Smartphone Buying Guide: First Half of 2011

Nice work, got me up to speed on these things :)

I would love the Samsung Galaxy S II but I think I will have to skip it, hope the Samsung Galaxy S III looks just as impressive. :D
 
I just got my Galaxy S back in december so I'll be waiting a while. Want to do a PC upgrade and then get a new phone later.
 
We non-Americans, thank you for including what network each phone supports instead of just a carrier name!
 
I've read that the LG Optimus x2 is due out in UK in March. This is going to be the first Dual Core phone (think its 2 x 1.2Ghz) on the market (or the Atrix, hadn't seen it's release date, 22 Feb would mean it would be first). To be honest I'm more interested in this model (also my 2 year contract runs out in March so it's convenient :D ) than the 3D one you have listed in the article. The few videos I've seen show this thing running 3d graphics helped by Nvidia Tegra2 dual core and it looks like it's going to be a serious piece of hardware, most likely my next phone.
 
Arris said:
I've read that the LG Optimus x2 is due out in UK in March. This is going to be the first Dual Core phone (think its 2 x 1.2Ghz) on the market (or the Atrix, hadn't seen it's release date, 22 Feb would mean it would be first). To be honest I'm more interested in this model (also my 2 year contract runs out in March so it's convenient :D ) than the 3D one you have listed in the article. The few videos I've seen show this thing running 3d graphics helped by Nvidia Tegra2 dual core and it looks like it's going to be a serious piece of hardware, most likely my next phone.

It's actually 2 x 1ghz. It's a tegra 2.
 
Princeton said:
It's actually 2 x 1ghz. It's a tegra 2.

Yeah, same as the Moto Atrix. I'll probably be chomping at the bit to get a new phone (windows mobile 6.1 for 2 years :( ) and grab the first one that comes out. I think it was another dual core mobile chip that was coming out with 2 x 1.2Ghz, can't remember if it was a Qualcomm or other.
 
Arris said:
Princeton said:
It's actually 2 x 1ghz. It's a tegra 2.

Yeah, same as the Moto Atrix. I'll probably be chomping at the bit to get a new phone (windows mobile 6.1 for 2 years :( ) and grab the first one that comes out. I think it was another dual core mobile chip that was coming out with 2 x 1.2Ghz, can't remember if it was a Qualcomm or other.

Yah, probably another crapdragon chip. I'd love an HTC phone but qualcomm hardware is garbage.
 
Can I get a real Qwerty phone with android and REAL send/end buttons for verizon? LG The ally would have been it except it is too slow and buggy!
 
Guest said:
What about the dried bionic? That's dual core as well?

You need to spell check and proofread your posts. The Droid Bionic has a dual core CPU but there's no purpose because any application requiring that much power will require the phone to have more then 512mb of total memory.

Buyers aren't going to be grabbing moto phones this year. Their flagship device, the atrix, runs motoblur. It turns a beast of a phone into a device that will most likely be slower then the Nexus one because the UI is sluggish and poorly coded.

I'm honestly looking at an iphone for my HUG. It has guaranteed updates and although it has slower hardware then most devices it runs slick as hell. Coming from an anti apple advocate like me that shows how bad android fragmentation has become.
 
Just so you don't fall prey to bad assumptions:

Domestic (USA) phones are 99% locked to a specific carrier which gravely restricts your ability to swap carriers at any disconntinuance price.

Europe is devoted to GSM while the service providers domestically are mixed GSM and CDMA.

The new iPhone for Verizon is a) locked to verizon and b) is CDMA which says the Verizon iPhone can not be used on the AT&T network nor in Europe.

A World Phone is delivered unlocked and runs on GSM - - swap the SIM card and away you go.

A Domestic GSM phone can be used in Europe (provided it has all four radio bands) but you get hit with roaming charges​

see also matrix of technology vs providers
 
Really, no spot for any of HTC's Desires there?

Not really that important, but you'd think HTC's flagship handset would get a spot.
 
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