These are two high end smartphones that have very little in common.    Watch the video to see just how different and which one you’ll want to be carrying around in your pocket.

And if you’re really interested in delving into the differences between the operating systems themselves, I highly recommend watching my Ice Cream Sandwich vs iOS 5 video.

Now lets be honest here – these are both impressive phones in their own right.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWqjywmLLwA

Display

This comparison seems like the biggest “apples” to oranges comparison.  The EVO 4G has a gigantic 4.3 inch 800 x 480 screen.  That may not sound much bigger than the industry standard 3.5 inch but trust me, once you hold it in your hand and play with it, going back to a regular sized screen seems constrained.   It’s big and pretty.

The iPhone 4 uses their new “retina display” which packs 960 x 640 resolution into a 3.5 inch screen.   It’s a great looking display and everything is ultra crisp.  It is, however ,smaller.

Speed

Both phones boast fast processors.  The EVO 4G has a 1GHZ Snapdragon processor inside whereas the iPhone 4 has Apple’s own 1GHZ A4 Processor.   Having enough power to run all your apps without the OS grinding to a halt shouldn’t be a problem on either phone.

Data

HTC EVO 4G (top left) - iPhone 4 (bottom right)

While many people in the tech community christened the new iPhone, the iPhone 4G, the new model (the iPhone 4) is still a 3G phone which makes sense since AT&T’s 4G network isn’t expected to go live until 2012.

The EVO 4G, on the other hand, is a 4G phone (though some would say not true 4G yet) and while it’s only available in a limited number of cities right now, it’s blazing fast where it is available.  When 4G isn’t available, it uses 3G so in many areas speeds will be comparable.

One thing to note is that AT&T has just changed their data plan from “unlimited” to 2GB whereas the data plan on Sprint is not only cheaper, but still “unlimited.”

Video Conferencing

Both phones have a front facing camera for video conferencing and a back facing camera for taking pictures.     The EVO has a 1.3 megapixel camera for video chat and uses the Qik system.  The iPhone has a VGA (640×480) camera and uses their new FaceTime standard for chat (since Apple has made it an open standard, expect it to be available on Android in the coming months).

I’d say the FaceTime system is a bit more elegant than Qik, but FaceTime is unfortunately Wi-Fi only right now whereas Qik has no such limitations, only requiring you be in a 3G service area.

Camera

While Apple finally added an LED flash to their camera and upgraded it to a 5 megapixel camera, they’re still trailing the EVO 4G which has an 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash.  Both can record 720p HD video.

Battery

Apple claims to have really stepped up and improved the battery life of the notoriously power hungry iPhone by installing a bigger battery in an ever slimmer phone and now claims 7 hour talk time on 3G or 40 hours of audio playback – if those are even close to accurate, that’s a pretty big step up.

The EVO 4G also has some drabacks in the battery department.  That big Snapdragon processor and huge 4.3 inch display suck up juice pretty quickly as well.

Then again, with the EVO 4G you can simply buy an upgraded battery whereas as you probably know with iPhones, the sealed internal battery is not user replaceable – you’re stuck with what you got.

Operating System

For many, this phone comparison will come down to an Android vs iOS comparison (iOS 4.0 is the new official name for the iPhone OS 4 since the operating system runs on more than just iPhones, namely iPods and iPads).

While both have their advantages, I’d say in many ways, it’s a win/win – either way you’re getting a sweet operating system.

The Apple App store boasts far more apps with at well over 200,000 compared to the 75,000 or so available in the Android Market.  However, you can find apps that do just about everything for BOTH operating systems.

Froyo 2.2 (which will be on the EVO 4G soon – currently it runs 2.1 Eclair) and iOS 4.0 are both very capable of providing an excellent user experience.

Games

One of the new additions the iPhone 4 has that the EVO 4G does not have is a gyroscope.  Gaming on the iPhone is still the best of all cell phones and Apple raised the bar with their new Gyroscope.  Games are certainly available for both, but the iPhone does it better and has more.

Carrier

Even if you’re undecided up to this point, this final comparison may be where you make up your mind.   The iPhone is exclusive to AT&T (in the United States, anyway), and the EVO 4G is exclusive to Sprint.

I won’t claim to know which one is better in all areas, but I can tell you I have been a past customer of both carriers and while I had Sprint for about 5 yrs, I was only an AT&T customer for 6 months before I just couldn’t take it anymore and terminated my contract early due to them having dead spots in my city and where I lived happened to be one of them.

Getting a reliable carrier is critical as these phones aren’t much fun is you can only use them in your house or apt when you have a wi-fi connection.  It’s still a cell phone after all and you’ll probably still make and occasional phone call or two with it.

The decision is up to you.   And just to be fair to AT&T, my brother has an iPhone and where he lives (Minneapolis), he hasn’t told me of any significant problems using his phone as he pleases.

There’s certainly more good than bad, but enough with the introductory jibber-jabber, let’s get started.

The Good

There is a lot to like in this phone which really is no surprise – the nuclear arms race really escalated under Apple and the iPhone 4 brings some nifty goodies to the table.

Retina Display

I’ll admit I am a little jealous my phone doesn’t have anything like this.  Samsung just said the retina display really isn’t any better than their AMOLED displays, but my eyes tell me different.  It looks great and I want one.   It has 960 x 640 resolution on a 3.5 inch screen.  Remember when your 15″ computer monitor only had an 800 x 600 screen?   LCD screen technology sure has come a long way.

Fast Fast Fast

As expected, and just like the iPad, the iPhone 4 features the A4 processor – Apple’s own 1GZ low power chip.   It brings the best of both world’s to the table – long battery life (up to 7hrs of talk time or 40hrs of audio playback – that’s amazing!) and blazing fast performance and now that you’re finally getting multi-tasking, you’ll need all the power you can get.

FaceTime

I’ll be honest about FaceTime – Apple’s video phone call feature… to me it’s more novelty than every day practical.  Maybe history will prove me wrong, but people have been trying to get people to use video phones for the past 25 years and it’s never really caught on.  The fact that it’s Wi-Fi only is both a good thing and bad thing.  It’s a good thing that it will make the user experience much better and we know Apple is freakishly anal about ease of use, and Wi-Fi gives the end user the best shot at getting it.  However, not being able to use it over 3G is disappointing because it limits where you can use the application.

Sure, I think this feature will be useful for people who travel a lot for work and spend a lot of time in hotel rooms, but keep in mind that to use it, both people need shiny new iPhone 4s (for the moment at least), but for everyday calls, it simply won’t get used.

I think it’s more akin to an application like Google Sky Map – really cool and fun to play with but not something you really end up using all that often.

Gyroscope

While Apple computers aren’t know for their prowess in the gaming arena, when it comes to playing games on a smartphone, the undisputed leader is the iPhone.  With their latest creation, a gyroscope has been added which will only improve upon what you can do to play games on the phone.

The Bad

Durability

While Apple went out of their way to talk about how their new steel is so strong and their glass is so much harder and durable than plastic, reality is showing that the iPhone is living in a glass house.  Don’t throw stones at it and you sure as heck don’t want to drop it now that it has glass on BOTH sides, not just the display side.   Make sure you buy the protective case or you could have a very expensive paperweight in your possession as glass breakage is not covered under the iPhone warranty.

Tethering

While I know some people are eagerly awaiting the arrival of tethering in the new iPhone OS (which has been renamed iOS 4.0), it still sucks compared to what you get with Android 2.2 (Wifi Tethering with 8 Hotspots – no additional fee as long as you don’t go over your data limit).  You’ll get charged $20 a month just for the privilege of using it with AT&T and guess what, you can’t tether your iPhone to your iPad.   Bummer.

The Ugly

In the United States, your options as far a carriers are as follows: AT&T

As a past AT&T customer myself (back when they were still called Cingular), I can attest to the miserable customer service and poor coverage in many areas.   I know it absolutely guarantees I won’t be buying one and will instead stick to Android phones.

And AT&T just recently announced the end of it’s unlimited data plans and is instead imposing a 2GB monthly limit before your start getting overages – it likely won’t immediately effect the casual user, but heavy users could be in for a hefty bill at the end of the month if they’re not careful.

Bottom Line

While I wouldn’t call the iPhone 4 revolutionary even though Steve Jobs tells me so, it’s certainly a nice upgrade and will certainly keep engineers and designers up late at night trying to design an even better Android phone (though I the EVO 4G is extremely impressive if you can handle sub-par battery life and the huge form factor of it’s big screen).