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These two Android handsets symbolise the absolute best in mobile technology at the moment and if you’re someone who lives on the bleeding edge of technology then these two droids are your best bet. The mobile phone segment, especially the high-sector is incredibly cut-throat and at almost every quarter we see companies trying to push the envelope and offer something better. Today’s battle is between the LG Optimus 3D and the HTC Evo 3D. LG hasn’t really attempted any high-end droid since the Optimus 2x, so this SKU is quite an important one for them. HTC on the other hand had the Sensation a couple of months ago which competed with theSamsung Galaxy S  II and since that didn't exactly go as planned, here they are with another attempt.

After reviewing both the phones, we felt they each had an almost even number of pros and cons so picking one from the other was not possible without a head-to-head comparison. Let’s get on with it then and may the best droid win.

LG Optimus 3D – Rs.37,000
The Optimus 3D will wow you with its size and feature set. The phone is quite chunky and large which can be a problem for those with small hands. The 4.3-inch multi-touch screen is simply gorgeous and the colours are lot more natural when compared to the Optimus 2x. The 3D functionality is implemented well and we really liked the fact that LG gives you a customized 3D gallery to view all your content like games, videos and pictures. You get a whole bunch of current games pre-installed as well as 3D videos which you can access through the LG App Store.

LG's app store is a one stop shop for all your 3D needs

Being a high-end droid, there’s full HSDPA and HSUPA support. LG has got you covered on the connectivity front as well with a mini-HDMI port allowing you to easily connect to an HDTV. If wire’s aren’t your thing, then you can stream content to your TV through DLNA or simply view content from a shared drive through their SmartShare app. All of this does take a toll on the battery life and if you’re not careful with your usage, you may find yourself reaching for the charger even before the day is over.


HTC Evo 3D – Rs. 35,990       
The Evo 3D looks and feels a lot smarter and polished compared to the LG and is a tiny bit easier to manage in your hand. The black rubber housing is functional and looks cool at the same time. It has the same sized screen but the pixel count has been bumped up to give you a sharper and more vivid picture. Sense 3.5 never fails to impress and the Evo does come with Android 2.3.4 from Google. It’s also one of the few phones to have the voice/video chat feature in Gtalk.

High res screen and great build quality make it a good catch

The party piece of the Evo 3D though are the dual cameras which lets you capture and record in 3D. We found the Evo 3D to be a lot speedier in the UI as well as when switching the camera to 3D mode. The physical shutter button makes capturing images a lot easier and there’s also touch-to-focus present on both, still and video modes which is a nice bonus. Battery life is manageable thanks to the larger capacity battery which should easily last you a day or a little more, depending on how you use it.

While both the phones are up to their necks in high-end specifications there are some glaring shortcomings with each phone which could make or break your buying decision and to find out what they are, let’s head to the score board.

The score confirms what we felt all along, the Evo is a better phone of the two

The main strengths of the Optimus 3D is the built-in 8GB memory, LG app store for quick access to 3D games and videos and the fact that you can record in 1080p in 2D mode. The 3D picture quality is also slightly better since you get to play with a 3MP resolution instead of a measly 2MP on the Evo 3D. However, it is missing out on quite a few crucial points. The battery life is pretty weak, you only get Froyo out-of-the-box, there's no FM radio, it feels gigantic in your hand and the music player does not have any sound enhancement options. The Evo 3D on the other hand makes up for all these shortcommings but then it lacks the pros the Optimus 3D has. If you can look past the low built-in storage and 720p recording, then you'll find that it's a better phone all round and would be a lot easier to live with.

The Bottom Line
While both the phones seem solid on paper, the HTC manages to do a bit better in many areas which is why it it trumps the Optimus 3D. It’s not that the LG is a bad phone, it’s just that the Evo 3D is slightly better in aspects that really matter on a daily basis.

If had to pick one myself, it’d have to be the Evo 3D and not because of the score alone but because it just feels like a better and more rounded phone. It beats the Optimus 3D is some very important areas starting with the OS. Sure, LG has promised Gingerbread in an upcoming update but why wasn’t it there at launch? In that case, it would most likely be getting Ice Cream Sandwich as well but that’s true for most other high-end droids as well. Also, You don’t fit a standard 1500mAh battery on a 3D phone with Froyo and expect to get away with it. But at the end of the day, a mobile phone is a very personal device and this is what I’d prefer despite the slight shortcomings of the internal memory and video recording capabilities. So, if you had an unlimited budget, which one would you pick?