AT&T has had one of its more important weekends ahead of the iPhone 5 with the arrivals in store for the HTC Jetstream and LG Thrill 4G. The Jetstream is not just the carrier’s first LTE-based 4G tablet but also its first 10-inch tablet outside of the iPad. It mates Android 3.2 with HTC’s first version of its Sense interface for the tablet-native Google OS.
Underneath, it’s unique as virtually the only Android 3 tablet using a dual-core Snapdragon, here a 1.5GHz MSM8260, instead of the NVIDIA Tegra 2 that Google effectively dictated for virtually every earlier model. HTC also claims an unusually long 12-hour battery life and starts it off with 32GB of storage, although the price at $700 makes it one of the more expensive 4G or 3G tablets in shops.
The Thrill 4G is an Americanized version of the Optimus 3D we tried in February. Along with supporting AT&T’s HSPA+ 3G bands, it adds Gameloft 3D games and mSpot 3D movies to the otherwise LG-customized Android 2.2 build. Its distinctive tricks are a combination of dual five-megapixel cameras to record 3D video and glasses-free 3D on its 4.3-inch, 480×800 screen. A dual-core, 1GHz TI OMAP chip and dual-channel memory make it LG’s fastest smartphone so far.
In return for the longer wait, the Thrill 4G costs a low $100 on contract.
