This video should clear it all up for you:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDmwItEdfI0

Here is the quick version if you’re curious:

• Epic 4G -- Sprint
• Fascinate -- Verizon
• Captivate -- AT&T
• Vibrant -- T-Mobile

All have 4″ Super AMOLED Screens, 1 GHZ Cortex A8 Hummingbird Processors, 512 MB of RAM,  5MP Cameras, and run Android (2.1) with Samsung’s Touchwiz interface on top of Android.

The Epic 4G has the most features by far.  It is the only one with a dedicated slide-out qwerty keyboard, front facing camera for video chat (via qik), and 4G capabilities.

The Fascinate and Epic 4G both can serve as wireless hotspots for up to 5 devices.

The Captivate and Vibrant don’t have flash on their cameras while the Fascinate and Epic 4G both feature single LED flash.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eIvDi7nKZY

Unfortunately, there are still a few apps that you can’t get on the market that will only work if you have a rooted phone (click here for rooting instructions for most phones).  Here’s my list of 7 best apps for rooted Android phones.

1) Wireless Tether – As far as I’m concerned this one app alone should help you make up your mind if you’re undecided about rooting.   Sure, most of the new phones from Verizon and Sprint no support wireless hotspots but they charge you a bunch of extra money for the privilege.   Also, this app will work on the original Motorola Droid which as you probably know, didn’t get the wireless hotspot feature when it got it’s Android 2.2 Froyo update.

2) SetCPU – Anyone who has ever built their own computer probably knows about overclocking.  Did you know that there are several phones that can be overclocked as well (like the Droid which tends to get a little bogged down at times)?  SetCPU allows you to do just that (800mhz on the Droid tends to be stable and safe if you’re curious).  Not only that, it allows you to underclock your phone when it’s not being used which saves battery life.

3) Titanium Backup – While there are plenty of backup apps on the market, there is a limit to what they’ll actually backup.  Titanium Backup, on the other hand can do a backup of everything, including the operating system.  That means should you ever need to do a complete restore of your phone (which if you ever install Custom ROMs can happen from time to time) you’ll be able to do so.

4) ShootMe – No, it’s not a game.  It’s a program that allows you to take screenshots of what’s on your phone’s screen.  It seems silly that you need to root to get this kind of app, but if you do root your phone, it’s worth having.

5) Juice Defender – One of the biggest enemies of any battery powered device is running out of power.  This program does a great job turning off programs when they’re not needed and does a far better job at saving battery power than anything you can get without rooting your phone.

6) Cachemate – Don’t you just hate it when your phone slows down and runs like molasses in winter time?  I sure do.  SetCPU helps by providing more power.  Cachemate, on the other hand, works by clearing your cache so you don’t have to restart the thing so often.

7) ROM Manager – ROM Manager makes it easy to flash new ROMs, add themes, fonts, and create backups of your current ROMs.  If you like to play with new ROMs or change them often, this will make the entire process a whole lot easier.

With so many different Android phones on the market now, picking the best of them can be a bit of a challenge.

I’m throwing this little guide together to help you determine the best Android phone and I’ll even separate it by carrier so if you would like to remain with your current cell phone provider, I’ll give you the best Android powered phone they’ve got.

Best Android Phone For Verizon

Winner:  Droid X

Runner Ups: Droid 2 / Droid Incredible

Deciding on a winner for Verizon Wireless was the hardest of all the cell phone providers in this list.  Quite simply, they have the strongest lineup of Android phones on the market right now.

We ultimately settled on the gigantic Droid X as the winner in this showdown.  Sporting a 1GHZ processor, 24GB of memory (expandable to 40GB), and a huge 4.3” screen, it exudes power an excess.   The phone has been out for over a month and Verizon is still having trouble keeping these things in stock (last I checked there was a two week waiting period to get one).

If you’d like something a little smaller, the Droid Incredible is a great phone itself and the Droid 2 is the phone you want if you’re want a dedicated slide out qwerty keyboard (all of these phones feature 1GHZ processors and at least 16GB of memory).

Best Android Phone For Sprint

Winner: Samsung Epic 4G (overall winner)

Runner Up: HTC EVO 4G

This was an extremely tight race as both phones seem to have taken the “everything but the kitchen sink” approach to building a phone.

These two phones are currently the only two 4G phones you can get so if 4G is important to you, the Epic 4G and EVO 4G are what you’ll be choosing between.  We gave the nod to the Epic 4G as our winner in this race since it features better battery life, a Super AMOLED screen (though at 4” it’s smaller the the EVO’s 4.3”), and twice as much memory.   The Epic 4G will set you back $50 more than the EVO so if you’re on a budget get the EVO but otherwise we think most people will be better served by Samsung’s Epic.   If I had to pick an overall winner, the Epic 4G would be my choice.

Best Android Phone For AT&T

Winner: Samsung Captivate

Runner Up: HTC Aria

The AT&T lineup of Android powered phones is the weakest among the four major carriers and it makes sense since AT&T is still the exclusive provider of the iPhone.   Fortunately, with the Samsung Captivate, AT&T users finally have a phone that I’d label as acceptable.  If the Captivate is out of your price range, the diminutive HTC Aria is a decent choice as well.

Best Android Phone For T-Mobile

Winner: Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant

Runner Up: Garminfone

You may remember that T-mobile was the provider chosen to sell the Google Nexus One.  While it was a great phone (and is enjoying it’s life as the official Android Developers phone), it’s no longer available for purchase from T-Mobile or through Google (unless you’re a developer).

Fortunately, the Samsung Vibrant is a good alternative (part of the Galaxy S series of smartphones).   It has a beautiful  4” Super AMOLED screen, 16GB of built in memory, and a fast 1GHZ processor.

If you’re really into GPS (we love GPS), then the T-Mobile Garminfone is a rather unique smartphone as it offers the best GPS navigation of any phone on the market though specs are a little weaker than most current generation Android phones.

I don’t have any leaked pictures and details are sparse but here’s what we know so far.

It’ll feature a 4″ capacitive touchscreen which is bigger than the Droid 2 but smaller than the gargantuan 4.3″ display found on the Droid X.

The phone seems to cater to those who travel as it will have global roaming capabilities.

It also looks like it’ll be the first Droid to come in white (don’t worry, there will be a black version as well).

It will also up the ante on processor speed with a 1.3GHZ chip though it’s not clear which manufacturer it will be from though if I were going to venture a guess, I’d say Texas Instruments since all the previous Motorola Droids used them.

But today Verizon officially announced the only thing we didn’t actually know – the release date (all the specs are here).   You can start preordering tomorrow (August 11th) and you should be able to find one in Verizon stores starting August 12th.

Other than that, the only piece of news was that in September, they’ll be releasing an R2D2 version of the Droid 2 which will come with Star Wars content and a color scheme designed to look like the iconic Droid from the Star Wars films.  As soon as a picture of the Droid’s new R2D2 paint scheme surfaces, I’ll post one for you.

Motorola Droid 2

To get one directly from Google, just login to your Developer’s account and you can get one for $529.  It ships with Android 2.1 at the moment but will upgrade to 2.2 shortly after being powered on.

While the Nexus One may not have been a hit with consumers, the Android operating system itself sure is proving to be a star.  Google estimates 200,000 Android equipped smartphones are being sold each day and analysts say that at its current rate of growth Android will be on more devices than iOS (the iPhone operating system) by 2012.

Official Android Developer's Phone - Google Nexus One

If you’re impatient (I was) you can download the official update and do it yourself. It’s actually pretty easy and even if something did go wrong, you could go to the Verizon store and they’d fix it as this is the real Verizon and Motorola approved update so it’s covered under warranty.  Just remember this update is for non-rooted users (if you don’t know what that means, then you’re a non-rooted user).

Now that a significant number of people finally have Android 2.2 Froyo on their phones (Motorola Droid, HTC EVO 4G, Nexus One) I figured this would be a good time to review all the Froyo goodness that has come to your trusty old Droid and to talk about what didn’t make it to the phone.

The Froyo update has largely been hailed as the version of Android that finally feels complete and puts it on par with Apple’s iOS 4.  A lot has been done behind the scenes and while you can’t see a lot of what has changed, the biggest thing you’ll notice is how much faster and responsive your phone is.  Google claims a 2-5 times speed increase and if you’ve been using your Droid for any length of time, you’ll notice how much faster the phone responds.

Other new features:

• USB Tethering – There have been applications on the market that have allowed you to tether your phone via USB for a while now, but now it’s built in (Wireless tethering didn’t make it – more on that later).  To access, click settings, Wireless & Network Settings, Tethering, and if your USB cable is plugged in, check the box.
• You’ll notice a new application launcher and that phone and browser access are now available on all your app screens.
• 270 degree rotation.  To see it in action, start watching any Youtube video… now turn the phone upside down.
• 5 screens for your apps, up from the 3 that were previously available.
• Voice dialing for Bluetooth headsets!
• Adobe FLASH 10.1!  Finally something you can hold over the heads of all your iPhone carrying friends – you have all of the Internet available to you on your phone and can watch all the videos and play all the flash based games you like.   (Note:  My updated didn’t have flash support built in and getting it working took a little searching so let me save you the time – here’s the Adobe Flash 10.1 app for the Droid since the Android Market and Adobe’s site didn’t have it last I looked).
• Chrome to Phone – I did a post on this a few weeks ago, but wanted to bring it up again.  You’ll need to install the app for your phone and install the extension on Chrome, but once you do this, anytime you’re working on your computer, you can just click the little phone icon and send the link (including directions from Google Maps) directly to your phone.
• Improved video quality
• New camera interface – the notable enhancement here is that the zoom is easier to use
• Easier to keep you apps updated.  If you’re like me and have 100+ apps, it can be kind of tedious when you have 7-10 apps that all need to be updated when you have to do it one by one.  Now in Android 2.2 you can just press the “update all” button and Android will take care of the rest.
• Apps can now be stored on the SD card and you can move current apps (that support it) to the SD Card.

Wi-Fi Hotspot / Tethering

Of all the features I was most excited about getting with the new update, this was it and sadly wifi tethering didn’t make its way to the Droid with Verizon saying the Droid lacks the necessary hardware to function as a wifi hotspot.   That may be true, sort of (it actually has the proper hardware but the hardware is running the wrong firmware to do it properly), but rooted users have found a way to make wifi tethering a reality with a bit of an ad-hoc solution, but if you’re willing to root your phone (Cyanogenmod and Bugless Beast are two popular ones in the rooting community), you can get wifi tethering.   Disclaimer:  Rooted your Droid voids the warranty on your phone and there is a chance you could brick your phone in the process – we take no responsibility should you decide to try this.

What do you think of the new 2.2 update? Anything I left out that you think should be mentioned?  Let me know in the comments.

This is one of the few high powered smartphones that also feature a slide-out qwerty keyboard.  The only other phones worth buying in this category are the soon to be discontinued Motorola Droid and the Droid’s successor, the Motorola Droid 2.

It also sports a 1GHZ processor so it’ll have plenty of power and speed for all your gaming and multi-tasking.   (The processor is a Samsung Cortex A8 Hummingbird, for those who like to know such things)

The official release date is August 20th – go early if you hope to pick one up on launch day.

Dual Cameras – a 5MP camera for taking pictures (with LED Flash) and 720p HD video and a front facing VGA camera for video conferencing via Qik.

4″ Super AMOLED Screen (these are pretty, but Samsung has been having trouble producing enough of them for demand and is producing them exclusively for their own phones at the moment)

512 MB RAM

4G Connectivity

16GB storage with the ability to upgrade to 32GB via microSD

All in all this is another excellent choice for those looking for a Android phone and it gives you another option if you’d like a 4G phone.

Samsung Epic 4g

However, only root access has been gained.  It’s still not possible to install your own ROM or remove MOTOBLUR from the phone.  The locked down bootloader looks like it’s going to take some time to hack, but in the meantime you can enjoy all the other benefits of having a rooted phone.

However, the Droid X root does permit you to do the following:

• Remove all bloatware and unnecessary programs from the Droid X like CityID, MyVerizon, Amazon MP3, and Blockbuster (if you want to keep them, just don’t delete them) – just remember not to remove any MOTOBLUR files (most have BLUR as part of the file name)
• You can install Android Market apps that require root access like Screen Shot Apps, Titanium Backup, and Root Explorer.
• You can do wireless tethering without waiting for the Android 2.2 Froyo update or paying the $20/month fee that Verizon would like to gouge you for.

Want to root your Droid X?  Visit this site for the instructions and be sure to read these warnings or you could potentially brick your phone which will turn your beautiful Droid X into a $600 paperweight.

Motorola Droid X