CTIA Hands On Extravaganza: LG Optimus 3D and G2x, HTC Flyer, HD7S, EVO 3D, and Galaxy Tab 10.1, 8.9
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 23, 2011 2:31 AM ESTHTC HD7S
At CTIA this year HTC introduced the Windows Phone 7 HD7S, a slightly upgraded version of the HD7 it has been shipping for a while now. The upgrade? A 4.3-inch Super LCD screen. Super LCD in this case is actually just a fun marketing name for a PVA panel. So not quite as good as IPS but not quite as bad as TN.
Microsoft also started pushing out its first major update to the Windows Phone 7 OS while we were at CTIA, codenamed NoDo. I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed in how long it took Microsoft to finally update the OS. While we were quite pleased with Microsoft's launch of the platform, without more aggressive updates to both hardware and software there's little hope for it to compete with Apple and Google.
HTC EVO 3D
Big news today at CTIA for Qualcomm: HTC's EVO 3D is the first smartphone that will use its new MSM8660 SoC. For those of you who have trouble following Qualcomm Snapdragon nomenclature, the MSM8660 features two Scorpion cores, an Adreno 220 GPU and a CDMA2000+GSM/UMTS modem all on a single 45nm SoC. In the case of the EVO 3D these two cores run at up to 1.2GHz.
The two Scorpion cores in the EVO 3D each have their own clock and voltage inputs, thus they can be clocked completely independently of one another. Qualcomm believes this gives it an inherent power advantage over other dual-core designs in mixed workload scenarios. It remains to be seen how well Qualcomm's asynchronous clocking works in practice however.
The EVO 3D features a 4.3-inch 960 x 540 qHD display (similar to the Motorola Atrix), although it's unclear whether this is a PenTile LCD or not. Like the LG Optimus 3D, this display uses a parallax barrier to deliver glasses-free 3D. Around back are two 5MP cameras that can be used in tandem for capturing 3D photos and video (at 2MP and 720p, respectively).
Also on the EVO 3D is the latest version of HTC's Sense UI. One of the new features in this version of Sense is the ability to launch apps directly from the lock screen. Drag the circle up to unlock or drag it on top of any icon below it to unlock your phone and immediately launch the selected app. The next few years of mobile OS evolution will involve serious improvements to UI efficiency - this is just the first step.
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Kaboose - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
Looks like a good selection coming up.Trefugl - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
It is a good selection indeed.I do have a question about the HTC Flyer though. I was always under the impression that was using a pressure sensitive pen digitizer (similar to Wacom tablets) vs just using a "meat-stick" capacitive pen. This was a key feature to me as it brings real pressure sensitive input to a tablet device and could lead the way with Photoshop-like apps.
seanleeforever - Friday, March 25, 2011 - link
capacitive pen. unless the technology has changed dramatically, this will be a total failure due to 2 reasons:very low resolution. it is fine to draw circles, but to write words you need to have a digitizer.
you palm cannot touch the surface of the screen. or else it will be registered as another input and mass up the note.
ratbert1 - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
Nice preview. Not sure about your new nail polish though:)Azethoth - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
Were you thinking "Harpy Black" or "Zombie Claw Green" instead? I vote black to go with the wrist hardware.Anand Lal Shimpi - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
Haha sorry, some of those products we weren't allowed to handle ourselves and thus the PR people at the companies were hand models :)Take care,
Anand
JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
I'm guessing they've discovered that people like Anand and Brian can find out an awful lot regarding the internal hardware in a few minutes and are a little worried about early benchmarks and such. Or maybe they just don't want Anand running off with their products? ;-)tigger2u - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
I believe these were "mechanical prototypes" which means that they were non-functioning "dummy" units.It is interesting to see how quickly Anand & Co. can get benchmarks loaded onto these devices (were the LG Optimus 3D results obtained with LG's blessing? http://goo.gl/EXovr )
I'm hoping they get a little quality time with the EVO 3D to see how well the MSM8660 is fairing in that unit.
Brian Klug - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
We actually have an MDP8660 with us that we'll be posting some benchmarks from later this week. :)-Brian
liem107 - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - link
I noticed the info posters only indicate "1 ghz dual core application processor" .i hope the y will use their exynos instead of tegra2...