Top 5 Android Phones That Could Outrun Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which is the first phone running on Google's Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, is expected to arrive in the United States after Nov. 25, Black Friday. However, some Android smartphone contenders will try their best to spoil the party.

Google Inc. and Samsung unveiled Galaxy Nexus which runs on Ice Cream Sandwich, the newest version of Android, at an event in Hong Kong Oct. 18.

Ice Cream Sandwich is a combination of Gingerbread and Honeycomb in one unit. Android Head of Engineering Mike Claren announced that the new OS is Google's most ambitious release to date.

The newest features arriving with Android 4.0 include widgets in a new tab, a customizable launcher, Gmail with offline search with a two-line preview and new action bar at the bottom, better voice integration, improved copy and paste and a new tabbed Web browser that allows up to 16 tabs.

Galaxy Nexus, which will come in 135.5 x 67.94 x 8.94 mm dimension and weighs 135 grams, was also known as Samsung Google Nexus Prime, Samsung Google Galaxy Nexus I9250, Samsung Google Nexus 3 and Samsung Google Nexus 4G.

Galaxy Nexus is adorned with dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A9 CPU, TI OMAP 4460 chipset, 4.65-inch high-definition Super AMOLED display, 1 GB of RAM, 16 or 32 GB of internal memory, NFC, 4G LTE support, 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with 1080p video capture, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video calls, HSDPA 21 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps and 4G LTE support.

But, does Samsung Galaxy Nexus have enough firepower to challenge the top 5 new 'super' smartphones that run on Google Inc.'s Android? The top five Galaxy Nexus contenders are: Motorola Droid RAZR, Motorola Atrix 2, HTC EVO Design 4G, HTC Vivid and HTC Rezound or Vigor.

Motorola Droid RAZR

Motorola unveiled Droid RAZR, which is claimed to be the world's thinnest smartphone with a mere 7.1mm thickness, Oct. 18.

Droid RAZR, which runs on Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread OS, 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.

Droid RAZR is adorned with 1.2 GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU, PowerVR SGX540 GPU, TI OMAP 4430 chipset, and 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display that has qHD resolution with pixel density of about 256 ppi. 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.

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.

Motorola Droid RAZR will be available on Verizon from Nov. 10 at $299.99, with a two-year contract.

Motorola Atrix 2

Motorola Atrix 2 has finally been released at a retail price $99 with a new two-year activation on the 4G AT&T mobile broadband network, lower than its predecessor, 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. Motorola Atrix 2, through the WebTop application, uses a full Firefox PC web browser.

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.

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.

HTC EVO Design 4G

Sprint 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 an 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 is available at $99.99 with a 2-year contract from Sprint.

HTC Vivid

AT&T has released one of the long-awaited 4G LTE smartphone HTC Vivid on its network. The latest mobile from HTC will be available from Nov 6 in stores and online for $199 under 2-year contract.

Vivid, which runs on Google's Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread operating system, packs a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and a 4.5-inch qHD display with 960 x 540 pixels of resolution and about 245 ppi pixel density.

It is expected that the phone would be upgraded to the latest version of Google Inc.'s smartphone operating system, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, after the holiday season.

HTC Vivid is one of the first smartphones able to utilize both LTE and HSPA+ 4G speeds, which allow owners of the smartphone reliable connection in both areas where applicable.

HTC Vivid, which has a 135.5 x 67.9 x 8.9 mm dimension and weighs 135 grams, features a 4.5-inch qHD display with a resolution of 540x960 pixels. It is powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor. It also has an 8-megapixel dual-LED flash 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 expandable up to 32GB microSD card, has multi-touch input method, accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, proximity sensor for auto turn-off, HTC Sense UI, and touch-sensitive controls.

The additional features include Bluetooth 3.0 version with A2DP, microUSB version 2.0, 4G LTE, HSDPA, HSUPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot, SNS integration, Digital compass, MP3/AAC+/WAV/WMA player, MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV player, A-GPS support, and a standard Li-ion battery.

HTC Vivid will be available from Nov. 6 in stores and online for $199 under 2-year contract at AT&T.

HTC Rezound or Vigor

HTC Rezound, also known as the HTC Vigor, may be on its way to the market. Droid-Life has captured a somewhat deformed shot of HTC Rezound via a Verizon ad that went live too soon.

The phone from the HTC camp, which is due to hit Verizon's 4G LTE network, is rumored to sport a 1.5GHz dual-core processor. It will run on Android Gingerbread juice.

The phone, which is touted to be a replacement for the HTC Thunderbolt, is expected to don a 4.3-inch display with 1280x720 screen resolution and about 342 ppi pixel density.

Vigor is surmised to be fitted with an 8-megapixel dual-LED flash camera with 1080p video capture and a secondary camera for video chat. It is expected to come with HTC Sense version 3.5 user interface.

Also it is expected to offer 1GB RAM, 16GB internal storage and is also surmised to incorporate Beats Electronics Technology - best known for the high-performance line of headphones backed by hip-hop artiste/producer Dr. Dre.

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