Best 4G Phone For AT&T – Motorola Atrix (overall best 4G phone)

Motorola Atrix - Best 4G Phone

Motorola Atrix – AT&T has had the weakest lineup of Android powered phones up until recently, but now that their iPhone exclusivity has come to an end, they’re beefing up their Android offerings and the Atrix is the best of all.  It packs a 1GHZ dual core processor, a gig of RAM and is currently the most powerful smartphone.  You can even get it with a laptop dock (The Motorola Lapdock) which will allow you to use your phone to power the laptop accessory (after all, it has netbook-like specs).

Price – $199 with 2 yr contract

Runner Up – HTC Inspire 4G

If $200 for a phone is just too much for a phone, the HTC Inspire 4G is the cheapest 4G phone on the market.  That doesn’t mean it’s a bad phone.  It’s actually just as powerful as the HTC EVO for Sprint and the same size too so don’t let the price scare you – $99 for this phone is a bargain!

Note: AT&T’s “4G” network isn’t as fast as Verizon’s LTE or Sprints WiMax network, but has far more widespread coverage – just about any place you got 3G coverage with get HSPA+ coverage (4G).

Best 4G Phone For Verizon – Motorola Droid Bionic

Motorola Droid Bionic - Best 4G Phone for Verizon - LTE

Motorola Droid Bionic – As of right now, I’m thinking this will be my next phone.  It packs a big 4.3” screen, a dual core 1GHZ processor (Tegra 2), and 512MB of RAM.  This is the next flagship Android phone for Verizon and makes other 4G phones like the HTC Thunderbolt and LG Revolution look underpowered by comparison.  Throw in the fact that Motorola tends to update their top of the line phones more quickly than the other manufactures and this is a sure winner.

Best 4G Phone For Sprint – Samsung Epic 4G

Samsung Epic 4G - Best 4G Phone for Sprint

Samsung Epic 4G –  This phone was the leader for the best overall Android phone award for a while and while it has been passed up by some of the newer phones from AT&T and Verizon, it still packs a wallop and has plenty of power.

The only knock for this phone is that Samsung has been slow as molasses to get Android updates onto the phone.  If having a more up to date version of Android is high on your list and you’re a Sprint customer, go with the HTC EVO 4G – they tend to update their phones far more quickly and it’s still a darn good 4G phone.

Best 4G Phone For T-Mobile

myTouch 4G - Best 4G Phone for Tmobile

MyTouch 4G – T-Mobile has the weakest lineup as far as 4G phones go.  Even the Nexus S is only a 3G phone which leave the MyTouch 4G as our top choice for a 4G phone on Tmobile.  It has adequate specs and one feature we do like that is WiFi calling (which won’t use up your minutes) when WiFi is available.  And for the fasion conscious, it comes in two colors in addition to the standard black.  You can also get it in red and white.

When I first started making a list of 4G phones available for each cell phone carrier (U.S. carriers only), this was an easy task, there was one phone.  That’s all changed now – you have a plethora of good choices, though the trend of the 4G LTE phones only being available for Google Android continues.

4G is also called LTE, HSPA+, or WiMax depending on who you talk to but they all refer to the same thing… sort of.

Of the three, LTE is the fastest “4G” while HSPA+ is the slowest, but most widely available.  WiMax sits somewhere in the middle.

Verizon is the primary provider of LTE coverage though AT&T has finally brought it to a few markets as well (finally).  Sprint’s 4G coverage is via WiMax, which actually comes from Clearwire.    AT&T and T-Mobile primarily use HSPA+ and while their flavor of 4G is the slowest, it’s also available everywhere they have 3G coverage as it doesn’t require building new cell towers like LTE and WiMax do.

With that being said, let’s jump to the list of 4G phones and devices.  Last year around this time, this was a really short list.  Now it’s a lot longer as there are tons of 4G devices.  If I miss one, just post in the comments and I’ll get it up.

Verizon 4G  Phones (Verizon’s 4G network is called LTE – “Long Term Evolution”) (coverage map)

Verizon officially turned on their LTE network on December 5th, 2011 in 38 markets.  Now they cover more than 190 cities and cover more than 200 million people and everybody that is currently covered by 3G should have 4G access by 2013.

LTE Phones:

• Samsung Galaxy Nexus – $299.99
• Motorola Droid Razr – $299.99
• Motorola Droid Bionic – $199.99
• Pantech Breakout – $49.99
• LG Revolution – $99.99
• HTC Thunderbolt – $99.99
• Samsung Stratosphere – $99.99
• HTC Rezound – $299.99
• Samsung Droid Charge – $199.99

LTE Tablets

• Motorola Droid Xyboard 8.2 – $379.99
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 – $579.99
• Motorola Droid Xyboard 10.1 – $479.99
• Motorola Xoom – $499.99

Sprint 4G Phones (coverage area)

Sprint was the first to bring 4G coverage to the masses with its WiMax technology.  Unfortunately, growth grew to a standstill at the end of 2011 and only covered 71 markets despite the fact that they covered 68 markets in 2010.  That’s a net growth of 3 markets in all of 2011 – not good.

They do have a nice selection of phones, though.

WiMax Phones:

• HTC EVO 3D – $199.99
• HTC EVO Shift 4G – FREE
• Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch – $199.99
• HTC EVO Design 4G – $99.99
• HTC EVO 4G – $99.99
• Google Nexus S 4G – $99.99
• Motorola Photon 4G – $199.99
• Samsung Epic 4G – $99.99
• Samsung Conquer 4G – $99.99

WiMax Tablets:

AT&T 4G Phones (AT&T Also uses LTE Technology for 4G but will start with HSPA+ like T-Mobile) (coverage map)

AT&T has really made things complicated with all their 4G talk.  AT&T calls both LTE and HSPA+ 4G.  Their LTE network is tiny, covering only 26 cities while their HSPA+ network is big, covering virtually everyone that gets 3G coverage.

As far as I’m concerned HSPA+ isn’t real 4G.

However, if you want other options than an Android phone, you’ll get those with HSPA+.  You can get the iPhone, Windows Phone 7, and Blackberries in HSPA+ configurations though none offer 4G LTE yet.

LTE Phones

• HTC Vivid
• Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket
• LG Nitro HD

LTE Tablets

T-Mobile 4G Phones (coverage map)

T-Mobile was the second carrier in the U.S. to launch their “4G” network though , again, it isn’t really 4G, it’s HSPA+ though from a practical standpoint it’s quite a bit faster than then current 3G.

HSPA+ Phones

• HTC Radar 4G
• Samsung Exhibit II 4G
• T-Mobile Sidekick 4G
• LG DoublePlay
• T-Mobile myTouch
• T-Mobile myTouch Q
• Samsung Galaxy S 4G
• T-Mobile G2x with Google
• T-Mobile myTouch 4G
• HTC Sensation 4G
• T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide
• Samsung Galaxy S II
• HTC Amaze 4G
• Blackberry Bold 9900 4G
• Blackberry Torch 9810
• Nokia Lumia 710

I’ll try to keep updating this as new info is released, but right now if you want a 4G phone, first check to make sure there is coverage in your area, then pick one of the phones on this post.  You can purchase 4G phones for areas that aren’t covered as they all work just fine on 3G networks, you just don’t get the huge speed boost when surfing, streaming, or downloading files.

If you know of a 4G phone (real or rumored) that I don’t have on this list, then please post in the comments.

Now lets be honest here – these are both impressive phones in their own right.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWqjywmLLwA

Display

This comparison seems like the biggest “apples” to oranges comparison.  The EVO 4G has a gigantic 4.3 inch 800 x 480 screen.  That may not sound much bigger than the industry standard 3.5 inch but trust me, once you hold it in your hand and play with it, going back to a regular sized screen seems constrained.   It’s big and pretty.

The iPhone 4 uses their new “retina display” which packs 960 x 640 resolution into a 3.5 inch screen.   It’s a great looking display and everything is ultra crisp.  It is, however ,smaller.

Speed

Both phones boast fast processors.  The EVO 4G has a 1GHZ Snapdragon processor inside whereas the iPhone 4 has Apple’s own 1GHZ A4 Processor.   Having enough power to run all your apps without the OS grinding to a halt shouldn’t be a problem on either phone.

Data

HTC EVO 4G (top left) - iPhone 4 (bottom right)

While many people in the tech community christened the new iPhone, the iPhone 4G, the new model (the iPhone 4) is still a 3G phone which makes sense since AT&T’s 4G network isn’t expected to go live until 2012.

The EVO 4G, on the other hand, is a 4G phone (though some would say not true 4G yet) and while it’s only available in a limited number of cities right now, it’s blazing fast where it is available.  When 4G isn’t available, it uses 3G so in many areas speeds will be comparable.

One thing to note is that AT&T has just changed their data plan from “unlimited” to 2GB whereas the data plan on Sprint is not only cheaper, but still “unlimited.”

Video Conferencing

Both phones have a front facing camera for video conferencing and a back facing camera for taking pictures.     The EVO has a 1.3 megapixel camera for video chat and uses the Qik system.  The iPhone has a VGA (640×480) camera and uses their new FaceTime standard for chat (since Apple has made it an open standard, expect it to be available on Android in the coming months).

I’d say the FaceTime system is a bit more elegant than Qik, but FaceTime is unfortunately Wi-Fi only right now whereas Qik has no such limitations, only requiring you be in a 3G service area.

Camera

While Apple finally added an LED flash to their camera and upgraded it to a 5 megapixel camera, they’re still trailing the EVO 4G which has an 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash.  Both can record 720p HD video.

Battery

Apple claims to have really stepped up and improved the battery life of the notoriously power hungry iPhone by installing a bigger battery in an ever slimmer phone and now claims 7 hour talk time on 3G or 40 hours of audio playback – if those are even close to accurate, that’s a pretty big step up.

The EVO 4G also has some drabacks in the battery department.  That big Snapdragon processor and huge 4.3 inch display suck up juice pretty quickly as well.

Then again, with the EVO 4G you can simply buy an upgraded battery whereas as you probably know with iPhones, the sealed internal battery is not user replaceable – you’re stuck with what you got.

Operating System

For many, this phone comparison will come down to an Android vs iOS comparison (iOS 4.0 is the new official name for the iPhone OS 4 since the operating system runs on more than just iPhones, namely iPods and iPads).

While both have their advantages, I’d say in many ways, it’s a win/win – either way you’re getting a sweet operating system.

The Apple App store boasts far more apps with at well over 200,000 compared to the 75,000 or so available in the Android Market.  However, you can find apps that do just about everything for BOTH operating systems.

Froyo 2.2 (which will be on the EVO 4G soon – currently it runs 2.1 Eclair) and iOS 4.0 are both very capable of providing an excellent user experience.

Games

One of the new additions the iPhone 4 has that the EVO 4G does not have is a gyroscope.  Gaming on the iPhone is still the best of all cell phones and Apple raised the bar with their new Gyroscope.  Games are certainly available for both, but the iPhone does it better and has more.

Carrier

Even if you’re undecided up to this point, this final comparison may be where you make up your mind.   The iPhone is exclusive to AT&T (in the United States, anyway), and the EVO 4G is exclusive to Sprint.

I won’t claim to know which one is better in all areas, but I can tell you I have been a past customer of both carriers and while I had Sprint for about 5 yrs, I was only an AT&T customer for 6 months before I just couldn’t take it anymore and terminated my contract early due to them having dead spots in my city and where I lived happened to be one of them.

Getting a reliable carrier is critical as these phones aren’t much fun is you can only use them in your house or apt when you have a wi-fi connection.  It’s still a cell phone after all and you’ll probably still make and occasional phone call or two with it.

The decision is up to you.   And just to be fair to AT&T, my brother has an iPhone and where he lives (Minneapolis), he hasn’t told me of any significant problems using his phone as he pleases.

The HTC EVO 4G is what happens when phone makers decide to make a phone with no compromises under the hood.

With its giant 4.3 inch screen, 8mp camera, 720p video camera, WiMAX connectivity, and that oh so powerful 1GZ Snapdragon processor, under that hood it’s everything you could want (and a few things you feel very demanding asking for) in a phone.

Currently, the EVO 4G runs Android 2.2 – an official upgrade date for Android 2.3 Gingerbread is unknown but if you feel like rooting your phone, you can find several builds using Gingebread.

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