One of the more popular items for the holiday season this year will no doubt be the smartphone. Probably the most well known example of this is the iPhone 3G, the Motorola Droid is a fairly recent comer to the scene and has some very nice features.

The advertising campaign Verizon put out to compliment the launch of the Droid was fairly direct and made some less than flattering comparisons between its own 3G network and that of AT&T, the iPhone carrier network. I can attest to the AT&T network being less than stellar in a lot of respects, the dropped calls and spotty 3G coverage are widely known.

Appearance

The Droid of course can’t compare to the sleekness of the iPhone styling. With its sharp corners and slightly blocky appearance it doesn’t have the inherent grace that Apple imparts to its products. Though not hideous by any means, it does lack a certain something and occasionally the default screen image can seem a little ominous.

If the Droids’ design seems a little utilitarian and “boxy” the screen makes up for it. The Motorola Droid sports a brilliantly crisp 3.7” (the iPhone is 3.5”) WVGA display that does very well at delivering video and graphic content. Displaying up to 16 million hues at a resolution of 854×480 (16:9 widescreen) it displays those HD YouTube videos really well (though there’s still no Hulu support).

Keyboard / Usability

The keyboard on the droid takes a little getting used to. The keys are all mounted flush against each other and have very little actual tactile feedback. They’re slick and don’t go down very far when pressed which can make typing by touch a problem.

Eventually though you do get used to it, also there’s a sometimes useful directional pad on the keyboard. My fervent hope is that there will be some games that make decent use of this at some point.

Applications

The Apple Store has well over 100,000 apps for the iPhone, that’s a staggering number of applications and definitely gives credence to the “There’s an app for that” saying that Apple has been using to help market the iPhone.

The Android app store is up to around 10,000 entries. This is bound to increase as Google has taken pains to promote the “open” nature of their platform which allows developers more freedom when creating their applications. This may possibly be to the detriment of the app store as it’s definitely possible that a flood of low quality apps will surface. Time will tell. But at the moment it’s a safe bet that there’s probably an Android app for that too!

Also you may have heard about the GPS service that Google has launched. It’s FREE and works in with Google Maps to provide you with turn by turn directions. It’s just an app so while for the moment it’s only for Android it is definitely coming to iPhones in the not too distant future. This free service is going to play havoc with subscription based GPS (and it’s cool to get turn by turn on streetview).

Though of course you can only run one of those 70,000 apps at a time on the iPhone, so no checking Yelp while you’re streaming Pandora and emailing a friend about dinner plans. That’s a bigger deal than you might realize until you’ve gotten used to doing it I have to say. Background applications are a fabulous thing!

The Droid you’re looking for?

Overall the differences between the two phones aren’t that huge. They’re close enough that some of the deciding factors may be more to do with the service than the phones. The better call quality and somewhat negative public perception of AT&T’s service (possibly helped along by Verizon’s ad campaigns) might be a deciding factor in some people’s choice.

One hint though, if you’re looking to do some more research, avoid forums like the plague, fanboys are rabid and abundant on both sides!

Pretty much everything you want will be on sale at some point between Thanksgiving and Christmas so why not take advantage of it! But what to buy, there are so many things to choose from, all shiny and new. How are we to know the best price, the best product and which are the ones that will leave us with the bitter aftertaste of Buyers Remorse.

We’ve taken a stab here at compiling some of the more popular items that you might be looking at while out and about, drawn across from various sources across the web for your convenience. Of course a lot of these actual rankings are purely subjective (for instance if you have tiny square fingertips you might like the iPhone keyboard more than I do) but they do at least provide some means of comparison.

Top 10 Smart Phones / PDAs

(As according to Rumor Gadget)

The good folks over at Rumor Gadget have compiled a list of the top 10 smartphones on the market at the moment. Though obviously what you can get will depend a lot on your current carrier and how trapped you are in your current plan (ironically enough the follow up call from AT&T on my complaint got dropped). But it seems the overwhelming favorite this year is the iPhone 3GS, the sleek design, slick marketing and simple UI have combined to make Apples iPhone a standout hit.

Top 5 Basic Phones

(As According to CNet.com)

Not everyone wants or needs the often bewildering array of functions that a smartphone is capable of. Thankfully they still actually make phones that are mainly used to make calls (and send texts of course) but smaller and simpler is often better !

CNET.com has put together a nice listing of what they consider the best of the basic cell phone options. They put the Motorola i335 at the top of their list, citing its benefits as a low cost, easy to use and rugged platform with good audio quality.

Top 10 NetBooks

(As According to PCWorld.com)

Netbooks are light, small, portable and not exactly dripping with processing or graphics power. But if all you want is basic computing on the fly then they are an outstanding option. A Netbook is also great value, the top rated Toshiba NB205-N310 (by PCWorld) Netbook we feature here is currently retailing at around $380 or so.

A common problem with netbooks is a keyboard so cramped you feel it could only be used properly by a small woodland creature. But the NB205-N310 has a fairly roomy keyboard for a netbook, almost the same as a standard laptop keyboard.

Top 5 Digital cameras under $100

(As according to About.com)

Cameras are brilliant, but on the odd occasion you’re either giving one as a gift or you’re trying to take a photo somewhere you don’t want to take an expensive one. Thanks to the ever reliable onward march of technology you can now get a fairly serviceable digital camera for under a hundred dollars. The good people from About.com have come up with a list of cameras they consider to be the best of this ultra low price range.

The camera that they put at the top of the list for this product was the PowerShot A470 by Canon. For the price it’s fairly sturdy and takes a passable photo, and if you drop it over the edge of the Grand Canyon you won’t be too far out of pocket.