The Best Smart Phones

the Droid Incredible lives up to its name and then some. While the Android 2.1 smartphone doesn't offer any new, groundbreaking features, what it does better than any other Android product on the market right now, including the Motorola Droid andNexus One, is enhancing those features with better software (courtesy of HTC Sense) and combining it with a sleek design and lots of power.

Though a lot of eyes may be on the Sprint HTC Evo 4G and I have little quibbles here and there, we have absolutely no hesitation in recommending the Droid Incredible. It's hands-down Verizon's best smartphone, and one of the best and fastest Android devices on the market right now

• Detailed focus. With eye-popping 8-megapixel resolution and built-in editing, it’s not a camera phone. It’s an amazing camera that happens to be an amazing phone.
• Built for speed.. HTC designers found inspiration for the Droid Incredible by HTC in a jet-black Italian sports car. With a blazing-fast 1GHz Snapdragon™ processor, it seems our hardware engineers did, too.
• Instant sharing. Capture the moment and post it instantly on Facebook^®, Flickr^®, or Picasa™. Mail it, message it, or send a peep to all your peeps.
• Instant friends. With the Friend Stream app, you always know what’s going on on Facebook and Twitter™, without actually going on Facebook and Twitter.
• Instant apps. The Android™ OS with HTC Sense™ delivers easy access to thousands of apps and games available at the Android Market™.

Samsung is throwing their hat into the ring with the second 4G phone to hit the market, dubbed the Epic 4G. Can it match, or even exceed, the standard set by the Evo 4G? The answer is a definitive yes. 

In terms of design, the Epic 4G is not unlike many recent touch-screen slider phones. The glass paneled touchscreen interface dominates the upper portion of the chassis, with only a speaker, a small front-facing camera, and the standard array of Android touch-enabled buttons (settings, home, return, and search). The lower section, which features the slide out keyboard, also accounts for a considerable amount of bulk; housing the built-in battery and the phone's processors and storage. Like all slider-type devices, the slide out panel makes the overall thickness of the device larger than most recent smartphones; giving the Epic 4G over half an inch of total depth. To put this into perspective, the iPhone 4 measures at about .37-inches thick, while the Epic 4G's own brother phone, the Galaxy S, is only about .39-inches thick. 

The iPhone 4 offers enhanced performance, a lovely new display, and an improved design. It also adds a ton of sorely needed features, both by itself and through the iOS 4 update.

With the iPhone 4, Apple again shows that it is a powerful player in the smartphone wars. It won't be for everyone, the call quality and reception vary if you don't use a case, and AT&T's network remains a sticking point, but the handset's striking design, loaded feature set, and generally agreeable performance make it the best

The overall design is quite sleek and modern. The "buttons" under the display are touch sensitive, so the front of the device is unbroken. Almost everything is black, with a few silver elements on the speaker grille and branding logos, plus red accents around the camera lens and kickstand on the back of the device.

That kickstand deserves special mention; the EVO 4G is the first phone I have encountered that has one. It works very well in landscape mode, and makes watching video on the device much more pleasant and enjoyable.

The EVO 4G does not have a physical keyboard, instead relying upon a virtual keyboard that you "type" on with your finger. I found the virtual keyboard to be much easier to use on the EVO than on other devices I've used recently because it is bigger, thanks to the 4.3-inch screen. That means I'm much less likely to tap in the wrong place.

Out of the four major U.S. carriers, AT&T was the most in need of a solid Android smartphone, and it's finally got one in the Samsung Captivate. Part of the Galaxy S series, the Captivate is by far AT&T's most powerful and feature-rich Android device, boasting a gorgeous Super AMOLED touch screen, a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, and some great multimedia features. It won't win any beauty contests, and we wish AT&T would stop restricting app access, but overall, the Captivate delivers and is a great alternative to the iPhone 4. The Samsung Captivate for AT&T will be available starting July 18 for $199.99 with a two-year contract (voice plan and minimum $15 data plan required).