The LG Connect 4G measures 0.4 inch thick, 4.6 inches high and 2.5 inches wide and weighs 5.12 ounces, which is quite heavy. It fits comfortably between shoulder and ear and slips easily into the pants pocket. One of the extensive and exquisite features found on this model is the 4.0 inch NOVA LCD display that boasts 480 x 840 pixel resolution with 242ppi pixel density. The screen is really very bright and fusing around phone both outdoors and indoors and watching videos come out great. It has Corning Gorilla Glass Screen Protector, so you don’t have to worry about being slightly rough with the handset. Viewing HQ videos on YouTube yields similar results.

Above the display on the right hand side of LG Connect 4G, you will find a VGA front facing camera for conference calling or video chatting. Underneath it there are typical four illuminated navigation functions. The standard power button is situated on top of the smartphone, while 3.5mm headphone on the left. The microUSB port and volume rocker button are also on the left. At the back of the device, you will find a rear facing camera with LED flash. The curved edges, few metal accents and simplistic shell are all appealing. MetroPCS is pushing Connect as flagship handset mainly due to its smartphone with dual core processor. Its processor makes the LG Connect 4G quite responsive and snappy.

The LG Connect 4G is powered by an Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system, rather than Android Operating System, Ice Cream Sandwich. Some of the Google services include Google Places, Google Maps, Gmail and Google Talk. MetroPCS has also added some of its own applications, including MetroWeb, Metro Navigator, Metro411 and MetroBackup. Those who are interested in Music, the Connect 4G gets Rhapsody music player application. The 5.0-megapixel camera at the back features LED flash and autofocus. Both focusing and shutter speeds of rear and front facing camera is great, as is the shooter’s image quality. As expected, in low light conditions, there is some noise in the images, and LED flash can sometimes be unflattering and too harsh when it comes to portraits.

You will also like the other features of LG Connect 4G’s camera such as white balance module, timer, exposure meter, scene menu to tell the camera if you are shooting portrait, sunset, or landscape and quite a few color effects (negative, sepia, white and black). The camera records High Definition video in 720p with 1280 x 720 pixel resolution. The recordings are responsive and quick, and the camera picks up noise accurately without any signs of impurity.

Standard features on LG Connect 4G include 2G Network: CDMA 800 / 1900; 3G Network: CDMA2000 1xEV-DO; 4G Network: LTE 1700 / 2100; 4.0 inch LCD capacitive touchscreen with touch sensitive controls, 16 million colors, 242 ppi pixel density and 480 x 840 pixels; Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones; microSD, up to 32GB; 4 GB storage, 1 GB RAM; Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot; 5.0-megapixel camera with 2592õ1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash and Geotagging; Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread); Dual-core 1.2 GHz processor; GPS with A-GPS support; SNS integration; MP4/H.264/H.263 player; MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player; Organizer; Image/video editor; Document viewer; Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk and Picasa integration.

The LG Connect 4G also gets Voice memo/dial/commands; Predictive text input; Phonebook: Unlimited entries, Caller groups, Multiple numbers per contact, Search by both first and last name, Picture ID, Ring ID; Organizer: Calendar, Alarm, Calculator and Notes; Messaging: SMS, MMS, Threaded view; Notifications: Music ringtones (MP3), Polyphonic ringtones, Vibration, Flight mode, Silent mode, Speakerphone; Sensors: Accelerometer; Hearing aid compatibility: M4, T4, Voice dialing, Voice commands and Voice recording.

Also standard on LG Connect 4G are Bluetooth 3.0 Profiles: Audio/Video Control Transport Protocol (AVCTP), Advanced Audio Distribution (A2DP), Audio/Visual Remote Control Profile (AVRCP), Audio/Video Distribution Transport Protocol (AVDTP), Generic Access (GAP), File Transfer (FTP), Handsfree (HFP), Generic Audio/Video Distribution (GAVDP), Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol, Headset (HSP), Object Push (OPP), Message Access Profile (MAP), Serial Port (SPP), Phone Book Access (PBAP), Service Discovery Protocol (SDP) and Service Discovery Application (SDAP).

As for gaming, whether you like action, arcade, casino or sports, you will find plethora of choices on Android Market. Keep any party thumping with 12 million songs along with unlimited text, talk, multimedia streaming and web from Samsung Galaxy Attain 4G’s optional Rhapsody Unlimited Music plan. The Galaxy Attain 4G is designed to take full advantage of MetroPCS 4G LTE network. Download movies, songs, books or images and start enjoying them faster than ever before. Watch streaming video and browse websites without a hiccup. Upload photos to Twitter and Facebook in a snap.

The middle of the road Galaxy Attain 4G of Samsung has attractive design and attractive price of the customers of MetroPCS, but those who are in the market looking for true LTE speeds should choose a different carrier. The all-new Samsung Galaxy Attain 4G is a nice addition to the lineup of MetroPCS and has an eye catching style with sensible price tag of $199.99. With silver rim, backing and sides for offsetting shiny black face, it is a pretty gorgeous looking smartphone. The Attain 4G measures 2.6 inches wide and 0.4 inch thick and weighs 4.5 ounces. One of the exquisite features found on this model is the 3.5 inch LCD touchscreen display that boasts 320 x 480 pixel resolution. It is quite colorful and bright with brighter icons and darker background.

Powering the Samsung Galaxy Attain 4G is an Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system with TouchWiz interface of Samsung. You will find one touch access to the system settings from pull down menu. Underneath the screen, you will find four physical buttons for assisting with navigation – Menu, Search, Home and Back functions. Like other smartphones in the market, the Attain 4G comes with front facing 1.3 megapixel and 3.2 megapixel rear facing cameras. The physical camera button is situated on the right hand side of the device, while the microUSB charging port at the bottom. The 3.5mm headphone jack is on the top of the smartphone, while the volume rocker button on the left. The microSD memory card slot is beneath the battery cover and takes up to 32GB.

As an Android smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Attain 4G comes with Wi-Fi, voice search, Bluetooth and GPS. There is unlimited social networking integration and address book with communication staples including email, speakerphone and multimedia and text messaging. You will also find access to vast web of online services of Google such as YouTube and Google Music. The rest of controls are straightforward and switching between video and camera mode or rear and front facing cameras is quite intuitive. The same applies to toggle on flash, fiddling with other options for scenes and focus and setting exposure.

Standard features on Samsung Galaxy Attain 4G include 2G Network: CDMA 800 / 1900; 3G Network: CDMA2000 1xEV-DO; 4G Network: LTE 1700 / 2100; 3.5 inch LCD capacitive touchscreen with 320 x 480 pixels; Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones; microSD, up to 32GB; 512 MB RAM; Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot; 3.2 megapixel camera with 2048×1536 pixels and Geo-tagging; Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread); 1 GHz processor; SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS; GPS with A-GPS support; SNS integration; MP4/WMV/H.264/H.263 player; MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+ player; Organizer; Image/video editor; Document viewer; Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk and Picasa integration; Voice memo/dial; Predictive text input; Phonebook: Caller groups, Unlimited entries, Search by both first and last name, Multiple numbers per contact, Picture ID, Ring ID; Organizer: Calendar, Alarm, Calculator; Notifications: Music ringtones (MP3), Polyphonic ringtones, Vibration, Flight mode, Silent mode, Speakerphone; Sensors: Accelerometer, Voice dialing, Voice commands and Voice recording. Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Attain 4G is a pretty nice package for a midtier Android smartphone.

The Motorola Electrify is similar to Motorola Photon 4G for Sprint and comes with eight-megapixel camera, dual core processor, 4.3 inch qHD display and more. Its standard list of impressive features combined with compatibility with quite a few accessories and solid performance, makes it one of the best smartphones of U.S. Cellular, especially for those seeking a powerful smartphone with latest technology. The Electrify is a dual-mode CDMA/GSM smartphone and provides world roaming abilities. It works on CDMA network of U.S. Cellular and gets unlocked SIM, so if you travel overseas, you can buy a prepaid SIM card for receiving data and making voice calls.

Basic features on Motorola Electrify include speakerphone, multimedia and text messaging, conference calling and voice dialing. It is 3G capable and can also be used as mobile hotspot for up to 8 devices. aGPS, Bluetooth 2.1 and Wi-Fi are also onboard. Powering the Electrify is an Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system and incorporates Google’s services and applications such as Gmail, Places, Google Maps with Navigation, YouTube, Voice Search, Latitude and Google Talk. It is also equipped with plethora of useful applications, including WebTop Connector application that can be used with optional notebook dock, Quickoffice suite and task manager. The carrier has also loaded its own apps such as Daily Perks, IMDb and Zappos.

The Motorola Electrify features an eight-megapixel camera with dual LED flash, providing settings and tools for exposure controls, geotagging, different scene modes, effects and more. Picture quality is a bit disappointing. Images taken in low-light conditions will come out looking hazy with faint colors. However, the camera does well with outdoor shots, but videos taken outdoors and indoors will look washed out. You can share media through its DLNA or HDMI port. The Motorola Electrify has 16GB of internal memory and expansion slot, which supports up to 32GB memory cards. It comes packaged with AC adapter, USB cable, wired stereo headset, and reference material. The carrier doesn’t offer special bundles with laptop dock or other accessories like Bluetooth wireless keyboard and HD Station, but you can purchase them through the Website of Motorola.

Standard features on Motorola Electrify include Android 2.3 (Gingerbread); Multiple Networks: Worldphone – WCDMA 850/1900/2100, CDMA 800/1900 and GSM 850/900/1800/1900; 8 MP MEGAPIXEL camera with Digital Zoom, Dual LED FLASH, Automatic Focus and Image Editing Tools: Crop, rotate, advanced editing, Geo and custom tagging; Motorola Music Player; FM radio receive; Video Capable: HD video capture and playback with main camera; Front facing webcam; Playable Formats: H.263, AAC, MP3, H.264, WAV, MPEG-4, WMA10, WMA9, AMR WB, eAAC+, WMV v10, AMR NB, WMA v9, AAC+ and MIDI; Email4: Corporate Sync, Google Mail, POP3/IMAP embedded, Push Email, Yahoo Mail; Predictive Text; Image File Formats: BMP, PNG, GIF, JPEG; USB 2.0 (High Speed); DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance); GPS And Location Services: aGPS, sGPS, eCompass; Supports Corporate calendar, email and contacts (Exchange 2003, 2007 and 2010), Google contacts, calendar and Gmail, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn contacts.

The Motorola Electrify is also equipped with Advanced Speech Recognition; Automatic Redial; Call Waiting; Emergency Dial; Mute Call; Phone Book: Integration with Gmail, Google Apps, Exchange, and Social networks; SPEED DIAL: Direct dial shortcut, direct message shortcut; Gmail; Google Calendar; Google Contact Sync; Google Latitude; Google Maps Street View; Google Maps; Google Maps Navigation; Google Quick Search Box; Google Talk; Google eBooks; Google Search by Voice; Voice Actions for Android; Dedicated Keys: Volume control, Camera, Back, Search, Menu, Power/Lock, Home; Display Lock; Pinch To Zoom; Touch Screen; Virtual Keyboard; Voice Commands; Customize your docked shortcuts with your favorite applications; 1GHz dual core processor and Accelerometer. The rated battery life of Electrify is 10 hours in talktime mode and 8.3 days in standby mode. Nevertheless, it brings high-powered and fully stocked Android device, which is sure to please many smartphone fans.

Apple launched Siri with IPhone 4S in the month of October. Billed as flagship feature for latest Apple device, the assistant needs either 3G or Wi-Fi connection, since translated voice text is sent to servers of Apple to process. The growing facility of users with interactive voice tools and increase in data-intensive devices places additional pressure on mobile carriers for meeting the demands effectively, without slowing speeds or dropping calls. Verizon announced that it set a record for most iPhone handsets marketed in United States carrier in single quarter.

Beginners continue to get on bandwidth bandwagon as handsets become more common, and as brawnier handsets gain in popularity. Both trends are creating unparalleled demand for carriers, who may depend on greater use of Wi-Fi, technology to compress data or rationalized data plans as some alternatives.

RIM BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300’s design has been copied from its predecessors, it feels and looks very similar to the earlier model, the 8520. The dimensions are the same; both phones are 4.3 inches long, 0.6 inch thick and 2.4 inches wide. They weigh the same at 3.6 ounces and both feature a 2.4 inch screen with same media keys on the top and also the same QWERTY keyboard.

One big difference in design here is the optical trackpad has been tweaked; it is now rounded and raised which makes it easy to use. The new trackpad was more responsive as well. Another change I noticed here was that the 8520 had barriers between the navigation buttons and the Curve 3G has a very flat navigation array without any divisions. I liked the 8520 better since it was easy to navigate by feel but I wasn’t too disappointed with the new design either. The last change I want to tell you is that the Curve 3G has texturized rubber which doesn’t let the device slide around when you place it on a smooth surface. It also lets you grip the phone better.

The manufacturer gives the RIM BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 with power adapter, USB cord, mini CD, wired headset and reference manual. This phone runs on BlackBerry OS 5 and RIM says that you can upgrade it to BlackBerry OS 6, which should be done because the new version has a lot of new features. The OS6 will give you brand new home screen, universal search, new Web browser, and the messaging features too are easier to access.

RIM BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 has all the usually phone features like multimedia and text messaging, speed dialing, conference calling, voice dialing, an speakerphone. There are plenty of IM options including Windows Live, Yahoo, ICQ, AIM, BlackBerry Messenger, etc. BlackBerry is a brand well known for its e-mail options and it continues the legacy here too. The device lets you sync with your company’s BlackBerry Enterprise server along with other corporate systems of e-mail like IBM Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange, etc. IMAP4 and POP3 e-mail information can also be added and the phone will easily detect your Yahoo Mail and Gmail accounts.

The ZTE Warp might sound like a cutting edge handset from the future, but is really an entry level Android smartphone with basic camera, slow 3G data and modest speeds. On no-contract service of Boost Mobile, it fits in well. The company’s $199 Warp is a sign of that shift, providing full power of Android with plenty of speed for handling it. Get flawless and quick access to IM and email via Google Talk and Gmail, along with plethora of best-in class messaging experience. The Warp has a nondescript black slab shape, measuring 5 inches high, 0.5 inch thick and 2.7 inches wide, and weighing 5.3 ounces.

The ZTE Warp comes with 4.3 inch LCD display with 800 x 480 pixel resolution and pumps out acceptable amount of light. Colors look vivid, even if they lack saturation and impact found on other high end smartphones. Its thick bezel surrounding Warp’s screen makes it appear small. Additionally, the touchscreen is less responsive as compared to other devices in the market, perhaps due to its special Gorilla Glass that enhances durability. Its input is XT9 virtual keyboard with wide, gray keys and enough space, providing light haptic feedback. You can also choose from standard Android keyboard that is practically similar, however with square keys and black background.

Above the ZTE Warp’s screen, you will find a silver earpiece speaker, but doesn’t come with front facing camera, which means video chat is out of the question. Nevertheless, you will find a notification lamp, something which is found very less on today’s handsets. Underneath the screen, there are capacitive buttons for standard Android functions, including Home, Search, Menu and Back. The dedicated camera button and microUSB charging port are located on the right hand side of the device, while the 3.5mm headphone jack and small black power key on the top. The volume rocker button is situated on the left hand side of smartphone, while the rear facing 5.0-megapixel camera with LED flash and main speaker at the back. Once you remove the battery cover that is unnervingly flexible and thin, unveils the large 1600mAh battery of the device and gets microSD memory card slot that holds up to 32GB maximum.

The ZTE Warp provides very bare-bones Android experience with greatest Ice Cream Sandwich version of OS. The Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread operating system brings all of flexibility and powerful customization features, which will surely appeal to Android users. You will find five different home screens, which you can populate favorite application shortcuts and widgets, linking you to Android Market for library of Google of over 250,000 applications, music, movies and books. The company has preloaded Warp with staple selection of Google software like applications for GPS navigation, Gmail, messaging and email. There is also standard multimedia player for video and music with My Files application to sift via data directory of Warp and quite a few essential utilities such as alarm clock, voice recorder and stopwatch.

The only attempt for tweaking the ZTE Warp’s interface is the Mobile IS feature ported from parent company of Boost Mobile called Sprint. With this feature, you can download plenty of themes like MTV, Professional and Socially Connected built around applications and wallpapers customized to match them. The software of camera is usual for Gingerbread and the device doesn’t provide more sophisticated settings like 60Hz and 50Hz Anti Banding, sharpness, manual ISO and saturation.

Standard features on ZTE Warp include 2G Network: CDMA 800 / 1900; 3G Network: CDMA2000 1xEV-DO; Touch-sensitive controls; 4.3 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with 480 x 800 pixels; Vibration; MP3 ringtones; microSD, up to 32GB; 4 GB storage, 512 MB RAM; Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Wi-Fi hotspot; 5.0-megapixel camera with 2560?1920 pixels, autofocus, LED flash and Geo-tagging; Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread); Qualcomm MSM8655 Snapdragon; GPU: Adreno 205; SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM; GPS with A-GPS support; SNS integration; MP4/H.264/H.263 player; MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player; Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Google Talk and Picasa integration; Organizer; Voice memo; Predictive text input; Phonebook: Caller groups, Unlimited entries, Search by both first and last name, Multiple numbers per contact, Picture ID and Ring ID.

The ZTE Warp also adds Organizer: Alarm, Calendar, Calculator, Document viewer, Stopwatch, World clock and Notepad; E-mail: POP3, IMAP, Microsoft Exchange and SMTP; Bluetooth Profiles: Handsfree (HFP), Headset (HSP) and Advanced Audio Distribution (A2DP); Notifications: Music ringtones (MP3), Service lights, Vibration, Polyphonic ringtones, Silent mode and Flight mode. The rated battery life of Warp is nine days and nine hours in standby mode and five days of usage time.

Overall, it offers all the Android Gingerbread essentials with plenty of horsepower to get the job done.

The Samsung Repp for United States Cellular hits the adage on the head. It is a perfect free smartphone with Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS and is best suited for those who won’t pick their handset apart with critical eyes. The Repp is quite small with 3.2 megapixel camera that takes decent outdoor images and 3.2 inch touchscreen display. You will find 2GB microSD memory card installed. The Repp is available for the price of $139.99 with two-year contract. Here is another trend in cellphone design: the more basic the features, the splashier the paint job. It has appealing berry shade that rings back cover and face, where it is slightly dimpled. The bottom and top and flat, wide spines are matte silver color, while the Home button on its face has brushed black finish, which makes it look a cut above shiny plastic buttons.

The Samsung Repp measures 4.35 inches high, 0.48 inch thick and 2.26 inches wide and weighs reasonable 3.72 ounces. One of the extensive features found on this model is the 3.2 inch HVGA screen that boasts 320 x 480 QVGA pixel resolution and is quite serviceable in terms of brightness and color. One of the interesting features of Repp is its Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system that offers five home screens on the handset along with usual vertical scrolling in the application tray, which you get with unadulterated Android. Underneath the screen, you will find three navigation buttons: physical button, which serves for Select and Home and touch sensitive back and menu buttons.

The microSD memory card slot and power button is located on the right hand side of Samsung Repp, while the 3.5mm headphone jack on the top. The volume rocker button is situated on the left hand side of smartphone, while the microUSB charging port at the bottom. The 3.2 megapixel camera is at the back. The Android Gingerbread OS offers sense of familiarity and unity along with assurance that the handset will be equipped with array of social networking and email options, Wi-Fi, multimedia and text messaging, GPS and Bluetooth.

The Samsung Repp allows you to access over 300,000 downloadable applications in Android Market for complementing fundamental programs including clock, music player, calendar, browser and calculator. Some of the Google services include usual Maps with turn by turn voice navigation, YouTube, search, Places and Books. Other applications get you started as well though these number fewer as compared to other Android smartphones. But you will find link to app store of Amazon and Amazon.com, a Gameloft sponsored link for games compatible with Repp along with Audible.com to procure audio content like books. There is also Daily Perks and CityID, United States Cellular’s daily deals application, Uno game demo, contacts backup, ringtone applications and Think Free Office.

The Samsung Repp features a 3.2 megapixel camera with no flash and no autofocus, but images come out really good. Standard features on Repp include 2G Network: CDMA 800 / 1900; 3G Network: CDMA2000 1xEV-DO; 3.2 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with 320 x 480 pixels; Touch-sensitive controls; Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones; microSD, up to 32GB, 2 GB included; Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot; 3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels; Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread); CPU: 800 MHz; Accelerometer, proximity, compass; SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM; SNS integration; MP4/WMV/H.264/H.263 player; MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+ player; Organizer; Image/video editor; Document viewer; Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration; Voice memo/dial; Predictive text input.

The Samsung Repp also gets Phonebook: Multiple numbers per contact, Caller groups, Picture ID, Search by both first and last name and Ring ID; Organizer: Calendar, Alarm, Calculator; Bluetooth 3.0 Profiles: Advanced Audio Distribution (A2DP); Notifications: Polyphonic ringtones, Music ringtones (MP3), Flight mode, Vibration and Silent mode. The rated battery life of Repp is 12.5 days in standby mode and 8 hours in talktime mode. Overall, it has plenty of processing power for all your applications and web surfing with its 800MHz Central Processing unit.

Nokia 2320 GoPhone is very barebones. It has a simple feature set and simple design. Bells and whistles are deliberately avoided in order to keep the price low. This device is made for senior citizens or for someone who just wants a cell phone to make calls. I am a hard core tech enthusiast but I don’t expect everyone to be like me. There are people who don’t care at all about phones and this is not just limited to the people who are on a stiff budget. There are managers of big companies using a barebones phone not just because they cannot afford to buy high end phones but because they just aren’t interested much in phones.

Nokia 2320 GoPhone is made for such people. All it can do is make calls and send text messages. I was disappointed that there is no Bluetooth in here, I am used to seeing that even in the lowest end phones. It comes in handy for wireless data transfers and you can also hook up a wireless headset for calling. This phone seriously lacks in features and it makes the phone lightweight too. I bet you won’t even notice it the phone in your pocket.

The Nokia 2320 GoPhone comes in a plastic body that makes it look really cheap. I cannot complain much about this here since this is a low end phone and such things are not unexpected. Just be wary of this though, if you want your gadgets to give a feel good factor to your hand, don’t buy this phone. The display supports 65k colors and it is not the brightest or the best we have seen but still OK for an entry level user. Below the display, there are two soft buttons, a four way navigation button with OK key in the middle and the standard Talk and End buttons.

Below the navigation array, there are the keypad buttons which are flush with the phones surface and a bit difficult to press. The keys were a bit small for my thick fingers and I had to struggle even to press the phone numbers. While typing messages, I made a lot of mistakes.

Feature set is bare bones. Nothing much in terms of text and multimedia messaging, there is no camera either. Simple organizer features are there and you can sync this mobile phone with your computer too. Bluetooth is a feature that I thought was required on this phone but Nokia insists that you don’t need it on such basic phones. Other than that, there is nothing much to write about this phone. Buy it if you just want a phone to make and receive calls.

The Samsung Focus S is basically a slate smartphone and a successor to one of the best selling Windows Phone called Samsung Focus revealed in the month of November 2011 in United States. At present, Focus S is offered exclusively through AT&T. It is only about 8.5mm at its slimmest point that makes it beautiful, stylish and pretty easy to slip into tightest jeans pocket. With its eight-megapixel camera, you can not only take beautiful images and video, but also get into the act. Smile! Reinforced by strong hardware specifications and brilliant screen, it is arguably the best Windows Phone ever revealed.

The Windows Phone operating system has arrived on plenty of good smartphones, but none of the makers has yet been capable to design killer Windows Phone for United States market till now. The all new Samsung Focus S, a thin and light device launched by AT&T is a gorgeous handset with 4.3 inch Super AMOLED display, good eight-megapixel rear facing camera and front facing 1.3 megapixel camera. It is fundamentally the same shell like excellent Samsung Galaxy S II phone of AT&T, plus physical camera button and minus Android OS. The Focus S is available for the price of $199.99 with two-year service contract.

Open, classy and sleek are the three works that describe Samsung Focus S with flat sides and curved corners. As with Galaxy S II and Skyrocket phones of AT&T, it has little dimpled back cover with slight rise where cover snaps into place at the bottom. It measures 0.3 inch thick, 5 inches high, 2.6 inches wide and weighs 3.9 ounces. One of the extensive and exquisite features found in this model is the 4.3 Super AMOLED touchscreen that boasts 16 million colors and WVGA resolution of 800×480 pixels. As compared to other handsets, the colors are vivid and stand out from the display. Powering the Focus S is a Windows Phone 7.5 Mango operating system with simple interface, and is simply single start screen populated with dynamic live tiles. With this page, you can determine application and color order and unpin and pin tiles.

The Samsung Focus S’ 1.3 megapixel camera is located above the display, while the three touch sensitive buttons correspond to search, back and home. Holding and pressing the back button allows you to switch among tasks. The volume rocker button is located on the left hand side of the device, while the camera shutter and power button on the right. The micro USB charging port is at the bottom of the smartphone, while 3.5mm headphone jack on the top. Flip the phone over for locating the eight-megapixel camera with LED flash. As it is a Windows Phone, all memory is internal and doesn’t have microSD card slot for external memory.

Some of the most significant features on Samsung Focus S include 4G HSPA+ network, which is faster as compared to 3G network. Like all smartphones, it has built in Wi-Fi, multimedia messaging, GPS and Bluetooth. You get social networking and email integration through support for group messaging and account log-ins in settings, the option to link inboxes together. The address book is limited and there is capability to thread messages sent between conventional and IM texting in same thread with task switching support. Basic features include speakerphone, voice prompts for voice dialing and conference calling. Essentials are clock, calendar, calculator, Internet Explorer 9 with HTML5 support along with podcast subscriptions.

The AT&T has also added some of its own applications on Samsung Focus S such as QR code and bar code scanner, AT&T U-verse Mobile, AT&T Navigator with turn by turn directions, MyWireless and AT&T Radio. The company has added quite a few extras, including Photo Studio application with basic editing tools. Microsoft continues to win support by adding Music+Videos hub with Zune Pass and Zune integration along with excellent music mixing DJ features. The new Mango of Bing gets optical scan and search and music identification that works well on Focus S. without microSD memory card slot, the built in 16GB is the upper limit for local storage. Switching between video and camera mode is simple, as is accessing multiple settings for image resolution, white balance, ISO, photo effect sharpness, contrast and more.

Standard features on Samsung Focus S include 2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900; 3G Network: HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100; 4.3 inch Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen with 16 million color support and 480 x 800 pixel resolution; Accelerometer; proximity; compass; Touch-sensitive controls; Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall; 16GB/32GB storage, 512 MB RAM; HSDPA, HSUPA; Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and 8-megapixel camera with autofocus, 3264×2448 pixels, Geo-tagging, LED flash, smile detection and image stabilization.

The Samsung Focus S is also equipped with Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 Mango; 1.4 GHz Scorpion; SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS; Stereo FM radio with RDS; GPS with A-GPS support; AT&T U-verse Mobile, NavigatorSM, FamilyMap, Radio, myWireless; Document viewer/editor; MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+ player; Organizer; Voice memo /dial /commands; Predictive text input; MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV player; Phonebook: Caller groups, Unlimited entries, Search by both first and last name, Multiple numbers per contact, Ring ID and Picture ID; Organizer: Alarm, Calendar, Calculator, Document viewer and World clock.

Also standard on Samsung Focus S are Bluetooth profiles: Handsfree (HFP), Generic Access (GAP), Headset (HSP), Service Discovery Protocol (SDP), Serial Port (SPP), Advanced Audio Distribution (A2DP), Generic Audio/Video Distribution (GAVDP), Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol, Audio/Visual Remote Control Profile (AVRCP), Audio/Video Control Transport Protocol (AVCTP), Audio/Video Distribution Transport Protocol (AVDTP) and Phone Book Access (PBAP); Notifications: Polyphonic ringtones, Music ringtones (MP3), Flight mode, Vibration, Speakerphone and Silent mode. The rated battery life of Focus S is 10 days in standby mode and 6.5 hours in talktime mode. Overall, it brings mobile platform of Microsoft the closest it’s ever been to being in direct competition with iOS and Android handsets.

The sleek exterior of Samsung Captivate Glide provides a premium feel and look, and every letter has its own key on sliding QWERTY keyboard. It makes typing for email; playing games, web surfing and posting updates easier and faster as compared to before. The full 1.0GHz dual core processor offers better and smoother video and movie playback. You will forget about buffering and can load images lightning fast. Once you experience the dual core speed, there is no going back to single core processing. 4G is up to 10 times quicker as compared to 3G; it is like the Autobahn of networks. The 4.0 inch Super AMOLED display offers brilliant detail, deep contrast and spectacular color, and is bright enough for reading easily in bright daylight, then automatically adjusts when indoors.

The Samsung Captivate Glide’s QWERTY keyboard and large display make it easy to quickly respond to texts and emails, draft documents and work on reports. Create Microsoft compatible documents, put together PowerPoint presentation out or in of the office and spreadsheets. Some of the business-friendly features include Exchange ActiveSync, Virtual Private Network and Quickoffice. It is one of the most powerful QWERTY handsets of AT&T and is available for the price of $150. The ultraflat keyboard might be difficult for most dedicated keyboard aficionados. The portfolio of 4G QWERTY smartphones of AT&T was looking fairly sleek before it added the Captivate Glide. It runs on HSPA+ 21 network of AT&T than 4G LTE network, which AT&T is rolling out.

Powering the Samsung Captivate Glide is an Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system and is equipped with 4.0 inch Super AMOLED display, 720p high definition video, 1GHz Nvidia Tegra dual core processor, 1.3 megapixel front facing camera and 8.0 megapixel rear facing camera. It is also affordable for $149.99. In order to keep the cost from climbing, Samsung had to compromise on build quality of the handset. It is an all black smartphone with straight sides, bottom and top and curved corners. The muted gray plastic band surrounds the periphery and there is a metal accent encircling camera lens at the back of the device.

The Samsung Captivate Glide fits right into family of Android driven Galaxy smartphones of the company; it measures 0.5 inch thick, 4.9 inches high and 2.5 inches wide. It looks slightly smaller as compared to Galaxy S II with nubbly, plastic backing and slideout keyboard of Exhibit II 4G. It is an unattracted handset and suffers from same impressions of cheap build quality, lightness and plasticky feel found on other Samsung handsets. Its Super AMOLED 4.0 inch touchscreen display boasts WVGA 800 x 480 pixel resolution with 16 million color support. The colors look saturated and bright, text is readable and edges look sharp and crisp.

The Samsung Captivate Glide is motivated by Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system with TouchWiz typical user interface of Samsung. You will find 7 customizable home screens and rapidly zoom through. It also allows you to resize widgets, use pinch motion on home screens and access system settings from notification menu. Above the screen, there is a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera for conference calling. Underneath it are four usual touch sensitive buttons to open menu, launch search, go home and go back functions. The power button is located on the right hand side of the smartphone, while the volume rocker on the left. The micro USB charging port and 3.5mm headphone jack is situated on the top of Captivate Glide, while the eight-megapixel camera with flash at the back. The microSD memory card slot is beneath the battery cover and takes up to 32GB of external storage.

As an Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphone, the Samsung Captivate Glide excels at communication with support for multiple email accounts, including Gmail, Microsoft Exchange and other Web mail accounts in either combined or separate inboxes. There is multimedia and text messaging along with Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi, GPS and hooks into plenty of social networks such as Samsung’s Facebook, Linked In and Twitter social hubs. It also features settings for hotspot, tethering and VPN support for up to 5 different speeds. Some of the Google services include YouTube, Gmail, Voice Search, Maps, Talk, Navigation with turn by turn voice directions, Places, Google Books and Search.

There are plethora of applications preloaded on Samsung Captivate Glide, such as All Share application of Samsung that helps stream and share content on DLNA compatible devices, Media and Social Hub along with nicely designed voice recorder. AT&T has its collection of featured applications, downloadable TV content and streaming via U-Verse. Other applications include Amazon Kindle, Asphalt 6 demo, Yellow Pages Mobile, Facebook, Quickoffice productivity suite, Mini Diary and Qik Lite for video chatting. Essentials include clock, task manager, calendar, to-do list and calculator. Its eight-megapixel camera offers settings for autofocus, panorama mode and smile detection. There are self timer, automatic white balance settings, grid, timer, GPS tagging, three color effects, options for shutter sound and six resolution modes.

Standard features on Samsung Captivate Glide include 2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900; 3G Network: HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100; 4.0 inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with 16 million color support, 480 x 800 pixel resolution, QWERTY keyboard, Gorilla Glass display, TouchWiz UI, Multi-touch input method, Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, Touch sensitive controls, Proximity sensor for auto turn-off and Gyro sensor; Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones; Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall; 8 GB storage, 1 GB RAM, 1 GB ROM; microSD, up to 32GB; HSDPA speeds up to 21 Mbps; HSUPA speeds up to 5.76 Mbps; Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot.

Also standard on Samsung Captivate Glide are 8-megapixel camera with autofocus, 3264×2448 pixels, Geo-tagging, LED flash, touch focus, face & smile detection; video: 1080p at 30 frames per second; Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread); 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 AP20H dual core processor; SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS; GPS with A-GPS support; Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic; HDMI port; SNS integration; Digital compass; NFC support; MP4/DivX/WMV/H.264/H.263 player; MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player; Organizer; Image/video editor; Document viewer and Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk and Picasa integration.

The Samsung Captivate Glide adds Adobe Flash support; Voice memo/dial/commands; Predictive text input; Phonebook: Caller groups, Unlimited entries, Search by both first and last name, Multiple numbers per contact, Ring ID and Picture ID; Organizer: Alarm, Calendar, Calculator, Document viewer, Stopwatch, World clock, Memo and Countdown timer; Notifications: Music ringtones (MP3), Haptic feedback, Vibration, Polyphonic ringtones, Silent mode, Flight mode and Speakerphone and Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP. The estimated battery life of Captivate Glide is 16.5 days in standby mode and 8 hours in talktime mode. In terms of features, it hits all the points when it comes to supplying high end features with this kind of form factor.