Both the iPhone and the Tilt are AT&T smartphones (at least in the US), however the main overall difference between the iPhone and the AT&T Tilt, based on, at least, the way the two devices are marketed, is that the iPhone is aimed more towards the consumer-user and AT&T Tilt towards the business user. However, both smartphones have excellent qualities that appeal to both types of users.
Both the AT&T Tilt and the iPhone are touchscreen smartphones, although the iPhone’s touchscreen can be controlled with your fingers, while the AT&T Tilt’s touchscreen control requires use of the included stylus. Beyond the touchscreen, the iPhone has a single multipurpose navigation button, while the AT&T Tilt has several additional buttons.
Unlike the iPhone, the AT&T Tilt has a unique screen layout that allows users to slide out a full QWERTY keyboard from behind the main casing and tilt the screen up so the user can view and control the phone in a similar way to just like you would a laptop or personal computer. The iPhone is a single candy bar unit with no sliding parts, though both the iPhone and AT&T Tilt can be turned sideways for a widescreen view as an alternative to standard portrait.
The weaknesses of the feature-rich iPhone stand in the way of the basic and essential functions of a smartphone: call quality and data network speed. Although the AT&T Tilt uses the same EDGE data network as the iPhone, the Tilt has a wider range of wireless options available, including access to the 3G network, a feature that the current generation of iPhones can’t claim (although it’s reportedly that an iPhone 3G is in the works). Also, based on a read of customer feedback online, the Tilt also boasts superior call quality to the iPhone. Having said that, however, the iPhone has up to 480 minutes of talk time, while the maximum talk time on AT&T Tilt is only half that.
Feature-wise, the AT&T Tilt’s digital camera is 3.0 megapixels, while the iPhone’s is only 2.0 megapixels. The Tilt includes GPS but the iPhone does not. The Tilt’s call history is more substantive, indicating the length of talk time and other details not available in the iPhone’s call history. Similarly, Tilt shows a distinction between calls received and calls made, while the iPhone doesn’t. The AT&T Tilt’s processor is significantly slower than the iPhone’s, with a much greater tendency to freeze and require a reboot. The iPhone has a much larger built-in storage capacity (from 4 to 8 GB), while the AT&T Tilt can only store 128 MB.
The big difference between the two devices is that the iPhone runs on Apple’s Mac OS X, while the AT&T Tilt runs on Windows Mobile 6 Professional, which is the difference between any Mac PC or laptop and the PC or laptop with Windows equivalent. Thus, AT&T Tilt offers users, for example, the full suite of Windows Office Mobile programs (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), while iPhone users benefit from all the innovative software resulting from the new SDK ( software development kit) for iPhone. The bottom line here is that since most computer users classify themselves as Mac users or Windows users, the decision of which device is “better” really comes down to personal preference between Mac and Windows.
AT&T inclination sells at least $100 less than the iphone.