CES 2011 Live: Samsung Verizon 4G Phone Hands-On And Pictures

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At the extremely crowded Samsung booth, I got my hands on the Samsung Verizon 4G LTE Phone, which is oddly lacking a name. The phone looks to be a powerful piece of equipment, and a  keystone in Verizon’s multi-device 4G consumer launch. Regular TFTS readers will know that I typically review every major smartphone from Verizon, so how did the 4G number stack up?

Even though the phone was chained to the table, the first thing I noticed was that it was a bit thick. Yep, this phone is thicker than the iPhone, the Droid X, the Galaxy S phones, etc. etc. I don’t know  if it’s because of the LTE radio that Samsung is using or what, but the phone seems like it has some girth.

In a general ‘feel’, it feels like the Galaxy S family of phones, but without the plasticy feel of the first generation of Galaxy S phones. I didn’t like how the first phones felt. While the back panel on the 4G phone felt like plastic, it didn’t have the overwhelmingly plastic “Fisher-Price My First Cell Phone,” feeling.

As for performance, the phone was fast – very fast. It’s sporting a 1GHz processor, and like all the Samsung Android devices, it’s quick and responsive. I was pleased with the performance. They say the OLED screen is 4.3-inches, making it one of the biggest OLED panels yet (I don’t think we’ve seen them sneak over 4.0-inches yet), but when I held it to my Droid X, it seemed a bit smaller. Oh well.

Generally, I was impressed with this phone. I don’t know why it doesn’t have a name aside from “Samsung Verizon 4G LTE Phone”, though.

Want to catch up with more of our CES 2011 Hand On postings? You can see an index of all our CES 2011 Hand On posts – each complete with their own gallery – here.