LG Optimus G Review

Last month LG launched their latest Android smartphone Optimus G in India. It is LG’s first device featuring Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor. The phone offers number of features which would take your smartphone experience to a whole new level.

Recently we did the Unboxing of LG Optimus G and today we would whether this device is able to stand out in the Android smartphone market. An interesting point about the LG Optimus G is that it is the result of joint effort of  LG Mobile, LG Chem, LG Innotek and LG Display.

Display & Design

Optimus G design is similar to the Nexus 4, which took the the world by storm. It features a black unibody design and Zero gap touch. It is one of the few phones available in the market which actually gives you a premium feel once you hold the device in your hands. The phone comes with a magnificent 4.7 inch true HD IPS+ display along with Corning Gorilla Glass 2 protection. The display is 1.6 times more clear and consumes less power as compare to the AMOLED display.

Below the display you have 3 touch buttons – back, home and menu.

Above the display there is a earpiece, front facing 1.3 megapixel camera and LG branding. You also have hidden proximity and ambient light sensors on the left side. There is a small notification LED present just along the front camera which is used to tell you about any missed call, message etc.

At the bottom of the phone you would find a microUSB port to charge your phone and for data transfer. Along with the microUSB port you have a microphone and 2 screws to open the device. So unlike other smartphones it seems that it would be bit easy to open the body of the LG Optimus G. But why would anyone want to open the body of the device? Good question, we are also thinking the same.

At the top of the phone, you have a 3.5mm audio jack and a secondary mic for noise cancellation. In some regions the device also have a antenna at the top. But Indian version does not come with an antenna.

At the right side of the device we just have a power or the lock key. Having a power/lock key on the right makes it much easier to lock the device as compare to the smartphones which have lock key at the top of the device.

On the left side there is a volume rocker and a micro SIM card tray which can be opened using a pin provided with the phone.

At the back of the phone you have a 13 megapixel camera along with LED flash, LG branding below the camera and a loudspeaker. The back of the phone has a sophisticated jewel design. Since the phone comes with a unibody design you cannot remove the battery of the device.

Overall, LG Optimus G ahs a solid build quality and this is the best smartphone launched by LG till date. The sparkling pattern design at the back adds to the beauty of the device. If you want to hold a device with premium build quality rather than a plastic body then LG Optimus G might be a perfect choice for you.

Hardware & Performance

Optimus G is one of the most powerful smartphone available in the market. It is the first smartphone which uses Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor. The phone is powered by a 1.5GHz quad core krait CPU along with 2GB of RAM. It comes with Adreno 320 GPU which gives user an enhanced gaming experience with faster frame rates and smoother game play.
We did a small gaming test on the device to see how does it perform. Check out the video below for the LG Optimus G gaming test.

What can be better than games to test the performance of a device. And as you might have seen in our gaming test, the device is quite powerful and you would be able to play all the games without any lag or problems.

The device is powerful enough to support multitasking with ease. We even performed few benchmark tests on the device and it clearly out performs most of the other smartphones available in the market. First of all we performed quadrant benchmark test on the device which is currently the most famous benchmark test available for Android Smartphones.

The phone performed pretty well in the test beating nearly all other devices. It scored an impressive 7686 in the benchmark test. Just for your information it clearly beats Galaxy Note 2, HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S3.

We also performed Antutu Benchmark on the device. In this test the phone scored an impressive score of 17810, again beating most of the devices. Only devices which had a better score than Optimus G were Nexus 4 and yet to be launched Galaxy S4.

In the end we performed NenaMark2 test on the device to check the graphic and gaming capabilities of the device. The phone scored 58.2 FPS which is simply awesome.

So the above tests clearly shows that LG Optimus G is a powerful device. You would be able to enjoy all your apps, games and daily tasks on the device without any lag or problems.

Software

LG Optimus G runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS along with LG Optimus 3.0 UI on top. The UI is bit similar to Optimus 4X HD,. On the home screen you would find short cuts to phone, contacts, messages and apps. You can even add remove the shortcuts on the dock. You can place maximum 6 shortcuts on the dock. The device also has icon customizer which allows you to add custom icons or replace icons with images.

In the apps menu by default the applications are arranged in alphabetical order but you can even sort them according to their installation date.

The lock screen of the device is a fund feature to play with. While unlocking the device you just need to swipe your finder in any direction and you would notice a bubble effect on the screen. You can also take a sneak peek at the widgets on the homes screen without actually unlocking the device. I personally check the weather widget present on my home screen using the bubble on the lock screen.

LG Optimus G also has some new features like QSlide function which allows the user to see two screen simultaneously and hence increasing the on screen multitasking in the device. You can simply open the video player or other apps like calculator in a pop up window and continue your work in other apps.

This is really a cool feature and takes the multitasking to the next level. You can even adjust the transparency of the popup window using a slider control present on the popup window. The phone also allows you to resize the window according to your preferences. Now you can simply play a video in a popup window and meanwhile carry on with your other tasks such as sending messages.

The phone also has another cool app called the quick memo which can be used to jot down the notes. All you need to do is while using the device bring down the top notification bar and select quick memo option. Then you can take on screen notes and save the memo or share it online.

Besides these Optimus G also has some innovative features like Wise alaram where the app would launch the pre defined apps once you turn off the alarm. You can also zoom in or out of the screen while writing text.
One feature which might come handy is the dual play/dual screen feature which allows the user to share content on a larger display and at the same time perform different tasks on the device.

One of my personal favorite feature present in the device is the live zooming where you can actually zoom in to a live video. Yes you read it right, you can now zoom in to a running video. Amazing isn’t?

 Camera

Talking about the camera present on the Optimus G, it comes with a 13 megapixel camera at the back with LED flash and a front facing 1.3 megapixel camera for video calling. The camera has a bunch of features which would help you in taking some amazing shots with the device. The camera has a feature called smart shutter which senses an unstable camera and adjusts the shutter speed accordingly to capture a superb shot.

In case you are looking to capture a perfect moment then you should try the time catch shot on the device which actually captures few shots before you actually press the button there by eliminating the shutter lag. Besides this you can also capture images by simply saying words like “Cheese”, “LG” etc. This feature is known as Cheese Shutter.

Here are few sample images captured using the 13 megapixel camera present on the Optimus G.

We also recorded a full HD (1080p) video using the Optimus G camera and here it is :

The camera performance is decent. It is probably not the best in the market but still you can capture some amazing shots with the device.

Battery Life

LG Optimus G comes with a 2100mAh non removable battery. It has a rated talk time of around 13 hours on 3G. We were able to use the phone for entire day without any problems. During the day we played few videos on the device, browsed the internet, made few calls and our 3G connection was on for the entire day and still at the end of the day there was some charge left in the battery.

The battery life is pretty impressive thanks to the new technology developed by LG Chem. The processor and the true HD IPS+ display are also battery efficient and helps in saving the battery.

Conclusion

Optimus G is probably the best smartphone made by LG till date and no doubt it is one of the best Android smartphone available in the market. The phone has simply awesome build quality and we really liked the sparkling back design of the device. It is also one of the most powerful smartphone available out there in the market. So you won’t be facing any lag or delay in what ever task you perform on the device.

The phone has awesome battery life and you don’t need to carry a charger to your office or the college as the battery would easily last for a day. The only feature where the device gets beaten by other smartphones is its camera as compare to the other smartphones available in the market. The camera is not poor in terms of performance but considering the other aspects like build quality, performance, battery life etc where the device scores 5 out of 5, the camera could have been made better.

Pros:

• Good Display (True HD IPS+ Display)
• Powerful Device
• Superb Build quality & design
• Amazing Battery life

Cons:

• ????

According to us the phone does not have any cons and it is simply one of the best smartphone available in the market. You can buy LG Optimus G in India for Rs 31,000.