Review: LG Optimus G Pro - AsiaOne

By Seow Tein Hee Digital Life, The Straits Times Sunday, Jul 07, 2013 Apple and Samsung might want to keep a close watch on LG. Months after LG launched the flagship LG Optimus G, it unleashed the Optimus G Pro on South Korea. Had sales not crossed the million mark in a hurry on home ground, this "phablet" or phone-tablet might have never made it to the global market. But they have. And it has. The Pro, which bears a striking resemblance to Samsung's Galaxy Note II, will be available here this Saturday. Unlike the Note II, the Pro has a much slimmer bezel around its screen. So it is just 76.1mm wide. The Note II is 80.5mm wide. However, operating either phablet with one hand is impossible. Incredible gymnastics were required of my right thumb in order to reach the top left corner of either screen. South Korean companies have a peculiar obsession with plastic. This holds true for the Pro as well as the Note II. The upside is that they are both very light. The Pro is 172g, just a smidgen lighter than the Note II's 183g.  What is missing from the Pro's otherwise perfect set-up is a stylus. So, for compulsive doodlers and obsessive note takers, it might be a deal-breaker. A physical button at the top left corner of the phone triggers LG's QuickMemo note-taking feature and an overlay appears for you to draw and write on whatever is currently displayed on screen or on a blank canvas. LG's customised Optimus user interface will not win any beauty contests or design prizes, but it most definitely is practical. A row of short cuts to wireless features and functions, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and its Power Saver mode, offer immediate access without requiring a user to dive too deeply into Settings. Underneath the notification panel are apps that work with the QSlide function. These apps are widgets that appear as a second layer on top of the main interface. They let you multi-task more efficiently. The QSlide widgets have a slider that adjusts the transparency of the widgets to provide better visibility of the main user interface. Comparisons with Samsung's Galaxy S4 are unavoidable, especially because of the Smart Screen and Smart Video features. LG claims to be the first to implement Smart Video, but I am not convinced of its usability. When the light was bright enough, the front camera was able to track my facial features well enough to know when to pause or resume video playback. But when the light was dimmer, this did not work as well. Its rear camera produced above average images in well-lit and low-light conditions. The VR Panorama feature allowed me to capture an all-round image. But the image was not stitched together well. Another point of comparison between the S4 and LG is the Dual Camera mode, which triggers the front and rear cameras to capture images or videos simultaneously. LG's difference is that the second image or video can be resized to the full width and height of the display. The S4's resizing option is limited, though there are multiple frames to choose from. The Pro uses the Qi wireless charging standard. LG confirmed that 800 units of the Optimus G Pro sold here will be bundled with a wireless charger. S4 users, however, need to buy a separate wireless charging back cover along with the wireless charging dock, available next week at $158. Despite my misgivings over its cluttered interface, the Pro restored my faith through its performance. The smooth transition between menus and fast switching between apps were astounding. Apps mostly loaded within three seconds; games, such as Lego Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles, played smoothly with minimal lag. Videos were crisp and clear even in action scenes. Battery performance, however, was mixed. In Digital Life's intensive battery test, it clocked five hours, which is below expectations as it has a 3,140mAh battery. But in the daily routine test, it delivered a remarkable uptime of nearly 25 hours, which includes an estimated 10 hours on standby, with a mix of WhatsApp messaging, Web browsing, sending of e-mail and viewing of YouTube videos. With high-end hardware at a reasonable price, the LG Optimus G Pro is a standard for future phablets to match. teinhee@sph.com.sg Get a copy of Digital Life, The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories. via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFT_h1VwaUbKgW-6DAcaiBkt0YBLw&url=http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%252BNews/Science%252Band%252BTech/Story/A1Story20130707-435303.html

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