According to Droid-Life, insider sources have revealed that the HTC Vigor will be sporting a 4.3-inch 720p HD display packing in a 1280 x 720 resolution. It will have a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, and an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera. And, it will have a brand new HTC Sense 3.5 UI running on top of Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread. It’s size and shape will be similar to the HTC Thunderbolt minus the kickstand.

As for the specs leaked on the LG Revolution 2, it’s believed that the device will sport a much larger 4.5-inch HD screen and be much slimmer than both the HTC Vigor and the Apple iPhone 4. It’s expected to run on Verizon’s 4G LTE network, but appears to still be in an early stage of development.

If the previously leaked release dates for Verizon are accurate, then we can expect these devices to hit in late October. New powerful Android offerings plus the iPhone 5 and the slew of Windows Phone Mango handsets in the coming months are sure to make for an exciting battle for the holiday market.

[via Droid-Life]

Amazon has dropped pricing to $89.99 for the Samsung Infuse 4G, which currently retails from the AT&T website for $199.99 with a two-year contract. The Infuse is a 4G HSPA+ device introduced for the AT&T network back in May. It’s the largest yet thinnest device on the network sporting a whopping 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, 1.3-megapixel front camera, 8-megapixel back camera, and a 1.2GHz Hummingbird processor. Make sure to check out our hands-on with the device as well as the full review before you head over to Amazon to scoop it up.

Pricing is now $99.99 on Amazon for the LG Revolution, which currently goes for $249.99 with a two-year contract on Verizon’s website. The LG Revolution was the first device capable of running on Verizon’s 4G LTE network. It features a 4.3-inch display with a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 1.3-megapixel front camera, and 5-megapixel back camera. Check out our full review of the device before you head over to it’s Amazon page.

Most drastic of all, however, is Amazon dropping the Motorola Atrix 4G to just $0.01 while it still costs $99.99 from the AT&T website. The Atrix is the oldest of the bunch, launching back in February. It features a 4-inch qHD display, NVIDIA Tegra 2 processsor, VGA front camera, and 5-megapixel back camera. Also, be sure to check out our full review before heading to its Amazon page.

- Thanks Doug!

Hardware

The Revolution has a big, black, solid feel to it; very no nonsense. Its size and weight are similar to the other Verizon LTE phones; it measures 5.03 x 2.63 x 0.52 inches and weighs 6.6 ounces. But it does not compare to the glossy plastic balloon like appearance of the Droid Charge, and its overall appearance is more sturdy than the ThunderBolt. Not everyone is looking for a phone with an ominous presence, but overall we liked the simplified Zen look. The face is covered almost completely by the display, with a small strip of matte black along the bottom. The speaker and 1.3 megapixel camera are at the top of the face with the power button and headphone jack on the top edge. The LED indicator and proximity detector are almost invisible at the top of the face. The USB charging port is under a chrome cover on the left edge. The volume control and HDMI port are on the right edge. There is a microphone on the back and another mic on the bottom edge. A speaker is on the back with the 5.0 megapixel camera and flash. The back is matte plastic that almost has a rubberized feel.

The first major disappointment was the Android Froyo OS (2.2.2). Now we aren’t knocking Froyo, it’s not like we are talking about Windows ME. Froyo is a great OS that is compatible with almost all apps on the Market right now. But the key is “right now.” With the release of Gingerbread and now Honeycomb, that makes some wonder how long before Froyo goes the way of the Laser Disk. (That cross between a giant CD and a vinyl record)

One plus is the Revolution’s custom UI. The menus on the Home screen (portrait orientation only) and the organization of the apps menu are not the plain Jane UI. With the 7-tabbed Home screen it is easy to drag-and-drop apps and widgets to personalize your phone. The UI is very intuitive and easy to get used to, but some consumers would prefer the plain Jane Android Froyo UI. Another big plus is the full HTML web browser; no need to be restricted to mobile friendly sites. Revolution comes pre-loaded with the Swype keyboard, with the LG keyboard as the default. Most at SlashGear seem to prefer the Swype. The Revolution also has WiFi and Bluetooth Stereo 3.0.

The Revolution is running a 1.0 GHz Snapdragon processor with 2 GB internal memory and a factory installed 16 GB microSD card expandable up to 32 GB. The single core was probably a battery saving decision; perhaps LG took a lesson from the battery devouring ThunderBolt. However, some consumers will still be looking for the extra performance found in the new dual core phones on the market. With the Android world becoming optimized for dual core, the Snapdragon was a little disappointing.

The 4.3 inch 800 x 480 16.7M TFT display is excellent. It is definitely able to compete with the other hi-end displays on the smartphone market. Not as brilliant as the Samsung Super Amoled Plus display, but still an excellent touch screen. It delivered vivid, clean images while watching movie trailers, playing games, or streaming video. The screen is hard to see when outside in the sun, but hardly worth mentioning, since many other phones have the same issue.

Software and Performance

If you are looking for a fast network, then you have come to the right place. Speedtest.net clocked the Revolution download speed at 7.045 Mbps with upload at 2.417 Mbps, and ping at 151 ms. That is faster than lots of households get from their ISP. You just can’t get that speed on 3G. (3G is so last year). Almost instant downloading, and Netflix streams instantly as well. If you have to have the most extreme bandwidth, then LTE is where it’s at. It can also share its connection with up to 8 devices via 4G Mobile Hotspot.

When it comes to benchmarks, the Revolution did surprisingly well despite the single core processor. Quadrant gave the Revolution an overall benchmark score of 1934. That is a much better showing than the Droid Charge at 998, but not quite as good as the ThunderBolt at 2036. Linpack gave the Revolution a decent score of 39.395 MFLOPS. The Revolution was able to run Dungeon Defender (a very system intensive app) a little better than the ThunderBolt. It ran without noticeable lag and still rendered good graphics. The Revolution is not the fastest phone in the Android universe, but it is fast enough for almost anything available right now. Based only on performance, the Revolution would probably be a good fit for all but the most Geeky.

The Revolution is being marketed as an entertainment phone, so naturally it came loaded up with lots of software that most people don’t want: VZ Navigator, V Cast Apps, Facebook, Blockbuster, Netflix, Rhapsody, Rock Band, Lets Golf 2, Yahoo Finance, Slacker, etc, etc. Most people would prefer to download the apps they want from the Market. On a side note, LG decided to go with Bing Search and Maps instead of the usual Google apps. We installed Google anyway. Both Google Maps and Bing functioned just fine. Revolution comes with SmartShare pre-installed, so it can control and share content with other DLNA devices right out of the box.

Now the next frustration: no video calling. Skype and the Verizon branded Skype still do not make mobile video calls. Even though the Revolution and the LTE network support video calling, there is no way to make video calls out of the box. The release of VoLTE (Voice over LTE) is still rumored to be late this year or early 2012, so we will all continue to wait impatiently.

Camera

The 5 megapixel camera is a step down from the 8 megapixel on both the Droid Charge and the ThunderBolt. But it can still capture in 720p HD. The Revolution takes decent pictures and video, but we can’t recommend it over the Droid Charge.

But there are some very cool features that come with the camera. Some of the more common features include Sepia, Mono, and Negative mode, along with zoom and flash settings. Some less common tools also come with the camera like crop, rotate, edit, adjust contrast, add text, and face morph. This allows some edit and touch up to photos on the go.

Phone and Battery

The call quality is excellent, even if it is not video calling. The speaker phone gets quite lispy at max volume, but that’s not a major issue. The only issue with calls has more to do with the phone design than the call itself. There is a slight ridge around the edge of the display. Unless the phone is held at the correct angle, that ridge can pinch or dig into the top of the ear. We didn’t notice until after we made a couple of longer calls. Some people hardly noticed while others couldn’t stand it. Probably a good idea to hold it to your ear and try it out for a few minutes in the store.

The battery life is what we were more interested in. LG lists up to 435 minutes of talk time and 335 hours of standby. In the SlashGear tests the revolution lasted 9 hours of frequent use before the battery indicator turned red. One charge should be able to make it through an entire work day. But be warned, there are some sure fire battery killers. After 3.5 continuous hours of non-stop internet radio and video, the battery was down to 13%. Mobile Hotspot will also drain the battery fairly quick. Overall we can definitely recommend the battery life of the Revolution over the ThunderBolt. The ThunderBolt ate batteries like a hungry hungry hippo.

Wrap Up

Retailing at $249 with two year agreement, the Revolution is the same price as the ThunderBolt, and $50 cheaper than the Droid Charge. All three phones have the same killer speed from the same LTE network, and they also share some of the same problems like no video calling. The ThunderBolt was the first to Wow the world with the blistering speeds of LTE. But the battery life, or lack of battery life, quickly killed the excitement. With similar performance and noticeably better battery life, we can definitely recommend the Revolution over the ThunderBolt. The Revolution is a more polished, more market-ready device.

But be warned, heavy use can still drain the battery on the Revolution (or any Android for that matter). And it still has some of last year’s Android inside: namely the single core processor, and Android Froyo. Even though LTE is on the cutting edge of speed, the processor and the OS make the Revolution a bit behind the times in those two areas. The Revolution is slightly limited in terms of future expandability when compared with some of the new dual core phones.

When discussing the Droid Charge, it is almost impossible to compete with the super bright, Super Amoled Plus display. There is also the Charge’s superior 8 megapixel camera. If someone wants to replace their camcorder with their smartphone, then the Droid Charge would probably be better than the Revolution. If someone is looking for a solid all-around phone on the fastest 4G network, we could recommend the Revolution, (but only after holding it against your ear in the store).

There’s also 720p HD video recording, WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0, along with a Mobile Hotspot app that can share an LTE connection with up to eight WiFi clients (or a 3G connection with up to five WiFi clients). Rather than Google, Microsoft’s Bing search and maps is the default.

A 16GB microSD card is preloaded and there’s an HDMI output for hooking up your TV. Swype, Dolby Mobile and an image editing app will be preinstalled. More information in our hands-on.

Press Release:

Revolution™ By LG Arrives For Verizon Wireless

Dynamic Trio of 4G LTE, Entertainment and Power Combine To Make Revolution™ by LG

BASKING RIDGE, NJ, and SAN DIEGO, CA — Verizon Wireless and LG Mobile Phones today announced Revolution™ by LG will be available in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com on May 26.

An entertainment powerhouse, Revolution by LG is the first Android™ smartphone preloaded with the Neflix application, allowing Netflix subscribers access to movies and television shows. Revolution customers can capture and share HD images or videos on a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen. Built-in HDMI output and SmartShare capability allow customers to share multimedia content with HDMI capable displays, creating an exceptional entertainment experience.

Key features:

4G LTE – customers can expect download speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in 4G Mobile Broadband coverage areas 1 GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon® processor
Android™ 2.2 platform
Access to more than 200,000 apps available to download from Android Market™
Bing® Search and Maps
Adobe® Flash® Player
Rear-facing 5.0-megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash
1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat
720p HD video recording and playback
Wi-Fi connectivity 802.11 b/g/n
Mobile Hotspot capability allows customers to share 4G LTE with up to 8 Wi-Fi-enabled devices or a 3G connection with up to 5 devices
Bluetooth® Version 3.0 Support Profiles: headset, hands-free, object push, advanced audio distribution (stereo), audio/video remote control, file transfer, phone book access
Additional features:

V CAST Apps
Virtual QWERTY keyboard with SWYPE technology
Equipped with Dolby® Mobile for rich listening experience
Extensive image editor includes: crop, rotate, resize, apply filters, image adjustments, draw, write, erase and add stamps
16 GB preinstalled microSD card™
Pricing and availability:

Revolution by LG will be available in Verizon Wireless Communication Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com for $249.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.
Revolution customers will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan and a data package. Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 for monthly access. An unlimited data package is available for $29.99 for monthly access. The Mobile Hotspot feature will be included for a limited time at no additional charge.
The Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network, launched in December 2010, is the fastest, most advanced 4G network in the United States, providing speeds up to 10 times faster than Verizon Wireless’ 3G network. Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network currently reaches one-third of all Americans, with plans to expand the network to the company’s entire 3G coverage area over the next three years.

For more information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.

Behind its 4.3-inch WVGA display is Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon processor and 16GB of internal storage. There’s also support for Verizon’s CDMA/EVDO 850, 1900 3G network, along with the 4G LTE 700 network, together with the usual WiFi and Bluetooth.

Of course, what we’re most interested in is the VoLTE (Voice over LTE) which the LG Revolution 4G supports. More on the Revolution in our CES 2011 hands-on with the Android smartphone.

[via Android Community]

One of the possible identities for the unknown LG phones is the G2X, which is a version of the LG Optimus 2X that is rumored to be T-Mobile’s new phone. The other phone could be the 3D Optimus that was shown at the MWC in Barcelona recently. CTIA organizers sure know how to get people excited with mysterious phones and the upcoming Samsung tablet announcements.

CTIA is held in Orlando, Florida and will run from March 22-24 at the Orange County Convention Center. It’s one the world’s largest trade shows for mobile devices like phones and tablets. The show will draw 1,000 companies and have 40,000 professionals from 125 countries to descend upon Orlando. We will be there to give you the latest updates and news.

[via Android Community]

This call was a live, IMS-based VoLTE call was made by Balaji Raghavachari, manager of technology for Verizon Wireless, and it was received by Sanyogita Shamsunder, also working for Verizon as director of technology. This call was not the first call EVER to work over LTE

This wasn’t the first EVER call over LTE, in fact the initiative to make this process work was launched about a year ago by GSMA, a group who successfully made a VoLTE call sometime between then and now. All phones involved in this process have been running Android 2.2 Froyo because speed love yogurt. Take a peek at the full press release below:

VERIZON WIRELESS ANNOUNCES WORLD’S FIRST SUCCESSFUL VOICE OVER LTE CALL ON A COMMERCIAL LTE NETWORK

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – Verizon Chief Technology Officer Tony Melone has confirmed that the company’s technologists placed a live, IMS-based VoLTE (Voice over LTE) call over its commercial network on Wednesday morning. This takes VoLTE calling from a lab environment to a commercial network for the first time anywhere on the globe.

The initial call was placed at 9:54 a.m. ET Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011 by Balaji Raghavachari, manager of technology for Verizon Wireless, using a LG Revolution 4G smartphone. The call originated at Verizon headquarters in Basking Ridge, N.J. and was received by Sanyogita Shamsunder, director of technology for Verizon Wireless, who was also on a LG Revolution 4G smartphone in Basking Ridge. The initial call was 33 seconds in duration. During additional calls made that morning, the technologists were able to browse the Web and use other data services while participating in voice calls.

Melone said, “Today is another proof point that the LTE ecosystem is alive, healthy and thriving. VoLTE will quickly become the global standard for delivering voice over LTE networks.”

“The GSMA launched a voice over LTE initiative a year ago with the aim of driving a single, industry-wide solution for voice and messaging services via IP,” said Alex Sinclair, chief technology officer at the GSMA. “We commend Verizon Wireless for helping to make this a reality by conducting the world’s first voice call over a commercial LTE network. The progress made by the GSMA, its members, and in particular Verizon Wireless, to enable this functionality will play a crucial role in driving strong momentum and vast economies of scale for LTE all over the world.”

Subsequent test calls lasted more than 10 minutes. Technologists browsed the Web, participated in chats and downloaded applications from the Android Market™ while on a voice call. The LG Revolution smartphones were running on the Android 2.2 platform.

Verizon Wireless plans to enhance VoLTE with rich communications services and optimize performance on its commercial 4G LTE network during 2011. Commercial services are expected to be available in 2012.

Although confirmed as the first VoLTE phone and scheduled for launch this summer, the LG Revolution will not actually receive the capability until early 2012. When implemented, the device will still be able to make calls on Verizon’s CDMA network in areas where the 4G LTE network is unavailable.

The device features a 4.3-inch WVGA touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera with auto-focus, single LED flash, front-facing camera for video calls, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS, HDMI ports and DLNA. The device also should come with the Qi wireless power standard built in which enables it be wirelessly charged on a charging pad.

[Via IntoMobile]

One of the major focuses of the device is its ability to serve as a 4G wireless hotspot for up to 8 devices. Bringing 4G to the masses, the Revolution proved to be fast, but only “mid-grade fast.” With our hands-on time with the LG device, we only saw a bit of lag. Maps didn’t render as fast as they did on the Atrix or Samsung 4G LTE Smartphone, which is expected, but it still performed well.

The device features a 1GHz Qualcomm processor, but compared to Samsung’s we were definitely see a bit of a slowdown. Check out our hands-on with the device from the Verizon Press Conference.

The device sports a 4.3-inch touchscreen and features WiFi, 3G/4G, and will be able to serve as a hotspot. Shipping with Android 2.2 the device is similar to the previously released Optimus 2X however, it does not sport the NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor.

After the event we will be getting to see the device, so expect more images and hands-on with the wide array of devices up here soon.