Rival touch-screen devices failing to live up to iPhone

Few competitors have managed to match the iPhone's usability

Five of the 10 worst handsets as voted on by users are touch-screen models, suggesting that most manufacturers are failing to rival the iPhone, according to new research released today by Reevoo.

The reviews aggregation site polled 19,000 buyers, asking them to assess 226 phones against a range of criteria, including style and function.

Apple's iPhone 3G and LG's KC910 Renoir, both touch-screen models, made it into the top 10 best handsets in eighth and ninth place respectively. However, the bottom 10 was populated by HTC's Touch Diamond, RIM's Blackberry Storm 9500, and Samsung's Armani, i900 Omnia and F490 models, all touch-screen handsets.

Jo Reale, mobile phone category manager at Reevoo, said that, although manufacturers are keen to jump on the touch-screen bandwagon, their efforts are falling short of consumer expectations.

"We love the look of touch-screen phones, and the ability to watch videos on a large screen, but they are hard to get right and many shoppers are complaining that touch-screen interfaces are just too fiddly," she added.

"If mobile phone manufacturers want to make an impact in the touch-screen arena, they need to listen to consumers and address the issues they have with current touch-screen models."

The research found that the most important feature for phone buyers is style, followed by size and camera quality. Lowest ranked were web browsing and email functionality.

Christian Lindholm, a director at mobile design consultancy Fjord, argued that 2008 was "the year of the bad touchscreen". He explained that the two main technologies used for these screens - "capacitive touch " and "resistive touch" -both have drawbacks.

"With capacitive touch the resolution is lower and it only reacts to finger touch, so you can't use the stylus … and resistive touch requires more force and is more insensitive in a way," he added.