LG Nitro HD (AT&T)

AT&T ruined its own surprise by announcing the Nitro HD a full four days ahead of its launch event in New York, but it wasn't until then that we got a chance to see it in the flesh.The Nitro HD starts things off right with a 4.5-inch "true HD AH-IPS" display and a 326ppi-pixel density. As with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the HTC Rezound, the Nitro HD has a 1,280x720-pixel resolution. Much is made of screens these days (as it should be), and LG is claiming that the Nitro HD's screen will pack 500 nits of luminance, a measure of brightness. (The LG Marquee has an extremely bright 700-nit screen.)The screen was large, bright, and beautiful indeed, and colors looked vibrant, and true to life. We won't be able to get really down and dirty with screen comparisons until we lay the Nitro HD, Rezound, and Galaxy Nexus side by side and put them all through their paces for color, brightness, and clarity.After tearing our eyes away from the high-detail display, we took in the rest of the phone. It's all black, with a few metallic silver accents around the camera housing and LG logo on the back. The shape is simple, with a sloping top and bottom to soften straight sides. The backing has a softer finish to it with thin zig-zag ridges; it's grippy and thankfully not a magnet for smudges. The phone felt good in the hand.At 5.27 inches tall, 2.67 inches wide, it's a hair shorter than the unlocked Galaxy Nexus, but the exact same width. It's also a hair thicker--0.41 inch for the Nitro HD and 0.35 inch for the unlocked Galaxy The Nitro HD runs Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread right now, but will likely update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich after the OS makes it exclusive Galaxy Nexus debut on Verizon. It uses LG's typical skin for Android phones.For AT&T, the Nitro HD's biggest feature is data speed for faster streaming, downloads, and uploads. The Nitro HD is the carrier's third-ever 4G LTE-capable phone, right after the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket and the HTC Vivid. If you're not yet in an AT&T LTE coverage area, like San Francisco and New York, you'll default to HSPA+ speeds when available, and 3G speeds after that.