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Blackberry may have lost the top spot in the US smartphone market this year, but it’s not giving up. The Canadian company RIM is fortifying its smartphone stable releasing the Blackberry Torch 9800 as its first combination touchscreen and full QWERTY portrait slider. Its form has the promise of leading the way for future Blackberry smartphones not only in looks but in proven robust features that continue to sweep corporate America, despite most of them switching to the Android side.

Continuing its Appeal to Business

Blackberry’s conventional looks that have defined the form may have boxed it in and confined the marque to a limited market that will no doubt be the same one to patronize the Blackberry Torch 9800. Even a blending with the more popular touchscreen form which may seem revolutionary for Blackberry but is already pedestrian elsewhere, won’t be extending it to wider markets anytime soon.

Blackberry Torch 9800

Powered by a 623 MHz CPU, the Blackberry Torch 9800 comes with a 4GB onboard storage gives the Torch 9800 enough user memory for most business apps while its microSD expansion capability for up to 32GB takes the better storage option for multimedia files. In addition, its generous 512 MB RAM and 512 MB ROM gives the new Blackberry OS v6.0 and preloaded apps enough room to play.

Respectable Multimedia

Blackberry has never led in the multimedia department as its target business markets are not supposed to have the time to engage in such frivolities. But it does take some nod to some entertainment features. For sure, you might never have to expect an FM stereo radio in one.

None of their models do. But Blackberry Torch 9800 surprises us here with a DivX and XviD support for its video codecs, as well as OGG and FLAC support for its audio players – something you won’t find in many so called music smartphones. It even has the industry standard 3.5mm headphone port and you can go wireless stereo listening with its A2DP profile support.

A 5 megapixel resolution is the common limit among its high end smartphones and so does the Torch 9800. But it features LED flash, geo tagging and continuous auto focus as well as image stabilization. Just don’t expect video recording to go past VGA resolution at a respectable 24fps frame rate.

High End Connectivity and Other Features

As a phone, the Blackberry Torch 9800 carries a wealth of connectivity and is one of the few offering quad band on both GSM on 2G and UMTS on 3G. It has class 10 GPRS/EDGE on 2G and HSDPA/HSUPA on 3G, along with local data connectivity for WiFi 802.11 b/g/n with carrier-dependent UMA, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and microUSB v2.0.

SatNav gets a built-in GPS receivers with AGPS support preloaded with its own Blackberry Maps. A standard li-ion battery rated at 1300 mAh gets you going up to 5.5 hours in 2G talk time and almost the same for 3G, while music playback can reach 30 hours.

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• Sprint HTC Evo 4G Review
• Motorola Droid X Smartphone Review
• Apple iPhone 4 Smartphone review

HTC EVO 4G

Nearly all the features remain intact except that as a US-bound smartphone, the Evo 4G gets a CDMA twin-band radio on 2G and supports 3G and 4G EV-DO exclusive to Sprint. Though the device is touted as a 4G phone, this is exclusive to Sprint as there is still no standard issued by the wireless standards committees. If you have been using the HD2 on the GSM network, the two carry almost the same feature set.

Better Multimedia Prowess

The HTC Evo 4G gets a high resolution 8 megapixel for its camera against the 5 megapixel on the HD2. But you still get the same autofocus, dual LED flash and geo tagging, along with its gorgeous high definition 720p video recording, one of the first in the market when the HD2 came out.

A high end video recording resolution is matched by a gorgeous 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen display with wide-VGA (480 x 800) resolution, 65k colors, multitouch data input technology and the expected proximity and accelerometer sensors. Needless to say, watching our favorite Transformers movie on MP4 looks as great on it is in the Droid X which is its direct competitor.

It even has an HDMI port to feet your HTC Evo 4G content to your large screen plasma or LCD TV a great way to escape your friends crowding over the handset when showcasing your photos or videos taken with it. There’s also a secondary front facing video call camera with 1.3 megapixel resolution.

On the entertainment is another plus with its own stereo FM radio with RDS and the media playback support from the popular audio and video files. Stereo listening with headphones can be wired using its 3.5mm headphone port or you can go wireless with its A2DP profile support over Bluetooth.

Rich Hardware Specs

As a high end cellphone, the HTC Evo 4G offers the same data connectivity options apart from its CDMA connectivity. You get WiFi 802.11b/g with WiMax 802.16e protocol support on test for data speeds that can reach up to 10 Mbps when downloading and 1 Mbps when uploading. There’s also Bluetooth v2.1 and microUSB v2.0 as well as an onboard GPS receiver with AGPS support preloaded with Google Maps.

Your Android apps will love its 512 MB RAM and 1 GB ROM to run smoothly even with multitasking of a few apps running on the background. It has support for micro SD expandability for up to 32GB and comes with a free 8GB micro SD card in the sales it. Preloaded software apps include an integrated Facebook, Twitters, Picasa and Flickr apps, along with YouTube, Google Search, Google Talk and Gmail right out of the box.

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• Blackberry Torch 9800 Smartphone Review
• Motorola Droid X Smartphone Review
• Apple iPhone 4 Smartphone review

Motorola Droid X

Multimedia at its Finest

There’s no arguing the fact that when it comes to display, bigger is better, up to the most practical limits before it gets too big to be called a handset. The Motorola Droid X pushes its display to these limits with a gorgeous 4.3inch capacitive touchscreen with multitouch, 16 million colors and WideVGA (480 x 854) resolution. It also has the gravity accelerometer and proximity sensors. There are only a few smartphone out there that can rival its heightened movie watching experience when on the road. Our Ironman MP4 video certainly looks best on it.

Imaging is in top form with an 8 megapixel autofocus dual LED flash camera that features face detection, image stabilization and geo tagging. Completing this high feature to take advantage of it magnificent screen is its high definition 720p video recording prowess at 24fps or in D1 resolution at 30fps.

It’s only natural to expect mobile phones with HD recording to have a TV out port to connect to your Plasma to LCD TV and the Motorola Droid X obliges with one an HDMI 1.4 port. This is certainly one feature you can enjoy with friends to showcase your images and video taken on it without crowding over it.

Its media playback features support the popular audio and video file formant though it’s wanting in the Xvid department. Should you get tired of the players, you get unlimited music from its Fm stereo receiver with RDS. With A2DP support over Bluetooth, you can enjoy wireless stereo listening or use your favorite headphone with its 3.5mm port.

Other High End Features

The Motorola Droid X radio operates on the dual band CDMA with EV-DO on 3G along with data speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps. What makes calling on the Droid X an edge over some other smartphone is its active noise cancellation using a dedicated microphone. We found this useful when receiving or placing a call in a noisy mall.

Local data connectivity gets WiFi 802.11 b/g/n with DLNA for hotspot surfing while data synching and transfers get Bluetooth v2.1 and microUSB v2.0. There’s a built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS support preloaded with Google Maps.

Powered by a 1 GHz OPMPA 3630-1000 from Texas Instruments, the Motorola Droid X runs on the Android v2.1 Éclair and should be upgradable to the latest Froyo. Its system memory gets a 512 MB ROM which should make Android apps run fast and smooth along with generous 6.5 GB of user memory that gets micro SD expandability for up to 32GB. It even comes with a 16GB micro SD card in the sales kit. The Droid X gets fueled by a generous 1500 mAh li-ion battery that delivers up to 8 hours of talk time and 20 hours of standby time.

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• Apple iPhone 4 Smartphone review
• Blackberry Torch 9800 Smartphone Review
• Sprint HTC Evo 4G Review

iPhone 4

What Changed for the Better

No more a laggard in the imaging department, the Apple iPhone 4 camera is a revelation. While confined to only 5 megapixel resolution, it has the largest lens and CMOS sensor that allow higher ISO sensitivity. That means more detailed shots even in low light. It now sports LED flash, autofocus with touchfocus and geo tagging.

Not to be outdone by emerging high end camera phones, it has full 720p HD video recording at a movie-grade 30fps and aided with continuous video light. There’s even a VGA front camera for 3G video calls along with video chat over WiFi. You can even shift from front to back video to show the other party your face and what’s in front of you.

What’s New

But what stands out, like the first iPhone with its revolutionary multitouch, is the gorgeous display. Apple calls it the Retina Display. It boasts of a 960 x 640 resolution – the highest of any smartphone display on the planet, even if it’s only 3.5 inches across. The best out there is only 800 x 480 even on larger 4.3 inch displays. This results in the richest dot pitch density at 326 dots per inch that already rivals the best printer quality on earth.

The Apple iPhone 4 is the first smartphone or any phone to use a built-in gyroscope. Any aeronautic engineer will tell you that a gyroscope allows the highest precision motion tracking ever invented. It has a 3-axis detection for pitch, roll and yaw that, together with its gravity accelerometer, gives the iPhone 4 a 6-axis motion sensing.

iPhone 4 back

Under the hood is the same Apple A4 chip that powers the iPad. It’s anSoC (System on a Chip) that houses an ARM Cortex-A8 CPU assisted by a PowerVR SGX 535 HD graphics accelerator and gets 512 MB DDR SDRAM chips for its system memory. Because the chip is essentially architected as computing system housed in one chip, processing is faster and attains better battery efficiency. Blessed with a 16% larger Li-ion battery result, you get an unparalleled 10 yours of talk time on 2G, 7 hours on 3G, music playback for up to 40 hours and standby time of 300 hours.

Flagship Telephony

The Apple iPhone 4 matches the data and radio connectivity wealth of the best smartphones and is one of the few offering quad band radio on both 2G GSM and 3G UMTS. It has class 10 GPRS/EDGE data speeds on 2G and HSDPA at 7.2 MBps and HSUPA at 5.6 Mbps on 3G. Local data connectivity supports hotspot surfing with its WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, while data transfers gets Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, miniUSB 2.0 SatNav gets a built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS.

But admittedly there are some things that haven’t changed. There’s still no micro SD support though you do get either a 16GBor 32GB model. Luckily, the same exquisitely crafted metal body and solid feel on your hands remains with only a few cosmetic changes that now leans towards less curvatures and sharper edges.

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• Motorola Droid X Smartphone Review
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• Sprint HTC Evo 4G Review
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