No two phones are hotter right now than the latest Apple handset and Motorola’s new Android phone. We compared both in hands-on tests in seven categories to crown an overall winner.
Retina display! 8-megapixel camera! Video calls! HDMI port! The last few days have seen lots of shouting from proponents of the hot phones of the minute, the Apple iPhone 4 and the Motorola Droid X.
iPhone 4 (available now on AT&T; $299 for 32GB, $199 for 16GB, both with a two-year contract) and the Motorola Droid X (available July 15 for $200 on Verizon, also with a two-year contract), but here's a quick refresher. The Droid X's standout features include a 4.3-inch display, an 8-megapixel camera, HDMI and DLNS connectivity, and a 1GHz TI OMAP processor. The iPhone 4's headlining features include its "Retina display," an improved 5-megapixel camera and a front-facing video camera for video calls, and HD (720p) video capture.
The Droid X and the iPhone 4 both come with Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth. What the Droid X can do and the iPhone 4 can't is to act as a mobile hotspot. For an extra $20 per month, the Droid X allows you to connect up to five compatible Wi-Fi devices, such as your laptop, your iPad, or other gadgets, to Verizon's network.
Both phones boast noise-cancellation technology, which is supposed to improve call quality by blocking sounds around you, leaving only your voice.
iPhone 4 registered far faster download speeds than the Verizon-connected Droid X did. The iPhone 4 showed an average download speed of 1958 kbps (almost 2 mbps) across our five testing locations in the city. The Droid X had an average download speed of 1130 kbps--still more than enough speed for reasonably fast Web browsing and standard-definition video watching. The two new devices posted similar average upload speeds; the iPhone4 registered 434 kbps and the Droid X averaged 564 kbps. Those upload speeds are fast enough to support basic file sharing but not enough to make fat-pipe apps such as multiplayer gaming or videoconferencing run well.
iPhone 4 ships with iOS 4, the latest version of the iPhone operating system. Aesthetically, iOS 4 looks similar to iOS 3, but it has a couple of major new features. The biggest update, of course, is the addition of multitasking. We've covered iOS 4 extensively since its announcement, but take a look at our breakdown of its best features.
Unfortunately, the Droid X does not run the latest iteration of Android, version 2.2 (aka Froyo). You're stuck with 2.1 until later this summer, when the 2.2 update arrives for the Droid X (and, we hope, other Android phones on Verizon). The biggest difference between 2.1 and 2.2 is a boost in performance.
It was a close call, but my colleagues and I unanimously picked the Droid X over the iPhone 4 for better sound quality. Bass sounded deeper, while vocals sounded crisper and richer over the Droid X.
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