Next generation of smartphones arrives
We’re sick of the iPhone, too. Despite antenna issues, Draconian app store rules and an engineered inability to run Flash content, Apple’s flagship smartphone has done to the smartphone market what the Romans once did to Europe.
The good news: Now a marauding horde of smartphone manufacturers under the flag of Google Android are back for their turf, and they’re not just cobbling together iPhone-wannabes anymore. From the world’s first dual-screen smartphone to a phone with all the processing power of a laptop – and a dock that turns it into one – these next-generation smartphones will all bring something totally unique to the battlefield when they arrive soon.
LG Optimus 2x
The pitch: Two is always better than one, which makes the LG Optimus 2x, the world’s first dual-core smartphone, quite a catch. Nvidia’s hotrod Tegra 2 processor enables rich gaming, fluid multitasking and even 1080p video capture. With the HDMI output, you can hook it up to your TV and watch movies on the big screen, in 1080p.
Skeptic’s slant: Apps have to be specially developed to take advantage of the dual-core design, which means few of them will really tap into what the Optimus 2x can do at launch.
Availability: Rumors have the Optimus 2x launching in late March or early April, but LG will launch the Optimus 2x as a “world phone.” That means it won’t be showing up at the store down the street with a hefty subsidy like phones that carriers officially adopt – you’ll have to snag it online, without a contract, for a hefty sum.