I know many people who want to buy an iPhone. Most of them don’t even know what the iPhone really is and what specs and features it has, they just want it because there is an opinion nowadays that having an iPhone is cool.

Apple’s iPhone 4 is a rather expensive smartphone – Verizon Wireless mentions its retail price is $649.99 for the 16GB version ($199.99 with a two-year contract) and $749.99 for the 32GB version ($299.99 with a two-year contract). Meanwhile there are many other good smartphones with equal specs and a lower price. For example, the HTC Thunderbolt’s retail price is $569.99 (even though the component cost of HTC’s flagship is $262 (the Thunderbolt uses the most expensive components nowadays), and the iPhone 4’s CDMA-version’s component cost is only $172), but you can buy it for $249.99 with a two-year contract with Verizon, or choose even better options — buy the Thunderbolt for $69.99 from Amazon and for $59.99 from Wirefly.

Once we’ve tried to compare the web browsing speed of the iPhone 4, the HTC Thunderbolt and the Motorola Droid 3. Now I would like to compare all specs and features of the HTC Thunderbolt and the iPhone 4.

So… let’s go.

Design

It’s not really easy to compare the design of the HTC Thunderbolt and the iPhone 4 – they’re too different, designed for different types of people. The Thunderbolt is bigger (122 x 66 x 13 mm) and heavier (164 g) overall, very comfortable for those who like big things or have big hands Apple’s iPhone is more compact (115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm) and light in weight (137 g), more comfortable for smaller hands.

The HTC Thunderbolt is made of plastic with a soft-touch coating on the back, which feels very good and doesn’t show fingerprints, unlike the iPhone 4’s glass back.

You’ve probably noticed that the iPhone 4 has only one button on its front (it takes you back to the homescreen), and the Thunderbolt has four touch-sensitive buttons (home, menu, back, search). There are people who like the iPhone’s minimalistic design, but the four buttons of HTC’s smartphone are really handy sometimes (for example, you can go to search for something from any menu at once).

As for the side buttons, the volume rocker of the HTC Thunderbolt is one piece, which isn’t really comfortable, and the iPhone’s volume buttons are separate, which seems to be a better solution.

Display

As I said above, the HTC Thunderbolt is bigger, so its display is also bigger – 4.3 inches against the iPhone’s 3.5-inch touchscreen. However, the resolution of the iPhone’s display is higher – 640 x 960, while the Thunderbolt’s screen resolution is only 480 x 800. Both displays have their pros and cons: Images, videos and other things look good on the Thunderbolt, but the iPhone 4’s display seems to be clearer because of the higher pixel density. On the other hand, the bigger screen of the Thunderbolt is much more comfortable for use.

Both displays have the Multi-touch input method and accelerometer sensors for auto-rotate. The Gorilla Glass technology is used in the HTC Thunderbolt’s display to make it more durable, while the iPhone 4 has a scratch-resistant oleophobic surface. Not sure which one is better though – none is actually perfect.

Platform

The HTC Thunderbolt runs Android 2.2, which will be upgraded to Gingerbread someday, maybe in Q3 (if we believe the latest rumors). Apple’s iPhone 4 runs iOS. We can spend hours and days comparing these operating systems, and probably we’ll never find out which one is better or faster or cooler. Both have their pros and cons, both have their fans and enemies.

Both platforms have comfortable and easy-to-earn interfaces, and even if you’ve never used a smartphone before, you’ll intuitively be able to understand how to use both.

As for a more detailed comparison of Android and iOS… I’ll write it one day. But not today.

Processors and RAM

Both the iPhone 4 and the HTC Thunderbolt have 1GHz processors, but the RAM amounts of these smartphones are different – the Thunderbolt’s RAM is 768MB, while the iPhone’s RAM is only 512MB. However, both processors are powerful and fast, so moving between the homescreens or opening different apps or programs will not make you wait for too long.

Storage Space

The HTC Thunderbolt has 8GB of on-board storage, plus it has a microSD card slot supporting up to 32GB, so your Thunderbolt’s memory can make up 40GB. Apple’s iPhone comes with versions – 16GB and 32GB, and no microSD slot…

Camera

The HTC Thunderbolt has an 8MP camera (autofocus, dual-LED flash) that can shoot 3264×2448 pixels images and 720p HD videos, too. The iPhone 4’s camera is only 5MP (autofocus, LED flash), and though it can record the same 720p HD videos, the photos is takes are much smaller — 2592 x 1944 pixels.

I can’t help saying that both cameras make really good pictures. The images taken by the HTC Thunderbolt are a bit sharper, but the photos shot inside by the iPhone 4 were less grainy (strange…). Here are examples of photos taken by the Thunderbolt (by the guys from Phonearena) outside and inside. And here are the same places shot by the iPhone 4: outside and inside. Compare them yourself.

Battery

The HTC Thunderbolt (read more about its specs from our HTC Thunderbolt Review) comes with a standard Li-Ion 1400mAh replaceable battery. The iPhone 4 has a Li-Po 1420mAh battery, which is sealed and can’t be replaced. The battery of the iPhone 4 has a longer life, but we shouldn’t forget that the smartphone has a smaller display and no 4G.

Conclusion

Both smartphones have their pros and cons. The HTC Thunderbolt has a larger display, a better camera and many other advantages, and the iPhone 4 seems to be made better and has a longer battery life. However, the HTC Thunderbolt is much cheaper than the iPhone 4, and the price of Apple’s device isn’t conditioned by really high-end specs but with a brand name.

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