Will LG Nitro HD Outrun Motorola Droid RAZR?

The LG Nitro HD, which was made available on AT&T's network from Dec. 4, is expected to face immense pressure from Motorola's Droid RAZR, as Verizon is offering an additional $100 off on the Droid XYBOARD Tablet when customers buy the Motorola smartphone.

Taking advantage of LG's new proprietary True HD technology, Nitro HD's 4.5-inch AH-IPS (Advanced High-Performance In-Plane Switching) display supports resolutions up to 1280 x 720 pixels and offers unrivaled color accuracy, brightness, battery efficiency and performance.

LG said Nitro HD's 500 nit display luminance allows for clear viewing in direct sunlight and RGB stripe pixels deliver incredibly accurate true-to-life color rendering. The phone is the first smartphone in AT&T's portfolio with a true high definition screen and is the third 4G LTE smartphone for AT&T customers.

The Nitro, which runs on Google Inc.'s Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS, has a dual-core 1.5 GHz Scorpion processor, 4.5-inch True HD AH-IPS display, 1 GB of RAM, 4GB of internal memory plus an included 16GB microSD card, an 8 megapixel rear-facing LED flash camera with 1080p video capture and a secondary front-facing camera for video calls.

On the other hand, the Motorola Droid RAZR, which is reportedly the world's thinnest smartphone - a mere 0.28 inches thick - 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 Droid RAZR, which also runs the Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS, has a 1.2 GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU, PowerVR SGX540 GPU, TI OMAP 4430 chipset and a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Gorilla Glass 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.

The Droid RAZR also comes with 16GB internal storage and a 16GB microSD external card pre-installed (expandable up to 32GB), an 8 megapixel autofocus LED flash camera with 1080p video capture and a secondary 1.3 megapixel camera for video chat.

Will Nitro HD feel the pressure of Droid RAZR or the LG smartphone outrun the Motorola one? Let's take a look at the specifications of both the phones:

Display: The Nitro HD touts a 4.5-inch True HD AH-IPS (Advanced High-Performance In-Plane Switching) capacitive touch-screen with 1280 x 720 pixels resolution at about 326 ppi pixel density. On the other hand, Droid RAZR sports 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Advanced qHD display, offering resolution of 960 x 540 pixels. The Motorola phone is made with KEVLAR fiber and scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass.

Size: The Nitro HD comes with 5.27 x 2.67 x 0.41 inches dimension and weighs 4.5 ounces. On the other hand, the Droid RAZR comes in 5.15 x 2.71 x 0.28 inches dimension and weighs 4.48 ounces.

Processor: The Nitro HD features 1.5GHz Scorpion dual-core processor, Adreno 220 GPU, Qualcomm APQ8060 processor with 1GB RAM. On the other hand, the Droid RAZR features dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A9 CPU, Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 chipset, PowerVR SGX540 GPU with 1GB RAM.

Camera: Both smartphones sport a rear-facing 8-megapixel LED flash camera with 1080p video capture capability. The Droid RAZR has an additional 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera for video calling while Nitro HD has a 1 megapixel camera for video chat.

3G/4G: Nitro HD has HSDPA 21 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps and supports 4G LTE. On the other hand, Droid RAZR has Rev. A, up to 3.1 Mbps, LTE, HSDPA, and HSUPA.

Operating System: Both smartphones have the Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system with the promise of an upgrade to Google Inc.'s latest smartphone OS, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Android Head of Engineering Mike Claren announced the new OS - Ice Cream Sandwich - as Google's most ambitious release to date.

User Interface: The Nitro HD comes with LG's custom user interface, while the Droid RAZR uses Motorola's custom user interface.

WLAN/Bluetooth/USB: Both smartphones have in common Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, and Wi-Fi hotspot. The Nitro HD additionally has Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 3.0 version with A2DP and HS, and microUSB 2.0 version, while Droid RAZR has Bluetooth version 4.0 with LE+EDR and USB 3.0 version with A2DP.

Storage: The Nitro HD has fixed 4GB internal storage with a 16GB microSD card included in the package that can be expanded up to 32GB. However, the Droid RAZR has an internal 16 GB storage and an expandable memory of up 32 GB via microSD card.

Battery: The Nitro HD comes with a standard Li-ion 1830 mAh battery. On the other hand, the RAZR comes with a standard Li-ion 1780 mAh battery that gives more than 12 hours 30 minutes of talk time and 204 hours of standby.

Pricing: The LG Nitro HD is priced at $149.99 with a two-year AT&T contract in selected areas, while the Droid RAZR is priced at $299.99 with a two-year Verizon Wireless contract. In addition, when a customer is buying Droid RAZR, Verizon is offering a $100 off on a Droid XYBOARD Tablet, which is priced $529.99 for a 16GB version.

Editors' Rating: Droid RAZR scores over Nitro HD in technology editors' ratings. CNET has a score of 4.5 out of 5 stars for the Droid RAZR, while the Nitro HD scored 4. PCMag rates both the smartphones 4.5 stars.