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HTC Thunderbolt Available: February 24, 2011 (Unofficial)
Representing HTC's first 4G LTE phone, the Thunderbolt sports a large 4.3-inch touchscreen, an 8MP camera with HD video capture, video calling via front-facing camera, Android 2.2 with HTC's Sense software, and a 1GHz processor. Other features include mobile Wi-Fi hotspot, DLNA wireless media streaming, a kickstand for media viewing, FM radio, and 8GB of internal memory alongside the included 32GB microSD card. Indeed the HTC Thunderbolt is shaping up to be quite a beast and if the latest rumors are true you'll be able to get it this month from Verizon.
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Carrier: Verizon
Talk Time: 6.3 hours
Price: $249 with two-year contract
Standby Time: 13 days
Manufacturer: HTC
Weight: 5.78 ounces
Platform: Android 2.2.1
Wireless: 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
Network: CDMA, EVDO Rev. A, LTE
Storage: 8GB built-in, 32GB microSD card included
Samsung Galaxy S 4G Available: February 23, 2011
The Galaxy S 4G is an update to Samsung's Vibrant, with the most notable addition being the front-facing camera and a slight battery capacity bump to cope with the beefier radio. Specs include a 1GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird processor, 4-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen, 5-megapixel rear camera, a 16GB microSD card, and Android 2.2 "Froyo". A number of applications are bundled with the smartphone, including DoubleTwist with AirSync, Slacker Radio, Amazon Kindle for Android, and Qik for video chats, while T-Mobile is also throwing in a copy of Christopher Nolan's Inception with every phone.
The Atrix 4G is an Android 2.2 smartphone with a dual-core 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a 4-inch "qHD" (960 x 540) display, a fingerprint recognizer, a big 1930 mAh battery and 0.4-inch thick body. For those keeping score at home, that display comes up just 100 lines short of the resolution on Apple's iPhone 4, which has a 960 x 640 pixel display, and because the Motorola Atrix 4G screen is a bit larger it also doesn't pack the same pixel density. Still, it the gets the title of being the first phone with a dual-core processor on AT&T's network and has little to envy on the features front - dual cameras, expandable storage through miniSD cards, HDMI-out, and HSPA+ "4G" connectivity. But perhaps the Atrix's coolest feature is its ability to gain PC-like functionality with either a laptop-sized expansion dock or HD multimedia dock.
Storage: 16GB built-in, 32GB supported via microSD
HTC Inspire 4G Available since: February 13, 2011
The HTC Inspire 4G is a stunning, 4.3-inch superphone running Android 2.2 and is the first in the U.S. to feature the next-generation HTC Sense platform with cloud services. The new Sense platform can pinpoint a lost phone on a map, send a command to sound an alert on the handset, and remotely wipe the phone's data through HTCSense.com. The Inspire 4G also delivers an 8-megapixel camera and HD video recorder, it includes a 1GHz processor, while also boasting a premium aluminum unibody design.
Steering away from its predecessor, the Motorola Cliq 2 boasts an upgraded construction while also adding some screen real estate with a 3.7-inch display and twice the resolution at 480 x 854. Other features include Android 2.2 with Blur software, mobile hotpsot, FM radio, DLNA media streaming, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 5-megapixel auto-focus camera with video capture, 3.5mm audio jack, Wi-Fi, and a memory card slot.
The HTC EVO Shift 4G is a smaller, less costly alternative to the EVO 4G on Sprint and gives hardware keyboard fans another choice besides the Samsung Epic 4G. That said, it also lacks a front-facing camera and doesn't include HDMI output. Among its features are a 5-megapixel camera with HD video capture, WiMAX connectivity, an 800MHz processor, mobile Wi-Fi hotspot, GPS navigation, microSD slot for expansion, FM radio, 3.6-inch display, and Android 2.2.
