Smartphones with 3D displays are nothing new; Docomo's Sharp LYNX 3D has been out for a few months now. The LYNX 3D has the same resolution as the Thrill, at 800-by-480 pixels, but the 3.8-inch display is smaller than both of the US phones. The Thrill has a 4.3-inch display, while the EVO 3D has the best display of the bunch with a 4.3-inch QHD display. QHD, which stands for Quarter High Definition, means the display has a resolution of 960×540 pixels arranged in a 16:9 aspect ratio. This resolution is one quarter of a full HD 1080p frame (hence the name) and is three quarters of a 720p frame.

This difference in resolution is apparent. The Lynx 3D display looked grainy and flat--not much obvious 3D effect happening. The LG Thrill looked slightly better, but the 3D effect was still underwhelming. The HTC EVO 3D looked much sharper and the 3D effect was more apparent.

So how does this glasses-free 3D technology work? These phones have parallax barriers, which is a layer placed in front of the display to allow it to show a stereoscopic image (meaning a 3D image) without the need for those dorky 3D glasses. Basically, the layer consists of a series of tiny slits that allow each eye to see a different set of pixels.