Hasta La Gadget!

The world cried out for a dual-core smartphone and LG and NVIDIA answered the call. Actually, the world only ever dreamt about multicore mobile architectures up until late last year, but sometimes that’s all it takes to get those zany engineers engineering. So here we are, in early February 2011, beholding the world’s first smartphone built around a dual-core processor, the Optimus 2X. This is a landmark handset in more ways than one, however, as its presence on the market signals LG’s first sincere foray into the Android high end. Although the company delivered two thoroughly competent devices for the platform with the Optimus S and T in 2010, they were the very definition of mid-range smartphones and the truth is that Samsung, HTC and Motorola were left to fight among themselves for the most demanding Android users’ hard-earned rubles. So now that LG’s joined their ranks, was the wait worth it?

Continue reading LG Optimus 2X review

LG Optimus 2X review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Feb 2011 12:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s a phone. It’s a laptop. It’s a desktop.

Motorola wants you to think its upcoming “superphone” is all of these. Soon, we’ll be able to find out.

The Atrix 4G, Motorola’s highly anticipated hybrid smartphone offering, will be available for pre-order beginning February 13. The phone will cost $200 with a two-year AT&T contract, and is expected for wide availability on March 6 or earlier, says AT&T.

Aside from the very sweet dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor pumping out 1GHz of power on both cores, the list of attributes found on the Atrix is fairly similar to other recent smartphone offerings. It’s got a 5-megapixel back facing camera, front facing camera for video chat, and is running Android version 2.2 (Froyo). The full gig of RAM is a nice eyebrow-raising amount, however. And the can expand its storage up to 48GB via SD card.

What is most intriguing about this phone is the Atrix’s ability to go multi-platform. Still want to play Angry Birds on your smartphone during your daily commute? Use the Atrix as you would any other smartphone. Need a laptop for taking notes? Plug the Atrix into the separately-sold laptop dock and bang away on them keys.

Have a big-ass monitor at home and miss the desktop computing experience? Hook that bad boy up to the Atrix’s HD multimedia docking station and use the phone like you would a PC.

Here’s the kicker: nothing in life comes cheap. If you want to buy the laptop dock on its own, it’s a cool 500 bucks. Or alternatively, if you want to grab the Atrix and laptop dock together, AT&T is offering a bundled package price — $600 with two-year contract, or $500 with two-year contract after a mail-in rebate and subscription to the Data Pro plus tethering add-on plan.

The HD multimedia dock isn’t a whole lot cheaper at $190, but with the dock you get a nice little Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, along with a remote control.

Will the high prices turn away crowds, or will the Atrix’s supermutant-like morphing capabilities be able to open the hearts and wallets of customers everywhere?

We’ll see come the next few weeks.

Photos: Jonathan Snyder/Wired.com

See Also:

• Hands-On With Motorola’s @$#%ing Atrix Superphone
• Big, Beautiful and Badass: The 9 Coolest Android Smartphones at …
• Hands-On With LG’s Optimus 2X Superphone
• Motorola, LG Flex Dual-Core Smartphones

We’re not sure what’s going on with the new teaser video released by LG. It looks like the handset that Phandroid pegged as the Optimus 3D a few days ago and has since become the poster-boy for the device that will officially include a glasses-free 3D LCD and “dual-lens camera for 3D recording.” While we can see the front-facing cam, try as we might we just can’t see that pair of lenses on the back of the handset teased in the video. In fact, we don’t see any camera at all leading us to believe that LG might be manipulating the image for a big reveal in a few weeks. The video does drop some spec hints with phrases like “something bigger” and “dual core — multi channel” which would seem to indicate a 4.x-inch display (presumably the 4.3-inch 3D display we spotted at CES), dual-core SoC (like LG’s Optimus 2x), and multi-channel RAM as originally rumored by Phandroid. Guess we’ll have to wait for Mobile World Congress to know for sure. Get your monster truck on with the teaser video embedded after the break.

Update: We’ve been told that the phone is definitely a manipulated Optimus 3D.

Continue reading LG teases Optimus 3D, only without the 3D (video)

LG teases Optimus 3D, only without the 3D (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 08:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon’s German outlet has started listing LG’s two latest and undoubtedly greatest phones: the Optimus 2X (seemingly renamed the Optimus Speed here) and the Optimus Black. Both run Android 2.2 on 4-inch screens, with the former offering a dual-core Tegra 2 processor capable of 1080p video recording and HDMI output, and the latter cranking up the display brightness to a quite unreasonable 700 nits. The Optimus Black also has one of the thinnest profiles on a smartphone of its class at 9.2mm, and will be one of the first phones to offer WiFi Direct connectivity. Intriguingly, Amazon’s Optimus Speed / 2X listing also shows a brown color option for the handset, though only its black SKU is subject to a neat €50 discount bringing its price to €499, the same as the cost of the Optimus Black. We don’t know when either one will drop, but you can go and reserve yourself one (or a dozen) at the links below.

[Thanks, Julian]

Continue reading LG Optimus 2X and Optimus Black priced at €499 by Amazon Germany, not yet available to buy

LG Optimus 2X and Optimus Black priced at €499 by Amazon Germany, not yet available to buy originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Jan 2011 05:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yesterday’s leaked image of a purported Nokia tablet device seems to have been more informative than we initially believed it to be. An eagle-eyed forum member over on mobile-review has spotted the similarity between it and a reference platform for ST-Ericsson’s U8500 system-on-chip. Last we heard, that little powerhouse was running a pair of 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 cores, so excuse us if we find the prospect of it driving Nokia’s next flagship a rather exciting one. You can see video of the reference device in question after the break — it ends on the delicious and unequivocal assertion from the ST-Ericsson rep that Nokia has signed up to deliver the U8500 in an upcoming device. Bear in mind, however, that the video is from November of last year and we still don’t know for sure that the Nokia slate above is its MeeGo progenitor or just a prototype. Either way, the U8500 is expected in smartphones at some point in the first half of this year, which kind of fits Nokia’s roadmap, no?

[Image credit: Cor72z]

Continue reading Nokia’s leaked MeeGo device resembles dual-core ST-Ericsson U8500 reference platform

Nokia’s leaked MeeGo device resembles dual-core ST-Ericsson U8500 reference platform originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Jan 2011 08:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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