The Nexus One phone and the iPhone 3GS present as attractively sleek and slimline phones, with curved edges which makes them both comfortable to hold and use.

Just beneath the display screen on the Nexus One are four touch-sensitive buttons: back, menu, home and search, and a trackball. Dotted around the edges of the phone are the power button, a 3.5mm headphone socket and a micro-USB port. The 3GS, like its predecessor, has a “home” key at the bottom of the front surface, volume, sleep/wake buttons on the edges and access to the applications is via the touchscreen.

The iphone has a 3.5” touchscreen display, measures 115.5mm by 62.1mm by 12.3mm and comes with a reputed 256MB of RAM, and storage of up to 32GB. The Nexus One houses a 3.7” touchscreen display, and measures just 119mm by 59.8mm by 11.5mm. The phone comes with 512MB of both RAM and ROM, and a microSD  slot to accommodate a card of up to 32GB.

The most noticeable problem with the Nexus One is that the colours are somewhat oversaturated, especially with red and orange. Additionally, it is problematic to view the screen in bright light.

While a 5 megapixel camera is built into the Nexus One, which produces sharp and detailed images, the 3GS sports a surprisingly low 3 megapixel camera, although it does have autofocus when compared to its predecessor, although it does appear to over-expose photos. The Nexus One’s Gallery application is user-friendly and includes a pan and scan slideshow, which makes for a fun photo-browsing experience.

Looking at the insides of these phones, the 3GS is pretty quick in flicking between homescreens, scrolling through lists and when using Spotlight. When it comes to the games department and the use of high density graphic applications, the latest iphone certainly has the power to keep the gamer content, compared to the Nexus One whose gaming capabilities are not of the highest quality. Homescreen navigation on the Nexus One is swift and straightforward. An improvement in the Nexus One over its predecessors is the useful “home” icon which allows the user to zoom in on icons, and scroll through them, over the homescreen currently in use. To this end, there are accessible homescreens available.

Both phones are host to a range of other functions including Google Maps, a music player, a touchscreen keyboard and audio recognition. Each phone does have its own merits, depending on what additional functions and capabilities the user seeks.