These days it seems almost impossible to go a whole day without hearing about the new Apple iPhone 3G.  With its cutting edge features, it is the touchscreen cell phone that everyone wants to own.  The question is, does it make fiscal sense or even common sense to own one.

Why is an Apple iPhone 3G s special?  The Apple iPhone 3G is what is referred to as a touchscreen smartphone.  You can surf the web, make phone calls, and even instant text message to your hearts content all by touching the screen of the phone.  WOW!  Sounds like there’s nothing else like it?  Well, there is.

There are a number of other touchscreen smartphones that have features comparable to the Apple iPhone 3G.  And unlike the inflexible iPhone 3G that can only be purchased in the AT&T Wireless Store, the other touchscreen smartphones out can be bought online or at the store front.

In this particular articleSearch4cellphonedeals.com will focuses on five different touchsrceen smartphones that are just as sleek and innovative as the Apple iPhone 3G.  The list of phones includes (in no order): the LG Vu, LG Voyager, HTC Touch, Samsung Glyde and the LG Dare. 

With any of the touchscreen smartphones in this article, you will have to start a new two-year contract or extend your existing contract in order to get the special prices listed.  Of all the phones covered by search4cellphonedeals.com in this article, the LG Voyager and the HTC Touch are FREE with a new two-year agreement.  The LG Vu is FREE and offers a .99 CASH BACK rebate and instant discount with a new two-year contract from AT&T (as of this writing, throughWirefly).  Compare that to what you will pay for an iPhone 3G……9-9….you do the math.

Two of the cell phones, the LG Voyager and the Samsung Glyde, also incorporate slide-out QWERTY keyboards designed for fast instant text messaging.   This may not be a big deal to the some, but if you ask a teenager or even some adults, fast instant text messaging is the most important feature they look for in a cell phone.  Instant text messaging seems to be the preferred choice of communications in most teens, even over talking.

All of the cell phones that search4cellphonedeals.com are comparing to the iPhone 3G in this article offer big, beautiful touch displays that allow complete control over your cell phones features.  All of these touchscreen smartphones support a full suite of features such as Facebook, Flckr, Google Maps and YouTube.

The following features may be a little more up to date with the newest Apple iPhone 3G versions, but just remember, everyone else is gearing up for their latest releases too.  But as stated earlier, you can only get an Apple iPhone 3G at the AT&T Wireless store (if you can get one, most stores have the iPhone 3G on back order), so you may want to consider one of the other touchscreen smartphones in this article for convenience alone.   

When it comes to features, the iPhone is not as cutting edge as you might expect.  All of the touchscreen smartphones mentioned in this article by search4cellphonedeals.com, except for the iPhone, are Bluetooth enabled.  All play MP3s and Acc, but the iPhone does not play WMA like the rest.  All but the iPhone offer photo/digital messaging and voice dialing.  All but the iPhone have memory card slots.  When it comes to speed, only the LG Vu is as slow as the iPhone with a top speed of 1.7 mbps, the rest boast 2.4 mbps.

As for features that the iPhone 3G excels in besides price?  The megapixles on the camera are 2, the same as all but the LG Dare that has 3.2.  The iPhone 3G also has double the memory at 16GB. 

Now the inevitable question comes, what carriers work with these other touchscreen smartphones?  The LG Vu, like the iPhone works with AT&T Wireless, the LG Voyager with Verizon Wireless, The HTC Touch with Sprint PCS and Alltel, the Samsung Glyde with Verizon Wireless and the LG dare with Verizon Wireless.  So as you can see there is a wide variety of carriers getting on board with the touchscreen smart phone craze.

It seems that maybe everyone wants the Apple iPhone 3G because it is a status symbol.  Look at me, I have the new iPhone 3G!  To us at search4cellphonedeals.com this makes no sense.  You can get an equally innovative touchscreen smartphone for a fraction of the cost (or even FREE), and you can get it online if that is your desire.  So really, you may be saying, hey look at me, I spent a fortune on a touchscreen smartphone when I didn’t have too. 

At search4cellphonedeals.com, we believe you buy for common sense, not because you have to have the hot new phone.  Remember, today’s hot new phone is next year’s dinosaur.  Now this is not to say that the iPhone 3G is a bad touchscreen smartphone and that you shouldn’t purchase one.  Search4cellphonedeals.com is simply trying to shed some light on the fact that there is an alternative (in fact several) out there that can perform lightning fast instant text messaging and much more.  Sometimes in life, it is better to be a leader and not a follower.

For a detailed comparison chart of all the different touchscreen smartphones mentioned above please cut and copy: http://www.search4cellphonedeals.com/articles.html 

Find More Iphone Articles