Verdict of LG Optimus T-burgundy (T-Mobile)

The LG Optimus T runs οn thе latest οf Google’s Android software, whісh іѕ Froyo version 2.2, аnd hаѕ a built-іn 3.2 megapixel auto focus camera, music player аnd high-alacrity Internet аnd Wi-Fi connectivity.
Design
Measuring 4.47 inches long by 2.32 inches wide by 0.52 inch thick, the Optimus T is a minimalist touch-screen-only phone, with rounded corners and a slightly curved back coated in a soft-touch material. The phone is relatively lightweight at 4.5 ounces, and has a nice comfortable feel in the hand. It comes in two colors: burgundy and titanium gray.

Dominating the front is a 3.2-inch, 16.7-million-color LCD display. While it's not made out of glass, and its 320x480-pixel resolution is not as high as some other Android phones (like the Droid Incredible or the MyTouch 3G), we think it looks great. Graphics pop with color, and text is legibly crisp. You can adjust the brightness, the screen timeout timer, and the animations when opening and closing applications. The capacitive screen feels very responsive for the most part, and we're glad to see that it has multitouch and pinch-to-zoom support. The phone also has a proximity sensor and an internal accelerometer.

The Optimus T ships with the stock Android 2.2 user interface, so there shouldn't be any surprises for longtime Android fans. You get the usual five customizable home screens, along with three shortcuts along the bottom to the phone dialer, the main menu, and the messaging in-box. The phone dialer app is pretty self-explanatory, with a roomy virtual keypad and access to the call log, the contacts list, your favorites list, and a new text message. We're also happy to note that the Optimus T comes with the Swype keyboard in addition to the default Android virtual keyboard.

Underneath the display are the usual Android hot keys--the menu and search keys are on the left and right side, while the Home and Back keys are housed within a center panel. On the right spine is the volume rocker, the 3.5-millimeter headset jack and screen lock/power key are on the top, the Micro-USB port is on the bottom, and the camera lens is on the back. The microSD card slot is located behind the battery cover.

Features
As we mentioned above, the LG Optimus T ships with Android 2.2, which is quite impressive for a supposedly entry-level smartphone. Android 2.2 has plenty of improvements over 2.1, which include voice dialing over Bluetooth, app storage on a memory card, a new camera viewfinder, app sharing, and Facebook integration. However, due to hardware limitations, Flash 10.1 is not available with the Optimus T's browser even though Android 2.2 technically supports it.

But all is not lost, as the Optimus T has not only Wi-Fi and 3G, it also has tethering and Wi-Fi hot-spot capabilities. The Optimus T will also be one of a few T-Mobile smartphones to let you make calls over Wi-Fi, though the feature is not available at launch. Other connectivity features include Bluetooth with A2DP support, and GPS. If you decide not to use Google's own navigation feature, the phone does come packaged with T-Mobile's TeleNav GPS Navigator app.

Other apps preloaded on the Optimus T include demo versions of Diner Dash 2, Doodle Jump, and Pac-Man, DriveSmart, ThinkFree Office, Twitter, and YouTube. Of course, it also supports the full suite of Google services, like Gmail, Google Maps, Google Talk, and Google Voice Search. In addition to the Android Market, the Optimus T also has T-Mobile's own "AppPack" store that features recommended apps. The Optimus T works well as a phone, with quad-band world roaming, a speakerphone, conference calling, voice dialing, text and multimedia messaging, and visual voice mail. The phone book is limited only by the available memory (the SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts), and there's room in each entry for multiple numbers, e-mail addresses, IM handles, and so on. You can merge contact information from multiple e-mail and social networking accounts, such as Exchange, your own POP3/IMAP servers, Facebook, and Twitter.

The multimedia features on the Optimus T are nothing unusual. The music and video players are the standard Android fare, with basic support for most music and video file formats. It comes bundled with the DoubleTwist syncing software, which is nice. The phone only has 170MB of built-in memory, but it does come with a 2GB microSD card for extra storage. The maximum card size is 32GB.

Last but not least is the 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera. Settings include five different resolutions, an adjustable ISO, white balance, color effects, a timer, brightness, six scene modes (Automatic, Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night, and Sunset), four focus modes (Auto, Macro, Face tracking, and Manual), and 2x digital zoom. There's also a video camera here that can record VGA, QVGA, and QCIF quality video, but no HD. Picture quality was actually quite decent for a 3.2-megapixel camera. Images looked sharp, though colors seemed muted and dark, especially in indoor shots.

Verdict of Motorola Droid X android smartphone(Verizon Wireless)

The Motorola Droid X Android smartphone rocks a brilliant 4.3-inch touch screen display supporting 854 x 480 pixels resolution , 1GHz TI processor , running with Google Android 2.1, and offers some great multimedia features, including an 8-megapixel camera with HD video capture, HDMI output, and DLNA support.

Design
Measuring 5 inches tall by 2.6 inches wide by 0.4 inch thick and 5.47 ounces, it's a hair taller than the HTC Evo 4G, but also slightly thinner and lighter. It also makes for a tight squeeze in a pants pocket, but without a slide-out keyboard like the Droid's, it's doesn't feel quite as bulky. The backside also has a nice soft-touch finish, and the Droid X feels like a solid handset overall. The Droid X's display actually looks deceptively bigger than the Evo 4G's because of a thin border around the edge that blends into the screen, but it's the same size at 4.3 inches. It has a WVGA (854x480 pixels) resolution with a 16:9 aspect ratio and looks absolutely brilliant and crisp. There's also a proximity sensor and a built-in accelerometer that was pretty responsive in changing the screen orientation. The Droid X offers two keyboards: a standard virtual keyboard and Swype. Below the display, you get the four standard Android shortcut keys--menu, home, back, and search--but unlike on the Evo, they're hard buttons and not touch-sensitive. On top of the device, you'll find a power/lock button as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack, and on the left, the Micro-USB port and the HDMI port.

Features
Motorola Droid X ships with Android 2.2 Froyo . Given the large screen, it's no surprise that multimedia plays a huge part. The smartphone offers a dedicated Blockbuster On Demand app where you can preview and download movies--to rent or to own--on the go. Once purchased, you can watch the video on another connected device, such as a TV, a Blu-ray player, or a PC, using Blockbuster software.

You can make your own movies, too, since the Droid X has an 8-megapixel camera that's capable of capturing 720p HD video. In addition, the smartphone has a three-mic system for capturing the best audio for the situation. This option is available in camcorder mode under Scenes, and you have four choices: Everyday for capturing audio from all directions; Outdoors to reduce wind noise; Narrative for when you're, well, narrating a scene; and Subject to capture audio from the person you are filming--can't say we've seen this on any other camera phone. The camcorder, as well as the camera, also offers effects, face detection, dual-LED flash, autofocus, and digital zoom. The one thing you don't get is a front-facing camera like on the Evo 4G, but Motorola has said it will add this feature in future devices.

The Droid X has 8GB of onboard memory and ships with a 16GB microSD card, but the expansion slot supports up to 32GB cards, so you can essentially have 40GB of storage. You can share photos and videos through the usual avenues--e-mail, multimedia message, Bluetooth, Facebook, and so forth--but you can also display content on your HDTV via HDMI output or through a Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA)-compatible device. If you're not familiar with it, DLNA is a standard that makes it easier to move content, like movies, photos, and music, from device to device. Since the Droid X supports this technology, you can stream media from your phone to other DLNA-compliant tech, like the Xbox 360, without having to go through a whole setup process.

Moving away from the multimedia and back to some of the core functions of the smartphone, the Droid X supports Gmail, and POP3 and IMAP e-mail accounts, and it offers native Microsoft Exchange synchronization out of the box for e-mail, calendar, and contacts with access to global lookup. Corporate users will also be glad to know that the Droid X has security protocols for remote password control and wipe. Gmail aside, you can view your various e-mail accounts in a unified in-box or choose to keep them separate.

Voice features include a speakerphone, speed dial, voice commands, conference calling, Skype Mobile, and text and multimedia messaging with threaded chat view. Bluetooth, 3G, GPS, and integrated Wi-Fi are also onboard, and the Droid X can be used a mobile hot spot for up to five devices.

We used the Droid X as a hot spot for a number of devices, including a Lenovo ThinkPad T61 and a MacBook Pro, and measured download and upload speeds using Speedtest.net. We conducted tests throughout Manhattan and averaged download speeds of 1.75Mbps and upload speeds of 0.46Mbps. It was adequate for getting our work done, but we got kicked off the connection several times, which was frustrating.

About Motorola Droid 2 Global android smartphone(Verizon wireless)

Motorola Droid 2 Global Android smartphone with support for CDMA 800/1900, CDMA EV-DO Rev. A 800/1900 , WCDMA 850/1900/2100, and quad-band GSM 850/900/1800/1900 networks. The World Edition Droid 2, like the original droid/Milestone and Droid 2, has a side-slide QWERTY keyboard and a 3.7-inch 480×854 capacitive touchscreen.

As for CPU, the Global gets a boost from 1GHz to 1.2GHz. It runss Android 2.2 OS with Adobe Flash Player 10, Swype keyboard, Google apps and 3G Mobile Hotspot function built-in. The phone supports Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and WiFi connectivity. It has a 5 Megapixel camera with dual LED flash and video recording, a GPS/GPS with Google Maps Navigation, and 8GB onboard memory and pre-installed 8GB microSD card. The Motorola Droid 2 Global’s 1420mAh offers up to 500 minutes of talk time and up to 230 hours of standby time.

Features
The Motorola Droid 2 Global is a world smartphone. It offers dual-mode technology, which means it supports both CDMA and GSM networks. Here in the States, it will continue to run on Verizon's CDMA/EV-DO Rev. A network as usual, but once abroad, the phone will automatically detect and switch to a GSM network. The Droid 2 Global comes with a SIM card preinstalled, but Verizon has a policy that ensures it will unlock the SIM provided that you've been a customer for more than 60 days and are in good financial standing.

Voice and data coverage are available in more than 200 countries, and 3G data is available in more than 125 countries. You can check out Verizon's international coverage map, and also be sure to check out the roaming rates before you leave, so you're not in for a surprise when you receive your next bill.

In addition to the world-roaming capabilities, the Droid 2 Global offers a number of other features that will be useful to business customers. This includes the option to use the smartphone as a mobile hot spot for up to five devices.

The smartphone supports multiple Exchange accounts, including calendar and contacts with global directory lookup. It comes with a VPN client; the QuickOffice Suite for creating, viewing, and editing Office documents; and file and task managers. Running Android 2.2, the Droid 2 Global also has Google Maps Navigation, Voice Actions, and other Google services. Verizon services preloaded on the device include VZ Navigator and Skype Mobile.

All work and no play makes for a boring smartphone, so there are some multimedia extras thrown into the mix, such as Amazon Kindle for Android, Blockbuster's mobile app, and a demo version of EA's Need for Speed Shift. The Droid 2 Global also comes with Android's stock media player, which isn't very sexy, but gets the main job done. The player supports AAC, AAC+, MP3, H.263, H.264, WMA10, MPEG-4, MIDI, and AMR NB music and video codecs. The smartphone has 8GB of internal memory and ships with an 8GB microSD card, but the expansion slot supports up to 32GB cards.

The Droid 2 Global smartphone is equipped with a 5-megapixel camera with a dual-LED flash. Picture quality was decent. Subjects were easily identifiable, but indoor shots could have been just a tad brighter (adjusting the brightness only washed out the image) and more vibrant. At the highest resolution (720x480 pixels), recorded video was clear but suffered a bit from the halo effect. You can share media via e-mail, MMS, and social networks, as well as through other mediums. The Droid 2 Global also has DLNA support, so if you have a compatible device, you can wirelessly stream content from your phone to that product.

Verizon packages the Motorola Droid 2 Global with a charger, three international adapters, a USB cable, a preinstalled SIM card, an 8GB microSD card, and reference material.

About HTC Droid Incredible smartphone (Verizon wireless)

The HTC Droid Incredible smartphone offers a 3.7-inch, 480x800 AMOLED capacitive touch screen, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, Android 2.1 with the HTC Sense UI, an optical joystick, an eight megapixel camera with dual LED flash, and the usual Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and 3.5mm headphone jack.

Design

HTC Droid Incredible smartphone officially measures in at 4.63 inches tall by 2.3 inches wide by 0.47 inch thick and 4.59 ounces. It does feel a bit plasticky compared with the Nexus One, but it also finally gives Verizon customers (well, those who can live without a physical keyboard) a viable alternative to the Motorola Droid, as it still offers some of the higher-end features, such as the Snapdragon processor and high-resolution display, that are missing on the carrier's other Android device, the Droid Eris.

HTC Droid Incredible has the capacitive touch screen measures 3.7 inches diagonally and has a WVGA resolution (480x800) just like the Nexus One, but in a side-by-side comparison, the Incredible's display appears smoother and more vibrant than that of the Nexus One.

In addition, it felt more responsive, registering every touch right away and providing a smooth scrolling experience. The built-in accelerometer was quick to change screen orientation, and the proximity sensor kicks in as soon as you hold the phone up to your ear to take a phone call. Our only complaint about the screen would be that it's pretty hard to read in bright sunlight and like many others, the touch screen is an absolute magnet for fingerprints and smudges, so we'd recommend keeping a screen wipe close by at all times. The onscreen keyboard is HTC's own rather than the standard Android keyboard, which is fine by us since the buttons are slightly bigger for easier typing, especially in portrait mode.

Below the display, you have four touch-sensitive shortcut keys--home, menu, back, and search--and below them is a new optical joystick. Much like the ones found on the HTC Legend and theHTC Desire, it replaces the trackball navigator found on previous devices and operates much like a trackpad; you simply move your thumb over the control in the direction you want to move and you can even press down to select an item. Overall, it works as advertised, but the smaller size of the button makes it a bit awkward at first. In general, we used it mostly to scroll and select a smaller item on a Web site, such as a link, and used the touch screen for everything else.

There are very few other physical buttons on the Droid Incredible. On the left side, there's a volume rocker and a Mini-USB port and on top of the device, you'll find a power button and 3.5mm headphone jack. As with most all handsets, the camera and in this case, the dual LED flash, are housed in the back but what's unusual about the Droid Incredible is the back's topographic design and the phone's innards. Instead of a smooth surface, the battery door has bumps and ridges, and it's only after you pop it off that you realize it actually follows the lines of the internal parts of the phone. Verizon packages the Droid Incredible with just the bare minimum: an AC adapter, a USB cable, and reference material.

About HTC 7 Trophy android smartphone (Verizon Wireless)

HTC 7 Trophy android smartphone ships with a 1GHz processor, a 5MP camera and 8GB of on board memory, the spec sheet is standard, but nevertheless, far from shabby.
Design
Design-wise, the HTC 7 Trophy is the least HTC looking out of all the Windows Phone 7 handsets. With no gun metal, silver or matted hard plastic in sight, it has a distinctly black rubberised feel. Tactile and grippy to the touch, it is comfortable to hold, well weighted and while arguably lacking in design risks, delivers an aesthetically neutral, well put together solution that feels considerably more rugged than either the HTC 7 Mozart or the HD7.
The HTC 7 Trophy has a Super LCD display measuring in at 3.8 inches with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. Without the size of the HTC HD7, but with all its pixels at the same time, pixel density is greater giving you a sharper image. Naturally, given the technology, colours aren't as saturated as on AMOLED screens and blacks aren't as deep, but they nevertheless look vibrant for the most part and are bright enough, delivering a great overall experience. Coupled with good angles of view, we're left with no major complaints.
Below the screen are three capacitive buttons, above the screen is the in call speaker, at the top of the HTC 7 Trophy is the power button and a 3.5mm headphone jack, with the camera button to the bottom right and the volume rocker to the top left. Flip the phone over and you’ll find the 5MP autofocus camera with LED flash as well as the loud speaker. Remove the battery cover to reveal a bright yellow interior and a 1300mAh battery.
Overall, the HTC 7 Trophy feels solidly constructed, with a practical, understated design and a comfortable feel when swishing your way around Windows Phone 7. The screen is big enough to make tasks a breeze, and while the keyboard is not quite as comfortable as on the 4.3-inch HTC HD7 display, the 3.8-inch screen on the HTC 7 Trophy is still a great size for everything including text entry.

About LG Optimus 2X Android smartphone

The LG Optimus 2X is one of the most powerful Android smartphones. It can beat any current smartphone when it comes to raw power. It is powered by a dual core ARM Cortex A9 based Nvidia Tegra 2 chip and comes with a 4 inch display, and an 8 MegaPixel camera with full HD video recording.

Design

The LG Optimus 2X sports a standard touchscreen candybar design. It seems to be quite slim but the exact dimensions aren't out yet. It sports a 4 inch WVGA, capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels, the new Android standard.

Below the display, you find 4 touch sensitive buttons - Menu, Home, Back and Search. The dimensions is the same as the Galaxy S, the Optimus 2X looks quite stylish.

Hardware and OS

The LG Optimus 2X Android smartphone sports a dual core ARM Cortex A9 based processor on the Nvidia Tegra 2 platform. It is the most powerful mobile device to date and can play back full HD 1080p video easily. It has 512 MB RAM (it could also have 1 GB RAM though) and comes with 8 GB internal storage with support for up to 32 GB microSD cards.

It ships Android 2.2 Froyo, but will definitely receive the Android 2.3 Gingerbread upgrade. It will also have the customized LG UI shell for Android.

Multimedia

Besides hardware, multimedia is the one area where the LG Optimus 2X really shines. It sports an 8 MP camera with autofocus and LED flash. It can capture images at a maximum resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels and can capture 1080p videos. It also has a secondary 1.3 MP camera and comes with an HDMI out. It also has an FM radio.

Connectivity

The LG Optimus 2X is loaded with connectivity options - it has GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with DLNA, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP and microUSB 2.0. It also comes with a GPS transceiver with A-GPS support. It is powered by a standard Li-ion battery rated at 1500 mAh.

Verdict

The LG Optimus 2X is one of the best smartphones. It leads the Android revolution against the iPhones and BlackBerrys of the world in 2011. It is definitely worth getting.

Verdict of T-Mobile MyTouch 4G android smartphone

The T-Mobile MyTouch 4G is the latest addition to the carrier's MyTouch series of Android phones, and it brings a slew of design and feature enhancements. With a more solid build, the Android 2.2 smartphone feels like a premium device and has the goods to back it up, with HSPA+ support, Wi-Fi calling, mobile hot spot capabilities, and a second-gen 1GHz Snapdragon processor, just to name a few. Unfortunately, one of its hallmark features, video chat, doesn't work all that well, as we were ran into a number of issues. The good news is that there are plenty of other great things about the smartphone to occupy you until video chat is ironed out. The MyTouch 4G is fast, sleek, and delivers great call quality, making it a great alternative if you don't need a keyboard or dislike the bulkiness of the T-Mobile G2.

Design
The T-Mobile MyTouch 4G has a similar shape and look as the rest of the MyTouch family, but there's a noticeable difference in weight and feel. Unlike the previous models, the MyTouch 4G features stainless steel parts and in some instances, a soft-touch finish around the edges (only on certain colors) to give it a more solid and premium feel. As a result, the handset is a bit on the heavier side at 5 ounces. Though design is a subjective thing, we'd rather have a slightly heavier but more solid-feeling device than a light and cheap, plasticky phone. Plus, the MyTouch 4G is still thin and pocketable at 4.8 inches tall by 2.4 inches wide by 0.4 inch thick.

On front, you get a 3.8-inch WVGA touch screen with the option of five or seven home screen panels. Like the MyTouch 3G Slide, the MyTouch 4G uses a combination of T-Mobile's customized user interface and HTC Sense, including the company's widgets and Leap screen, which shows you thumbnail versions of all your home screens. Our stance on customized UIs is that as long as they're useful and don't interfere with software updates, we have no problem with it. Though the latter remains to be seen, as it is now, the MyTouch 4G's interface is helpful and user-friendly, particularly for consumers and first-time Android users.

As for the display itself, it's clear and sharp, though colors don't look quite as rich as those on the Samsung Vibrant's Super AMOLED screen. The touch screen is responsive. Apps launched as soon as we tapped the icon, and the scrolling and pinch-to-zoom actions were fast and smooth. The MyTouch 4G comes with the Swype keyboard installed, though if you don't like it, you can turn it off and peck away on a regular onscreen keyboard. Alternatively, you can use the phone's Nuance Dragon Dictation voice command system to dictate your messages.

Below the display, there's an optical trackpad and Android shortcuts for home, back, and menu. However, instead of a search button, you get T-Mobile's Genius button, which activates the aforementioned Nuance-powered voice command application where you can make calls, compose messages, search the Web, and launch applications with your voice.

On the left side, there's a volume rocker and a Micro-USB port; there's a sole camera button on the right side. The top of the device houses a power button and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The smartphone's main camera and flash are located on the back, but there is a front-facing VGA camera as well, just above the screen on the right side.

The T-Mobile MyTouch 4G comes packaged in a nice, reusable carrying case with an AC adapter, a USB cable, wired stereo headset, an 8GB microSD card, and reference material.

Features
The T-Mobile MyTouch 4G is the most advanced model in the MyTouch series to date. It's running Android 2.2 and also supports the carrier's HSPA+ network. The latter is T-Mobile's enhanced 3G network and not true 4G technology, though the product name and T-Mobile's marketing would certainly have you think otherwise. That aside, the network promises 4G-like speeds and we've certainly experienced that in our tests.

Here in New York, we averaged download speeds of 5.37Mbps and upload speeds of 1.31Mbps, peaking at 7.07Mbps down and 1.33Mbps up. (For comparison, Sprint's 4G network provided average download speeds of 3.42Mbps and upload speeds of 0.93Mbps on the HTC Evo 4G when tested in Philadelphia). With those speeds, the phone's browser was able to load CNET's full page in just 13 seconds, and CNN and ESPN's mobile sites in 6 seconds and 7 seconds, respectively. High-quality YouTube videos loaded within a couple of seconds and played back continuously with synchronized audio and video.

Unlike the T-Mobile G2, the MyTouch 4G can be used as a mobile hot spot with WEP and WPA encryption. We were also able to upload a 2MB photo in 15 seconds, and downloaded a five-track album (file size ranged from 4.7MB to 7.7MB) from iTunes in 50 seconds. The speeds were certainly more than adequate for us to get our work done and then some, though we did experience a drop off in speed in certain parts of Manhattan, such as Midtown.

Stepping back to some of the MyTouch 4G's more basic features, as a phone, it offers quad-band world roaming, a speakerphone, conference calling, voice dialing, text and multimedia messaging, Bluetooth, and GPS.

The phone book is limited only by the available memory (the SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts), and there's room in each entry for multiple numbers, e-mail addresses, IM handles, group IDs, photo caller IDs, and so on. Similar to other Android phones, the smartphone will merge contact information, as well as calendar appointments, from multiple e-mail and social networking accounts, including Exchange, POP3, IMAP, Facebook, and Twitter.

After we set up our device with our various accounts, the smartphone actually presented a list of contacts that had multiple entries and gave us the option to link them on the spot, which was nice since we didn't have to go into the Contacts app and see where there were duplicates.

Aside from the standard Google services and Froyo features outlined in our article here, the MyTouch 4G comes preloaded with a number of extras, mostly entertainment focused, including Rock Band, Asphalt 5, Monopoly, and T-Mobile TV. The last app lets you stream live and on-demand content from channels such as CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, ESPN, and VH1.

All of your own music and video are stored in the phone's Media Room app, where you will also find the FM radio and a preloaded copy of Slacker. The MyTouch 4G has 4GB of internal memory and ships with an 8GB microSD card, though the expansion slot can accept up to 32GB cards.

Last but not least, the T-Mobile MyTouch 4G offers a 5-megapixel with flash, HD video recording, and numerous editing options, including white balance, face detection, ISO, and wide-screen resolution. You can also add effects to your photo, and the camera gives you a small example of what each effect does to the image, so you get an idea of what to expect, which is pretty cool.

Picture quality was good when we took photos outdoors, but they could be better for indoor shots. We could certainly make out the objects in the photo, but they just appeared a bit soft and colors could have been brighter. The MyTouch 4G does have DLNA support (called Screen Share on the phone) so you can stream content from your phone to a DLNA-compliant device like an HDTV.