Top Android Mobile Phones: Christmas Gift Ideas 2010

Thinking of buying your loved one a mobile phone this Christmas but want something apart from the iPhone?  Well, with Android being the most popular smartphone operating system at the moment, even out pacing Apple iPhone, we thought we would give you our top tips on choosing an Android phone – Android phones come in all shapes and sizes we think the four below are the best of the bunch.

Choose one of these and you’ll enjoy all the benefits of a open operating service, which includes the ubiquitous adobe flash, loads of features, functions and a more open App store.

Samsung Galaxy S

Lookswise, the Galaxy S is an almost carbon copy of the iPhone 3GS, but made from cheaper plastic, the Galaxy S isn’t as thin as the new iPhone and is as good looking, but it’s not ugly.

It also comes with an impressive 5-megapixel camera (but, stupidly, no flash), HD video recording, 1GHz processor and video calling; the proper video calling that works over 3G, not something limited to Wi-Fi and communication with another phone of the same type.

The screen is only 480×800 pixels (as against 640×960 for the iPhone 4), it is bigger and brighter. Samsung has used its brand-new Super AM-OLED screen technology, which shows bright, vivid, colours and has an awesome contrast ratio.

At the top, you’ll find the micro-USB socket and a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the back, the camera sensor and a very small speaker.

At the front, there are two touch-sensitive keys for menu and back, and a centre push-button for home, or your task manager if held. Unfortunately, there’s no direct search button.

Overall, the phone looks nothing short of amazing, even if a lot of the design cues are, borrowed from a fruit company in America.

If you’ve got the right kit, you’ll find the ‘AllShare’ app very useful - allowing you to play your media on a DNLA compliant device, or play content from another DNLA device (e.g. network storage drive). You can also use the phone as a remote control for a media server. Similar to controlling a your iTunes.

The Galaxy S offers the closest experience to an iPhone without being one, and certainly without using iOS and all of its limitations. If you’re wanting an Android device, which brings together support for all of the Google applications and services, as well as offering proper multitasking, the Galaxy S is up there as one of the top devices.

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HTC Desire

HTC’s latest phone is powered by a Qualcomm 1Ghz Snapdragon processor, the Desire is (for the time being at least) one of the most powerful phones around. In a side-to-side test against the Hero, HTC’s previous flagship Android phone, the Desire managed to load the full home pages of a range of major sites - including images and Flash content - before the Hero had managed to load the text-only mobile versions.

Touchscreen controls are good - maybe not quite as clean as the iPhone, but there’s not much in it, and you’ll have little trouble hitting even the tiniest of links correctly. The size of the screen is also good news for those who find touchscreen keyboards hard to use - a few extra millimetres can make all the difference. And the predictive text on HTC’s excellent keyboard is mostly smart enough to correct you seamlessly even when you do stumble.

Battery life is okay – comparable with most other high-end smartphones, in that you’ll get through the day fine with medium use, but heavy users will need to recharge at some point around the early evening. An inbuilt FM radio and surprisingly crisp 5-megapixel camera with flash help drain the battery a bit more though.

We loved the FriendStream widget, which aggregates your contacts activity on Twitter and Facebook into one handy place, which is a very cool widget.

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LG GW620

The LG InTouch Max (also known ans the LG GW620, the LG Eve, and the LG Etna), is the first Android powered handset to launch across the UK from LG Electronics.

Similar to the popular T-Mobile G1, the T-Mobile InTouch Max also features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard designed to help users easily and quickly type up text messages, emails and other data input.

The LG InTouch Max also features a 3-inch touchscreen display, a 5 mega-pixel camera (with LED flash, video playback, and auto-focus), and the usual Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi, and Micro USB data connectivity.

Other notable features of the LG InTouch Max include a threaded text message system where each text is grouped by sender and displayed like a message board for easy-to-follow reading. Again “borrowed from the iPhone”.

The Android phone also includes a 3D gallery for quick photo viewing and sorting. The 3D gallery enables users to quickly find and tag their favourite photos, or by using the filter tool to sort snaps by tags, facial recognition or by the date.

The LG InTouch Max is bundled with all the Google services you’d expect from an Android device including Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube and more. LG have also included their custom built Social Network Services (SNS) Manager software onto the device too. the SNS software is a utility that allows users to access their Facebook, Twitter and Bebo networks from one location, allowing them to check their update status in real time.

Motorola DEXT

The Motorola DEXT is the first Android phone to be released from Motorola. Known as the Motorola CLIQ in the US, the DEXT handset will feature a custom Android user interface called Motorola Blur. The Motorola DEXT aims to become the ultimate social experience Android phone, allowing users to consolidate their entire social experiences into one simple interface.

Similar to the popular T-Mobile G1 handset, the Motorola DEXT will include a slide-out FULL QWERTY keyboard alongside its on-screen touchscreen keyboard. The Motorola DEXT will also include a 3.1-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen, 3.5mm headphone jack, 5 mega-pixel camera, and video capture at 25/fps and 2560 x 1920 resolution, which is very impressive indeed.

The Motorola DEXT is powered by a 528MHz Qualcomm processor, 256MB RAM, 512MB ROM and includes 32GB MicroSD Capacity.

Just like the HTC Hero handset, the Motorola DEXT features a custom user interface designed specifically for the Android platform. The Motorola Blur UI not only improves the original Android user interface, but adds increased options and functionality to the platform.

Conclusion

So, if your in the market for a more Android phone rather than the iPhone your spoilt for choice – we would recommend either the Galaxy S or the HTC Desire – let just hope that they get their App store to level of iTunes, and then they really would be a compelling alternative.

What do you think?  Which one is your favourite out of the bunch or have we missed some out?  Leave us your thought below…