Remember when the iPhone first came out? Many hopped to their feet right away to snag the new touch screen phone that would revolutionize the cell phone industry. The iPhone was great in multimedia features, easy to use with it's touch screen interface, and of course classy as ever. Who didn't want one?

While the iPhone may have been the first to fully utilize the touch screen technology, the costs were prohibitive to many consumers. So prohibitive in fact that new marketing ploys flourished using a free iPhone as a reward for those willing to pay an overwhelming amount of cash in smaller quantities for assorted products until they received a free iPhone.

The cost of the new touch screen phone wasn't the only drawback to the awesome and sleek iPhone, there was the carrier selection. The original iPhone was made to work with only one cell phone carrier, which at the time was AT&T. So everyone had to drop their network or risk their iPhone to software IN an effort of making it compatible with other carrier services. The sex appeal faded.

Fortunately for those who either have held out or just didn't have the extra cash to spend on the new touch screen phone technology, the competition was watching all along and plotting revenge in the form of market share. Manufacturers and carriers saw the demand for new touch screen phones and now have comparable products that may even dwarf some features of the iPhone.

One such feature of many of the new touch screen cell phones are their Bluetooth abilities. Apple has kept their iPhone with typical earphone technology (oddly enough) making wireless audio technology somewhat of a caveman experience compared to what Bluetooth is capable of, but even with that subject set aside many of the features of the new touch screen phones can match up to the iPhone.

Many if not all the new touch screen phones now available are equipped with 3G technology making Internet surfing and streaming media a hassle free experience. Many of the phones have storage capabilities up to 8GB which may not be as much as the iPhone's 16GB but still provides adequate storage space for the average music and movie fan.

The touch screen phones being offered have additional features that the iPhone does not such as voice dialing capabilities, memory card slots, removable battery packs, and the ability to play WMA files.

The affordability factor for these new phones is what can be considered outstanding however. Many providers offer discounted rebate touch screen phones or are even offer them for free with new contracts. Providers offering touch screen phones include Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, and AllTel. With the additional options of carriers and packages you can have a sleek and sexy touch screen phone without succumbing to one provider which allows you to shop for the best plans that will help save you money in the long run.

When shopping for a new touch screen phone remember that your calling plan will be just as important as the phone itself. With a 3G phone it makes obvious sense to have a data (Internet) plan and with that there are various pricing and usage structures. Be careful to observe all pricing options for data and calling before signing up for 2 years. Be realistic in what you will use, if you know you use the Internet a lot then an unlimited data plan may make sense. Going over on your data minutes can prove to be very costly and even run into the thousands of dollars range if you are not careful.