Top 10 Smartphones of 2010 that stole the show

1) Apple iPhone 4:

Perhaps one of the most competed brand of all is Apple iPhone. Despite the smartphone’s ups and downs, the reception value for the smartphone never reduced in the market even after the launch of Apple iPhone 2G and 3G. The 4G version of the smartphone is best selling version of Apple iPhone to date. Apple has sold more than 14 million units of the smarpthone.

Features of Apple iPhone 4: Operating system: iOS 4.2.1 Battery: Built-in rechargeable Li-ion battery 3.7 V at 1420 mAh Processor: Apple A4 1 GHz processor Storage: 16 GB or 32 GB flash memory Memory: 512 MB eDRAM Display: 3.5-inch Retina display 960x640-pixel resolution Camera: 5 MP back-side illuminated sensor HD video (720p) at 30 fps, 3 MP VGA camera Connectivity: Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR Weight: 137 g (4.8 oz) Noticeable features: One of the thinnest smartphone, retina display, stainless steel band, Apple A4 chip, Gyro plus accelerometer for advanced motion sensing, two microphones and perhaps the best of them all is its multi-touch display with pinch to zoom.

HTC EVO 4G

2) HTC EVO 4G:

Sprint’s HTC EVO 4G was one of the most sought after smartphones in US. More than 3.5 million HTC EVO 4G smarpthones have been shipped in US in 2010. The smartphone is described such that in one of Engadget reviews it read “Every square millimeter of the EVO serves (or seems to serve) a purpose -- nothing is there simply for the sake of design.” It was the smartphone with mega specs which ruled 2010. And it was one of the smartphones which helped Sprint to showcase their 4G power to the users and it is the Sprint’s best smartphone. The device has a hot-spot feature that lets you to connect up to eight devices. HTC EVO 4G may be the only smartphone that almost stole the show from Apple iPhone.

Features of HTC EVO 4G: Operating system: Android 2.2 Battery: 1500 mAh Lithium-ion battery Processor: 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8650 (Snapdragon) Storage: 1 GB ROM (358 MB free) Memory: 512 MB RAM Display: 4.3-inch (diagonal) widescreen 480x800 TFT LCD Camera: 8 MP autofocus with dual LED flash rear-facing, 1.3 MP front-facing Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, WiMAX 802.16 e (Wi-Fi router), Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR Weight: 170 g (6.0 oz) Noticeable Features: Hot-spot that lets you to connect up to eight devices, 4.3-inch touch-screen display, two cameras, 4G, Sprint TV and speakers.

Samsung Epic 4G

3) Samsung Galaxy S:

Samsung suddenly came into picture after the immediate sales of Samsung Galaxy S line smartphones that took Samsung to the top in the smartphone world. Quite recently, there were reports about how Samsung sold over 20 million smartphones around the world and among them more than 10 million smartphones that were sold was Samsung Galaxy S smartphones.

Galaxy S was listed in the second spot on TIME's 'Top 10 Gadgets' of 2010 list that is mostly because of the Super AMOLED display. In spite of the smartphones negatives and positives the sales figures quite surely marks this smartphone line as one of the best among users. Samsung Galaxy S line includes Captivate, Vibrant, Fascinate, Showcase, Mesmerize, Continuum and Epic 4G. Although all the Galaxy S line smartphones are equally good but Samsung Epic 4G with its QWERTY feature adds an extra touch.

Features of Samsung Epic 4G: Operating system: Android 2.2 Battery: Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery Processor: 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor Storage: 16 GB ROM Memory: 512 MB RAM Display: 4.0-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touch-screen 480x800 pixels, Gorilla Glass display Camera: 5 MP autofocus with LED flash rear-facing, 0.3 MP VGA Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, WiMAX, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP Weight: 155 g (5.47 oz) Noticeable Features: Super AMOLED display, Swype on Sprint 4G, QWERTY, multimedia powerhouse, and TouchWiz 3.0 interface.

Motorola Droid X

4) Motorola Droid:

It is hard to say, which is the best smartphone among Motorola Droid line: Droid X or Droid 2. While Droid 2 is the better version of Droid, since Droid took the limelight for quite a long time, it is fair to give chance to Droid X to take the spotlight for 2010.

Motorola’s Droid X was an instant hit when it was released in the U.S. market. Motorola Droid X was the answer to HTC EVO 4G and was even predicted by many to be the 'iPhone killer'. The smartphone sold out completely on day one after its launch, all the 300,000 units disappeared into the crowd within few weeks. But there are no exact reports of how many Droid X smartphones were sold to date. But Motorola Q3 2010 reports show that more than 3.8 million Droid line smartphones were sold among 9.1 million devices.

Features of Motorola Droid X: Operating system:  Android 2.2 Battery: 1540 mAh Internal rechargeable removable lithium-ion polymer battery Processor: 1Ghz TI OMAP3630-1000 Storage: 8 GB Flash ROM Memory: 512 MB RAM Display: 4.3-inch 854 × 480 pixel FWVGA TFT LCD display Camera: 8 MP with 4x digital zoom and auto focus dual LED flash Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP Weight: 155 g (5.47 oz) Noticeable Features: 8 MP camera, 4.3-inch display, keyboard with Swype along with multi-touch keyboard and long battery life with 480 talk time on 3G.

HTC Droid Incredible

5) HTC Droid Incredible:

HTC’s Droid Incredible doesn’t fall behind and it is quite a feature rich smartphone that has the ability to take on all the smartphones out there. This particular smartphone received many positive comments from the gadget world. Many tech enthusiasts pointed out Droid Incredible to be the best smartphone available with Verizon. One of famous tech website also described “the Droid Incredible is the best Android device that you can purchase in America right now.”

A PC Magazine report stated, “The Droid Incredible by HTC is an absolutely amazing device. The most powerful phone on the U.S. market today, it reflects and enhances the state of the art smartphone, with the full backing and support of the Verizon Wireless network.”

But the exact sales report about the smartphone is not yet released but the mega features with Verizon Wireless network support, the smartphone was an instant after its launch in 2010.

Features of HTC Droid Incredible: Operating system: Android 2.2 (Froyo) and HTC Sense (with Friendstream) Battery: 1500 mAh or 1300 mAh, lithium-ion battery, originally 1300 mAh Processor:  1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon (QSD8650) Storage: 8 GB Flash Memory: 512 MB DDR RAM, 1 GB ROM (748 MB free to user) plus 8 GB moviNAND Display: 3.7-inch 480 × 800 px WVGA AMOLED display Camera: 8 MP with auto focus and dual LED flashes Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP Weight: 130 g (4.59 oz) Noticeable Features: AMOLED display, 1 GB ROM, 8 MP camera and Verizon network.

BlackBerry Torch 9800

6) BlackBerry Torch:

RIM ruled the smartphone market for quite some time, but with the introduction of other mega smartphones, RIM almost seemed to be lost in the smartphone race. But the revealing of BlackBerry Torch 9800 last year saw RIM climbing the table steadily and fast. The new smartphone from RIM featured their latest OS, the BlackBerry OS 6.

Mike Abramsky, a market analyst with RBC (Royal Bank of Canada), pointed out a user survey by ChangeWave Research which revealed that 64 percent people were very satisfied with the new BlackBerry Torch although iPhone topped the chart with 84 percent where users expressed their satisfaction with the Apple device. And BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Curve scored 48 percent and 40 percent on the satisfaction levels.

BlackBerry Torch 9800 combines a physical QWERTY keyboard with a sliding multi-touch screen display. BlackBerry Torch was placed 6th on Wirefly’s annual top ten selling smartphones list for 2010, where reports showed that the smartphone selling more than Motorola’s Droid 2 and Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate but is still behind HTC EVO 4G and Droid Incredible.

Features of BlackBerry Torch 9800: Operating system: BlackBerry OS 6.0 Battery: Li-Ion 1300 mAh Processor: 624 MHz processor Storage: 4 GB storage Memory: 512 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM Display: 3.2-inch 360 x 480 pixel TFT capacitive touchscreen Camera: 5 MP with auto focus, LED flash Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, UMA, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP Weight: 5.68 oz (161.1 g) Noticeable Features: BlackBerry OS 6, combination of QWERTY and touch-screen display and better battery life compared to other BlackBerry smartphones.

Google Nexus One

7) Google Nexus One:

Google’s new offering to the market was clear stunner but due to lack of marketing, few other connectivity glitches, the smartphone didn’t last long and Google stopped shipping the smartphone.

A report by Flurry showed that Google sold close to 135,000 in first 74 days on the market whereas Motorola with 1.05 million Droid phone sales and Apple iPhone 1 million of the original iPhones in the first 74 days were quite contrasting. Nexus One in 2010 unlike the iPhone and the Droid could only be purchased on the Web and was not much available in retail stores. But none the less Google previously in an email statement reported that the company was pleased with its sales volume and how the Nexus One was received by the customers.

None the less the smartphone from of Google stole the show in 2010. And the Nexus One was spotted fifth in the TIME Magazine “Top 10 Gadgets List 2010.”

And the smartphone had good rating from CNET: “The Nexus One has a gorgeous display, a lightning-fast processor, and a loaded feature set. The enhanced voice capabilities worked flawlessly, and the phone delivers solid performance.”

Features of Google Nexus One: Operating system: Android 2.2 Battery: Removable 1400 mAh battery Processor: 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD 8250 Snapdragon ARM Storage: Flash memory 512 MB Memory: 512MB RAM Display: 3.7-inch 480 x 800 pixel AMOLED capacitive touchscreen Camera: 5 MP with auto focus, LED flash Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP Weight: 130 g (4.6 oz) with battery, 100 g (3.5 oz) without battery Noticeable features: Incredibly fast, Gorgeous display screen and long battery life with 7 hours of talk time on 3G.

Nokia N8

8) Nokia N8:

It is hard to find a Nokia smartphone handset among the U.S. carriers. Nokia as a brand is quite famous in terms of cell phones and is one of the largest handset manufactures. It seemed like Nokia may not have figured in the smartphone race, but with Nokia N8 sales touching close to 4 million in Q4 2010 shows a different face about Nokia device. One of the best features of Nokia handset is its 12 mega-pixel camera, which was biggest ever in the market during its launch.

And in the year 2010, the Symbian OS platform is the biggest selling smartphone operating system followed by Android, BlackBerry OS, iOS and Windows Phone OS.

Features of Nokia N8: Operating system:  Symbian^3 Battery: BL-4D 1200 mAh Li-Ion battery Processor: ARM 11 680 MHz processor, 3D Graphics HW accelerator Storage:  16 GB storage Memory: 256MB RAM, 512 MB ROM Display: 3.5-inch 360 x 640 pixel AMOLED capacitive touchscreen Camera: 12 MP with Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, Xenon flash Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v.3 with A2DP Weight: 135 g (4.8 oz) Noticeable Features: 12 MP camera, USB port (for connecting flash drives, mice and keyboards), 5-band 3G data support in order to connect on T-Mobile and AT&T in the USA along with 3G networks around the world.

HTC Desire

9. HTC Desire:

HTC Desire somehow bares close resemblance to Google’s Nexus One but differs in many features. The smartphone received quite a good reception as many tech reviews ratings almost gave this smartphone full score. The smartphone was a good replacement for the missed Nexus One or even better.

There are no sales figures available as of now, but the smartphone won the, 'Phone of the year' award at the annual T3 awards in October 2010. The smartphones successor HTC Desire HD is also out in the market.

Features of HTC Desire: Operating system:  Android 2.2 Battery: Li-ion 3.7 V at 1400 mAh Processor: Qualcomm QSD 8250 1 GHz (Snapdragon) with AMD Z430 GPU Memory: 576 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM Display: 3.7-inch 480 x 800 pixel AMOLED or SLCD capacitive touchscreen Camera: 5 MP with autofocus, LED flash Connectivity:  Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth v.2.1 with A2DP Weight: 135 g (4.8 oz) Noticeable Features: Pinch zoom feature, display and processor.

HTC HD 7

10. HTC HD7 Windows Phone 7:

The Windows Phone 7 smartphone from HTC is a mega smartphone with new OS platform of Windows. The smartphone pretty much received good reception around the world. The smartphone was sold out on T-Mobile, Thailand and Germany. But the exact figures are not yet out.

New Windows Phone 7 smartphone has exceptional features with new Window Phone interface and should expect many more consumers in near future. The smartphone seems to very similar to HTC HD2 but had the Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional OS in it.

Features of HTC HD7: Operating system: Windows Phone 7 Battery: Rechargeable 1230mAh Li-ion battery Processor: 1 GHz Scorpion processor / Adreno 200 graphics Storage: 8GB (Europe) / 16GB (Asia) Memory: 512 MB ROM, 576 MB RAM Display: 4.3-inch 480 x 800 pixel LCD capacitive touchscreen Camera: 5 MP with autofocus, dual-LED flash Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth v.2.1 with A2DP Weight: 162 g / 5.7 ounces (with battery) Noticeable Features: The massive display screen, Windows Phone 7 OS and the new interface.

All the above said smartphones have fared well to some extent in the market, but views by many users may be different based on their usage of the smartphone and the need of the hour. There are many other smartphones which could have made to the list and are equally capable enough of defending their spots for their performance in 2010.