Apple’s had its thunder stolen somewhat this week – at least from a gaming perspective - by Nintendo and its 3D-capable handheld the 3DS. And as we’re called Pocket Gamer, games are what we’re interested in.
However, while both platforms are capable gaming handsets, the 3DS really isn’t a direct rival to Apple’s sleek smart phone.
A more direct comparison would be to take Google’s flagship Android device, the Nexus One, and pit it against the iPhone 4. After all, it was evident from the iPhone 4's unveiling who Steve Jobs saw as the biggest threat.
While we can’t make a direct hands-on comparison just yet (we only have the Nexus One to play with at the time of writing, for obvious reasons), we have more than enough information to go on with regard to looks, specs, pricing and those all important gaming capabilities.
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| iPhone 4 |
Round 1: Looks
Let’s get the most immediate comparison out of the way first of all – which is the sexier beast? Looks aren’t everything, but if you’re going to have to live with a device for two years (depending on the contract) you’d better be happy with its appearance.
There’s no getting away from the fact that the Nexus One is a fairly plain bit of kit. It’s solid and well constructed, yes, but you get the feeling that when Google commissioned the device from HTC it went for a safe, ‘blank slate’ approach that would let the excellent Android OS do the talking.
The iPhone 4, on the other hand, makes a serious statement. And that statement goes something like this: “look at me. I am gorgeous”.
Its dead-flat slim build makes it look like a supermodel amongst the porky chubbas of the smartphone world. Even the rounded Nexus One – which is hardly a bloater itself – looks a little plump in comparison.
Then there are the classy little touches, like glass on both sides of the device and an unusual stainless steel band around the edges. It looks like it’ll be a finger-print magnet, and some early reports have claimed that it’s more vulnerable to drop-damage than previous models.
Nexus One 0-1 iPhone 4
Round 2: Tech-specs
As my mother always assured me, it’s what’s inside that counts. So which phone has the more impressive innards? This one isn’t as straightforward as some of the others on this list, but we’ll have a go.
Both devices sport a 1GHz processor, though from different sources. The iPod runs on Apple’s own A4 processor, which is the one found in the iPad, so it’s clearly a capable unit.
The Nexus One, meanwhile, has a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, which seems to be the go-to chip for modern high-end phones. Both have proven pedigree, then, but we have no way of knowing which is superior at this point.
On the memory front, things are equally hard to call. Both devices have a whopping 512MB of RAM. That’s double that of the iPad.
The iPhone 4 sports either 16 or 32GB of storage next to the Nexus One's 512MB, but then Google's effort is expandable up to 32GB through MicroSDHC.
Indeed, with both devices trading blow for blow in most areas, we have to come back up to the surface for the real clincher – the screen. Here, there appears a clear winner (pun intended).
The Nexus One’s AMOLED screen is sharp and clear, and at 3.7-inches it wins on size. It runs at a nice crisp 800x400 resolution too (though some would argue that the technology used makes it slightly sub-standard, but we won’t go into that), which makes it comparable to most other high end phones.
But not the iPhone 4. Perhaps the biggest draw of Apple’s forthcoming device is the 3.5-inch Retina Display, which outputs at a pin-sharp 960x640 resolution, with a frankly ridiculous 326 pixels per inch. That’s as sharp as the human eye can detect/pretty damn sharp (delete according to degree of Apple-devotion).
Add in the fact that the Nexus One’s screen doesn’t even perform quite as well as earlier iPhone models, completely fudging multi-touch (more on that later), and it’s pretty clear who gets the technology bragging rights.
Nexus One 0-2 iPhone 4
Round 3: Pricing
The iPhone 4 has pulled into a comfortable lead, but those slinky looks and cutting edge tech features come at a price. If you’re watching the pennies, there really is only one winner between these two smartphone titans.
We used Vodafone for our price comparison. The operator offers the Nexus One for free on a £35 per month two year contract, which bags you 900 minutes, unlimited texts, and a 1GB data allowance.
Not cheap, exactly, but quite reasonable for a device that does pretty much everything you could reasonably want it to. Except opening wine bottles, a function I believe every pocket device should include.
The iPhone 4, on the other hand, will screw your pocket in a rather different way. You can get the 16GB model on an equivalent £35 per month Vodafone contract, but you’ll have to stump up an additional £119 up front for it, and you’ll get a third less talk time for your money. Ouch.
If you’re shopping for a high-end smartphone on a budget, the Nexus One is a far better bet than the iPhone 4.
Of course, if any of the UK operators had been sharp enough to pick up the Motorola Milestone and offer it even cheaper… but that’s an argument for a different article.
Nexus One 1-2 iPhone 4
Round 4: Gaming prowess
And now to the crux of the matter. Which device is the best for pocket gaming? That really involves multiple factors in itself, but it’s made all the more simple by the fact that there’s one clear winner across most if not all of them.
In truth, we could have pitched the first generation iPhone against the Nexus One and – in pure gaming terms – it would have won.
Apple’s App Store has led to a revolution in mobile gaming, with thousands of high quality games made available easily and cheaply. The iPhone 4 will run all of these, with an increasing number of these games set to receive enhancements to make the most of the beefier hardware.
By contrast, the Android Market seems to be struggling to get off the ground when it comes to games. The best offerings tend to be conversions of old iPhone games, but these are relatively few in number. The majority resemble poor quality rip-offs.
Then there are the technical constraints associated with not being able to install and run games from extended storage. Given that the Nexus One, as the current flagship Android device, has just 512MB of in-built storage, you see the problem. 100MB epics become a bit of a no-no.
This is being addressed in version 2.2 of the OS, but if recent Android history has taught us anything it’s that this will take an absolute age to reach most handsets thanks to issues of fragmentation and custom UIs. It probably won’t even reach older devices.
When it comes to the hardware and its relation to gaming, the Nexus One’s troublesome multi-touch implementation ensures that even the aforementioned iPhone conversions are compromised. Put simply, the screen tends to get confused when you touch it in more than one place – not ideal when you want to, say, move and kick the ball at the same time in a football game.
The iPhone 4 isn’t out at the time of writing, so we can’t be 100 per cent sure that its touchscreen works as well as its predecessors. But at the very least (and going by early hands on impressions) we’d stake out lives on it working a great deal better than the Nexus One’s.
Nexus One 1-3 iPhone 4
Conclusion
So there we have it. The iPhone 4 is shaping up to be some device, and is a clear choice for the discerning Pocket Gamer.
Or should that be deep-pocket gamer? While Apple’s new handset is the clear winner here, this quality comes at quite a cost. If you’re watching the pennies and/or aren’t massively bothered about your phone’s gaming credentials then the Nexus One is a fine phone indeed.
You won’t be checking it for smudges or scratches every five minutes, either, thanks to its solid and scratch-resistant design. There’s much to be said for a bit of practicality.
Android is only going to grow as an OS and as a gaming system. The numbers tell us that. The rate at which Android devices are being released means that a genuine iPhone 4 rival is probably just months away.
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