I believe manufacturers do this exercise before starting their development on an electronic product - 1) Research the market on what's currently selling and what it has, 2) Create a device that tries to match the feature set and price of competitors, 3) Throw in that extra feature that gives them a reason to brag about why theirs is better. To give you a prime example of this, I'd say look at the Galaxy Tab's marketing campaign - video conferencing, its ability to make phone-calls, a "pocket-friendly" design - all these are things that the first Apple iPad doesn't have.
So, in the end it makes choosing between two devices a frustrating affair. Today, we take a look at five pairs of mobile phones that do this and we'll try to clear the mist of confusion.
Nokia C6 vs. Samsung Galaxy 551
Despite touchscreens becoming good enough to provide an easy typing experience, many still prefer tapping on real buttons than virtual ones. Thus was born touchscreen phones with sliding QWERTY keyboards. The Nokia C6 was released as a rebranded, youthful and more importantly, cheaper avatar of the N97 mini. Although it may have hit the market early, it is threatened by Samsung's newest entrant, the Galaxy 551 - which is basically the Galaxy 3 i5801 with a sliding keyboard.
Both have 3.2 inch displays when measured diagonally. The C6 beats the Galaxy 551 in resolution; 640 x 360 pixels are packed better in the former than 240 x 400 pixels in the latter. But Samsung trumps Nokia by using a capacitive screen instead of a resistive one, which is much better to use with fingers.
Next comparison is the operating system - Symbian Series 60 5th Edition vs. Android 2.2 (Froyo). No points for guessing which one's better (OK, if you're still guessing then it's Android, of course). The OS on the Nokia C6 is just too dated in terms of usability, it would've been acceptable if it used the more recent Symbian^3, but not this.
In comparison, the Android 2.2 is the second-best version of Google's mobile operating system that Samsung used in the Galaxy 551. The well-designed interface and over 2,00,000 apps to choose from is a big incentive. Plus, if you're a user of Google applications like Gmail, Google Maps etc., then Android supports all of it natively.
Although the Galaxy's screen isn't as tempting in terms of crispness as the Nokia's, support for DivX videos out of the box is certainly appreciated. Both the phones roughly sell for Rs. 13,000. If I had to choose between the two, Nokia C6's resistive touchscreen and the ancient Symbian OS would make me look in the other direction. I'd rather choose the Galaxy 551 without batting an eyelid.
Samsung Wave II S8530 vs. Nokia C7 HTC Desire HD and HTC HD7 Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Mini Pro vs. Motorola Flipout
While most manufacturers are fighting the iPhone in the Rs. 30,000 price bracket with their Android-based (and more recently, Windows Phone 7 based) smartphones, there's a bigger price segment that's more lucrative to the Indian consumer - the sub Rs. 20,000 range. It is this price point that acts like a physiological barrier, as anything above Rs. 20,000 is deemed too expensive for a phone by many. We have two competitors trying to make their stronghold in this segment; the Nokia C7 and the Samsung Wave II S8530.
Although the Wave II doesn't have the Super AMOLED display like the first Wave handset, its trump card over the Nokia C7's is the higher 800 x 480 pixel resolution and a slightly bigger screen size (at 3.7 inches). But its not like Nokia's screen is bad - we felt its AMOLED display delivered soothing colors, unlike Samsung's Super AMOLEDs which seem kinda over-exaggerated.
Next is the camera - newbies may want to declare the Nokia C7 as a winner by just looking at the higher 8 megapixel sensor count (the Wave II has 5 mega-pixel). But what spoils it for Nokia is the lack of autofocus. How does that matter? Well, with a fixed focal length any object you click that's either closer or farther than the optimum distance isn't going to be captured with good sharpness. You can read more about the C7's camera here. On the other hand, the Wave II's autofocus sensor will make sure that pictures don't turn out blurry, no matter what the object distance is. If you're keen about using the phone camera, the C7's flaw will pose as a deterrent.
Another important aspect to consider is the Operating System. The Nokia C7 runs Symbian^3, a decent attempt from the Finnish stable with not too many bad things to point out. A few of those black spots like the web browser can be fixed by installing third party apps like Opera. The Wave II runs Bada OS 1.2, Samsung's homebrewed smartphone OS which we found to be quite good for a first attempt.
In fact, we'd go out on a limb and say that we like the Bada OS's Interface better than Symbian (while not trying to sound like Symbian^3 is utter crap). But Symbian is one of the oldest smartphone OSes out there, with an App store that may not match the Apple iOS's or the Android Market, but certainly better than the lackluster availability of apps for the Bada platform as of now.
So it all boils down to this - if stuff like a good web browser, Google Maps or a VOIP app like Nimbuzz or Skype are important to you, the Nokia C7 is your best bet (as you don't have any of those apps for the Bada OS as of now). If you want a good camera phone with superior multimedia and are sure that you won't be pushing the phone beyond what you get out of the box, then the Wave II is a better choice. Want the good camera as well as the decent app support? Then shell out Rs. 5,000 more and get the Nokia N8.
This is a fight between two Sumo Wrestler brothers from a single mother. Both are 4.3 inch 'monster-screened' phones - one running Google Android 2.2, the other Windows Phone 7. There are too many things similar with these phones. As for the difference in their hardware, the Android-running Desire HD has a higher res 8 megapixel camera (the HD7 has a 5 megapixel one).
It also is powered by Qualcomm's newer Snapdragon (i.e. QSD8255) 1 GHz processor, while the HD7 runs the first iteration of that processor (although at the same clock speed). The advantages of the newer chip are seen on the graphics front - it's faster but not as fast as the Galaxy S (or the Nexus S). The HD7 has 8GB built-in memory, while the Desire HD has 1.5GB on-board (well, an 8GB microSD card costing Rs. 800 is peanuts if you're spending Rs. 27,000 on a phone).
It is in the software department where the Desire HD kills the HD7 by a long shot. It has over 2,00,000 apps as of now, while the newborn Windows Phone 7's 5000 apps as of now has a long way to catch up. The HD7 won't play DivX videos out of the box (a shame for a phone with a huge screen and comes with a kick-stand), while the Desire HD does. Also, the software incompetency that currently plague Windows Phone 7 OS exist in the HD7 as well. There's no bluetooth file transfer, no Flash support in the web browser, no multi-tasking among other things. Even copy-paste support will be out next year.
The HD7 sells for Rs. 29,000, while the Desire HD actually costs Rs. 1,500 lesser. If you've actually read through the two paras above, it isn't too hard to figure out which phone we'd prefer; the Desire HD, of course. Unless you are really smitten by Windows Phone 7 and cannot do without a feature that it provides that Android doesn't, I don't see any reason why one should go for the HD7 instead of the Desire HD.
Both are mid-range Android phones with QWERTY boards coming out of their bodies. We prefer the X10 Mini Pro for its design because though it may be too tiny for some, its shape is better to hold and pocket than the Flipout's rectangular shell. Also, it has a regular QWERTY keyboard sliding mechanism, while the Flipout's bottom half slides out at a 180-degree angle sideways. This in our opinion isn't really a good design, as it keeps moving when you hold the phone to your ear. Also, you cannot speak on the Flipout without opening the slide, which is not the case in the X10 Mini Pro.
Both the phones don't fare well when it comes to the display due to the low QVGA resolution used. Fonts on the Android appear to have blurry edges thus reducing readability.
The Flipout scores over the X10 Mini Pro with its slightly bigger 2.8-inch screen size, but probably as a result of this, the fonts look even weirder. On the other hand, due to its squareish shape, the Flipout isn't as easy to use single-handedly as the X10 mini pro.
Keyboard wise, both are almost at par - the X10 mini pro's well-shaped and spaced-out keys give as good a typing experience as the Flipout's well-defined and tactile keys. Multi-media is a department where the X10 Mini Pro beats the Flipout, with a 5 megapixel autofocus sensor that takes very good snaps and videos. The bundled in-earphones also give a good audio listening experience.
Motorola has done a decent job with the MotoBLUR UI customization over Android, and so has Sony Ericsson with their rendition. Both phones are available for Rs. 15,000. If you ask me, I'd prefer the X10 Mini Pro out of the two simply because of the unergonomic shape and sliding mechanism of the Flipout, and also because of the better multimedia performance on the X10 mini pro.
BlackBerry Curve 8520 vs. Nokia E5
A lot of people want to go beyond the traditional forms of communication via their mobile phones (i.e. calling and SMS). People want e-mail, they want Facebook/Twitter, they want to chat using them too. BlackBerry's cheapest model yet, the Curve 8520 has been around for long. Nokia's E5 is its latest attempt to re-hash a premium phone (Nokia E72) into an inexpensive solution. The only thing good about the Curve 8520 is its optical trackpad, which is better to navigate with than frantically clicking on a typical D-pad found on the E5. The keyboard design is a subjective choice; although people dislike the Curve's tiny keys, I like their tactility and the way they are laid out.
But other than that, the E5 whacks the Curve in places where I'd rather not say here. For starters, the E5 is 3G (HSDPA) compliant, has GPS with free turn-by-turn navigation provided other than the obvious possibility to install Google Maps. It has a higher-resolution 5 megapixel camera with an LED flash. Push e-mail is offered free on the Nokia E5 and will work with a typical GPRS plan, while you have to shell out a minimum of Rs. 299 per month for just mail and instant messaging on a BlackBerry (Rs. 599 if you want to browse the net or use applications).
The BlackBerry Curve will not support an upgrade to their latest OS 6. The E5's Symbian Series 60 v.3.2, while not great to use, isn't entirely horrible and will get the job done in most cases. The BlackBerry Curve 8520 sells for Rs. 11,700, while the E5 is available for a grand less than that. Again, it isn't rocket science to figure out which one is the better of the two. But if you're sold on BlackBerry's service, then you've unfortunately got no option but to settle with the inadequacies of the Curve 8520 or spend Rs. 6,000 more and get the Curve 9300 to fix some of the issues.
BlackBerry really needs to drop the Curve 9300's price down to the Curve 8520's range and kill the 8520 entirely. Till then, our vote of confidence lies with the Nokia E5. 
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