If you like the idea of a touch-screen phone but for whatever reason don't want an iPhone, you might want to take a look at "9 (More) Smartphone Alternatives To Apple's iPhone" on InformationWeek.com. A follow-up to a piece posted on the site in June, the new article features phones available from Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Helio.

The story says that some of the phones covered even present "solid iPhone alternatives to choose from."

The options include the LG Voyager from Verizon Wireless, which boasts both a touch screen that looks similar to the iPhone's, and a QWERTY keyboard. Then there's the HTC Tilt from AT&T, which has a tilt screen and keyboard.

Other handsets mentioned include the HTC Touch from Sprint; the BlackBerry Pearl from Sprint and Verizon Wireless; the HTC Shadow from T-Mobile; the Motorola Q9h from AT&T; the UTStarcom XV6800 from Verizon Wireless; the Sharp Sidekick LX from T-Mobile; the Pantech Ocean from Helio and the mother of all multimedia devices, the Nokia N95, which is available directly from the handset maker.