Best of the upcoming dual-core Android smartphones

Remember those times when PC processors have reached the limit in terms of speed per core? When it seemed that processors can’t go higher than those limits, companies did the next best thing — utilized the concept of parallel processing and thus created processors with multiple cores. That was then… would you have expected that our mobile phones would have adapted the same concept? It’s not that far fetched given all the applications that we wanted to have in those small electronics. And just like with our PCs, having multiple cores is the way to go with our portables. Currently, Android devices are the ones taking advantage of multiple cores and we’ll try to help you which one to choose. So stick in and decide which one’s for you.

LG Optimus 2X

Here’s the one that started all the dual-core phone revolution. Launched in December of 2010, it uses the now famous Tegra 2 processor to do those powerful processing for the various applications that this will eventually go through. It initially came with Android 2.2 Froyo but is upgradable to 2.3 Gingerbread.

Features

2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network: HSDPA 900 / 2100
Dimensions: 123.9 x 63.2 x 10.9 mm
Weight: 139 g
Display: TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size: 480 x 800 pixels, 4.0 inches

• Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate
• Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
• Gyro sensor
• Touch-sensitive controls

Alert types: Vibration, MP3 ringtones
Loudspeaker: Yes
Phonebook: Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
Internal: 8 GB storage, 512 MB RAM
Card slot: microSD, up to 32GB
Data:

• GPRS
• EDGE
• HSDPA, 10.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA
• Bluetooth, v2.1 with A2DP

USB: microUSB v2.0
Camera:

• Primary – 8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
• Features – Geo-tagging, face and smile detection, touch focus, image stabilization
• Video – 1080p@24fps, 720p@30fps
  Secondary – 1.3 MP

OS: Android OS, v2.2 Froyo, upgradable to v2.3
CPU: Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 proccessor, ULP GeForce GPU, Tegra 2 chipset
Messaging: SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
Radio: Stereo FM radio with RDS
GPS: A-GPS support

Others:

• Social networking integration
• HDMI port
• Google Search, Maps, Gmail
• Digital compass
• YouTube, Google Talk
• DivX/Xvid/MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV player
• MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+ player
• Document editor
• Organizer
• Adobe Flash 10.1 support
• Voice memo/dial/commands
• Predictive text input

Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1500 mAh
Stand-by: Up to 400 h
Talk time: Up to 7 h 50 min

LG Optimus 3D

Another Optimus in LG’s dual-core smartphone line is the Optimus 3D. Launched during the Mobile World Congress last February, this will get it’s dual-core power from a T1 OMAP 4 chip. The other highlight of this phone is that it allows 3D display without those ridiculous-looking glasses. Looks like it will be juicing a lot from those cores.

Features

2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network: HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100
Dimensions: 128.8 x 68 x 11.9 mm
Weight: 168 g
Display: 3D LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size: 480 x 800 pixels, 4.3 inches

• LG 3D UI
• Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate
• Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
• Gyro sensor
• Touch-sensitive controls

Alert types: Vibration, MP3 ringtones
Phonebook: Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
Internal: 8 GB storage, 512 MB RAM
Card slot: microSD, up to 32GB
Data:

• GPRS
• EDGE
• HSDPA 14.4Mbps, HSUPA 5.76Mbps
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA
• Bluetooth, v3.0 with A2DP, EDR

USB: microUSB v2.0
Camera:

• Primary – Dual 5 MP, 2560х1920 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
• Features – Stereoscopic photos & videos; geo-tagging
• Video – 1080p@24fps (2D), 720@30fps (3D)

OS: Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo), upgradable to v2.3
CPU: Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 proccessor, PowerVR SGX540 GPU, TI OMAP4430 chipset
Messaging: SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
Radio: Stereo FM radio with RDS
GPS: A-GPS support
Java: MIDP 2.1
Others:

• SNS integration
• Digital compass
• HDMI port
• Google Search, Maps, Gmail
• Digital compass
• YouTube, Google Talk
• MP4/DivX/XviD/H.264/H.263/WMV player
• 1080p@24fps (2D), 720@30fps (3D) playback
• MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+ player
• Document viewer/editor
• Organizer
• Full Flash 10.1 support
• Voice memo/dial/commands
• Predictive text input

Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1500 mAh

Motorola Atrix 4G

Motorola presented the Atrix 4G during CES 2011 and it made quite a noise. To set it apart from the rest of the smartphones, it took advantage the ability to dock onto either a multimedia dock or a laptop dock. The latter essentially made the Atrix 4G a laptop of sorts, and together with its dual-core processor, this might be one of the best utilizations of a mobile device’s processing power.

Features

2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network: HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100
Dimensions: 117.8 x 63.5 x 10.1 mm
Weight: 136 g
Display Type: TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size: 540 x 960 pixels, 4.0 inches

• Biometric fingerprint reader
• Gorilla Glass display
• Touch sensitive controls
• MOTOBLUR UI with Live Widgets
• Multi-touch input method
• Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate
• Proximity sensor for auto turn-off

Alert types: Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
Phonebook: Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photo call
Internal: 16 GB storage, 1 GB RAM
Card slot: microSD, up to 32GB
Data:

• GPRS
• EDGE
• HSDPA, 14.4 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA
• Bluetooth, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR
• USB: microUSB v2.0

Camera:

• Primary - 5 MP, 2592х1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
• Features – Geo-tagging, image stabilization
• Video – 720p@30fps, 1080p (via future update)
• Secondary – VGA

OS: Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo)
CPU: Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 proccessor, ULP GeForce GPU, Tegra 2 chipset
Messaging: SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM, Push Email
Radio: Stereo FM radio with RDS
GPS: A-GPS support
Java: MIDP 2.0
Others:

• Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
• HDMI port
• Digital compass
• MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+ player
• 1080p MP4/H.263/H.264.WMV/Xvid/DivX @ 30 fps Playback
• Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Google Talk
• Facebook, Twitter, MySpace integration
• Photo viewer/editor
• Organizer
• Document editor
• Adobe Flash 10.1 player
• Voice memo/dial/commands
• Predictive text input

Battery: Standard battery, Lithium 1930 mAh
Stand-by: Up to 250 h
Talk time: Up to 9 h

Motorola Droid Bionic

Being first whipped out for Verizon last January, the Droid Bionic will take advantage Big Red’s network with its LTE support. This phone is often compared to the Xoom in terms how both units will go hand in hand (and the fact that they’re both in Verizon). At this point, if you want a dual-core smartphone for all the LTE advantages, then the Droid Bionic’s for you.

Features

2G Network: CDMA 800 / 1900
3G Network: CDMA2000 1xEV-DO / LTE
Dimensions: 125.9 x 66.9 x 13.3 mm
Weight: 158 g
Display Type: TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size: 540 x 960 pixels, 4.3 inches

• Multi-touch input method
• Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate
• Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
• Touch-sensitive controls
• Swype input method

Alert types: Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
Phonebook: Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photo call
Internal: 16 GB storage, 512 MB RAM, 2 GB ROM
Card slot: microSD, up to 32GB
Data:

• 3G (Rev. A, up to 3.1 Mbps, LTE)
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA
• Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, EDR
• USB: microUSB v2.0

Camera:

• Primary - 8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, dual-LED flash
• Features – Geo-tagging, face detection, image stabilization
• Video- Yes, 720p@30fps
• Secondary – VGA

OS: Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo)
CPU: Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 proccessor, ULP GeForce GPU, Tegra 2 chipset
Messaging: SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM, Push Email
GPS: A-GPS support
Java: Via third party application
Others:

• SNS integration
• Digital compass
• HDMI port
• Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
• MP3/WAV/WMA/AAC+ player
• MP4/WMV/H.263/H.264 player
• Google Search, Maps, Gmail,
• YouTube, Google Talk
• Document viewer
• Photo viewer/editor
• Organizer
• Adobe Flash 10.1
• Voice memo/dial/commands
• Predictive text input

Battery: Standard battery, Li-Po 1930 mAh

Samsung Galaxy S II

This is Samsung’s testimony on how successful their previous offering, the Galaxy S, is… or a testimony on how much improvement they want with the former. It gets its power from a dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 proccessor, Mali-400MP GPU, Orion chipset. Another piece of information that takes this phone in the news is that it will be the first to feature MHL or Mobile High-Definition video Link ports. What’s MHL? It’s basically a micro-USB port that can switch from USB-mode to MHL depending on the device connected. For more MHL details, click here

Features

2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network: HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
Dimensions: 125.3 x 66.1 x 8.5 mm
Weight: 116 g
Display Type: Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size: 480 x 800 pixels, 4.3 inches

• Gorilla Glass display
• TouchWiz UI v4.0
• Multi-touch input method
• Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate
• Touch-sensitive controls
• Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
• Gyroscope sensor
• Swype text input

Alert types: Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
Phonebook: Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
Internal: 16GB/32GB storage, 1 GB RAM
Card slot: microSD, up to 32GB
Data:

• GPRS – Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 – 48 kbps
• EDGE – Class 12
• HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct
• Bluetooth, v3.0+HS

USB: v2.0 microUSB (MHL), USB On-the-go
Camera:

• Primary – 8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
• Features – Geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization
• Video – 1080p@30fps
• Secondary – 2 MP

OS: Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread)
CPU: Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 proccessor, Mali-400MP GPU, Orion chipset
Messaging: SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS
Radio: Stereo FM radio with RDS
GPS: A-GPS support
Java: Via third party application
Others:

• NFC support (optional)
• TV-out (via MHL A/V link)
• SNS integration
• Digital compass
• MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player
• MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player
• Organizer
• Image/video editor
• Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)
• Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration
• Adobe Flash 10.1 support
• Voice memo/dial/commands
• Predictive text input

Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1650 mAh

Full phone specifications courtesy of GSMArena