LG Optimus LTE SU6200 comes to spread its AH-IPS magic around our office, we unbox it on video [VIDEO]

Yet another high-end phone appeared at our doorstep today. The LG Optimus LTE SU6200 is the pioneer of the company’s brand new AH-IPS display, which aims to challenge the best on the market.

As usual on such occasions we thought you might be interested in seeing a quick hands-on video garnished with our first impressions of the smartphone.

The LG Optimus LTE’s HD AH-IPS screen is downright impressive, easily ranking among the best LCD units on the market. With a pixel density of 326 ppi, you won’t be able to spot individual pixels no matter how hard you try or how closely you look.

LG Optimus LTE SU6200 live shots

And granted it cannot match the AMOLEDs for contrast, but it is certainly doing well in its own field. Viewing angles are splendid as well, giving the icons-painted-on-top-of-the-glass look that we love so much.

Sadly, the high resolution also seems to have a bit of a negative impact on the performance and the LG Optimus LTE isn’t as smooth as the other smartphones with a similar chipset. Then again, it might all turn out to be a matter of optimization and things might look better with an upcoming update. The Adreno 220 is not the most powerful GPU around, but it should certainly be able to handle the UI better.

Cutting to the chase, here’s the LG Optimus LTE unboxing and hands-on video.

Don’t worry, the signal strength is fine – the antenna that you saw is used for T-DMB wireless broadcast, as what you see here is a Korea-only model. That’s why we are not going to do a full review of the LG Optimus LTE – this one is not supposed to be used anywhere else.

We are going to use it for a display shootout with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, though, and see if the AH-IPS screen is all that LG makes it to be. If you are still interested in finding more about the Optimus LTE, you can check out our LG Nitro HD review, as that is simply the AT&T version of the same smartphone.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus for Verizon brought its ICS magic to our office [VIDEO]

The U.S. version of the hottest Android smartphone of the year made it in front of our camera, folks. The Verizon Wireless exclusive (at least for the time being) Samsung Galaxy Nexus is practically identical to its GSM sibling, save for the CDMA/LTE radio on board.

The smartphone features a TI OMAP CPU with two 1.2GHz cores. There is a gig of RAM on board and 32GB of built-in memory (28GB is available to the user). The display is a gorgeous 4.65? Super AMOLED unit with HD resolution (720×1280 pixels) and a pixel density of 316ppi. It has oleophobic coating. There is a 5MP camera on the back of the device, capable of recording 1080p videos and a 1.3MP front-facing unit for video calls. A full connectivity suite is at your disposal, including NFC.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus measures are 135.5 x 67.9 x 9.5 mm, and its weight tips the scale at 150 grams. A 1850mAh battery powers the smartphone.

In terms of design, the device is unmistakably a member of the Nexus family. Like its predecessor, the smartphone features a curved display for better ergonomics. It is one of the most understated phone designs we’ve encountered – there is a total of two hardware buttons on the entire device. Check out its live shots below.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus LTE live photos

The software of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is certainly its biggest highlight (after all, we’ve seen quite a few impressive spec sheets this far into 2011). The smartphone is the first device featuring Google’s latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS. Our unit came with the 4.02 update already installed. See it in action below.

We have more features of the LTE packing Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the pipeline, so stick around.

Huawei U8850 Vision lands at ours, sprays some SPB UI magic around [VIDEO]

Yet another Android smartphone joined our review queue and here we are, rushing to give you some quick first impressions of it to give you an idea of what to expect. The Huawei U8850 Vision is a mid-range Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread smartphone that comes with surprisingly sophisticated design for its price.

You probably noticed that the back of the Huawei U8850 Vision is really reminiscent of some HTC smartphones, but you may be surprised to know that Huawei also matched their Taiwanese rivals for build quality and feel of the materials used.

Huawei U8850 Vision at ours

Unlike the Huawei U8860 Honor, which we also have at the office, the U8850 doesn’t come with the home-backed Huawei launcher. Instead it uses the SPB Shell 3D Android launcher, famed for its sleek design. There have been a few customizations here and there, most notably the Huawei logo visible in the carousel view mode, but it’s mostly the same launcher that you can get on other Android smartphones for $14.99.

The SPB Shell UI on the Huawei U8850 Vision fails to match the U8860 Honor launcher for usability and functionality, but it easily outdoes it in terms of eye-candy. And given that the target audience for the U8850 Vision will be mostly younger users without much cash to spare on a smartphone, we believe this makes sense.

Now check out the UI demo video that we created for you to see how the Huawei U8850 Vision handles the SPB Shell 3D.

As usual, feel encouraged to share your thoughts of the device in the comments section below.