entertainment features. This is a 3G phone and hence internet usage is quite perfect in the device.
Apple iPhone 3GS
This is yet another edition of touch screen phones by Apple. The iPhones have good news in the form of this latest device. There is an extra “S” in the name of this phone, which stands for speed. Unlike the earlier version, Apple iPhone 3GS is equipped with 3 mega pixel camera that can efficiently record video files. The camera comes with touch focus and auto focus functionalities. With that extra “S”, get ready to enjoy some immaculate speed while using 3G services. The screen is as usual wide and attractive.
HTC Touch Cruise 09
HTC Touch Cruise 09 is a stylish and glossy looking touch screen phone that comes with excellent characteristics and technologies. The touch screen display is 2.8 TFT-LCD with QVGA resolutions that provides bright and glowing images. This phone comes in the dimension of 102mm x 53.5mm x 14.5mm that makes it quite handy and friendly. It just weight 103g in spite of featuring high end technologies. It comes with a strong battery that can provide talk time up to 400 minutes (GSM) or 375 minutes (WCDMA). The stand-by time of the battery is 330 hours (GSM) or 400 hours (WCDMA).
Nokia N95 8GB
N95 8GB is the latest touch screen model that is light and attractive. The weight of the phone is just128g and its dimension is 53mm by 21mm by 99mm. It can also rise up to 130mm in height. There are two cameras in the phone. The frontal camera is for video calling while the main camera is the 5 mega pixel Carl Zeiss optic camera. The phone comes with huge library of software, video clips, images, messages, ring-tones, Wi-Fi, etc; all packed in 100 MB memory. It also features 8GB of built in flash memory. Thus, the phone provides great options for storing good number of music, videos, games, etc.
Sony Ericsson Aino
This one is a cool PS3 phone with its large 3 inch touch screen. The device can stream your PS3 content no matter where you are. The look of the phone is just awesome. With Sony Ericsson Aino the users can turn on and turn off the PS3 and can also control and access media content on Playstation 3. The device can automatically get to a Playstation 3 gaming system.
The above are some of the really cool touch screen phones available in the market.
