Okay, so Android and iOS just don’t fulfill your needs when it comes to a smartphone.  So what’s a tech aspiring, smartphone shopper to do?  If you so dare, you could opt for a Windows phones.  Microsoft has made great strides since previous iterations, and while we’d steer clear of anything that isn’t iOS (we like the idea of hardware and software under one roof) many a folks have been waxing poetic about Microsofts mobile platform.  And if you happen to be in the market, you might want to wait until March 18th, which is supposedly when the HTC Titan II will hit AT&T stores.

So what can you expect from this phone?  First off, it supports AT&T’s LTE network, which means 4G speeds.  It also packs in a 4.7-inch 480×800 screen, a  massive 16MP camera with 720p HD video and dual LED flash, a 1.5 GHz Scorpion Snapdragon processor, aGPS and a 1730mAh battery.

However, before you get too excited, word on the Net is that Nokia’s Lumia will also launch sometime soon and possibly at half the price; $99.99.  The Lumia 900 is said to be a solid Windows phone despite that the fact that is comes from the crumbling Nokia.

It may go without saying that the Samsung Galaxy S II is an incredible phone. Actually, they are incredible phones. They’ve done so well that there are at least five variants available worldwide today, four of which you can purchase in the US. The Galaxy Note is the most different and largest smartphone on the market, just not the US market. Not yet, anyways. That’s going to change very soon.

The Galaxy Note is huge with a 5.3″ 1280×800 display. Powering that is a 2500mAh battery, but don’t expect better battery life than today’s smartphones. The larger screen and faster 1.4GHz processor will drain the battery faster than on smaller devices, but besides for that you get the same basic phone as the Samsung Galaxy II. Same high-powered GPU, same SuperAMOLED display, plus a few extras like a stylus for that massive touchscreen.

I played with the Note briefly, and the first thing that came to mind is that this is the perfect size for people who want a phone and tablet built into one. It’s thin and light, though that big screen has a high enough resolution to view full web pages while still fitting in your pocket. The stylus and drawing functions aren’t everything I want; like the HTC Flyer, you can write on anything, but all it does is create an image of the page. So business people can’t sign PDF documents or do higher-functions, but note-taking and written to typed text is available.

Is the Note a worthy phone? Based solely on my brief hands on and the Galaxy S II and Epic 4G Touch, there’s no reason to doubt the Note’s capabilities. Whether the bigger screen is right for you, and whether it is good enough to replace your current smartphone and tablet remains to be seen. But we’ll find out soon enough.

As of today, I have some of the latest smartphones available. I have the iPhone 4S and Galaxy Nexus. Both are good phones with even better software. But have we reached the point where reporters no longer need to sit at a computer an type up their articles?

At this year’s CES, I tested just that, using both of these devices in all of their glory to cover the show as best I can, without reverting to my laptop. In fact, I even decided to forgo using a full DSLR to boot. The only hardware I have available are the phones and a single Bluetooth headset. No extra batteries or cases, no external keyboards, just the phones and an earpiece.

Do you think it’s possible? Keep an eye on this page because as the days go by I’ll update my findings to see if, in fact, all you need these days is a good smartphone.

Updated 1/13

Now that CES is over and I’m driving back home for the long haul, I have an answer: no, but maybe yes. I faltered within a few hours and reverted to my laptop, but not for the reason I expected. It’s not that I wasn’t capable of covering the show with just my iPhone or Galaxy Nexus. The sole reason I couldn’t possibly cover CES with a smartphone was because of the lack of a keyboard.

It may be obvious, but there’s a reason the keyboard has been around for several hundred years. It’s optimized for putting words down, be it on paper through a typewriter or on a computer. Steve Jobs famously said that it would take a generation to die out for touchscreen-only devices to completely take over, but I disagree. The speed of typing even for seasoned hands on a touchscreen just doesn’t match the speed anyone can get with a physical keyboard, and that’s for a few reasons. The most important one is the feedback we receive from the press of a button. After all, we are human, and require constant physical feedback for our senses to properly work. We don’t need the generation to die out to adjust to touchscreen typing, we need an evolutionary change.

The second problem I started to run into was the limited capabilities of smartphone cameras. For solid photography in relatively poor conditions, you can’t use a smartphone. The iPhone 4S, HTC Vivid, Samsung Epic 4G Touch, and Samsung Galaxy Nexus all have fairly decent cameras (with the Nexus having the worst of the bunch), but with the artificial lighting of the convention center and further low-light conditions within booths, taking decent shots is next to impossible. See my hands-on of the Razer Fiona, which I used my iPhone 4S to shoot instead of my far more powerful Nikon D7000.

Furthermore, for professional grade shots I believe there are two major components to consider nowadays: being able to set manual controls and post processing. None of the smartphones I tested had significant manual controls, if any, for exposure settings, light aperture, color quality, sharpness, etc. The Vivid does, but it would have taken far too long just to make those adjustments prior to the shot to be worthwhile. Even then the ISO would be too low to shoot properly in the darker conditions. As for editing, I think any professional should shoot in RAW for the best possible picture quality (and the simplest editing), and that simply isn’t available on smartphones, and likely won’t be for several years. Heck, it’s only available on the highest-end point and shoot cameras currently.

The final and perhaps most pertinent problem for most users is battery life. None of the phones I used individually would have the battery life to not only remain powered on, but to be constantly connected to the internet, accepting emails every few minutes from PR firms and marketers, all while typing away furiously. I regularly had to recharge my phones or switch between them when one died, and that was just walking about using the phones for calls and emails.

One additional problem I had was that I simply couldn’t type on the keyboard fast enough, with the clarity I needed, to take notes. I carried a pen and paper for notes on products, and with a pen it is easy to write in shorthand or full-form and do so quickly. On any of the smartphones I used the constant problem was that I couldn’t type fast enough without making too many mistakes (and autocorrect putting the wrong words in), nor could I express what I needed for myself for note taking. As someone who has done tremendous note-taking in school (on rare occasion) both by typing and writing, there is a very strong reason why writing notes is better: it’s less rigid. For simply writing, yes, using a laptop is better but if you need to draw a line from one point to another, or have a picture, or any of a million things that can simply be drawn out in a second instead of 5-10 minutes of software manipulation to achieve…paper wins every time.

What does it mean? It means that for smartphones to really take the place of other devices like cameras, laptops, and even the pen, there needs to be a significant jump in the performance of the miniature cameras built into them, some way for typing to be made easier (possibly through voice dictation, though as I discussed with colleagues at the show, that may require a generation to die out before it can be accomplished…why do you think Star Trek characters all needed to be trained theater actors? They knew how to speak well). Battery life may not need the improvements anymore, as we’ve already seen with the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx. However, the combination of these things just makes it highly improbable.

There is one thing I can, and will, do next time, and that is bring a keyboard, and potentially lighting equipment. With a physical keyboard it would be far easier to get articles written and published, and applications like Pages or WordPress make it very easy to add pictures and video. The bigger problem on that front is having a solid data connection (something that can’t be controlled by phones as of yet). But I’ll have to save that for next time.

At just 6.68mm thick, the Ascend P1 S is the world’s thinnest smartphone. That may or may not change over the coming days of CES, with every company vying for our time and headlines, but to give you a sense of just how thin the phone is, the Droid Razr is 7.1mm thick at it’s thinnest point, and the iPhone 4/4S is practically fat in comparison at 9.3mm.

Huawei is best known for Android devices in Asian markets, but has released a few models over the past six months in the US. The Ascend P1 S is fairly beefy, running a 1.5GHz dual core processor (Texas Instruments OMAP 446), 1GB of RAM and Android 4.0. The phone itself has a 4.3″ SuperAMOLED display encased in Corning’s Gorilla Glass, with a display resolution of 960×540, paltry compared to recent 720p phones.

The weird bit about the P1 S isn’t the phone itself, but it’s malformed twin brother, the P1. Almost a footnote in Huawei’s press release, the P1 is identical in functionality, but the build is bigger and bulkier, though it does not have a larger screen. Both phones will release in April of this year. I’ll get to test both devices out tonight at the Showstoppers Pepcom event, so stay tuned.

Update ~ Hands-On

I sat down and got some hands-on with both Huawei devices, the P1 S and P1, and they are notable. The P1 S is slim almost beyond belief. Both have fairly plasticy and glossy backs, and both were running Android 4.0 (and will release with 4.0, thankfully). The software was very snappy, and I was impressed not only with how fluid the OS was but also with how well it was incorporated into the phone already. Unlike the Galaxy Nexus, it has the function to act like a tablet by turning the phone on the side (and all of the icons flipping to the right direction).

The true remarkable nature of the P1 S is just how slim the phone is. Putting the P1 S and P1 side by side, it’s hard to tell that there’s any difference. Both phones are thin. But the P1 S in the hand almost looks anorexic, but perhaps in a good way (there’s a good way? -ed.), It’s so slim and light that it’s almost not even there. On the one hand it may be easy to lose in the couch when it falls out of your pocket, while on the other you can have more space in your pockets for change, papers, or, well, other things.

It should be interesting to see how Huawei’s upcoming phones compare with today’s top models, especially since both the Ascend P1 S and P1 are some of the only models shown at CES that will actually ship with Android 4.0 immediately, which is both great for Huawei but sad for the Android ecosystem as a whole. In any case, if you don’t know the name Huawei (pronounced wah-way), now might be the best time to get to know it.

The Motorola Droid Razr is one of the few high-end smartphones that we haven’t yet had our hands on, but by all accounts it is one of the best phones available on Verizon. It also is the thinnest phone out (though the Huawei Ascend P1 S will soon take that spot), but there was one thing that made a lot of people wary about purchasing the Droid Razr: no removable battery. Apple may have that restriction with the iPhone, but at least there are Apple stores available all over the country. The Razr doesn’t have significantly better battery life than the competition, but the non-removable battery helped make it so thin.

Now Motorola wants to up the ante by saying “screw how thin the phone is, let’s boost battery life.” That’s where the Razr Maxx comes in, with 21 hours of battery life. What sort of battery life, I don’t know, but saying 21 hours period is an important metric nonetheless. The 9mm phone will be otherwise identical to the current Droid Razr, meaning the same processor, same LTE, same screen…everything but the battery life.

Will there be any interest for such a device? Absolutely. If the 21 hours of battery life is call time, or constant data usage, or almost anything but idle time, then that extra 1.9mm of thickness will make the phone far better to use, not just for day to day operation, but in the long run altogether. The biggest problem with today’s smartphones, in my opinion, is battery life. If Motorola has been able to solve that problem, not just before other smartphone makers but before Apple, then Google doesn’t just have a real racehorse. They have a rocket chariot.

I’ll get a hands-on of the Droid Razr Max on Wednesday morning, though perhaps earlier as well. Stay tuned for an update then.

Motorola just splashed down at CES 2012 with the announcement of the DROID 4, currently the world’s thinnest 4G enabled QWERTY smartphone – it measures .5-inches thick.  But that isn’t all this powerhouse has to offer.

In addition to a massive 4-inch qHD screen (960×540), is a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM.  There is also of course the aforementioned QWERTY keyboard that comes in a 5 row flavor, 16GB of built-in storage expandable by an additional 32GB thanks to the microSD card slot, 4G connectivity for up to 12mbps download speeds, Mobile Hotspot support for up to 8 devices and Android 2.3.5 (it will be upgradeable to Ice Cream Sandwich).

To ensure that the DROID 4 keeps on ticking, Motorola has slapped the outside of it with a water-repellent nanocoating, which was also found on the DROID RAZR.  They’ve also made it business ready by including government-grade encryption (FIPS 140-2) for email, calendar and contacts.

In the accessories department, the DROID 4 will be compatible with the  10.1-inch Lapdock 100, 14-inch Lapdock 500 Pro with built-in webcam and Ethernet connection, HD Dock, HD Station and vehicle navigation mount.

No word on a price, but Verizon will begin to sell the phone before the month’s end.  We’d expect to pay about $200 on contract during the initial launch.

Nokia and T-Mobile today announced the launch of the Nokia Lumia 710, a Windows Mobile phone, here in the US.  It will arrive January 11, 2012 for $49.99 on contract.

For that you’ll get a phone that sports Microsoft’s latest mobile OS, as well as a 3.7-inch ClearBlack 800×480 scratch-resistant display, a 1.4Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a 5 megapixel camera and access to the newest apps, such as Netflix, Windows Phone Office Hub and Xbox’s latest Live app that lets you interact with your gaming console and online friends.  There is also the standard assortment of other specs, which include WiFi, Bluetooth, 512MB of ram, 8GB of storage as well as 4G connectivity.

When it goes on sale next year, you’ll be able to choose from a black or white finish.  You’ll also need to send in a $50 mail-in-rebate, which is an annoyance, but considering the price and all together feature set, it ain’t that bad of a deal, provided you’re of the Windows Mobile ilk.

Yesterday I reviewed the Galaxy S II, which is one of the best phones out, period. Samsung’s Epic 4G Touch is also a Galaxy S II, though it’s a CDMA model specifically designed for Sprint’s 4G network. The hardware is almost completely identical, but there are a few notable differences that prospective buyers should know.

Hardware

Like the AT&T model, the Epic 4G Touch is thin and light, though it’s both slightly thicker and heavier than the iPhone 4/4S. You wouldn’t be able to tell the difference though, especially with the Epic 4G’s larger overall size. The 4.54″ screen is big, and it feels significantly larger than the typical 4.3″ displays found on most 4.3″ Android smartphones.

The reason for this is to keep the 16:9 aspect ratio. 4.3″ screens that are 16:9 tend to match the iPhone in terms of width, which is interesting to note. It’s almost as if companies like the original form factor of the iPhone and have kept the width, but only rarely jump out of that base design. And they were right to do so; the Epic 4G Touch feels too wide.

Larger screen sizes are a problem for one-handed use, but at 2.74″ across, it’s easy enough to grip but hard to actually use one-handed. The 4.54″ display is huge, and two-handed it’s great. Typing is easier because the keys are bigger, video is easier to watch from farther away (though picture quality is more pixelated if you’re watching from up-close because the screen is as dense as 4.3″ displays). It’s when one-handed situations come up, like if you’re driving and want to use Google Maps for directions, that the phone feels fat.

And mind you, the Epic 4G Touch is still one of the slimmest phones available. It’s just wide. In actual use, one-handed, I can only reach 65% of the screen with my thumb. Two-handed, I can’t reach the top half-inch of the display. The only time I can reach everything is when holding the phone in landscape and using both hands. The point is this: the Epic 4G Touch is a two-handed phone. Using it one-handed will make you feel handicapped. It’s hard to activate apps on the top-half of the phone.

You may question whether it’s really that big a deal, and it is. It also depends on what kind of phone user you are, but everyone has to use their phone at one point or another with just one hand. It’s comfortable to make calls on, but I actually had to place apps in specific places on the phone’s home screens if I wanted to be able to reach them with one hand. That is not a problem everyday users should have to consider.

No Wi-Fi problems; Battery Life & 4G

The Wi-Fi problems I had with the Galaxy S II are not apparent in the Epic 4G Touch, which easily accesses Wi-Fi networks and has no range problems. Besides for that and the size, the only major hardware differences are the MicroSD card slot, which is not blocked by the battery (thankfully), and the Battery itself, which is slightly bigger and lasts a little longer than the Galaxy S II, but still has the full-day-only problem (where the battery lasts a full day regardless of how the phone is used, if at all). You can read all about the Galaxy S II here.

For 4G users, know that the 4G antenna, when active, will still drain the battery quickly. I’ve tested just over 4.5 hours of use on constant 4G use. 4G connectivity in Los Angeles has seen some ups and downs lately, with a big boost in speed (from 4Mbps to 8Mbps), though some areas I’ve visited have lost connectivity while others have gained it. The 4G antenna also isn’t activated and deactivated as intelligently as the HTC Evo 3D, and leaving the 4G antenna on even without a 4G signal does waste battery life more than it should. It is more efficient than last-year’s Epic 4G, but users will be better off leaving 4G off until they need it or are in an area where they know 4G is present.

Software and Benchmarks

The software on the Epic 4G Touch is identical (save for the built-in apps from Sprint vs. AT&T) to the Galaxy S II, which once again you can read about here.

Benchmarks are mostly identical as well, though the Epic 4G Touch consistently had better scores, averaging 1-2% higher than the Galaxy S II. I’m not sure why it scores better, except that the Galaxy S II has more background applications running that can’t be shut off than the Epic 4G Touch does. Whatever the case, you can see how the Epic 4G Touch performs below.

Like the Galaxy S II, the Epic 4G Touch is clearly one of the fastest phones out right now. It’s just amazingly fast, as nearly as fast as high-end tablets. It’s scores are nearly identical to the Galaxy S II, and save for the Browsermark benchmark, are consistently better by 1-2%. That’s a difference impossible to tell in day-to-day use, but for certain applications like the camera (see below), it makes a difference.

Either way, you can’t go wrong with this phone. As ludicrous as it sounds (since I just proclaimed it last week for the Galaxy S II, even though both devices are Galaxy S II phones), the Epic 4G Touch is the fastest Android device out.

Camera

Camera quality on the Epic 4G Touch is just as good as the Galaxy S II. It should be – it’s the same lens and camera system. Shot-to-shot does feel a bit faster, though it’s still slow at 2-4 seconds between shots. Take a look at the sample shots below.

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For additional shots, you can check out the Galaxy S II review. Video quality is also excellent, though the camera is shaky. The microphone is also quiet, but otherwise it is an excellent camera.

Conclusion

The Epic 4G Touch is, like the Galaxy S II, an incredible device. It’s actually better than AT&T’s model in a few key areas. The Epic 4G Touch has no trouble connecting to Wi-Fi networks, it does a better job of connecting to PCs (though both completely lack of any way to manually connect the phones to a computer directly), it has slightly better battery life (even with a larger display), and it has access to Sprint’s 4G network.

However, the big issue I have with the Galaxy S II is size. It’s just a very wide phone, and possibly too wide. In many ways that’s better, such as for landscape and two-handed use, but with just one hand I’ve consistently had trouble using it for simple things. Opening apps, browsing the web, typing…they are all harder to do with one-handed. As screen sizes pass the 4.3″ threshold, this issue is going to keep cropping up, and I don’t like it. If for some reason – and there are plenty of them – you need to use the phone one-handed, the Epic 4G Touch makes that very difficult.

Yet even then I’m still very impressed with the Epic 4G Touch, more than I was with the Galaxy S II. As I’ve found some business people point out, a device with a larger screen like the Epic 4G Touch may be worth having over both smaller smartphones and mid-size tablets. I can see how that works, but it really turns into a matter of preference, as both smaller and bigger designs have their benefits and disadvantages.

One thing is clear: the Galaxy S II phones are exceptional, and Sprint’s Epic 4G Touch is king of the Galaxy S II phones. On Sprint, the Epic 4G Touch is fastest, most powerful phone available, period. You just have to decide whether the size fits your hand or not.

Editor’s Rating:

4.5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

Bottom Line: The Epic 4G Touch is one of the best phones available on Sprint. It’s slightly faster and overall better than the Galaxy S II, but the large size should give you pause before just picking one up. Still one of the best phones out today.

Pros:

• It’s the fastest Android phone, period. Faster than the Galaxy S II.
• Well designed; it’s just slightly heavier and thicker than the Galaxy S II and iPhone 4/4S.
• Screen is easy to read, produces high quality and high-contrast picture
• Great picture and video quality

There are good phones and there are great phones. It’s rare to get one that’s just an absolute joy. That’s exactly what the Galaxy S II is.

Samsung’s Galaxy S II is actually one of three devices; like last year, Samsung built multiple models some slight differences. On AT&T (tested), the Galaxy S II has a 4.3” display and runs on an HSPA+ (standard 4G, not LTE) network. Sprint’s model (named the Epic 4G Touch, to be reviewed soon) has a 4.5” display and has access to Sprint’s 4G network. T-Mobile’s Galaxy S II is a mix of both, with a 4.5” screen and an HSPA+ antenna.

Like last year’s Galaxy S phones, Samsung has seriously improved on last year’s design with sharper screens, better and faster components, and overall better performance and feel. The improvements are across every aspect of the phone, and I am convinced that the Galaxy S II, specifically the AT&T model, is the best phone design available with Android. It’s not as stylistically or artistically built as the iPhone, but it feels great in the hand, it’s very lightweight and very comfortable and slim, and it just looks slick.

Hardware

The Galaxy S II is thin and light. It’s just 4.3 ounces and 0.33” thick, 0.6 ounces lighter and 0.04” thinner than the iPhone 4S. It’s one of the lightest and thinnest phones available, while still being one of the most powerful handsets.

From left to right: Motorola Droid Bionic, Galaxy S II, HTC Rezound

The 4.3” display uses stunning SuperAMOLED+, which is supposed to be an improvement over last year’s SuperAMOLED, but that difference is generally hard to see. Like OLED displays, the Galaxy S II provides excellent color and light contrast, far better than the LCD display on the iPhone 4/4S. OLED displays also lack brightness, and typically are unusable in direct sunlight. That’s where the + in SuperAMOLED+ comes in: the display is clearly visible in direct sunlight. Contrast drops to nil, but the screen is easy to see, text is still easy to read, and you can clearly take pictures even in blistering-bright conditions.

It’s a small point to include, but the screen also appears to have some sort of oleophobic coating. Fewer fingerprints and smudges stick to the screen, and those that do are easier to clean than on other Android phones.

Like all Samsung Galaxy devices, the power button is on the right of the device, a comfortable place to activate or put the phone to sleep instantly. On the left is the volume rocker. Both sets of physical buttons feel good to press, and don’t accidentally get pressed in the pocket. The MicroUSB port is on the bottom of the phone, which is exactly where it should be to accommodate docks, and the 3.5mm audio port is on the top right. The front-facing camera is a 2MP shooter.

On the back is the 8MP camera and single LED flash. The rear cover looks good but is actually a cheap plastic cover, which is easy to put on and take off. Under that is the SIM slot, MicroSD card slot and battery. For some reason the battery covers the MicroSD card slot.

The overall design of the Galaxy S II is spectacular. The cheap plastic cover and blocked MicroSD port and slight missteps, something Samsung has done properly on other devices in the past and shouldn’t have failed to fix this time around. For this phone though, they are almost inconsequential.

Internally, the Galaxy S II sports a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal NAND memory. With expandable memory the Galaxy S II can reach 48GB total (using a 32GB card). The Galaxy S II also runs on an ARM Mali-400 GPU, which is important (we’ll get to that later) and powers the 800×480 display.

The Galaxy S II is also one of the first phones to feature NFC (near-field communication), which can be used in tandem with Google Wallet and certain phone-payment applications and services. Unfortunately, unless you live in a big, modern city like New York or San Francisco, chances are you won’t run across shops or restaurants that use NFC. I haven’t in Los Angeles.

What has been problematic is Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi antenna does not reach very far, and compared to every other phone I’ve tested over the past two years, the Galaxy S II just stinks at reaching Wi-Fi radios. Signals that, on the iPhone 3GS, HTC Rezound and Droid Bionic averaged -86, the Galaxy S II showed one bar signal but would bounce in and out of range and not have any ability to upload or download data. Even when plugged into a dock and stationary it had trouble just streaming music. Thankfully the cellular antenna worked, and HSPA+ is fast enough to make up for the poor Wi-Fi reception. Of course, that will cost a lot more with no unlimited plans.

Software & Battery Life

Android 2.3.4 runs very well on the Galaxy S II. Applications open and close smoothly, games run quickly, load times are minimal; the phone as a whole is fast and snappy. Few things are slow in any way, with a notable exception to the camera, which takes pictures quickly but immediately after stalls for 2-3 seconds.

As you can see in the benchmarks below, the Galaxy S II doesn’t only run everyday applications well. The ARM Mali-400 kills in benchmark tests, and is the fastest GPU available on smartphones today, period. Whether all that graphical power is useful on an Android device with limited games and graphics-intensive applications is questionable, but the point stands: the Galaxy S II isn’t playing around. It’s a legitimately powerful handset.

Battery life on the S II isn’t great. The new benchmark I’m implementing for Android reviews doesn’t paint a pretty picture, but bare in mind the phones listed aren’t all high-end models like the Galaxy S II. The only high-end model that scored better, thus far, is HTC’s Evo 3D (and the Epic 4G Touch, another Galaxy S II phone). As more phones come in for testing, the scores will average out more appropriately.

Still, it’s what I’ve come to accept from smartphones today, about a full day of use under any condition. What’s interesting is that it will last almost as long under heavy use as it does under moderate use. That’s probably due to the GPU’s lack of optimization in Android 2.3.4, which means the phone’s graphics processing is always fast but the battery life will suffer, even under light use. In a 9am-10pm day, the phone will be at 10-20% battery life under most conditions.

Benchmarks

The Galaxy S II is one of the fastest phones available. The 1.2GHz CPU doesn’t match today’s top speed, but the combination of a fast CPU, lots of RAM and the best GPU available on an Android device make the Galaxy S II a speed demon. Take a look at these scores.

In tests like Quadrant Standard, the Galaxy S II doesn’t just beat the competition, it destroys it. I don’t doubt that there won’t be an Android phone to beat the Galaxy S II for a few months, which nowadays is a big deal. And not only can it handle native applications well, the Galaxy S II processes Javascript and web browsing almost as fast as high-end tablets. The only faster phones, at least in the Browsermark test, ran 320×480 displays, so they processed less than half of the screens the Galaxy S II did.

Furthermore, some of the graphics-intense benchmarks were completely blown away by Samsung’s latest. The Galaxy S II can handle 720p graphics processing on a separate display at over 30FPS, something literally no other phone tested could do.

Camera

The camera on the Galaxy S II is highly capable. It’s an 8MP shooter capable of 1080p video, and it’s one of the best cameras I’ve tested on any phone this year. Take a look at some of the pictures taken.

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Photos are very detailed, and look great. Stills taken in daylight, in good conditions, are as good as you find on mid-range point and shoot cameras. So if you go for a day trip, no need to pack a camera. The Galaxy S II is all you need.

The bigger problem is with how slow the camera is, or rather, with how long it takes for the camera to process the shot and move on to the next one. The pause between each photo is anywhere from 3-5 seconds long, which if you’re trying to capture a lot of action quickly, is a big problem. Lowering the resolution, even to just 640×480, doesn’t speed up shot-to-shot time significantly.

Night photos and low-light situations also tend to have noisy pictures, though if there is a lot of light contrast present, pictures can come out fairly clear. However, even with good lighting under standard incandescent bulbs photos can be very pixelated. The flash is powerful and works well, as you can see in the flash-images above. With decent lighting, the Galaxy S II takes some great night shots.

1080p video recording has good quality. Colors are accurate, picture quality is good, though sounds are muted and hard to hear. The front facing 2MP camera also takes adequate shots.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy S II is one of the fastest phones available today. It’s one of the lightest and thinnest too. It’s got an excellent display, a solid camera, and has access to HSPA+. It feels good in the hand and in the pocket. These are the qualities we all want in a phone, and Samsung has done a tremendous job getting that all in a tidy package.

It isn’t perfect, however. Battery life, while decent, lasts a day only. So if you’re off and forget a charger, turn the phone off until you need it. Battery drain is strangely consistent under both regular and heavy use. A weak Wi-Fi antenna is also a huge problem, though based on my research it isn’t clear whether this is widespread on all Galaxy S II phones (I haven’t experienced the problem with the Sprint model), but it is a serious issue. Besides for some minor gripes, everything else about the Galaxy S II is just great. It’s one of the few phones I’ve tested that has just been an absolute pleasure to use, one of the few that I would happily replace with my personal phone.

There’s only one conclusion: the Galaxy S II is one of the best Android phones available. I highly recommend it for anyone.

Editor’s Rating:

4.5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

Bottom Line: It’s one of the best Android phones, period. The Galaxy S II can take on the iPhone, take on newer phones like the HTC Rezound and Motorola Droid Bionic, while still lighter, thinner, and less expensive than all of the above.

Pros:

• It’s the fastest Android phone, period.
• Well designed; feels great in the hand, in the pocket
• Great picture and video quality

Cons:

Across the pond LG has chosen to adorn their latest line of phones with multiple variations of the Optimus name.  Confusing?  You bet.  And that’s why they’re latest handset to launch in the US is called the LG Nitro HD (the Optimus LTE in the EU).

If you’re gunning for the price and launch date, we’re glad to report it will hit AT&T on December 4th for $250.  That’s just a few weeks away.  However, expect that price to rapidly drop – case in point Amazon’s penny pincher sale that is still going on, which includes the just announced RAZR and Rezound.

In the specs department you can expect a dual-core 1.5 GHz processor matched by LTE and HSPA connectivity (i.e. 4G).  If that isn’t enough bigness to warm the cockles of your heart this holiday season, consider that it sports a 4.5-inch True HD AH-IPS display.  In other words it’s got a huge display that should be viewable from a wide angle and can play back HD content at a resolution of 1280×720.  Too boot the display boasts 500 nits of brightness, which LG says is viewable in direct sunlight.

And to complement the Nitro’s HD screen capabilities, you can capture full HD video using the 8-megapixel camera (front facing 1.3MP for video chats).  When finished, you can beam it to your HDTV using WiFi Direct or DLNA.  You can of course expect Bluetooth 3.0 and a 1830mAh battery.

Despite boasting a 4.5-inch display, the Nitro HD is just 0.41-inches thick, while the rest of the body measures 5.27-inches long and 2.67-inches wide.  A tad large for anyone who plans to tote it around in their pant’s pocket, but we’ll let hipsters and thugs decide for themselves.

Unfortunately, it won’t ship with Ice Cream Sandwich.  Instead Android 2.3, but you can expect an upgrade sometime in early 2012.

The smallest and perhaps soon-to-be part of AT&T, T-Mobile has for years dominated the Android smartphone marketplace with the latest phones from Google. Recently that’s changed, with more and more phones heading over to the larger carriers. However, what T-Mobile may lack in brand-new devices it makes up for in excellent pricing, with inexpensive plans on and off contract. If the tough economy has hit you hard but you still want a decent smartphone, look no further than T-Mobile.

Samsung Galaxy S II

By far the best phone available on T-Mobile, the Galaxy S II is everything that is right with Android and smartphones. Excellent build design, an exceptional display, great speed and some of the fastest processing available on a mobile device, the Galaxy S II is a phone you’ll be happy to own and use for at least two years, if not more. The 8MP camera, capable of 1080p video, takes great shots. It may be a bit on the hefty side with a 4.5″ display, but it also runs a faster CPU than the other Galaxy S II phones (1.5GHz vs. 1.2GHz) and a slightly bigger battery. You won’t regret the Galaxy S II.

HTC myTouch 4G Slide

The myTouch 4G Slide is a powerful phone, one that belies it’s design. I questioned including it in the gift guide, but because it has such a good camera, I couldn’t pass it by. The Slide has one of the best cameras available on smartphones today, as well as on T-Mobile in general. The Slide is by no means the best phone out, and there are definitely better devices, but few compare when it comes to sheer photography prowess.

T-Mobile myTouch /myTouch Q

Slider phones aren’t exactly in these days, but T-Mobile has two newer phones that boast exceptional battery life as lower-end smartphones. The myTouch and myTouch Q will both last at least two days between charges, but the Q (the slider) includes a physical keyboard that’s great to type on and has better battery life, faster processing, and is generally a better Android handset. The differences are small, but there; the Q is better, faster, and stronger, but also heavier and twice as thick. The trade-offs may seem moot, but if you’re willing to sacrifice several extra hours of battery life for a smaller handset and don’t want a physical keyboard, take the myTouch. But if you want a slightly beefier phone, one more powerful and larger, then stick with the myTouch Q.

Wait, that’s it?

Sadly, yes. T-Mobile has had very few new smartphones come out in the past months, and fewer still that we’ve reviewed. Of course, because T-Mobile is a GSM carrier, any unlocked phones that aren’t sold subsidized with two-year contracts can and will work on T-Mobile, which is a clear advantage over CDMA competitors. However, this holiday season all of the major Android releases have been on T-Mobile’s three major competitors.

When it comes to Android phones, there’s a constant rush to be the so-called iPhone killer. Either that, or the next “Google phone”. Neither title is accurate for each new device, because Android as an operating system still isn’t competitive enough with iOS (though with each passing day it gets a little closer). But what Android has that Apple never will is customization, and that enables companies like LG to build some really unique devices. The Doubleplay is one such device.

The LG Doubleplay is named after its dual displays, which unlike the Kyocera Echo doesn’t eliminate the QWERTY keyboard for a full-size secondary screen, but splits the keyboard in half and puts a small, wallet-picture sized screen smack in the middle. This design choice is intentionally made for the multitasking youth of today, who love to text, love to go online, and do most of it on their phones. The Doubleplay’s sole function is to do exactly that, enable users to do whatever they want with their smartphones on the large screen, and simultaneously read and receive texts in the smaller screen.

Hardware

As with any smartphone with a physical keyboard, the Doubleplay is a thick, fat device with rounded edges akin to the long-dead Helio Ocean. It slips in and out of the pocket with ease, but is bulky. The 320×480 display is only 3.5”, the same as what you get on an iPhone, and considered small by today’s standards with Android phones. That said, the screen is accurate and is just as easy to type on as the keyboard, if not easier.

Sliding out the keyboard reveals the small 1.5” square display, which has nine possible functions, which you can read about below in the software section. This smaller screen is also touchscreen and reads presses easily, though the small size makes it easy to accidentally miss the function you want to select.

The QWERTY keyboard is more compact than most slider phones thanks to the smaller overall phone size and the screen taking up real estate where keyboards usually are. Keys are too easy to press, and while I managed to type faster with the keyboard that with either SWYPE or Android’s standard virtual keyboard, it wasn’t by much. Using the physical keyboard also cuts short autocorrect, which for the practiced hand will make typing on the physical keyboard slower.

There isn’t anything spectacular about the Doubleplay from a hardware standpoint. It is a 4G device through T-Mobile decent 4G network. It has a 5MP camera capable of shooting 720p video, the bare minimum required by today’s smartphone standards. The single-core 1GHz processor and 512MB of RAM are mediocre as well, though the phone does run on the latest (for now) Android OS.

Software and Use

Like the hardware, the software isn’t anything special, though the two go hand-in-hand. With limited processing power, there’s only so much the phone’s software could do, and a 1GHz single-core CPU is equivalent to last year’s top-of-the-line models. And don’t be fooled into believing this phone is as powerful as the iPhone 4, with very similar numbers; the iPhone is made for the hardware it has, Android phones are not.

The Doubleplay online while sending a text message

The only important thing to note concerning the Doubleplay in terms of software is the second screen. This smaller touchscreen has nine basic functions, from texting and writing notes to viewing pictures and quickly opening bookmarked websites. Most of these functions aren’t actually useful, and frankly it’s a shame that there isn’t more that can be done on this screen, even with the phone the way it is. It would have been tremendous to see all of the regular functions of Android available on the display in some regard. I would have settled for media playback commands, gesture controls for the top screen, and perhaps a zoom function for web browsers.

Unfortunately, the only useful functions are the note-taking application and texting. Everything else is extraneous. Viewing pictures on the tiny display is a joke when there’s a larger one available, and as old as I feel writing this, the last thing anyone needs is to stare at tiny pictures on a tiny screen when there’s a large, full screen just inches up. Like my grandmother always says, don’t sit so close to the TV, your eyes will go bad. With the Doubleplay, your kids will likely do exactly that. Unless their vision is 20/10.

Texting or writing notes on the screen while doing something else on the top screen, such as watching YouTube videos or, well, some sort of video (there really isn’t anything else you can do while texting except for watching videos on the top screen. Everything else requires your attention and fingers), is surprisingly useful. Imagine not having to leave your current application to send a text. With the Doubleplay, that is a reality. You can actually text a group of friends about that funny cat video while watching it. Heck, even text a friend how to beat that Angry Birds level while you’re in the level, and keep both apps open at the same time.

The Doubleplay side by side with the T-Mobile myTouch Q, a prototypical slider handset

The only problem with this is that in practice, the process is slow, especially if the application running on the main display is stressful on the phone. Because of the single-core processor, there’s only one major application that can run at a time, or else all running applications start to slow down. This occurred frequently during my testing. For small, 320p streaming YouTube clips, it’s no problem, but if you load up higher resolution video or play 3D-heavy games, then the second screen becomes useless. Then again, because the Doubleplay only has a 320×480 display, that should be fine, so long as you make sure to turn off HQ (high quality) on streaming videos.

In day-to-day use, I was impressed with the Doubleplay as a phone and handset. Calls come through clear, and T-Mobile’s network in Los Angeles seems to have improved because 4G now works in more areas locally. However, when hanging up the phone was slow to activate the screen and sometimes I’d wait for 3-5 seconds to actually hang up.

Thanks to T-Mobile’s improved network, email and data almost always streams quickly. Out of too many phones I’m currently testing, the Doubleplay regularly receives new emails before other devices, even higher-end smartphones.

Battery life on the Doubleplay is also phenomenal. I’ve had the phone last for three days of use on a single charge. It’s one of the first Android phones I’ve tested that can last a full day of heavy use with constant GPS tracking, bouncing between Wi-Fi and 4G networks, switching in between calls and reading emails, and having Google account sync on. As you’ll see in the benchmarks below, the Doubleplay performed excellently in the battery tests I ran.

Benchmarks

As expected, because of the relatively low-grade internal specs, the Doubleplay didn’t perform great in my benchmark suite. However, it did very well in battery life. On the one major downside, the Doubleplay could not stream a full 20-minute episode of streaming flash media, which really hurts the phone. If there’s anything that today’s smartphones must do, it is to be able to play 480p streaming video over Wi-Fi without a hitch. The Doubleplay couldn’t do that, and after just two minutes the video crashed the web browser.

Check out the benchmarks below.

The Doubleplay scored very highly in both the Browsermark and Sunspider tests, and in my use of the browser the Doubleplay is a fast phone when online. Then again, the lower-resolution display makes it easier to load pages, though for everyday browsing the Doubleplay performed pretty spectacularly, especially when compared to higher-end devices.

When it comes to native processing however, the Doubleplay is far lower down the totem pole. It fit in it’s category of phones, basically dumbphones with Android built-in, with the bare minimum in powerful processing hardware. It still beat out most of the phones in that category, all save for the T-Mobile myTouch Q. However, other benchmarks I tested on the Doubleplay regularly crashed or were just like the Quadrant Standard test, at the top of the bottom of the barrel.

That said, daily use with the Doubleplay is not a horrible experience by any means. Menu navigation is smooth, audio and video playback is fast, and in general the Doubleplay performs well. However, this is not a future-proof device, so don’t expect when the Android Marketplace starts getting more graphically intense games to be able to run them on the Doubleplay.

Camera

Photography with the Doubleplay is a mix between great outdoors shots with natural lighting and pixelated, blurry shots in low-light. I took a handful of shots on the beach, around the house and on the road, and the Doubleplay’s pictures look fine on its low-resolution display, but when blown up night shots and low-light photography comes out very pixelated, and often blurry. The flash does help remedy this, but the flash also is harsh and washes out colors.

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In general picture quality is mediocre, but not bad. Pictures look just fine on the Doubleplay’s screen, but blown up they are pixelated and often blurry, especially in lower-light conditions.

Video quality is decent at 720p, though adjusting to light takes a good 1-2 seconds. Colors are accurate, and in general the camcorder works fine except that it’s slow to adjust to new objects and different lighting conditions.

Conclusion

The LG Doubleplay doesn’t push the boundaries of what a phone can do, but it’s a focused, simple handset that meets the needs of a specific audience: kids who want to text. So LG did something no one else has really done, give them the opportunity to do just that without having to constantly toggle between what they are doing on their phone and texting their friends.

However, the phone doesn’t make good use of the secondary screen except for that single purpose. Music playback can be controlled, but only the built-in music player (who uses that?). It has some functions with the web browser, but highly limited. Besides for texting, the only actual use the screen has is to write notes down without switching apps, a barely passable application. There really should be a lot more that users can do with the display, but it just isn’t available.

What the Doubleplay does do right is work for hours on end. It’s a 2-day phone, where under normal use you don’t have to charge it more than once every other day. It lasted for nearly seven and a half hours in my benchmark with Wi-Fi and the 4G antenna on, which is no small feat. It’s been the more reliable device than my current iPhone, than higher-end Android devices like the HTC Evo 3D or Samsung Galaxy S II solely thanks to that excellent battery life. Because when it comes to a phone, it needs to last, and most smartphones these days barely make it through the day.

The low-end hardware in the Doubleplay, as well as minimal software to support functions for the secondary display and a mediocre physical keyboard, are all that hold the Doubleplay back from being a real contender with the big dogs, with the $200+ smartphones. But for the people who don’t need to handle heavy graphics or run complex applications, the Doubleplay is a good buy, one I absolutely recommend, though be sure that the keyboard works for you.

Editor’s Rating:

3.5 out of 5 stars

Very Good

Bottom Line: The LG Doubleplay is a good, solid handset. As a phone, it works wonders with good 4G over T-Mobile’s network and everyday apps like Gmail, Google Maps, Pandora, etc. The secondary screen is also great for texting and web browsing simultaneously. However, a mediocre camera and poor benchmark performance hold it back from being a great smartphone.

Pros:

• Very long battery life
• It’s a stable device; all standard apps run well
• For non-stop texters, the second screen is great because it let’s you multitask…

Blackberry’s Curve has long been devoid of a touchscreen.  That is until today, as the company officially announced the Curve 9380, an all touchscreen affair.  It has a 3.2-inch 480 x 360 display and a five megapixel camera (pictured on the right).  It will ship with Blackberry’s OS 7, their latest and greatest.  Unfortunately, that’s the only deets that RIM is dishing at the moment.  However, they also served up some details on the Bold 9790.

The Bold 9790 sports a 2.44-inch touchscreen with a 360 x 480 resolution, optical mouse, 8GB of storage expandable via  microSD card slot and a 1Ghz processor to boot.  It too will ship with Blackberry’s OS 7 as well as support for NFC and augmented reality (these latter features will be available in the Curve 9830 as well).

In case you’re wondering, RIM will also pack in a number of free apps, which includes the Premium version of Documents To Go, Blackberry backup, Social Feeds 2.0, Facebook chat and the always necessary BBM.

You can expect both the Curve 9380 and the Bold 9790 to ship in the “coming weeks.”

While we haven’t had a chance to get a hands on review of the DROID RAZR, but it might be the best Android phone to date. The AMOLED screen measures 4.3-inches, yet the phone itself is just 7.1mm thick.  Do you realize how freakin’ thin that is?  Case in point, the iPhone 4s is 9.3mm thick.   Too boot the the whole body has been reinforced with KEVLAR, and if that ain’t sexy enough the screen has been covered in Corning Gorilla glass for added durability above the normal smartphone screen.  Other features include a 1.2Ghz processor, a whopping 1GB of RAM, micro SD card and an 8 megapixel shooter that can capture 1080p videos.  So fair to say, this is THE Android phone to compete with Apple’s iPhone 4s.

Sold yet? If so, check this: TODAY ONLY (11/11/11), Amazon Wireless has the DROID RAZR for $111.11.  Currently, as of this posting, it’s backordered for 8-9 days, but surely it’s worth the wait seeing as Verizon is selling it for $300 on contract.

BTW, we just heard that if you activate the mobile Hotspot feature when you purchase the RAZR or other Verizon and Sprint 4G devices, you’ll receive a $100 Amazon.com Gift Card.

How do you sell even more smartphones than the next guy?  Simple, you partner with a lifestyle brand, such as Beats by Dr. Dre.  That’s what HTC did earlier this year.  It’s a logical move since the smartphone has become today’s must have device amongst those young and old, so it will surely end up being a cynergistic relationship that will pay dividends to both companies.

And to kick off that partnerhip, HTC yesterday announced the Rezound.  It packs in Beats audio tuning, a 4.3-inch screen, Android OS and 4G LTE connectivity.

According to HTC, the Rezound will let customers “hear music the way the artist intended” by delivering unprecedented audio playback.  They’ve also tossed in a pair of light weight earbuds that are exclusive to the Rezound and are designed to complement the audio tuning they’ve worked so hard to achieve.  Integrated directly into the cord is a mic for hands free calls and a remote for pausing, playing, skipping tracks and changing the phone’s volume.

The screen on the Rezound is from ordinary, as it can achieve true 720p HD playback.  HTC is hoping this will prime their movie download service, which boasts a progressive download feature allowing Rezound owners to watch HD movies without completing the download first.  Arrive home and you can connect the Rezound to an HDTV using the device’s Mobile High Definition Link (MHL) connectivity, which has to be a proprietary HDMI port, which mind you can pass 5.1-channel surround sound along with SRS WOW HD surround.

In the speed department the Rezound is no slouch.  Under the hood is a 1.5Ghz dual-core processor, which should be put to work with not only HD movies and games, but Verizon’s 4G LTE network.

And no smartphone of this caliber would be complete without a high end camera.  HTC has stuffed in an 8 megapixel camera with autofocus, an f/2.2 and 28mm lens and a dual LED flash.  It can capture full HD video and stereo sound.

Other features include HTC’s Sense skin, which sits on top of the Android OS.  And speaking of Android it will ship with Android 2.3, though it is upgradeable to 4.0 when it launches sometime next year.  In the memory department the phone comes standard with 16GB of on board storage and 1GB of RAM.  The former can of course be upgraded using a microSD card, though it does ship with a 16GB one.  There is also Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi b/g/n, GPS, a 1620mAh battery and Mobile Hotspot functionality.

The HTC Rezound will be available November 14th at Verizon stores and online for $299.99 with a 2-year contract.

The iPhone 4S has barely been out not even a full month and it already has loads of competition, with HTC’s 4G LTE smartphone Vivid its newest opponent. For devoted Apple heads, the iPhone 4S can do no wrong, even if it wasn’t the 5 version everybody hoped and wanted. Since both smartphones are offered via AT&T, they’ll be going head-to-head in new costumer showdown and for those on the cusp of an upgrade. See how each size up against each other as they fight to become the carrier’s top seller this holiday season!

Size

HTC Vivid weighs 135 grams and has a dimension of 135.5 x 67.9 x 8.9 mm. On the other hand, iPhone 4S comes with measurements of 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm and weighs 140 grams. with that said, both are about equal with the Vivid being a bit taller than the iPhone, which usually means a larger screen, which isn’t always a bad thing.

Appearance

Like any other iPhone version, it’s available in either black or white and are know for being sleek and shiny. However, the Vivid will also be available in both colors, but the glossy plastic around the sides and back of the phone might turn some fans off, given HTC has used a lot of soft-touch rubber-feel materials or aluminum on some of their past phones and the changes are quite noticeable to those HTC fans.

Display

The Vivid features a 4.5-inch Super LCD (updated per the comments) multi-touch display with a resolution of 540×960 pixels and has a Proximity Sensor, Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate and an ambient light sensor.  The  SuperAMOLED allows users make better use of 4G network to browse the web or watch videos online and the multi-touch screen sports the HTC Sense 3.0. This touch interface supports many functions, such as multiple  unlock modes with gorgeous dynamic effect; new improvement on the aspect of weather display; different voice background and excellent animation effect.

While the iPhone 4S has a slightly smaller screen at 3.5 inches, but boasts a Retina multi-touch display of 960×640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi. The retina display is actually supposed to be highest-resolution phone screen ever, with the  pixel density is so high that the human eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels. The iPhone also features fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating on front and back.

Operating System

It seems that Apple’s iOS is, once again, up against the latest and greatest Android OS, with the HTC Vivid running off of Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS with HTC Sense UI on top of it. However, after the holidays are over, it’s supposed to have an OS upgrade when Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is released. Apple’s iPhone 4S has on the newest iOS 5 that packs 200 new features that include an improved Notifications System, Newsstand, iMessage and the much talked about Siri.

Processor

The iPhone 4S, which comes in an A5 chipset, is powered by 1GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU, PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU. This means more power and faster graphics, making the iPhone 4S pretty quick and responsive if you’re one of those who like to launch all sorts of apps at once. On the other hand, Vivid has a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor that also boasts optimum performance and quick response times just like Apple’s. Wireless devices built with Snapdragon, like the HTC Vivid, maximize 3G or 4G wireless network technology to deliver the best the Web has to offer. Here, both are pretty even.

Storage

While the iPhone 4S has various GB models, with the cheapest coming in at 16 GB and the most expensive being 64 GB, the Vivid will include 16 GB of on-board memory, and a microSD memory card slot means this can be expanded up to 48 GB. Not too shabby for those who would love to buy the 32 GB iPhone 4S but can’t afford it.

Wireless Connectivity

The HTC Vivid is one of the first smartphones able to utilize both LTE and HSPA+ 4G speeds, which allow owners of the smartphone reliable connection in both areas where applicable. A major plus for those looking for some fast connections. Up until now, Verizon has been the only major carrier with the “true” 4G technology, but AT&T will begin its 4G LTE coverage in cities such as Boston, D.C., and Baltimore next week, expanding to 15 markets by the end of the year. With both technologies, devices stand to be always tethered to an optimal connection. It also has Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Wi-Fi hotspot.

The iPhone boasts 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology and is truly a global phone, so you can use it almost anywhere. Whether you’re a GSM or CDMA customer, you can roam GSM networks in 200 countries around the world.. It’s the first phone  phone to intelligently switch between two antennas to transmit and receive, so call quality is better. Depending on what carrier you get it on will also determine what type of network speeds the phone will get.

Camera and Video

The Vivid’s 8-megapixel rear-camera with dual-LED flash with a f2.2 28mm wide angle lens for low-light photos and is also capable of capturing 1080p video at 60 frames per second, while its front-facing camera features 1.3MP. So the iPhone 4S sports what Apple claims to be the “best camera ever on a phone.” It now features an f/2.4 lens and 8-megapixel resolution, which is way better from the iPhone 4, with HD video recording, up to 30 frames per second with audio. Other cool features include: LED flash, video stabilization and a front camera with VGA-quality photos and video at up to 30 frames per second

Battery Life

The iPhone 4S has a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery and has a talk time of up to 8 hours on 3G, and 14 on 2G (GSM). Its standby time is up to 200 hours and with Internet use up to  hours on 3G, up to 9 hours on Wi-Fi. For video playback expect up to 10 hours of use. The Vivid has a removable and rechargeable lithium-ion battery, 1620 mAh.

Carriers

Apple’s iPhone is now on Verizon. AT&T and Sprint, with the HTC Vivid on AT&T, which is where the competition will really heat up!

Price

The long-awaited 4G LTE smartphone HTC Vivid is not available on AT&T and be available starting November 6 at stores and online for $199 under a two year contract. The iPhone is priced according to how many GB you want.  It starts at $199 for the 16 GB, then goes up to $299 for the 32 GB and finally $399 for the 64 GB. But this all doubles in price when you don’t can’t upgrade and don’t want to wait until you can to get the new iPhone.

Winner

The latest smartphone from Apple received an overwhelming positive response and sold 4 million units during the opening weekend. But as many expected the iPhone 5, only the  iPhone 4S was left in its place and actually missed some prominent specs like edge-to-edge design, a larger display, 4G LTE and Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. But you really can’t knock a lot of its upgrades that really do make a difference to iPhone users and Apple lovers, so you can’t really complain too much. Besides, the iPhone 5 is probably dropping before we know it.

But the Vivid is claimed to be “a powerhouse in your pocket,” and it actually lives up to HTC’s statement given the impressive specs that pretty much competes on the same level as the iPhone 4S. So what it really comes down to is if you’re a iOS person or an Android fan. Whichever phone you choose, you’ll most likely be just as content with one or the other!

T-Mobile just piled another Blackberry on top of their list of RIM devices.  However, unlike Sprint’s Torch 9850 the Torch 9810 sports a slide out keyboard and a touchscreen that is .5-inches smaller, 3.2-inches to be exact.  Powering the BB 7.0 OS is a 1.2Ghz processor, which is further supported by 4G connectivity.  Continuing on its path for mediocrity RIM has included a 5-megapixel camera that can record 720p HD video and sports an LED flash.

If you’re looking for this device, you’ll have to wait until November 9th, when it goes on sale at T-Mobile stores and their website for $249.99 after a $50 mail-in-rebate.  However, if you’re a business customer you can score it one week earlier, which makes sense, since the Torch 9810 is clearly targeted at those folks.

T-Mobile Announces Upcoming Availability of the BlackBerry Torch 9810

T-Mobile USA Inc. today announced the upcoming availability of the BlackBerry® Torch™ 9810, the latest 4G BlackBerry smartphone to join America’s Largest 4G Network™. Powered by the latest BlackBerry 7 operating system and a 1.2 GHz processor, the BlackBerry Torch 9810 provides a fast and fluid premium smartphone experience. The BlackBerry Torch 9810 combines a brilliant 3.2-inch TFT VGA capacitive touch-screen display with a full QWERTY slide-out keyboard for a truly efficient and intuitive mobile communications experience.

Encased in a sleek and stylish form factor with a zinc grey color finish, the BlackBerry Torch 9810 is equipped with essential smartphone features, including access to BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger), personal and corporate e-mail, and social networking applications; a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and 720p HD video recording; and access to BlackBerry App World™ for downloading premium applications and games.

The BlackBerry Torch 9810 is expected to be available in an exclusive pre-sale for T-Mobile business customers beginning today, November 2. The smartphone is expected to be available nationwide at T-Mobile retail stores, select dealers and national retailers, and online at http://www.t-mobile.com starting November 9. The BlackBerry Torch 9810 is expected to cost $249.99 after a $50 mail-in-rebate card, with a two-year service agreement and qualifying Classic voice and data plan.

Still hoping for a 4G LTE smartphone on AT&T’s network?  Well, you don’t have to hold your breath much longer.  The carrier will start to sell the HTC Vivid online and in store on November 6th for $199.99 on contract.

In addition to ultra fast download speeds, the Vivid packs a 4.5-inch qHD (540×960) display, a 1.2Ghz dual-core processor, 16GB of built-in storage expandable by microSD card slot and an 8-megapixel camera with an f2.2 28mm wide angle lens that can capture 1080p video at 60fps.  There of course will be the usual assortment of standard features, including HTC’s Sense UI, WiFi, Bluetooth, Mobile Hotspot functionality and the Android OS, though we don’t know what version the handset will ship with.

And on that same day, AT&T will launch their 4G LTE service in Boston, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Athens, Ga. adding to a few other markets.  But fear not if you don’t live in one of these locations, as the Vivid can utilize both LTE and HSPA+, which means you should be connected to a 4G signal most of the time.

Vertu is killing it compared to its parent company, Nokia.  And to insure that the company stays relevant, and more importantly profitable, they’ve released a touchscreen version of the handset called the Constellation T.

We haven’t been able to dig up an official price list, but we’re hearing that the cost of this handset, which includes 1-year of Vertu’s concierge service, will range from £3,900 ($6k) for the satin-brown finish and go up to £9,600 ($16,000) for the red-gold version.

For that kind of scratch you’ll get Vertu’s most advanced phone, thought it’s still is a far cry from an iPhone or Android handset when it comes to features and more importantly operating system.  This includes a 3.5-inch 640×360 AMOLED touchscreen (a first in a Vertu), WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, an 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, 32GB of built-in storage, Symbian 7, and HSPA+ connectivity.

In addition to white crocodile skin and diamonds galore, the Vertu Constellation ships with exclusive ringtones from the London Symphony Orchestra piped through what the company calls a high fidelity loudspeaker.

Still no word on a release date.  However, it might already be available, which further echoes just how exclusive Vertu’s handsets are.

Soon T-Mobile will begin to sell what they’re calling the first no annual contract 4G smartphone.  The Samsung Exhibit II 4G will go on sale at Walmart stores October 27th and cost $199.99.  That will be followed by a release at T-Mobile retail locations on November 2nd with or without a contract – the latter option will cost $29.99 after a $50 mail-in-rebate.  Not too shabby when you consider most smartphones cost $200+ after signing a 2-year agreement.

Features for this Smartphone include a 3.7-inch WVGA touchscreen, a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 4G connectivity, Android 2.3 Gingerbread, WiFi, a 3 megapixel camera (there is the rub), GPS and Bluetooth.

Clearly the Samsung Exhibit II 4G is not a premiere phone, but nor is it targeted at that audience.  After all, they are selling at Walmart, which is known for rock bottom prices and strong arming manufactures into offering their products at almost cost.  However, this is a big win for Samsung and T-Mobile since it allows them to tap into a demographic that may have not been previously available at their retail locations.