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HTC Trophy
Now onto the phone. How does this phone function as a telephone? Well, it is a CDMA phone (since it's on Verizon) but it is a "world phone" so it does sport a GSM SIM pre-installed for when traveling abroad. It is still only a 3G phone, so data speeds are on par with normal Verizon 3G connection speeds. I really do like Verion's network, and it works very well where I live. Call quality is excellent. Once you become used to the Metro UI it is easy to locate contacts in the phone book and dial them.
Hardware wise, the machine is "standard". There is nothing overly special about it. In testing, it appears that the apps that need to connect to cellular data are a little slower to load than the apps on my iPhone 4. Connecting to wifi does not seem to improve matters either. If this was your first smart phone or you didn't just jump into this phone from another faster phone, you would never know the difference; however it is something that I noticed right away.
There is no physical keyboard with this phone, so everything is done on-screen. Predictive text appears to be accurate and the dictionary will learn as you type. Because the screen is a little bit larger at 3.8" than the iPhone 4, I do believe it is a little bit easier to type on than on my iPhone. The screen does not have the same pixel density as the iPhone 4, which means it does not have a Retina display like the iPhone 4. Yes, you can tell the difference. I have yet to see a display on a phone that rivals the iPhone in quality. The camera appears to take good pictures, but not great pictures, and there is an integrated flash so you can see in the dark. Definitely a plus.
In real world design it appears to be close to the same size as the iPhone, but it is definitely thicker than the iPhone. I like the rubbery back to the Trophy and do not feel like I am going to break the phone everytime I use it unlike the iPhone which I am scared to use if it's not in a case.