Posted on 18 March 2011
We’ve seen a flood of Android phones so far in 2011. We got our first whiff of the coming deluge in January when we went to the Consumer Electronics Show and saw around a dozen really impressive models on the show floor, all with big displays, 4G radios, beefy processors and promises of epic battery life. Some had interesting add-ons, like big physical keyboards for thumb commandos, or the Motorola Atrix’s whacky full-sized laptop dock.
Some of these Android handsets have since arrived, and there are plenty more to come.
This collection represents the best Android phones we’ve received to test here at Wired over the past few months. So, if you’re in the market for an Android phone, start with this short list of our recommended picks.
Of course, there are older phones on the shelves that are still great options, like the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, the HTC EVO 4G and the Samsung Epic 4G. But in these pages, you’ll find the newest generation — the head of the class of 2011 so far, and a couple of standouts from the end of 2010.
Photos: Jim Merithew and Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Posted on 08 October 2010
Like Samsung’s Galaxy range, new examples of LG’s Optimus phones keep popping up around the world! The latest pair are the Optimus T and Optimus S, this time destined for T-Mobile and Sprint in the USA respectively, although we wouldn’t be surprised if either one appears elsewhere at a later date too.
The Optimus T’s spec sheet reads as follows:
- Google Android 2.2.
- A 3.2 capacitive touchscreen.
- 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus.
- A 600MHz processor.
- Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a microSD card slot.
- Assisted GPS.
The Optimus S shares the same feature list,
and the pair are likely to be low-cost contract phones. These two, plus a variety of other Android phones sharing basically the same spec have appeared at the CTIA show this week, from manufacturers such as Sharp with the Zio and Huawei with the Ascend.
Cheap Android phones are great, but when you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, plus they never beat the HTC Wildfire in terms of features and especially, looks. Plus, if LG want to become a player in the Android world, it’s going to take something a lot more interesting than these two to do it.
Both these LG Optimus phones are scheduled for release before Christmas and will be available in several different colours. LG haven’t mentioned anything about a European launch, but in all honesty, would we really want either of them?
Posted on 26 August 2010
When RIM crafts a CDMA BlackBerry, you can bet — well, usually bet — that it’s destined for both Sprint and Verizon, since there aren’t many other carrier partners anywhere in the world where Waterloo can recoup the R&D costs. We’ve already heard plenty of rumors that Verizon’s signed up to get it in the coming months, and now we’ve got information from none other than RIM itself that Sprint has its eyes on the 8530 successor, too. A knowledge base article on RIM’s site (which has now been pulled, of course) referred to a “Sprint BlackBerry Curve 9330 smartphone,” which pretty much says it all — we suppose it’s possible that the article’s author was just preparing for the possibility that Sprint would be getting it, but we think the more likely scenario is that it was official info that went up a tad early. So, who’s upgrading?
BlackBerry Curve 9330′s marriage with Sprint seemingly leaked by RIM originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on 26 August 2010
The rich landscape of Android versioning just got a bit richer, with word of an official Froyo update for the Droid Incredible being launched tomorrow (based on the screencap pictured above), while the EVO 4G’s recent Froyo software just got rooted. If you’re crazily impatient, an Android 2.2 ROM for the Incredible just leaked out into the wild, and can be installed with a bit of work, but from the official-looking-ness of this leak from Droid Life, a painless official update is not far off. Meanwhile, in Sprint land, the xda-devs have a rather complicated, rather scary method posted for rooting 2.2 on the EVO 4G — you’ll have to ask yourself how much that freedom is worth to you, or just wait for the inevitably easier methods to come along and hold your hand.
The revolving door: Froyo for Droid Incredible coming tomorrow, Froyo for EVO 4G gets rooted originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on 04 July 2010
When we first got word of a Samsung Moment successor, we were concerned it would be too little, too late… but this week a man headed off Sammy’s new Intercept at a Best Buy (for $100, reportedly), and there’s slightly more to this device than it originally seemed. While the form factor and features are familiar enough — a QWERTY slider with a 3.2 megapixel camera and 3.2-inch screen — that display apparently sports a 800 x 480 resolution now, the keyboard seems much improved, ports and buttons have been thoroughly revamped, and the whole unit’s been given a lovely sheen. No word on internal specs quite yet — and no Froyo, either — but you can judge how responsive it is for yourself in a video after the break.
[Thanks, Brad B.]
Continue reading Samsung Intercept ambushed in the wild, features higher res screen (video)
Samsung Intercept ambushed in the wild, features higher res screen (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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