“With the rise of Android, the reboot of BlackBerry, and the redesigned iPhone, 2010 can rightly be called the year of the smartphone,” Jason Hiner writes for TechRepublic. “After reviewing nearly all of the top devices, here is my countdown of the best devices of the year.”
TechRepublic’s Top 10 Smartphones of 2010:
1. Apple iPhone 4: With all of the momentum that was gathering around Android during the first half of 2010, Apple’s iPhone 3GS was starting to look pretty stale by mid-year — especially since it was only a slight upgrade over the iPhone 3G from 2008. Then, Apple unveiled iOS4 and the iPhone 4 and launched itself back to the head of the class with top-quality hardware and a software experience that still outpaces all of its rivals in terms of ease of use, responsiveness, polish, and third-party software… Overall, the iPhone 4 remains the gold standard of the smartphone market.
2. HTC EVO 4G
3. Google Nexus One
4. Samsung Galaxy S
5. HTC Desire
6. Motorola Droid X
7. Samsung Focus
8. HTC Incredible
9. Motorola Droid 2
10. BlackBerry Torch
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The experience offered by an Apple iPhone 3GS running the latest iOS version beats 2-10 handily.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dangerfrog” for the heads up.]
“Any product that is essentially a copy of something else…there’s something inherently less interesting about them. Because the companies that make them don’t lead, they follow.” – Paul Thurrott
Consumer Reports is still fuming over being proven wrong and in their petulance, still “can’t” recommend the iPhone.
In reality, the iPhone4 should take all top ten spots.
the original iphone should be in there too, and the ones since then. actually, two tin cans and a string should qualify.
Couldn’t agree more with the MDN take. The 3GS was a “slight upgrade” in name only. Twice the CPU speed and the ability to run iOS 4 makes it a great phone today. Still using mine.
My wife’s iPhone 4 still gets better reception though.
Get the best forget the rest!
What? No windows phone 7???
I think other raters look at simply the surface hardware numbers than overall experience. Apparently, anyone can make a clone iPhone these days but it is like cosmetic jewelry compared to the real thing.
I would rather have my iPod touch and a dumb phone instead of any of 2 to 10
I wish Apple would make a “dumb Phone” version of an iPod Mini. They could even call it the dumbPHONE and it would be a huge success. It would be a phone, and also provide all the functionality of an iPod mini and could rule the dumb phone market where Nokia, Moto, LG, Samsung, etc. do now.
Add data tethering to my iPad and I would have my perfect combo.
The Smart Phone was a misnomer before the iPhone came along. Apple started a true era of smart technology in phones and the rest are attempting to catch up.
I’d like an iPhone 4, but my 3GS is still a wonderful device. I’ve seen various Android phones, and not much to make me jealous. Certainly not the inferior user experience. I program for a living, and I try to pick and choose what things I have to manage manually. My phone is not something I want to waste a lot of time “programming.” Android lets you do that – some people don’t mind spending a lot of time maintaining a device like that. My time is precious – I’d like to work on projects of my own choosing, not those imposed by using products that make me do work. To be honest, even the iPhone and Mac OS X could be improved in that area – I’m certainly not willing to _downgrade_ my “it just works” experience by using Android.
What a bullshit rating. EVO and Nexus One are much better phones! Not to mention HTC G2 as well.
As an owner of a 3GS, MDN’s take is spot on.
steve32465 : The EVO isn’t close to the iPhone 4. The battery life is borderline terrible. If you don’t even use it you won’t even make it through a day without charging. The thing gets warm to the touch. The same issues with Android with messed up contacts and random texts to wrong people exist. You have to pay $10 more a month for no 4G coverage for most people. If you are in 4G coverage, its poor reception nails you. You can have signal, take 2 steps and then it flips right back to EVDO. Android continues to replicate a PC model of management: Advanced Task Manager is a requirement along with the knowledge on how to use it. If you don’t you will have apps that chew through your battery in less than a few hours.
The EVO has one thing going for it: Sprint’s $69.99 all-you-can-eat plan. Otherwise, if you were to offer a Sprint person an iPhone 4 or EVO for the same price, at $69.99, I’m pretty confident that at least 8 out of 10 people would take the iPhone. EVO succeeds only because of Sprint customers who choose Sprint and because there is no other decent choice on Sprint for a phone. Hopefully Apple pulls the trigger on other carriers soon!
The Evo is something so trashy I wouldn’t even put it in the recycle bin for fear of inflicting pain on some poor unsuspecting sod.
Let me put it this way: If you’re an Android user by choice then a lobotomy appointment with a brain surgeon in Cedars-Sinai is the best option for you.
As I say to all my friends . . .
Windows & Android: “For those who do not want–or cannot afford–the very best.”
..This was BEFORE New Years’ eve probably… ;D
8 out 10 top products are Android phones. Apple is really late in bringing iPhone to other carriers. I would say too late at this point.
Google’s Android operating system powered 40.8% of smartphones purchased in the last six months, while Apple iOS only 27 percent of devices purchased ran iOS. This is since June 2010 – right after launch of new iPhone 4 – these months were traditionally the best for Apple. On contrarily, months leading to the new iPhone launch were typically the weakest. I’d say Android will have 55%-65% share of the market, while Apple 15% to 25 in next six months. Talk about loosing the game! Really incredible if you think about it. iPhone was and is by far the best product on the market. Apple had 3 year head start and still they will become a marginal player. Wow! That what happens when the company is run by a bunch of artists.
Yeah I agree with your take, but the experience offered by an Apple iPhone 3G running iOS 4 (before the upgrade) version made the phone a friggin toaster..and it took months before the upgrade was released.
The iPhone is the gold standard of smartphones.
The Androids are the scum of the mobile industry. Why do I say such terrible thing about Android? Before there were any iPhones the Androids were mimicking the Blackberries and WinPhones with their outdated keyboard and myriad buttons technology. When iPhone burst into the scene, immediately all the Androids began to to mimic the form factor and the touch specifications of the iPhone.
Through the Trojan horse of its CEO, Eric Smidt Google stole and copied the intellectual property of Apple. The bunch of the Android phone imitators were scraping the bottom of the barrel, with each imitators coming out with 4–5 models of the same product without any major differentiation between them. This reminds me of those consumer goods where a manufacturer will have many models of the same product, each with slightly incremental features, like where one TV model will have one or two additional buttons and a bigger screen but basically they were moulded from one common design. Android phones are employing the exact same smoke and mirror to trick the consumers into believing that the Android platform have a variety of choices.
Apple does not not need to succumb to such underhand methods by churning out 3–5 models of the same product. Nor does it have to go the BOGOF route to sell its phones. In fact Apple has one of its hands tried behind its back due to its exclusivity deal with ATT to battle in the sea of Android encirclement. Wait until Apple burst out from such limitation and take on the Android army on Verizon, Sprint and the rest of the telcos and we will start to watch the slaughter.
@Alex: As usual, you don’t get it.
a) It’s not for the money
b) iPhone4 is the best seller phone for Apple
c) iPhone is not in the plan “buy 1 get 1 free”
d) It does not matter the market share, at least for Apple. They are selling as much phones as they can build
e) iPhone is the reference and the leader. All others are followers
Loosing the game with a 15% (in your thoughts)? Macs have some 10% and counting and doing much, much better than any other company.
As I use to say:
Stupid is as stupid does®
To elaborate a bit on the above. Market share is very important; the larger your market share, the greater the likelihood that developers will develop for you first, and for others second. However, with the iPhone, the market share (for the purposes of developers’ interest) is NOT only the iPhone; it is the entire iOS landscape. As such that market is still larger than all Android devices combined.
Second critical factor is the power of that market. Android market seems to be biased heavily towards freeloaders (i.e. users who expect and only get free apps, and don’t bother with paid ones), as opposed to the iOS market, where users are much more comfortable paying for their apps. This is a significant advantage of the iOS market. Even if it were realistically only half the size of the Android market, it would still be much more attractive to the developers for that reason alone.
Third, it is the simplicity of developing or a unified platform with a unified distribution solution. So many developers of solutions for both platforms (such as the ‘Angry Birds’ guys) have already said that Android development and distribution is a mess and a headache, and iOS development is a joy.
So, for this reason, Apple needs not worry about the market share.
On another point, there is only ONE reason Android is gaining market share, and it is NOT carrier exclusivity in America. Android looks and feels almost exactly like the iPhone. On devices where carriers haven’t messed around the user interface too much, Android phones are genuine rip-offs of the iPhone.
The reason Android is selling so well is because it has practically the same intellectual property as the iPhone. In an ideal justice system, courts would swiftly remedy this. In a real justice system, though, it seems it will take a long time, and it is also a question whether the final remedy will be meaningful at all.
Apple did what they had to do. Taught by their original Mac OS experience and litigation against Microsoft on IP issues, they “patented the hell out of the iPhone”, in hope that the patent protection alone would be sufficient to prevent others from ripping off. Well, apparently it wasn’t, so we’ll have to see if the court system will provide that protection.
@Alex
You know what happens when a Co. is run by a bunch of artists? You get the most valuable tech Co. in the world despite that fact that you don’t have the share of the market!
you are an idiot…
Oh, please! I know the value of Apple compared to other tech firms. I have been an investor with Apple since 2002 and I literally made a fortune enough for my retirement. Yes, Apple has the highest market cap in the tech world (third among all industries). This is an impressive performance, no question about it, especially given the state where Apple was before SJ came back but there is absolutely no reason why Apple couldn’t have been a $1 trillion company instead of $300 billion.
And my reference to the artists running the company was more philosophical – we all know what happens when the company is just run by sales guys: look at Microsoft, their complete lack of innovation and their dismal market cap compared to Apple.
The problem with the management team that are a little too creative (think Apple) is that they tend to do really well in the early stages of product introduction and market creation. They are innovators and creators but not someone who follows through. They have a culture that is focused on new products, entering new markets but not preserving the existing markets / share. Back in 1980th when Apple was run by artists, the company invented the whole PC space. And Apple was the largest tech company in market cap in world. This is a testament of a management team run by artists. But once the market was established the “sales guys” came and ate Apple lunch. Apple basically became a 3rd rate tech player in 1990th.
My concern is that Apple might be repeating the history here with smartphones. The “artists guys” yet again defined the market in the early stages. This is hugely profitably for the company – not just in direct sales of iphone but also the spill over effect it has on other Apple products (i.e., iphone sales drive Mac sales). Problem is that you have “sales guys” yet again eating Apple lunch.