[Matches_Malone]

Nice work! Thanks.

[Panthersfan86]

Isn't the Revolution supposed to have one of LG's new Nova display's? or is that just the 2X with the dual core that has a Nova Display? and man I can't believe that the bionic looks so amazing and yet still terrible at the same time. I love the dual core, and if the UI is like that of the X then it will be great, but the internal memory, and the front facing camera make me want nothing to do with this phone, especially when you put it next to something like the revolution or the Thunderbolt which both have 1.3 mp ffc's and some amount of internal memory. and as far as Samsung's 4G device goes i'm not at all impressed, it is basically my current phone(the Fascinate) with a little bit bigger and better screen, 4G, Froyo, and a ffc. Unless Sammy has made some serious refinements to touchwiz then i don't see much of a difference.

[KKShiz]

Thanks a lot Richard! Having the info side-by-side is obviously very helpful. Mostly likely going to scoop up the Bionic when it drops.

[cuttyr]

Isn't the Revolution supposed to have one of LG's new Nova display's? or is that just the 2X with the dual core that has a Nova Display? and man I can't believe that the bionic looks so amazing and yet still terrible at the same time. I love the dual core, and if the UI is like that of the X then it will be great, but the internal memory, and the front facing camera make me want nothing to do with this phone, especially when you put it next to something like the revolution or the Thunderbolt which both have 1.3 mp ffc's and some amount of internal memory. and as far as Samsung's 4G device goes i'm not at all impressed, it is basically my current phone(the Fascinate) with a little bit bigger and better screen, 4G, Froyo, and a ffc. Unless Sammy has made some serious refinements to touchwiz then i don't see much of a difference.

The front facing camera on the Bionic could be better I agree but vga to 1.3mp am not sure you will notice the difference.

As for the internal memory, that is still up in the air. Base on 2GB flash and 14 non-removal shared storage that's a total of 16GB on the Bionic. As to how you will be able to use that I guess we don't know as yet. The Thunderbolt only has 8GB internal and the LG Revolution has 16GB of which we don't know how either is formated.

Coming from a HTC Droid Incredible with 8GB internal that can't be used to store apps just shows that saying internal storage don't mean anything until we know if it is format for app storage.

[Godwellz]

Why the DROID X came out after the EVO and does not have the capability to to convert to 4G (knowing it was just months away and the phone costing over $400) is just pure greed. Motorola should give all X and Droid Pro owners a $200 discount.
[Okay, back to reality]

[Panthersfan86]

The front facing camera on the Bionic could be better I agree but vga to 1.3mp am not sure you will notice the difference.

As for the internal memory, that is still up in the air. Base on 2GB flash and 14 non-removal shared storage that's a total of 16GB on the Bionic. As to how you will be able to use that I guess we don't know as yet. The Thunderbolt only has 8GB internal and the LG Revolution has 16GB of which we don't know how either is formated.

Coming from a HTC Droid Incredible with 8GB internal that can't be used to store apps just shows that saying internal storage don't mean anything until we know if it is format for app storage.

Yeah you have a good point. But does anyone know if the Nova display will be on the revolution?

[jeffmorr]

If youre willing to care about other carriers, you can add that Bell in Canada is getting the Atrix, so you could add that with AT&T.

Also, for the Tunderbold, maybe you should write that the size is similar to the Desire HD, as their nearly identical

[RichardClark]

The guys that got to try the bionic (I'm looking at you Phil & Cory) how prevalent was Blur? I noticed the launcher wasn't the same as the X and certainly the ugly one found on hte Atrix. Is it just blur widgets? I was hoping for sense with dual core, but the Bionic is soo tempting, especially if blur is toned down.

Me too. I wonder how "updated Motoblur" compares to the current version that seems to be commonly loathed. I have no personal experience with either and so can't comment.

[RichardClark]

Thanks for putting this together! Any idea if any of these phones are Global phones?

I haven't seen any global radios listed on any spec sheets so far, so I'm guessing not. Perhaps this first generation of LTE radios take up too much room?

[RichardClark]

Yeah you have a good point. But does anyone know if the Nova display will be on the revolution?

I've searched and haven't been able to find any official or hands-on confirmation of the Revolution's screen type. I would think that it's likely that the Revolution will have the Nova display since the Optimus has it, but I haven't seen a credible source confirm it. So I'll hold off putting in that tidbit for now. Keep your eyes open though and let me know if you find any more news about it.

[RichardClark]

If youre willing to care about other carriers, you can add that Bell in Canada is getting the Atrix, so you could add that with AT&T.

Also, for the Tunderbold, maybe you should write that the size is similar to the Desire HD, as their nearly identical

I've added Bell next to AT&T. Thanks for that. Do you have a link to a hands-on review commenting about the size similarity between the Desire HD and ThunderBolt?

[benjiprice#ac]

I don't get why these phones are coming out with Froyo instead of Gingerbread. I wish Verizon had a pure Google Phone.

Along those lines, I'm surprised at the lack of NFC. Not that it's a must-have feature, I was just expected these types of phones to incorporate once Google made the technology available and put it in the Nexus S.

[rewd]

Thank you so much!!! I'm considering these four phones when I move from a stale BlackBerry on AT&T (yuck!) to VZW and an LTE Android phone as they start coming out over the next few months. I'd narrowed it down to that Samsung phone and the Droid Bionic but damn if your spreadsheet doesn't make that Bionic look AWESOME!!

Can any of you experts help me understand the difference in screen resolution. How will 540 x 960 (qHD) compare to 480 x 800 (WVGA)?

Thank you

[RichardClark]

I don't get why these phones are coming out with Froyo instead of Gingerbread. I wish Verizon had a pure Google Phone.

Along those lines, I'm surprised at the lack of NFC. Not that it's a must-have feature, I was just expected these types of phones to incorporate once Google made the technology available and put it in the Nexus S.

Based on my experience with large projects, it all boils down to the timing. At some point you have to lock down the specs of any development project or "scope creep" will prevent you from ever finishing anything. There's always "one more idea" that you want to implement, but doing so delays engineering, coding, testing, training, marketing, distribution, etc. You have to draw the line somewhere. Gingerbread, NFC, dual core, advanced screen tech - all great features but each takes time to implement and sometimes the timelines don't all line up the way you want them.

[sean carey]

Thanks you for putting in the effort to make this spreadsheet.

[OME6A]

The Thunderbolt and the Samsung seem like the front-runners to me, though I'm anxious to see the RAM on the latter.

The Bionic just seems like its specs have been nerfed, maybe to offset the dual core cost? The FFCamera and the RAM especially. The size of its batter makes me wonder how power-hungry the dual cores will be.

The LG I personally think has the nicest physical design. I always favored LG devices in the dumbphone days, but they're still new to Android. I think I'll give them a couple more models before considering a purchase. And the Bing? Eww.

I'll probably wait until March before considering upgrading from my Droid X.

[SailingMan]

After the flurry of info pouring out of CES this past week about the upcoming Verizon LTE phones, I started a Google Docs spreadsheet to pull all of the specs together so I could compare them side-by-side to help me figure out which one I wanted to make my next phone. Then I realized that it might be helpful to others as well, so I prettied it up a bit and made the link publicly viewable.

Most of the information was gathered from the official press releases, official web site, and the articles by Android Central's intrepid reporters. I wanted to stick to the facts instead of reacting to every rumor.

The link is below. I hope you find it helpful. I will continue to update it as more information becomes available. Feel free to send me a PM if you've found sources for any of the missing information or if I made an error (gasp!). Enjoy!

Richard,

You're a star newbie. Great Job. Keep up the analysis. Very helpful!

[TBolt]

Please add whether the device is "global" or not. That's important for some.

[RichardClark]

Thank you so much!!! I'm considering these four phones when I move from a stale BlackBerry on AT&T (yuck!) to VZW and an LTE Android phone as they start coming out over the next few months. I'd narrowed it down to that Samsung phone and the Droid Bionic but damn if your spreadsheet doesn't make that Bionic look AWESOME!!

Can any of you experts help me understand the difference in screen resolution. How will 540 x 960 (qHD) compare to 480 x 800 (WVGA)?

Thank you

I'm glad you found it helpful. I wouldn't consider myself an expert on smartphone displays, but since no one else responded I'll give it a shot. While the qHD will look sharper compared to the WVGA due to greater pixel density, I doubt that difference alone will significantly change your impression of the quality of the display in normal use.

Where you may notice a difference is when watching HD video. qHD stands for "Quarter High Definition". That 540 x 960 display is exactly half of normal full HD resolution (1080 x 1920) in each dimension, so it has one quarter of the pixels found in full 1080p HD. So when shrinking down HD video to fit on the qHD display, there is less load on the GPU (graphics processor) because it can simply show every other row and every other column instead of having to do extra work to extrapolate what color to show for all of those pixels that fall in between the rows and columns specified in the HD video source data. It seems like that would result in smoother, sharper video but only real world testing will show whether the difference is actually noticeable.

The only negative I can think of is that those extra pixels also consume more electricity. Fortunately, the Bionic has a pretty sizable battery.

[RichardClark]

Please add whether the device is "global" or not. That's important for some.

Alright. I'll keep an eye out for global radios. I haven't seen any mention of them yet. My gut feel is that this first generation of LTE radios is bound to be a bit large so there might not be room to squeeze in a global radio as well until the LTE radios shrink.

[rewd]

I'm glad you found it helpful. I wouldn't consider myself an expert on smartphone displays, but since no one else responded I'll give it a shot. While the qHD will look sharper compared to the WVGA due to greater pixel density, I doubt that difference alone will significantly change your impression of the quality of the display in normal use.

Where you may notice a difference is when watching HD video. qHD stands for "Quarter High Definition". That 540 x 960 display is exactly half of normal full HD resolution (1080 x 1920) in each dimension, so it has one quarter of the pixels found in full 1080p HD. So when shrinking down HD video to fit on the qHD display, there is less load on the GPU (graphics processor) because it can simply show every other row and every other column instead of having to do extra work to extrapolate what color to show for all of those pixels that fall in between the rows and columns specified in the HD video source data. It seems like that would result in smoother, sharper video but only real world testing will show whether the difference is actually noticeable.

The only negative I can think of is that those extra pixels also consume more electricity. Fortunately, the Bionic has a pretty sizable battery.

Fantastic, thank you for the additional info. Basically what your saying is qHD > WVGA (when watching something in HD)?

The Bionic is winning hands down for me. My only concern is the lack of a physical keyboard. The only full touchscreen device I've ever owned was the original BB Storm and I despised the whole experience. I hope full touch Android Devices are better in that department or I may have to wait for the first dual core QWERTY slider...

[RichardClark]

My only concern is the lack of a physical keyboard. The only full touchscreen device I've ever owned was the original BB Storm and I despised the whole experience. I hope full touch Android Devices are better in that department or I may have to wait for the first dual core QWERTY slider...

I was a little worried about that too, having become so accustomed to rapidly thumb-typing on BlackBerries for years. I've spent a good bit of time playing with my wife's Droid to see if having a physical keyboard would be a "must" for me (it is for her). I found that I'm a much slower typist on both the Droid hard and soft keyboards than I am on the BlackBerry; however, the hard keyboard is only slightly faster for me than the soft keyboard. There isn't much of the tactile feedback that helps touch typists zoom along. Since this device will be more for personal use than business, I don't expect to be typing as many long e-mails and documents as I do with the BlackBerry. So in the end, I decided a physical keyboard is a "nice to have" instead of a "must" for me.

I seriously considered the Droid Pro for a bit. While it would make the transition from a BlackBerry easier, I decided I valued a larger screen over the familiar form factor. The large 4.3" screen on these LTE devices also means that the keys on the virtual keyboard are larger too and, therefore, makes it easier to trigger the correct one on the first try.

[RichardClark]

I made several updates to the spreadsheet this morning. Not a lot of new information, but I did add a section showing the voice and data bands the phones are capable of using to help identify any global-capable devices that show up. I also cleaned up the source links at the bottom so that they display a more useful title instead of the URL. Now I'm ready for a flood of spec sheets, if Vzw, HTC, Moto, LG, and Sammy would just cooperate!

[ReuvenNY]

... The only full touchscreen device I've ever owned was the original BB Storm and I despised the whole experience. I hope full touch Android Devices are better in that department or I may have to wait for the first dual core QWERTY slider...

This seems to be a typical concern of Blackberry users, coming from a world of physical keyboards.
I got the original Android T-Mobile G1 2 years ago for the same reason...
I am now planning to move to the Thunderbolt as my experience is that the keyboard is not that important.
With the 4.3 inch real estate the virtual keyboard is just fine.
Also the phone is less thick in comparison to the sliders.

[RichardClark]

I just updated the spreadsheet to include a list of the top pros and cons of each phone. Of course, this is purely opinion (and labeled as such), so your mileage may vary, but at least it gives some food for thought. There are fewer points for the LG and Samsung phones because fewer details are currently available. I'll update the list as more information is released. If I left out any points that you think many people would consider to be a big pro or con, please let me know.