The 10 Best Touch-Screen Phones

With big, beautiful screens and top-notch touch-based interfaces, these phones will make you forget physical keyboards ever existed.

It was touch-and-go for a time, but the touch-screen interface has finally become mainstream. In the past, it was relatively tough to round up 10 good touch screen products. These days, high-quality touch-screen-based interfaces have made their way into PCs, tablets, phones, PMPs, digital cameras, and a host of other devices.

The introduction of the original iPhone back in 2007 sparked a touch-screen revolution in the smartphone space. With its gorgeous 3.5-inch Multi-Touch screen with support for pinch and zoom, well-designed, finger-friendly interface, and top-notch mobile Web experience, the iPhone served as a prime example of the potential of the keyboard-free phone.

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After that, every major manufacturer took its own stab at the touch-screen smartphone. Some succeeded, and some, well, not so much. RIM's first touch-screen handset, the BlackBerry Storm, for example, was panned in our original review for a buggy, imprecise touch interface that was difficult to use. It took a major firmware upgrade six months later for us to recommend the Storm. And since then, we've seen plenty of hard-to-use touch-screen phones that left us begging for physical keyboards and controls.

Three years later, though, there's no shortage of innovative, easy-to-use touch-screen smartphones. In fact, each of the major U.S. carriers offers a number of handsets that ace the touch-screen interface. This list contains the best touch-screen-only phones. If you're looking for phone with a touch screen and a supplemental hardware keyboard, you won't find it here. But if you're willing to say farewell to the physical keyboard for good, look no further than our 10 favorite touch-screen phones.

Touch-Screen Phones Included in this Roundup (by Carrier)

AT&T

iPhone 4

Apple's iPhone 4 adds a gorgeous screen, a terrific camera, and a faster processor to add to the already-awesome iPhone app experience, but voice calling still isn't this phone's priority.

iPhone 3GS Even though the 3GS now has a faster, shinier big brother, this affordable iPhone is still a terrific handheld computing and Web device. And it provides the same access to thousands of apps for half the price of the iPhone 4.

Samsung Captive With a fast processor, bright screen, great social-networking hooks, and even options for syncing with PCs, the Captivate is the best smartphone for AT&T users who find Apple's attraction to be fruitless.

SPRINT

HTC EVO 4G

If you live online, the EVO offers a big, beautiful, and powerful window to the world. The first WiMAX phone in the U.S. is a terrific platform for streaming media and Web browsing, and it gets your laptop online with Sprint's 4G network.

Samsung Instinct HD The Samsung Instinct HD is the first truly high-def video phone in the U.S.; it has a novel feature set and can record and display HD video (at least on an external screen), but that privilege doesn't come without issue.

T-MOBILE

Samsung Vibrant The Samsung Vibrant is T-Mobile's super-phone, and it delivers a lot of power on some really inexpensive monthly plans.

Samsung Highlight SGH-t749 With a responsive touch-screen and easy-to-use TouchWiz UI, the entry-level Samsung Highlight is a good choice for T-Mobile subscribers looking for a touch- screen handset that's easy to use.

VERIZON WIRELESS

Driod Incredible by HTC Lots of power, a great-looking screen, and gorgeous interface additions, mean the Droid Incredible easily lives up to its name.

Samsung Fascinate Sized in between the Motorola Droid X and HTC Droid Incredible, the Samsung Fascinate will feel just right for many Verizon smartphone shoppers.

Motorola Droid X Motorola Droid X takes the crown for the most powerful Android smartphone away from the HTC Droid Incredible. The huge 4.3-inch, 854-by-480 screen makes maneuvering the phone's excellent interface with your finger a breeze.