For anyone who’s fallen for x-ray specs, sea monkeys or anything else that you could order from the back of a comic book and found it to be a complete crock, it’s hard to believe that any product with a gimmick can deliver true value without a catch. Thankfully there’s a phone that delivers on two fronts, it’s immensely cool, while still being practical and powerful That phone is the LG Thrill 4G.

The first thing you’ll notice is the massive 4.3-inch screen capable of stereoscopic, glasses-free 3D, that looked crisper and more eye popping then the Nintendo 3DS. It’s able to view YouTube 3D (and other 3D-enabled online content), play 3D games (with surprisingly little-to-no eye strain), and display 3D photos from the twin 5MP cameras attached to the phone. The camera system (since it’s two individual cameras that take photos in tandem for the 3D effect) is incredibly fast, and performed well even in low-lighting. However the greatest showpiece of the phone’s 3D capabilities had to be the ability to record movies in 3D without any hassle or the hiccups you’d expect from recording 3D in 720p from a cellphone. It actually caused me to say out loud to myself "This is the future." I was genuinely blown away.

Not just content to be a quirky phone that you can show off at the bar to impress friends and female strangers, the LG Thrill 4G has the muscle to make it a perfectly acceptable work phone for even the most devout Blackberry devotee. The Android Froyo OS provides blazing browsing with full Flash capability (although Flash was unresponsive on a few sites I visited). It also makes quick work of downloading the variety of apps available from the Android marketplace, and pushing files out to the cloud. The touchpad keyboard is responsive and fairly accurate, even with wide fingers. (Although the dreaded predictive text can get a mind of its own on occasion, calling for some quick proofreading before hitting ‘send’) The phone also includes a mobile office solution for banging out documents, and Google Talk for video conferencing.

All is all, the LG Thrill 4G has some wickedly loud bells and whistles, but beyond that lies a competent and capable device built for both the casual and professional users. You’ll be getting yourself a phone that’ll earn you the top spot in the “look-how-cool-my-phone-is” arms race between your buddiess. At a starting price point that could make it an iPhone killer.
$99 with a two-year contract from AT&T
ThrillByLG.com