AT&T has today announced the LG Optimus G Pro, a 5.5-inch Android-powered smartphone that will sell for $199 when it launches on May 3. The device is designed to give Samsung’s Galaxy Note II a run for its money, with a 1080p display and the latest quad-core Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm.
Samsung has had to defend the Galaxy S4’s plastic form factor quite a bit since the device was announced back in March, and one of the ways it has done that is by touting the handsets durability. Plastic, Samsung claims, makes the device much more robust than competing smartphones because it bends and absorbs impact.
But as we suspected all along, aluminum is stronger. In a smartphone torture test performed by warranty provider SquareTrade, the Galaxy S4 fails to beat the iPhone 5 in drop tests, and even proved to be more fragile than its predecessor, the Galaxy S III.
The HTC One may or may not steal marketshare from the Samsung Galaxy S4, but there’s one thing we can all agree on: It’s a stunning smartphone, and its premium aluminum build makes it one of the few Android-powered smartphones that can rival the iPhone’s build quality — as I noted back in February.
But as a high-end device, it is expensive. Fortunately, HTC appears to be bringing the One’s flagship design to a more affordable device with midrange specifications, as you can see from the leaked photo of the HTC M4 above.
Google traditionally holds two keynotes during its annual Google I/O events — one for Android and the other for Chrome, its two main ecosystems. But during this month’s event, the company has just one scheduled.
The three-hour morning session will be held on Wednesday, May 15, and it has sparked speculation yet again that Google could be set to combine Android and Chrome into one platform.
Samsung smartphones have always had plenty of support from custom ROMs like CyanogenMod, allowing owners who hate the TouchWiz user interface to replace it with something a little more like barebones Android. But Galaxy S4 owners on AT&T may not have that luxury.
According to CyanogenMod founder Steve Kondik, the AT&T Galaxy S4 comes with a locked bootloader, which could rule out the possibility of flashing custom ROMs. Kondik has advised those who might be interested in this kind of thing to look for another carrier.
