Five Android Giants Will Steal Apple iPhone 4S Thunder

Apple Inc. received an overwhelming response from all around the world for iPhone 4S. Apple iPhone 4S is expected to face competition from Android devices like Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Motorola Droid RAZR, HTC EVO Design 4G, Motorola Atrix 2 and Samsung Captivate Glide.

Apple Inc. took the wraps off the iPhone 4's sequel earlier this month. Pre-orders for the iPhone 4S started on Oct. 7 and has since registered 1 million units on the first day, surpassing the previous single-day record of 600,000 for the iPhone 4. Apple said it has sold 4 million units of the iPhone 4S during the opening weekend.

iPhone 4S comes in either black or white and features some important upgrades that were rumored to be a part of the imaginary iPhone 5. The main features that adorn iPhone 4S are: 1GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU, an Apple A5 chipset, an 8-megapixel LED-flash camera with 1080p HD video recording and a secondary VGA front-facing camera for video chat.

Apple's latest smartphone also has a 3.5-inch TFT Retina multi-touch display and is loaded with Apple's latest operating system, iOS 5. In addition, the phone comes with alternating antennae for better call reception, CDMA and GSM support, a personal assistant called Siri, iCloud and Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology.

The smartphone is available in the U.S. for a suggested retail price of $199 for the 16GB model, $299 for the 32GB model and $399 for the new 64GB model.

Here is a list of the top smartphones which can give iPhone 4S a run for its money:

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Samsung and Google Inc. introduced the Galaxy Nexus at an event in Hong Kong on Tuesday. The smartphone was scheduled to be launched last week, but was postponed as a tribute to the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

The smartphone was also known as Samsung Google Nexus Prime, Samsung Google Galaxy Nexus I9250, Samsung Google Nexus 3, and Samsung Google Nexus 4G.

Loaded with a dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A9 CPU, TI OMAP 4460 chipset, Samsung's new device touts a 4.65-inch high-definition super AMOLED display with a pixel density of about 315 ppi. It also has a face recognition function to unlock the phone.

Galaxy Nexus, the first LTE-enabled smartphone to feature Ice Cream Sandwich, has 1 GB of RAM and 16 or 32 GB of internal memory, as per users' choice. It comes with a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with 1080p video capture and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video calls. The phone also features an accelerometer, compass, gyro sensor, light sensor, proximity sensor and barometer lurking in there as well.

The phone comes in 135.5 x 67.94 x 8.94 mm dimension and weighs 135 grams. The additional features include Bluetooth 3.0 version with A2DP, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n, HTML, 4G LTE, HSPA+ versions, NFC support, advanced noise cancellation with dedicated mic, MP4/H.264/H.263 player, MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3 player, Adobe Flash support, Voice memo/dial/commands, microUSB 2.0 version, A-GPS support and comes with Li-Ion 1750 mAh standard battery.

The Galaxy Nexus will hit the stores in November in the U.S., Europe and Asia (including China and Japan). As far as the pricing goes, nothing has been announced yet. However, Samsung mentioned that NTT DoCoMo will be the carrier in Japan.

Motorola Droid RAZR

The Motorola Droid RAZR was also unveiled on Tuesday, which is claimed to be the world's thinnest smartphone with a mere 7.1mm thickness.

Powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU, PowerVR SGX540 GPU, TI OMAP 4430 chipset, Motorola Droid RAZR comes with a 4.3-inch screen that has qHD resolution with pixel density of about 256 ppi. Similar to that of Galaxy Nexus, its screen is not LCD but Super AMOLED.

Motorola Droid RAZR runs on Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread OS. It comes with 1GB RAM and 16GB ROM. It features webtop interfaces like the Droid Bionic, Atrix, Photon and others. Thus, in order to run full Firefox browser, the user can tie it up to one of Motorola's lapdocks.

RAZR also comes with a syncing system called MotoCast, which according to Motorola Mobility president, Sanjay Jha, is the phone's most important feature. You can stream content from your computer straight to your pocket (or purse) so your personal content is always within reach, the company said in a press release.

The phone comes with 8-megapixel autofocus LED flash rear-facing camera with 1080p video capture and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing secondary camera for video chat.

The smartphone, which comes with 16GB internal storage and 16GB microSD external card pre-installed (expandable up to 32GB), has Gorilla Glass display, Multi-touch input method, Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate and Proximity sensor for auto turn-off. The phone comes in 130.7 x 68.9 x 7.1 mm dimension and weighs 127 grams.

The additional features include Bluetooth 4.0 version with LE+EDR, microUSB version 2.0, 4G LTE/HSDPA/CDMA support, Splash resistant, HDMI port, SNS integration, Digital compass, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, assisted GPS, eCompass, simultaneous GPS, GLONASS, MP3/AAC+/WAV/WMA player, MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV player and comes with a standard battery of Li-Ion 1780 mAh.

The Motorola Droid RAZR will be available on Verizon in early November at $299.99, with a two-year contract.

HTC EVO Design 4G

Sprint said it continues the award-winning HTC EVO family legacy with the addition of HTC EVO Design 4G, the first EVO family member touting World Phone capabilities.

HTC EVO Design 4G boasts many of the must-have features of its predecessors, including Sprint 4G and a large touchscreen display of 4 inches, while sporting a slim, pocket-friendly aluminum unibody design at an easily affordable price. The phone comes in 4.8 x 2.4 x 0.47 inches dimension and weighs 5.2 ounces.

EVO Design 4G, which runs on the Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS and sports HTC Sense UI, comes with a 5-megapixel camera with flash and can record HD video in 720p. The phone also has the front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for video chat. The phone comes with a 8GB microSD card that is included with the phone (expandable up to 32GB).

Packed with aluminum unibody design, HTC EVO Design 4G features a 4-inch qHD capacitive touchscreen display with 960 x 540 pixels of resolution, powered by a 1.2GHz single-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 MSM7630 processor with 768MB RAM to speed up the device.

The additional features include: microUSB 2.0 version, Bluetooth 3.0, 802.11 Wi-Fi b/g/n connectivity, 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot supporting up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices, Digital compass, motion G-Sensor, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, GPS, Android Market and a whole host of the Google services. The phone is adorned with a standard removable 1520 mAh Lithium Ion (Li-ion) battery that provides up to six hours of talk time.

HTC EVO Design 4G goes on sale Oct. 23 for $99.99 (excluding taxes) with a new two-year Sprint service agreement or eligible upgrade and after a $50 mail-in rebate via reward card.

Motorola Atrix 2

The Motorola Atrix 2 has finally been released, debuting at a retail price of $49 at select AT&T authorized retailers with a new two-year activation on the 4G AT&T mobile broadband network. The Atrix 2 launches at a retail price over $100 lower than its predecessor, the Motorola Atrix 4G did earlier this year.

Motorola developed their WebTop application, which allows Atrix 2 the ability to port into Motorola’s Lapdock or HD Station, thereby transforming into a laptop, desktop or multimedia center. The Motorola Atrix 2, through the WebTop application, uses a full Firefox PC web browser.

The Motorola Atrix 2 can also snap into an in-vehicle GPS dock which allows for hands-free GPS navigation through integration with Google voice. Hands-free voice-activated web surfing is also provided.

AT&T is currently working on providing Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile broadband access which will speed up their 4G network, and currently AT&T promises speeds up to four times faster on their current 4G network than their 3G wireless platform.

As with many second generation 4G Android smartphones, the Motorola Atrix 2 comes with Android’s 2.3.5 Gingerbread OS. The phone comes in 4.96 x 2.59 x 0.40 inches dimension and weighs 5.18 ounces. The phone features a 4.3-inch qHD capacitive touchscreen display with 960 x 540 pixels of resolution and about 256 ppi pixel density.

The Atrix 2 is powered by dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, ULP GeForce GPU, Tegra 2 AP20H chipset with 1GB RAM. The phone comes with 8-megapixel autofocus LED flash rear-facing camera with 1080p video capture and a VGA front-facing secondary camera for video chat.

The smartphone, which comes with 8GB internal storage and 2GB microSD external card included (expandable up to 32GB), has Gorilla Glass display, touch sensitive controls, MOTOBLUR UI with Live Widgets, multi-touch input method, accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate and proximity sensor for auto turn-off.

The additional features include Bluetooth 2.1 version with A2DP and EDR, microUSB version 2.0, 4G, HSDPA 21 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot, active noise cancellation with dedicated mic, HDMI port, Digital compass, MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+ player, MP4/H.263/H.264.WMV/Xvid/DivX @ 30 fps playback, Adobe Flash player and comes with a standard battery of Li-Ion 1785 mAh.

Motorola Atrix 2 is available at $99.99 with a 2-year contract from AT&T.

Samsung Captivate Glide

The Samsung Captivate Glide is a 4G Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphone. It has a thin, side-slide QWERTY keyboard and a powerful 1 GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 AP20H dual core processor. The phone will feature a 4-inch 800 x 480 WVGA Super AMOLED screen, 4G HSPA+ 21 Mbps (Category 14), 1GB RAM/1GB ROM/8GB Internal memory and microSD card supported up to 32GB.

The phone will have an 8-megapixel autofocus LED flash camera with 1080p full HD video capture and a secondary 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat. The phone will also have HDMI playback support, Enhanced Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) to sync email, contacts, calendar and tasks, device and SD card encryption, virtual private network support and Mobile Device Management (MDM).

The additional features that will be adorning Captivate Glide includes: Gorilla Glass display, TouchWiz UI, Multi-touch input method, Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, Touch-sensitive controls, Proximity sensor for auto turn-off, Gyro sensor, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 3.0 version with A2DP, microUSB version 2.0, Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic, SNS integration, HDMI port, NFC support, Digital compass, MP4/DivX/WMV/H.264/H.263 player, MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player, Adobe Flash support and comes with a standard Li-ion battery.

It is still not known when Samsung Captivate Glide will be made available in AT&T.