Relative to other US airline carriers, what is Continental Airlines considered in terms of services and fare?

Generally, Continental has a newer fleet of planes than do other US carriers (Delta and American still fly MD-80s, which could easily be up to 30 years old). They also tend to have better customer service than do Delta, American, and US Airways: while I've had problems with all four of these airlines, Continental best resolved my complaint. It could also be dangerous comparing Delta, Continental, American and US Airways with JetBlue and Southwest: the latter two are low cost carriers, and thus have much different levels of service (From what I hear from friends, JetBlue is a better airline than Southwest, but that's beside your question).

At the same time, though, I highly recommend Delta for their inflight entertainment: they quite literally have personal televisions in every seat, domestic and international, filled with (a good deal of) free content. Continental is installing satellite television in most of their domestic fleet, but it will cost $6 to travellers in economy. Continental's existing personal screens in their international fleet I found to be quite dated, with an interface that seemed to jump straight out of the early '90s.

With regards to fares, all of the non-LCCs (all but JetBlue and Southwest) you listed have basically similar fares: they obviously differ based on the individual routes, but they all hover within the same range. JetBlue and Southwest will be cheaper, but will also have fewer services (and don't fly intercontinental routes).

Continental is tranditionally pared up for Biz travel so compared to other airlines Continental is high quality. The fares all depend on what region and the time of year they are competing for their customers. But typically and personally I would pay a little more just to fly Continental vs Delta or US air anyday. . <-- well it also depends on the aircraft but in most cases I stand with my statement.