Friday, April 20, 2012

Android Community

Android Community


Samsung to announce another tablet at May 3rd event

Posted: 20 Apr 2012 10:47 AM PDT

In case you’ve missed the news, Samsung will be announcing what they are calling “the next Galaxy” on May 3rd in London. This will in fact be the Galaxy S III flagship superphone for the company, but now we are hearing they’ll also introduce another tablet — as if they didn’t have enough already. If for some random reason the phone doesn’t interest you, maybe the tablet will.

The image above is only a placeholder, and we don’t have any details surrounding the new tablet Samsung may, or may not announce at the London event in a few weeks. According to sources at CNET, Samsung will be showing off a new tablet that is not the Galaxy Tab 2 or the Note 10.1 either. Instead it will be another 10.1-inch tablet with a dual-core processor. This news is odd because the Galaxy Tab 2 (10) is a dual-core and was delayed earlier this month in favor of getting upgraded to a quad-core. So could they now be announcing another that will be even more budget friendly? I wouldn’t complain about that.

We’ve heard rumors surrounding some mystery tablets from Samsung called the “Espresso tablet” so we will be looking for more information as the event date gets closer. We still haven’t seen or heard a peep from Samsung regarding that ultra-high resolution 11.6-inch tablet that caught so much attention in the press. We could see a new tablet with a high 1290×1200 or higher resolution on May 3rd, but that is only speculation at this point.

Personally Samsung should limit the amount of tablets they are designing and releasing, and instead focus on two ideal-sized tablets with killer apps — that’s just my opinion. Either way Android Community will be live in London to bring you the latest and greatest from Samsung’s event on May 3rd so stay tuned.


HTC One X arrives for Rogers Canada

Posted: 20 Apr 2012 10:18 AM PDT

The next couple of weeks will be all HTC with their new and impressive One series of smartphones. As expected, the 4G LTE HTC One X is available starting today in Canada on Rogers. You can get it online right this minute if you haven’t already. For those interested Rogers is offering the phone for CA$169.99 with a new, three year agreement starting today.

Rogers will be getting the same version as AT&T stateside with the Qualcomm S4 dual-core processor and 4G LTE, instead of the international quad-core model. Don’t worry though, the S4 is plenty powerful and you can see for yourself from our benchmark wars. Rogers One X is basically the same as the others and comes complete with a 4.7-inch beautiful display, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and the new and improved Sense UI 4.0 on board.

There’s been no word on whether Rogers will get the more compact, smaller 4.3-inch sized HTC One S so for now the X will be your only option on Rogers. As a reminder, the same phone will be landing here in the US on AT&T for $199 on May 6th. If you’re debating the purchase feel free to enjoy our HTC One X review linked to below, or possibly hold out until May 3rd when Samsung will unveil the Galaxy S III.

Device Specifications and Information
Device Info
    Device Name : One X [AT&T]
    Manufactuer : HTC
    Carrier : AT&T
    Announced Date : February 26, 2012
    Release Date : TBA
    Also Known As :
Display
  • Screen Size : 4.7 Inch
  • Resolution : 720x1280
  • Screen Type : S-LCD
Dimension & Weight
  • Height : 5.31 Inch
  • Width : 2.75 Inch
  • Depth : 0.36 Inch
  • Weight : 131 Grams
Battery & Power
    Battery Type:
  • Lithium Ion
  • Battery Capacity : 1800 mAh
  • Talk Time : NA
  • Stand By Time : NA
Software
    Android OS:
  • 4.0.x
    Audio Playback:
  • AAC
  • AAC+
  • AMR
  • MID
  • MP3
  • WAV
  • WMA
    Video Playback:
  • h.263
  • h.264 / AVC
  • MPEG-4 (MP4)
    Messaging:
  • SMS
  • MMS
Hardware
    CPU : S4
    CPU Clock Speed : 1500 Mhz
    Core : 2
    Ram : 1000 MB
    Internal Storage : 16 GB
    Front Facing Camera :
    Camera Resolution : 8 MP
    Camera Features:
  • Auto focus
  • Flash
  • 1080p Video Recording
    Sensors:
  • Accelerometer
  • Ambient light
  • Proximity
    QWERTY :
Cellular Network
    Network Technology:
  • GSM
    GSM Band:
  • 850
  • 900
  • 1800
  • 1900
    CDMA Band:
  • 850
  • 1900
  • 2100
Device Connectivity
    Wi-Fi:
  • 802.11b
  • 802.11g
  • 802.11n
    Bluetooth:
  • Bluetooth 3.0
    Location Features:
  • Compass
  • GPS
  • Cellular location
  • Wi-Fi location
    FM Radio :
    NFC :

[via SlashGear]


Verizon updates the LG Spectrum with fixes and bloatware

Posted: 20 Apr 2012 09:43 AM PDT

Verizon has been busy announcing updates for many of their 4G LTE phones this week. With the RAZR, RAZR MAXX and DROID 4 all expected to see updates and today they’ve announced one more. The LG Spectrum will also be getting a large update bringing tons of new features, new bloatware apps, and multiple bug fixes. Read on past the break for full details.

Recently Verizon posted the full update details although it’s currently listed as coming soon. Usually that means the update should begin within the next few days, possibly sometime this weekend. For those rocking the Spectrum here’s what to expect from the update. Google Search is now the default instead of Bing, you get pinch-to-zoom options in the camera preview section, multiple bug fixes, better battery life and tons of bloatware.

Sadly most phones come with carrier or brand specific apps and this update brings plenty of them. The best part is you’ll have the new NFL Mobile 4.0 after updating, along with VCAST, VZNav, Kindle Reader, My Verizon, and Verizon Video. If you didn’t have too many apps now, you’re about to get a bunch more. LG’s also fixes some web browsing issues and have enhanced security throughout the device with some Google patches and other minor changes. You’ll be on Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread after the sizable 127 MB update. Shout in the comments once you get the update, and feel free to let us know if you run into any problems.

IMG_42951 spectrum-updates
Device Specifications and Information
Device Info
    Device Name : Spectrum
    Manufactuer : LG
    Carrier : Verizon
    Announced Date : January 09, 2012
    Release Date : January 19, 2012
    Also Known As :
Display
  • Screen Size : 4.5 Inch
  • Resolution : 1280x720
  • Screen Type : True HD IPS
Dimension & Weight
  • Height : 5.33 Inch
  • Width : 2.71 Inch
  • Depth : 0.42 Inch
  • Weight : 142 Grams
Battery & Power
    Battery Type:
  • Lithium Ion
  • Battery Capacity : 1830 mAh
  • Talk Time : NA
  • Stand By Time : NA
Software
    Android OS:
  • 2.3.x
    Audio Playback:
  • AAC
  • AAC+
  • MID
  • MP3
  • WAV
  • WMA
    Video Playback:
  • h.263
  • h.264 / AVC
  • 3GP
  • MPEG-4 (MP4)
  • WMV
    Messaging:
  • SMS
  • MMS
Hardware
    CPU : Snapdragon S3
    CPU Clock Speed : 1500 Mhz
    Core : 2
    Ram : 1024 MB
    Internal Storage : 4 GB
    Front Facing Camera :
    Camera Resolution : 8 MP
    External Storage:
  • MicroSD
  • MicroSDHC
    Camera Features:
  • Auto focus
  • Flash
  • 1080p Video Recording
    Sensors:
  • Accelerometer
  • Ambient light
  • Proximity
    QWERTY :
Cellular Network
    Network Technology:
  • CDMA
    CDMA Band:
  • 800
  • 1900
Device Connectivity
    Wi-Fi:
  • 802.11b
  • 802.11g
  • 802.11n
    Bluetooth:
  • Bluetooth 3.0
    Location Features:
  • GPS
  • Cellular location
  • Wi-Fi location
    FM Radio :
    NFC :


Disguised Samsung Galaxy S III caught in Vietnam

Posted: 20 Apr 2012 02:21 AM PDT

Samsung’s Galaxy S III has been caught in the wild, or at least its core hardware has, with a disguised prototype showing up in Vietnam. Apparently confirming the talk of a quadcore 1.4GHz processor and a 4.6-inch screen running at 1280 x 720, the Galaxy S III leaked to Tinhte is clad in a temporary disguise so as to prevent all of Samsung’s aesthetic secrets from leaking.

That’s the same as what we saw earlier in the week in still photo form, though this new leak also confirms 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash, an NFC-equipped 2,050 mAh battery and 16GB of internal storage. The latter gets a microSD card slot to augment it.

Tinhte’s article and video went down shortly after they were published, but not before all the goodies were extracted. You can see the clip below (complete with English subtitles):

Samsung is expected to officially announce the Galaxy S III – or whatever the new flagship is called – at a London event on May 3. Android Community will be there to bring back all the details!

gsiii_camera gsIII-leak samsung_galaxy_s_iii_leak_vietnam_1

[via SlashGear]


NVIDIA Tegra 3+ with LTE won’t arrive until Q4

Posted: 19 Apr 2012 05:10 PM PDT

Today we’ve just received some more information from the folks at NVIDIA regarding their plans for now, and for the future. With the quad-core Tegra 3 processor already taking the world by storm the next step is Tegra 3 with 4G LTE integration. Currently folks like AT&T have changed to Qualcomm in order to support LTE and today’s NVIDIA roadmap shows they won’t have an answer to that until Q4 or later.

Now we’ve seen this roadmap of NVIDIA’s future plans in the past (linked to below), but that was only a leak and not confirmed. Today NVIDIA themselves while speaking at a conference in Seattle shared the slide you see above, confirming when we can expect a Tegra 3 quad-core powered LTE device. If you were hoping T-Mobile or Verizon would be announcing an HTC One X with a quad-core and LTE sadly that won’t be happening any time soon.

Last year NVIDIA acquired the 3G and 4G LTE modem provider Icera, and we can expect that to be integrated into their Tegra 3, and possibly other products like “wayne” as shown in the slide later this year. If the roadmap provided today is accurate we can expect Tegra 3+ powered LTE devices later this year, then hopefully Tegra 4 will be released in Q2 of 2013 like we mentioned here. It looks like we’ll be waiting until Thanksgiving or Christmas for project “Grey” (aka Tegra 3+) to arrive with four cores and LTE speeds. Who will want one for Christmas?


HTC canceled bigger battery plans for thinner phones

Posted: 19 Apr 2012 04:47 PM PDT

Would you rather have a larger phone with a bigger battery that lasts forever? Or a thin, sleek and sexy phone? This was HTC’s question and apparently they decided to shelf the bigger battery plans to compete with the DROID RAZR MAXX and opted for a mild upgrade to the battery. This will enabled them to produce the thin and awesome phones like what we are seeing today in the HTC One X and One S.

According to our friends and sister site SlashGear, today at a conference in Seattle HTC’s VP of portfolio strategy Bjorn Kilburn cited research they’ve conducted throughout 2011 which helped them decide that customers wanted thinner and sleeker phones, so they cut back on future plans and took larger battery ideas out of their roadmap. Now the HTC One X has a large 1800 mAh battery, and lasts plenty long, but it’s no comparison to the DROID RAZR MAXX and its 3300 mAh battery.

What this essentially means and what we are hearing is HTC had plans for large 3000 mAh batteries, and super sleek phones for the future, not the current ONE series, but opted to settle in the middle – which is ok. By making them non-removable this will help them achieve the best of both worlds. That being decent and standard battery life and thinner phones. The HTC One S is the thinnest HTC device to date, and still manages to get excellent battery life thanks to the efficient Qualcomm S4 dual-core processor under the hood. So what they’ll produce next will probably be even better.

So it appears that HTC is retiring the plans for smartphones with bigger batteries in order to save space and keep things sleek. We here at Android Community love the new One series, available on T-Mobile next week and on AT&T with 4G LTE in early May. Would you still buy a ONE device if they were slightly fatter, say 2mm but came with 2500 mAh batteries?


Spotify’s new Android app looks fresh, we go hands-on

Posted: 19 Apr 2012 03:37 PM PDT

Today Spotify announced their impressive brand new music streaming app for Android. Since first released last year in the US I’ve been patiently waiting for them to update the application, and today they’ve done that and more. Spotify didn’t just update their app, they’ve completely redesigned it from top to bottom and it now feels part of the Android 4.0 ICS family with the Holo theme and more. If you’re a fan of Spotify or have been considering it, you’ll want to stay tuned for my hands-on video.

Announced this morning was the new preview or beta version of Spotify. Lucky for us the folks over there were nice enough to provide us with the new app, and a Premium subscription so we can enjoy countless hours of music from their millions of choices. I have plenty of screenshots for everyone but you’ll want to start with the announcement post above for full details, then enjoy the video.

Obviously you can see right off the back the user interface has received a complete overhaul. Something Spotify is calling a “top-to-bottom” change for the better — and we’d have to agree. So far I’m loving the look and feel of the new Spotify for Android. You’ll have to be a premium user to enjoy the full streaming services, but it’s worth it.

Before their app looked like something from Android 2.2 FroYo back in early 2011 but now it’s fancy, shiny, HD, and works great on high resolution phones and tablets. They’ve added HD album artwork so you now get a full-sized high resolution image, and you can flick to go forward a song just as before. All of the features we know and love from Spotify are still present, it just looks better.

Just like their desktop version you can now sign in and look up friends on Facebook, or regular Spotify account owners. You can check your friends accounts, follow their music habits and get introduced to new and exciting music like never before. I personally love the fact that when you select an artist it shows you their top songs. So you’ll instantly hear classics from great bands, even if you’ve never heard of them.

Spotify has received a full out facelift and so far I’m really digging their new look. Like mentioned above this is a beta preview build only, and they’ll be adding more features like folders and additional options in the final version once it lands on the Google Play Store. The only feature missing from the old app is an Android widget, which I’ve heard will be present in the final version. Stay tuned for more information and check out the screenshots below.

Get all the details, download links, and information from the earlier announcement here.

P1090137 spotstart spotplaylist spotinfo spot2 spot1 spotshare


Acer Iconia Tab A100 and Dell Streak 7 tablets on sale for $179 today only

Posted: 19 Apr 2012 02:03 PM PDT

Today we have not one, but two great deals for those looking for a budget Android tablet. If you’ve missed some of the deals in the past, or have been waiting for something uber cheap this might be the perfect time. Today you can get the Acer Iconia Tab A100 7-inch tablet, or the Dell Streak 7-inch Tab for $179 factory refurbished. More details, reviews, and link below.

The only problem here is deciding what tablet you’ll want to buy as they have almost identical specs, and are both $179 today only. Both have 1.0 GHz dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processors, 1GB of RAM, front and rear cameras, and Android 3.2 Honeycomb so the choice might be hard for some. The Dell streak will probably never see Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and Acer has confirmed the A100 will receive it later this month. If that is a deciding factor then there is your answer.

On the other hand the Dell Streak 7 comes with more storage, being 16GB instead of 8GB like the Acer, but the Streak also has a lower 480×800 resolution compared to the Acer A100′s 1024 x 600. The Acer will look better, will get updated to the latest OS, but has a smaller battery being only 1,540 mAh. For those T-Mobile customers the Streak 7 is probably the best choice as it uses T-Mobile’s 3G bands and has a SIM slot if you’re interested in that aspect too.

Both of these tablets are factory refurbished and can be yours today for only $179. If the Acer Iconia A100 is your choice head to 1SaleADay.com and get it before the time runs out. If you’ve decided on the Dell Streak 7 you’ll want to stop by Woot.com before it sells out, as that happens often in the wootosphere. Again these deals are available today only, so you better hurry and decide should you want one. Hit the timeline links below to see more on each respective tablet.

P1140643_androidcommunity_androidcommunity Screen Shot 2012-04-19 at 1.45.27 PM Screen Shot 2012-04-19 at 1.45.07 PM


Verizon shared data plans on track for summer claims CFO

Posted: 19 Apr 2012 01:36 PM PDT

Today Verizon has shared some information regarding the future idea of shared data plans coming possibly as soon as this summer. We’ve mentioned these “family plans” for months and months but if today’s comments from their CFO are any indication, we’ll be seeing these plans sooner than later.

The thought of family or shared data plans has excited me for a long time. Being able to have one contract, one plan, and pay one fee to use Verizon 3G and now 4G LTE on both my smartphone and tablet would be awesome. Add in mobile hotspots and that would be the ultimate deal if you ask me. During today’s earnings call for Q2 Verizon’s CFO Fran Shammo was quoted basically confirming that we can expect these plans to be available mid-year.

As I said, we will be launching our data share plan in midsummer this year. We believe that plan, the way we have it designed, will enable our customers to easily connect other devices to that plan.

Back in February we heard similar reports of a middle of the year release, so this could technically confirm that they’ll in fact be here soon. We’ve seen “family data plan” calculators and multiple leaks suggesting the same. So what do you guys think? Would you be willing to pay a small premium, or blend two plans into one and have one contract for both your Verizon phone and tablet? As long as prices aren’t outrageous I see this as a good plan moving forward for Verizon – just don’t charge me an arm and a leg.

[via Droid-Life]


HTC J spotted for KDDI with Android 4.0 ICS and 1.5 GHz dual-core S4

Posted: 19 Apr 2012 01:08 PM PDT

In what many are calling the HTC One for the Japanese markets we’ve just been teased with some pictures of the HTC J. This phone has very similar specs to the recently released HTC One S, only has a few design changes and will be for KDDI in Japan. Out of all the press renders leaked I think I’m liking the white model the most.

I haven’t decided yet if I want to call this an improved HTC Sensation, or just a variation of the One series. This phone has everything the new HTC One series like the One X and S has, but for now is being called the HTC J. It has a codename of (ISW13HT) and will be available for Japan’s KDDI with WiMAX on board, no LTE.

The specs include a 4.3″ qHD 960 x 540 resolution display, but that is the lowest spec of them all. The rest is impressive with a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm S4 dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal storage. Unlike recent HTC phones this has 16GB of storage AND a micro-SD slot for additional storage should you need it. To top things off you have Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and HTC’s latest Sense UI 4.0 as well. Other specs include an 8 megapixel rear and 1.3 megapixel front camera, with an 1,810 mAh battery under the hood. As usual we have Beats Audio integration and the leaked images show it coming with Beats headphones. We’ve heard HTC will not be bundling said headphones with smartphones moving forward. Do you like the new J, or would you rather have the AT&T HTC One X?

htc-j-isw13ht-jpg-4 htc-j-isw13ht-jpg-3 htc-j-isw13ht-jpg-2

[via PocketDroid]


White LG Optimus 4X HD spotted in the wild, compared to HTC One X

Posted: 19 Apr 2012 12:43 PM PDT

In what very well could be LG’s new flagship phone, the Optimus 4X HD you get an impressive 4.7″ display and a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor. We’ve covered it plenty and even have hands-on coverage below but today its been spotted out in the wild, and dressed in white. Not only that but the leak from ePrice also compares it to the new HTC One X, also a white Tegra 3 powered smartphone.

With all the recent talk of the HTC One series, and the leaks for the Galaxy S III we’ve almost forgot about the 4X but this is a great refresh. The leaks show once again how impressive and thin the Optimus 4X HD will be once it’s available. ePrice has multiple photos of the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich phone in white and out in the wild so check them out.

As a reminder, the LG Optimus 4X HD could potentially be a direct competitor to new HTC flagship One X. They both have 4.7″ screens, both powered by the impressive NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor clocked at 1.5 GHz, coming with 1GB of RAM, and they both have 8 megapixel cameras on back too. With the One X already available, and hitting AT&T early next month LG better hurry to the market. We’ve heard reports of a May release, but nothing has been confirmed.

The Optimus 4X HD is pretty impressive and looks very sleek. They’ve made a few small changes to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich but for the most part it looks like the Tegra 3 and all those NVIDIA TegraZone games will have to help carry the LG phone. Do you like it in white? Or would you rather just have black?

eprice-edit_3_LG-Optimus-4X-HD_050ecf515a5eae905f87bbcd50421de7 keithyim_3_LG-Optimus-4X-HD_1214515741eb9940e58d928f9d990ca7 eprice-edit_3_LG-Optimus-4X-HD_b45746b56d1f1e09ef18a34859f83fda LG-Optimus-4x-HD-white-Android-ICS-550x403

[via Unwired View]


LG Viper 4G LTE Review

Posted: 19 Apr 2012 12:24 PM PDT

The brand new 4G powered LG Viper 4G LTE will be available in a few short days. Starting April 22nd for the Now Network. Being the first LTE device not on Verizon or AT&T we wanted to give it a quick look. LTE still isn’t quite available from the Now Network, as it replaces their WiMAX, but we’ve tossed the phone through the ringer anyways so read on below for our full thoughts and plenty of pictures.

Hardware
Now the LG Viper is a nice phone that is for sure. The look, feel, and build quality are all pretty top notch. Sadly the specs leave a little to be desired but here’s a rundown of the hardware you’ll get. The Viper 4G LTE comes with a 4.0-inch 480 x 800 display that is bright and decently crisp, but if you’ve seen or used a 720p HD phone or even a qHD like the HTC EVO 3D you’ll be disappointed. We have a Qualcomm 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage. Around back it’s outfitted with a 5 megapixel camera with flash, capable of 720p video.

According to LG the Viper has a "platinum" rating by UL Environment for its sustainable build quality and packaging. Claiming the phone's body is 50 percent recycled plastic. With an aluminum bezel around the face and a brushed aluminum designed plastic battery cover the phone looks impressive and expensive, while remaining lightweight and still durable. I actually am really pleased with the build quality, even if the battery door creaks at times.

LG’s build quality is improving almost with every release but I have a feeling the back of this phone could get scratched pretty easily. Being only a 4-inch screen the device does have a great feel in the hand, it isn’t overbearing or extremely large like the Galaxy Note, and will make a great first-time smartphone buyer plenty happy. The phone isn’t a flagship device or anything, so it’s safe to say the carrier is just testing the LTE waters with this phone first and have bigger plans coming soon — like the Galaxy Nexus.

To start check out our hands-on coverage and video below then we’ll dive into software, performance, camera, and that battery life.

LG Viper 4G LTE hands-on

Software
LG’s tossed what I’d call a pretty stock version of Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread on the Viper. With 2.3.7 you’ll get full Google Talk video chat with the VGA front camera. The OS is extremely simple, pretty, fast, and familiar for anyone that has used Android. LG however has made a couple very minor changes with widgets, a few settings in the menu, and changed the launcher to have the carriers ID pack.

Android 2.3 Gingerbread runs impressively well here, and the vanilla untouched nature of the OS probably is to thank with no MotoBLUR, or Sense UI overlays on top. LG also opted to release the phone almost like a Google Experience device and they’ve added no bloatware to the phone. Other than a few carrier specific apps for ID, Nascar, and NBA Mobile this is completely free of bloatware and even has Google Wallet on board.

With daily use this past week the phone actually feels extremely quick for an older S3 dual-core processor, but most likely LG’s sped up some animations and helped make the phone fast, stable, fluid, and perform well. I’ve had zero freezes, problems, crashes, reboots or anything of that sort. It’s safe to say the experience has been top notch. My only complaint is the capacitive touch buttons backlight turns off WAY too fast, and doesn’t even give you time to look at the screen first – in terms of the phone. The carrier 3G speeds leave plenty to be desired and 4G LTE can’t arrive soon enough.

Benchmarks
As usual we’ve ran a few benchmarks just to see where the phone stands. Thanks to the smaller screen, and lower resolution along with that powerful dual-core chip the performance is stellar. My comments above state it clearly, and the benchmark results confirm it. Getting around 3000 in the popular Quadrant suite I was pretty surprised. This is no S4 like the HTC One S, but it still performed excellent.

P1090119 P1090130 P1090128

We also ran a few rounds of Vellamo as it tests overall performance, page rendering, and provider/carrier too. The Viper 4G LTE scored higher than most and beat out many newer faster phones, and that was without LTE.

Speedtest
While the Viper 4G LTE is here at my house in Las Vegas, the Now Network’s 4G LTE is not. AT&T and Verizon have a pretty wide reach of LTE but things are just starting to take off here for the other two main US carriers. I was able to get 3G only with the Viper, and since it doesn’t have WiMAX anymore the 3G speeds were quite low and very underwhelming to say the least. Even T-Mobile’s 4G is 3-5 times faster than this. I experienced average speeds of around 1 MB/s downloads with nearly full 3G, peaking at 1.6 MB/s and uploads were even worse.

It’s safe to say this phone dearly needs 4G LTE to be activated to be used to its true potential. The carrier also is one of the only ones that offers truly unlimited data. Once 4G LTE arrives you’ll be able to stream video and do whatever else you’d like with fast speeds, and no limits. For now the phones quite limited and uploading pictures to Facebook, or updating apps was sub-par compared to other carrier standards.

For the Viper, 4G LTE can’t come soon enough.

Camera
The Viper is what we’d call a mid-range phone between the slightly slower processor, and the 5 megapixel camera when others all have 8 megapixels these days. However, if you’re a first time smartphone buyer, on a budget, or don’t need the best this performs quite well. The 5 megapixel shooter gave us decent results with good lighting, and without. It does have a LED flash should you need, and can take 1080p video too. Here is a quick photo sample with a video below and more pictures in the full gallery.

LG Viper 1080p video recording sample

Battery Life
For now the battery life and results aren’t too important, mainly because we don’t have 4G LTE available yet so can’t test how the battery will hold up to the faster speeds. We’ve seen less than stellar results from both AT&T and Verizon’s LTE networks, and are hoping battery life is better over here. Standby battery is excellent and overnight the Viper went from 100% to about 78% in 8 hours. However once I woke up, turned off WiFi and started using 3G the battery had a quite large drop-off as you can see. I do have LTE enabled, even though it’s not available so that could be effecting battery life too.

Once we receive the green light and the Now Network lights up 4G LTE we’ll be sure and test these battery results again, but for now we’ll just have to use the 3G ones provided. So take this as you will, knowing that they will be different once LTE arrives.

Wrap Up
Our initial impressions were quite favorable, after using the new LG Viper 4G LTE for the week we still feel the same way. The Viper is a good mid-range device, and a perfect fit for a first time smartphone buyer or someone on a budget. If you are looking for the best, fastest, or prettiest this isn’t the phone for you — and you might want to wait for the LTE equipped Galaxy Nexus.

If you can look past the lower screen resolution, the average at best 3G speeds, and know that LTE will make things considerably faster this is a great buy this summer coming in at only $99. The carrier calls it “future proof” because it will be able to use the new LTE network once it arrives, but the specs are already outdated so the purchase will be based on what users need, or want from a smartphone. If you have any questions feel free to ask, and enjoy the full gallery of images below.

vipermain P1090096 P1090094 P1090101 P1090098 P1090097 P1090113 P1090107 P1090120 P1090119 P1090118 P1090124 P1090123 P1090130 P1090132 P1090133 P1090135 P1090128 P1090127 vcam2 vcam vcam4 vcam3
Device Specifications and Information
Device Info
    Device Name : Viper 4G LTE
    Manufactuer : LG
    Carrier : Unknown
    Announced Date : April 06, 2012
    Release Date : April 22, 2012
    Also Known As :
Display
  • Screen Size : 4.0 Inch
  • Resolution : 480x800
  • Screen Type : TFT
Dimension & Weight
  • Height : 4.6 Inch
  • Width : 2.6 Inch
  • Depth : 0.47 Inch
  • Weight : 141 Grams
Battery & Power
    Battery Type:
  • Lithium Ion
  • Battery Capacity : 1700 mAh
  • Talk Time : NA
  • Stand By Time : NA
Software
    Android OS:
  • 2.3.x
    Audio Playback:
  • AAC
  • MP3
  • WAV
  • WMA
    Video Playback:
  • h.263
  • h.264 / AVC
  • MPEG-4 (MP4)
  • WMV
    Messaging:
  • SMS
  • MMS
Hardware
    CPU : S3
    CPU Clock Speed : 1200 Mhz
    Core : 2
    Ram : 1000 MB
    Internal Storage : 4GB GB
    Front Facing Camera :
    Camera Resolution : 5 MP
    External Storage:
  • MicroSD
  • MicroSDHC
    Camera Features:
  • Auto focus
  • Flash
  • 1080p Video Recording
  • 720p Video Recording
    Sensors:
  • Accelerometer
  • Ambient light
  • Proximity
    QWERTY :
Cellular Network
    Network Technology:
  • CDMA
Device Connectivity
    Wi-Fi:
  • 802.11b
  • 802.11g
  • 802.11n
    Bluetooth:
  • Bluetooth 3.0
    Location Features:
  • Compass
  • GPS
  • Cellular location
    FM Radio :
    NFC :