With the Holiday Season nearly upon us, we at TechCrunch thought it would behoove us to share with everyone a definitive list of the best smartphones currently available (or launching shortly), so as to help with any possible purchasing decisions which may occur in the upcoming months.

In making our decisions, we looked at these phones from the standpoint of the consumer. Thus, developer struggles, business security, and other such problems were not taken into account. Instead, functionality, price, and the overall usefulness of various smartphones made up the criteria which we adhered to during our reviews. These phones can be found on a multitude of carriers, operating systems, and continents.

Feel free to comment below on the merits of this list of the best smart phones currently available.

iPhone 3GS

You know you’re on top when phone manufacturers are constantly struggling to produce an “iPhone killer”. The iPhone 3GS boasts a massive App Store (with nearly 100,000 apps now), the largest developer base, and is simply put, the best phone on the market.

Status: Launched June 19th, 2009 on ATT
Screen: 3.5-inch 480 x 320-pixel resolution at 163 ppi widescreen Multi-Touch display
Dimensions: 115.5 x 62.1 x 12.3 mm; 135 grams
Camera: 3 megapixels w/ AutoFocus, No flash
Battery: 1150 mAh Li-Ion
Standby Time: 300 hours
Talk Time: Up to 12 hours on 2G; Up to 5 hours on 3G
Processor: Samsung S5PC100; 600 MHz
Internal/External Memory: 16GB or 32GB
Extras: 3.5mm Headset jack, accelerometer, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS enabled
Operating System: iPhone OS
Price: $199 for 16 GB; $299 for 32GB

Motorola Droid

If any phone is going to challenge the iPhone’s supremacy, it will be the Verizon Droid. The Droid is on a superior network than the iPhone, and will be running Android 2.0 which has a much improved user interface over previous versions of Android.

Status: Rumored to be announced October 28th; Verizon Wireless.
Screen: 3.7-inch/480×854 Full Touchscreen with Full QWERTY Slider
Dimensions: 60 x 115.8 x 13.7 mm; 169 grams
Camera: 5.0 Megapixels with AutoFocus
Battery: Li-ion 1400mAh
Standby Time: 450 Hours
Talk Time:7 Hours
Processor: Texas Instruments OMAP 3430 processor; 600MHz
Internal/External Memory: 512MB Flash, 256MB RAM/MicroSD (16GB capacity)
Extras: 3.5mm Headset jack, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS enabled
Operating System: Android 2.0
Price: Unknown

Palm Pre

The Palm Pre signaled the resurrection of Palm. It is well-designed, and has a very promising OS, which if tweaked and improved slightly, can challenge any OS on the market.

Status: Available June 6th on Sprint. Available October 13 in Germany and October 16 in UK and Ireland
Screen: 3.1-inch touch screen with 24-bit color 320×480 resolution HVGA display and full QWERTY keyboard
Dimensions: 100.5 x 59.5 x 16.95 mm; 135 grams
Camera: 3 megapixel camera with LED flash and AutoFocus
Battery: 1150 mAh
Standby Time: 250 Hours
Talk Time: 5 Hours
Processor: Texas Instruments OMAP 3430 processor; 600MHz
Internal/External Memory: 8 GB
Extras: 3.5mm Headset jack, accelerometer, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS enabled
Operating System: Palm webOS
Price: $149.99

HTC Hero/T-Mobile G2 Touch/Sprint HTC Hero

The inclusion of HTC Sense makes the Hero the best Android phone currently on the market. It is fast, stylish, and easy to use.

Status: HTC Hero Launched July 24th for Orange UK. T-Mobile G2 Touch Launched July 29th.
Screen: 3.2-inch/ 320×480 HVGA resolution; Full Touchscreen/TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen
Dimensions: 112 x 56.2 x 14.35 mm ; 135 grams
Camera: 5 Megapixels with AutoFocus
Battery: 1350 mAh Lithium-ion battery
Standby Time: Up to 750 hours for WCDMA, Up to 440 hours for GSM
Talk Time:Up to 420 minutes for WCDMA, Up to 470 minutes for GSM
Processor: Qualcomm® MSM7200A™, 528 MHz
Internal/External Memory:288MB/MicroSD 2.0
Extras: 3.5mm Headset jack, Wi-Fi, accelerometer, Bluetooth and GPS enabled
Operating System: Android
Price: $179.99

BlackBerry Bold

The BlackBerry Bold is RIM’s crowning achievement thus far and the impending Bold 9700 should see widespread adoption.

Status: Available on AT&T; Bold 9700 available November 2nd, 2009
Screen: 2.6 inch Half VGA resolution Dispay Screen; 480 x 320 pixels; 65,000 colors
Dimensions: 114 x 66 x 15; 136 grams
Camera: 2.0 MP w/ AutoFocus
Battery: Li – Ion, 1500 mAh
Standby Time: 324 hours
Talk Time: 4.5 hours
Processor: 624 MHz
Internal/External Memory: 1 GB
Extras: 3.5mm Headset jack, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS capable with extended ephemeris
Operating System: BlackBerry OS
Price: $199.99

HTC Magic/T-Mobile MyTouch 3G

The MyTouch 3G is an easy to use, stylish Android phone. The absence of a standard 3.5mm headset jack is a bit of a disappointment, but otherwise this phone is quite powerful and useful. Furthermore, Mike quit the iPhone for the MyTouch, and that has to mean something.

Status: HTC Magic Launched May 1, 2009 and July 10th, 2009 in Japan; MyTouch 3G launched July 8, 2009. Available through T-Mobile, Vodafone, and Docomo
Screen:3.2″ /320 x 480 HVGA Touchscreen/TFT, TFD, LCD 262k
Dimensions: 113 x 55 x 13 mm; 118.5 grams
Camera: 3.2 Megapixels with AutoFocus (MyTouch has a 5MP camera)
Battery: 1340 mAh Lithium-ion battery
Standby Time: 420 hours
Talk Time: 7.5 Hours
Processor: Qualcomm® MSM7201a™, 528 MHz
Internal/External Memory:192/288 MB (Underclocked)/ MicroSD up to 32GB
Extras: HTC ExtUSB Headset Jack, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS enabled
Operating System: Android
Price: $99.99 (T-Mobile MyTouch $149.99)

BlackBerry Storm 2

The BlackBerry Storm 2, while an improvement over its predecessor, still lacks the “wow” factor necessary to push it higher up on this list.

Status: Available on Verizon Wireless October 28th, 2009
Screen: 3.25 inch 360 x 480 pixel touchscreen; 65k colors
Dimensions: 112.5 x 62.2 x 13.9 mm; 160 grams
Camera: 3.2 Megapixels w/ LED flash and AutoFocus
Battery: 1400 mAh Li-Ion
Standby Time: 270 hours
Talk Time: 5.5 hours
Processor: 528 MHz Qualcomm processor
Internal/External Memory: 2 GB/16 GB microSD
Extras: 3.5 mm headset, GPS, bluetooth, and wi-fi enabled
Operating System: BlackBerry OS
Price: $179.99

BlackBerry Tour

Our biggest qualm with the BlackBerry Tour is its lack of Wi-Fi. Other than that however, the Tour is a great phone if you’re a chronic email user or if you text message a lot.

Status: Available on July 12, 2009 through Verizon and Sprint.
Screen: 2.4 inch 480×360 pixel display screen; 65,000 colors
Dimensions: 112 x 62 x 14.2 mm; 130 grams
Camera: 3.2 Megapixels with AutoFocus
Battery: 1400 mAHr removable/rechargeable cryptographic lithium cell
Standby Time: 336 Hours
Talk Time: 5 Hours
Processor: 528 MHz Qualcomm processor
Internal/External Memory: 256 MB RAM
Extras: 3.5mm Headset jack, Bluetooth and GPS enabled. No Wi-Fi nor accelerometer
Operating System: BlackBerry OS
Price: $149.99

Nokia E71x

The Nokia E71x is a sleek and stylish phone, but like the Magic, lacks a 3.5mm headset jack. Nonetheless, this phone is just right for those on a budget, given its $99.99 price tag.

Status: Available on AT&T
Screen: 2.4″ LCD (Color TFT/TFD) display screen; 320 x 240 pixels (QVGA); 16.7 million (24-bit)
Dimensions:114 x 57 x 10 mm; 126g
Camera: 3.2MP w/ Autofocus and Flash
Battery: BP-4L 1500 mAh Li-Po standard battery
Standby Time: 480 hours
Talk Time: 4.5 hours
Processor: ARM 11, 369 MHz
Internal/External Memory: 110MB/ MicroSD
Extras: 2.5mm Headset jack, bluetooth, wi-fi, and GPS enabled
Operating System: Symbian OS
Price: $99.00