What's the difference between a smartphone and a feature phone?

Let's check out what makes smartphones so special, by comparing one of the best, the Samsung i8910 HD, to two of the best feature phones available from LG and Samsung.

LG Arena - a whole new class of interface

Key to the incredible experience the LG Arena gives you is its interface, as it's the first phone to use LG's new S-Class UI. To visualise it, imagine a 3D cube, sitting on the screen of the LG Arena, and on each side of the cube, there are things like shortcuts to apps, links direct to your music, or other widgets that you can customise yourself. The fun part comes when you interact with the LG Arena, as you simply swipe across the screen, to rotate round those faces, and get to what content you want. It's remarkably intuitive, but more importantly, it makes the LG Arena fun to use, and that is a BIG selling point in 2009.

Samsung Tocco Ultra - Ultra Edition looks

Our next phone is something a bit different, because as well as a slide-out keypad, it's also got a superb touchscreen interface. It's the Samsung Tocco Ultra, and it really is a thing of beauty. As with the previous phone, the Samsung Tocco Ultra may not have a bona-fide smartphone OS, but it more than makes up for that with an exquisite interface, that makes the phone a real joy to use. Combine that with an 8MP camera, and true supermodel good looks, and you have a real winner in the Samsung Tocco Ultra.

Samsung Omnia HD - the most powerful video phone in the world?

As nice as the Samsung Tocco Ultra is, however, it's overshadowed by its 'big brother', the Samsung Omnia HD. There's a very good reason for that. Whilst it, like the Samsung Tocco Ultra has an 8 megapixel camera, the Samsung Omnia HD is also the first phone to record true 720p HD video. Never before has a phone been able to capture video at that massive high resolution, and coincidentally (or is it coincidence? Maybe not...), the Samsung Omnia HD captures high-def video at the exact quality that Youtube display high-def videos at. It's very possible that the Samsung Omnia HD was designed with its main feature being the ability to get yourself on Youtube, in high-definition. And while the LG Arena has the sleek new S-Class UI, the Samsung Omnia HD combines its TouchWiz interface with Symbian, giving it true smartphone capability. Now add the sumptuous 3.7 inch screen, and a huge 8Gb of internal memory, and it's very clear that the Samsung Omnia HD not only shows the difference between feature phones and smartphones, but also, is one of the best phones ever made!