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Since the introduction of Apple's popular iPhone, the smartphone market has become increasingly competitive. As a result of this increased competition, the consumer has benefited, with an array of smartphone options available to the general public, each with its own potential advantages and disadvantages over the competition. Three of the more popular smartphones, Apple's iPhone 3GS, RIM's BlackBerry Storm and RIM's BlackBerry Bold each boasts an impressive array of features worthy of consideration.

• Network

RIM's BlackBerry Storm is offered exclusively on the Verizon Wireless Network in the United States. RIM's BlackBerry Bold and Apple's iPhone 3GS are exclusive to AT&T. Choosing one of these three smartphone will largely depend on your preference of carrier and geographic location as each network's coverage varies throughout the United States. Although these exclusivity deals have a specific time frame, it is not uncommon for a carrier to offer a device exclusively for as long as it is available.

• Battery Life

RIM's BlackBerry Bold offers users 4.3 hours of talk time and 10.5 days of standby time. The BlackBerry Storm, by comparison, offers an impressive 5.5 hours of talk time and 15 days of standby. Apple's iPhone 3GS falls somewhere between, offering roughly 5 hours of talk time when using the 3G network and 12.5 days of standby battery life. Both BlackBerry models have user-replaceable batteries, the iPhone does not.

• User Interface

The BlackBerry Bold boasts a full QWERTY keyboard and trackball, situated directly below the screen. Apple's iPhone 3GS and BlackBerry Storm each rely on a touchscreen interface for most functions, although the Storm uses actual buttons to place and end a call and the iPhone has a single "home" button. Both the iPhone and Storm allow users a full QWERTY keyboard through the touchscreen interface which actively learns the user's typing habits and adjusts accordingly.

• Camera

Apple's iPhone 3GS recently improved upon the original iPhone's passable camera, increasing the megapixel resolution to 3. However, Apple recently included its proprietary "tap to focus" technology, which significantly improves picture quality. BlackBerry Storm's camera has a slightly higher resolution of 3.2 megapixels and utilizes auto-focus and image stabilization technology. BlackBerry Bold is easily the weakest in terms of resolution with only 2 megapixels of resolution.

• Storage

Apple's iPhone 3GS is easily the best option as far as storage, as it is available with up to 32 Gigabytes of storage space for applications, music, movies and more. BlackBerry Storm has 1GB of memory built in, but is packaged with an 8 GB micro SD card and supports up to 16GB. BlackBerry bold also has 1 GB of on board memory and can accept up to 16 GB of micro SD memory.

 By Vincent Healy, www.ehow.com