At LG's "Share Your Genius" event, we had the opportunity to get in some quality time with the Korean company's newest smartphone, the Optimus G Pro. Due to early leaks, advanced hands-on impressions, and the months since its original announcement, the actual assessment was anti-climactic: every feature of the phone has already been out in the open for some time now. But that doesn't mean that the Optimus G Pro isn't interesting — its solid features and smart build make the nearly 6-inch phone a contender in the Android smartphone arena. But will it stand out amidst heavyweights like the Galaxy S4 and HTC One?
When holding the Optimus G Pro for the first time, it's hard to ignore the obvious comparisons to the Samsung Galaxy Note II. They almost look like sister phones, as they're close in size, shape and color, but the Optimus G Pro just feels nicer in hand. Its thinner screen and lighter weight (by nearly half an ounce) make it more comfortable to hold and cleverly minimizes that inescapable "phablet" feeling that the Note II has.
The Optimus G Pro also has a much more dynamic screen, with 5.5 inches of beautiful, 440 ppi HD colors. It's one of the most eye-pleasing screens out right now, and it's a strong point in the G Pro's favor. The touchscreen is exceptionally responsive — even without a stylus, the notebook app's handwriting feature felt natural and intuitive. The standard Android 4.1.2 Jellybean UI is uncluttered, which Android minimalists will appreciate over TouchWiz's interface. Its 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 series processor facilitates speed, making the device exceptionally responsive. It's very easy to flick through several apps running simultaneously. LG may be late to the party, but the Optimus G Pro is both speedy and stylish.
The device boasts a whopping 13 MP rear camera, with 2.1 MP on the front facing sensor. 13 is an impressive number but megapixel count can be deceiving. The G Pro has the same number of megapixels as Samsung's Galaxy S4 but side-by-side comparions from GSMArena reveal that not all megapixel counts are created equal. Still photographs taken with the G Pro's rear camera showed a noticeable lack of saturation when compared to the S4 and the images were not as crisp or colorful as those taken with the latter. The 1080p video camera on the G Pro does have some neat features built-in that allow users to slenderize their subjects (if you're into that sort of thing) or give them disturbingly large anime eyes. Video quality was on par with still images. It was decent, but when compared to a device like the Galaxy S4, again, there's a noticeable drop in the quality of color and resolution.
Credit: GSMArena
The G Pro relies heavily on its LG-branded features as strong selling points. Dual Cast allows for recording video on both the front and rear cameras simultaneously, which could be useful for video conferencing and reaction shots. Its intuitive functionality makes it a slightly better executed version of Samsung's Dual Shot. The G Pro can be synched to a television set with Dual Screen, Dual Play, which essentially turns the phone into a gaming controller. The G Pro can also be connected to dozens of television models as an easy to use remote control.
LG's included few great features that will no doubt appeal to a broad portion of their customer base but many are hit-or-miss. VuTalk is one of those features that's better in theory than in practice. If you and a friend both have G Pros, the phones can be synched to share notebooks and images in real time (it does not work with video). It's a cool idea, but as it only works between Optimus G Pro handsets, it's not one that has widespread functionality.
One of the G Pro's most intriguing features is its ability to overlay removable widgets on both apps and the homescreen. The media player widget is fully adjustable in terms of size and placement and multiple widgets can be stacked on top of one another while running simultaneously. We played with a number of widgets, including the video player, over the browser and homescreen and the G Pro proved more than adequate at multi-tasking with all those apps and widgets operating at once.
But how does the whole thing size up against Samsung? In truth, the LG Optimus G Pro feels like a great phone that's arrived half a year late. Compared to the older Galaxy Note II, it's a worthy contender, especially if you're concerned about the quality of screen real estate and the ability to deftly run multiple mobile apps at once. But it falls short compared to Samsung's other baby, the Galaxy S4, in practically all areas except size.
In short, the Optimus G Pro is a good enough phone for a good enough price, and it all comes down to where your priorities lie.
Melissa Grey would like to applaud LG's event catering. The mini pizzas were a particular standout. She can be found on MyIGN at MelissaGrey or lurking on Twitter @meligrey.
Lauren Hockenson should never be allowed near the "big eyes" camera feature. She can be found on MyIGN at lhockenson or on Twitter at @lhockenson.
Source : ign[dot]com
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