HTC Joins Attack Of iPhone Clones

Apple's iPhone (pictured) has been widely successful and it's been available to the public for just under a year. Capitalizing on that success, device makers have been scrambling to add a touch-screen Web-enabled devices their handset rosters. This week is no exception, as HTC unveils the Touch Diamond, which is being billed as the next true iPhone rival.

While it's unclear if these "iPhone clones" will turn into iPhone killers and have Steve Jobs running scared, they're certainly going to try. Here we've compiled a handful of recent devices that hope to unset the coveted iPhone as the touch-screen multimedia device of choice.

HTC is the latest to enter the battle, this week unveiling the HTC Touch Diamond (pictured) a mobile phone that comes in as more compact as its Apple rival and adding what it calls a "3D touch interface" called TouchFLO to offer access to people, messaging, email, photos, music, weather and more.

The HTC Touch Diamond measures 102 mm by 51 mm by 11.33 mm and weighs in at 110 g. For connectivity it operates on WCDMA/HSPA, 900/2100 MHz, and HDSPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA. The device runs the Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional operating system and features a 2.8-inch VGA touch screen, a 3.2 megapixel camera with video calling, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, 802.11 b and g Wi-Fi, and for storage features 4 GB internal, 256 MB flash and 192 MB RAM. Along with all of those features, the Touch Diamond offers GPS and offers up to 4 hours of talk time and up to 300 hours of standby time, or 100 hours of standby with push e-mail.

Probably the biggest attention-getter of this year's CTIA Wireless 2008 in Las Vegas was the Samsung Instinct (pictured) from Sprint. The device, which features a touch screen and ultra-fast Internet speeds, boasts its lower-than-the-iPhone price tag of about $300, while still packing in features.

The Instinct measures 2.17 inches by 4.57 inches by 0.49 inches and weighs less than 4.5 ounces. It features advanced functions like Visual Voicemail, which lets users listen to messages in their order of preference and manage them with a screen tap. It also offers support for corporate and consumer POP3 email accounts, multitasking that lets users play music in background mode while surfing the Internet, texting or playing games; a 2.0 megapixel camera with camcorder and expandable microSD memory of up to 8 Gb. Other features include stereo Bluetooth 2.0, an integrated world clock, SMS voice and text messaging with threaded text, phone as a modem, picture caller ID and Sprint Mobile Sync.

Verizon is also in on the touch-screen craze with its Verizon Wireless XV6900, a touch-screen device that Verizon said is optimized for easy navigation with the swipe of a finger.

The pure white device offers Web access through Internet Explorer Mobile and enables the sending and receiving of emails and chat on several services. Users can also view and edit Microsoft Word and Excel files and view Microsoft PowerPoint and Adobe Reader PDFs while also being able to extract and create new zip files and attachments.

The XV6900 also features a built-in speakerphone, Bluetooth support, a microSD slot, a 2.0 megapixel camera with video capture and support for Office Outlook Mobile and Microsoft Exchange with Direct Push.

The XV6900 has a 2.8-inch touch screen with LED backlight and measures 3.98 inches by 2.35 inches by 0.56 inches. The XV6900 will run about $350 with a two-year service contract and a $50 mail-in rebate.

GPS device maker Garmin, while relatively new to the phone game, has come out with an iPhone-style device that incorporates its GPS technology with a Web-enabled mobile phone. The Garmin nuvifone (pictured) is a GPS-enabled touch screen mobile phone that integrates 3.5G mobile capabilities with an Internet browser, data connectivity, personal messaging and personal navigation in one device. Featuring a 3.5-inch touch screen display, the device has three primary icons: call, search and view map.

One the mobile entertainment side, the nuvifone features a built-in camera, direct access to millions of geo-located landmark and sightseeing photographs available through Google's Panoramio picture sharing site, a built-in video camera, and MP3 and MPEG4/AAC.

The AT&T Tilt (pictured) offers many iPhone-like features as well. The mobile Wi-Fi device enables the sending and receiving of email and multimedia messages on a slide out QWERTY keypad; and users can view messages, photos and videos on a large color touch screen that swivels and tilts upward. The Tilt lets users surf the Web, watch streaming video, listen to satellite radio and download music at broadband speeds. Users can talk and send data simultaneously and combine up to six Bluetooth pairings at once.

Additional features include a 3-megapixel camera, a music player, Telenav GPS Navigator support and integrated Wi-Fi. The device uses Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 Professional with Vista compatibility and features Microsoft Office Mobile, which offers mobile access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.

The Palm Centro (pictured), a touch screen device that builds off the popularity of the Palm Treo smartphone offers touch screen capabilities on both AT&T's and Sprint's network, depending on which you choose. The device, which runs the Palm operating system features a 320 pixel by 320 pixel Transflective color touch screen and supports 16-bit color. The Centro features 64 MB of user storage and includes a 1.3 megapixel camera with two-times zoom and video capabilities.

Depending on which service you choose, the device offers access to various email platforms, instant messaging services, push to talk and a host of other applications.

The LG Voyager (pictured) may be the closest in similarities to the iPhone. The Voyager features a touch screen and a full QWERTY keyboard. The device offers Internet browsing, a music player, V Cast Mobile TV, dual speakers with stereo sound, Bluetooth support and a 2.0 megapixel camera and camcorder. The device hosts a 2.81-inch touch screen and measures 2.12 inches by 0.71 inches by 4.64 inches.

It offers host of other tools, like a phone book with up to 1,000 contacts, a function key for quick access to 10 shortcuts, USB mass storage, VC NavigatorSM for turn-by-turn voice-prompted directions, and access to email and instant messaging.