Let’s face it, whether or not you are an Apple fan, the iPhone has set the bar for smart phones. When new phones are released, one of the first things things that pops up in reviews is whether or not it is an “iPhone killer.” With the release of the Nexus One, Google has taken up the challenge, but can the search giant unseat the reigning king of cool tech?

On paper, the phones actually measure up quite comparatively to each other. They are both full-featured smart phones with built in GPS, voice recognition, similar battery life, downloadable apps, photo/video recording capabilities, and music playback. What sets these phones apart is how each operating system integrates these features. The Nexus One runs Android OS, which was developed by Google and is used by various third party manufacturers. The iPhone runs Apple’s own proprietary iPhone OS which is, like most things Apple, exclusive to them.

Let’s start with voice recognition and control. The Nexus One wins this battle hands down with native support for voice recognition and commands that can be integrated into other apps on the phone. That means no more awkward knee-steering while you try to update your Twitter status, instead just open the Twitter client and start talking. Yes, the iPhone does have voice control, but it’s much more limited – you can only use it to control basic phone functions. It should be noted that their is a third party application that will allow you to dictate things and then send the text to other applications, but it’s not really convenient to do so. The Nexus One earns a point here, but let’s get back to the third party applications.

Both phones have a store where you can download applications, but if the Android store on the Nexus is a mom and pop shop, the iPhone App store is the Super Walmart. With over 100,000 applications, the iPhone blows away the measly 16,000 that the Android offers. This is a large point of contention since the phone is only as capable as the apps that can be downloaded on it. A big nod for the iPhone.

Even with the vast amount of apps the iPhone offers though, the iPhone OS limits developers from running applications in the background. This simply means that you can’t have multiple applications running – something that a lot of developers and users complain about with the iPhone. This is not so with the Nexus, multitask all you want. Users have free reign to keep applications running…two, three, four at a time, whatever makes you happy.

Let’s not forget a key smart phone feature: music and video playback. Apple just gets this. They have been the pioneering force in portable music since the original iPod and haven’t missed a beat since. The music player in the iPhone features a user interface that really shouldn’t even be in the same category as the bare bones offering on the Nexus One. No surprise that Apple dominated this category.

If you’ve been keeping track that leaves the score tied, but wait, there is one more glaring difference. The Nexus One lacks multi-touch support. That’s right, Google’s brand new phone doesn’t recognize multiple finger input – no pinching to zoom in, no multiple finger inputs on games, just one finger at a time. This is where I think the iPhone really slays the search giant. The iPhones multi-touch support is phenomenal – editing photos to zooming in on a map or just killing some downtime playing a game – the ability for multi-finger gestures and user input solidifies the iPhone’s supremacy over the Nexus One. An “iPhone Killer?” Not this time around.

The company has rented a stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco for several days in late January, according to people familiar with the plans.

Apple is expected to use the venue to make a major product announcement on Tuesday, January 26th. Both YBCA and Apple declined to comment.

Blogs like Gizmodo have talked about the iSlate as being a big contender along with iPad and a few other variants with lots of speculation around a release date

The Wall Street Journal says the tablet is actually going to ship in March, and an analyst said it’s coming in March or April. iLounge says it’ll hit stores in May or June, like the iPhone. Digitimes reported Foxconn is supposed to have almost half a million of ‘em shipped by April. Little emperor of Apple analysts Gene Munster says the first half of 2010. A bunch of connected Mac people just say 2010.

TechCrunch’s Robin Wauters has an interesting write up and looks further into the whole whois shebang.

Nice scoop by MacRumors, which reportedly retrieved historical evidence that Apple has acquired the domain name islate.com back in 2007. Apparently, the Cupertino company registered the domain through brand protection firm Mark Monitor to conceal the fact that the domain name is theirs, as usual, but was briefly listed as the owner at some point in the past nonetheless.

He goes on the look at a few other tld’s and finds some interesting commonalities:

Other related domain names that were secured through Mark Monitor: islate.info and islate.biz, both of which were registered on the same date as islate.co.uk: 17 November 2006.

iSlate.fr and iSlate.jp are also managed by Mark Monitor, so it’s looking like iSlate might be the winner.

I looked up other contenders like ipad.co.uk, .com etc as well as  iTablet.co.uk, .com, appletablet.com and other variants and no commonalities of ownership were present.

Whatever it ends up being it’s a great boon for Apple and will no doubt stimulate a whole sub economy of domains, products and services aimed at supporting it! Exciting times for geeks!

I’ve heard lots of anecdotal stories ranging from very low monthly tariffs to free phones, laptops and more. Maybe you can tell us your mobile phone story. It doesn’t have to be iPhone specific, it can be about a tariff generally or a model.

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What is clear is that going by the plans displayed there’s virtually no point in buying an 8GB 3G phone as for marginally more,  you can obtain a better iPhone.

With the 24 month plan, the £73.41 per month plan is exactly the same be it a 3G 8GB or a 3GS 32GB.  Same minutes, same text, same costs, but a better phone!

There are of course variable outcomes depending on what you are buying.  Pro rata you generally pay less on the longer contract periods. However, this is less pronounced on the 3G 8GB phones with no difference pro rata be it an 18 month or 24 month contract.

The largest pro rata saving is to be had from buying a 24 month 3GS 32GB contract, as this will be £95.22 less.

The tables below show the plans in more depth.