In this day and age as consumers we tend to allow snarky advertisements, word of mouth and promises of the “Next Big Thing” dictate how we spend our hard-earned money. With prices being what they are I want not only the best bang for my buck but something definitely worth upgrading from my perfectly mint smart phone I just purchased.
So while the smart phone Goliath’s have been busy duking it out – LG has quietly crept in with their latest and greatest – the Optimus G. I know LG isn’t exactly the first or second name that comes to mind when you think of MUST HAVE smartphones, but their latest device might possibly be one of the best smartphones out right now. Why ? Let’s see ….
Stating the Obvious
Of course the Optimus G has all the smart phone basics even my grandmother has come to expect in a phone: media player-check, touchscreen-check, dual cameras?-double check. It also has a few other perks not yet common on all smart phone like:
- 1.5GHz Quad-Core 4G LTE smart phone with the Qualcomm Snapdragon™ S4 Pro AP Chipset
- Flawless Clarity with 4.7” True HD IPS Plus Display with Corning Gorilla Glass 2 and Zerogap Touch
- Seamless performance with 2 gb ram with up to 13 hours talk time
- 32GB Total Memory (16GB Internal + 16GB preloaded
microSD card, expandable) AT&T Only (32GB Internal on Sprint) - 50GB Box Cloud Storage**
- Advanced Digital Camera 13MP on Sprint and 8MP on AT&T
Are You a NOTE-taker?
Great, LG allows you to express yourself with Quickmemo. You can screen shot any on-screen image by either – simultaneously pushing the volume up and down button or select the Quickmemo option from the pull down notification menu. On the captured image you can draw or write a note using your finger or stylus and share anyway you like. I did notice screenshots made it Quick Memo “tags” the shot in the lower left hand corner with “LG QuickMemo” – this didn’t bother me so much but there are some pics I could have done without the autograph.
Are you an Uber-Tasker?
I’m not a multi tasker I’m a uber tasker and I have a very short attention span – the Optimus G suits my lifestyle so good it’s scary. It has several features that make that possible like QSlide, QuickMemo, Live Zooming, and Dual Screen Dual Play. If you’re familiar with Pop Up Play on the Samsung Galaxy devices than Q Slide won’t be foreign to you. The difference being that with Pop Up Play you move the video around like a hover craft and can place it where you want as you send a message, browse the net; etc. Q-Slide lets you perform the same activities but instead of hovering your alternate activity transparently overlays on top of the video. The opacity is adjustable so you can fade it as dark or light as you want. The down side of course is the video must be downloaded to your phone for this feature to work. So no YouTube or Netflix videos playing in the background as you surf….bummer. I actually do prefer the transparent layers because I don’t have to move anything out of my way I can just go on about my business by selecting what exactly it is I want to do.
Sharing is Caring
You can share your screen with your television using SmartShare. I know there is nothing new with this feature but the Optimus actually has what’s called dual screen share. This feature allows you to share what you want on the big screen and privately still check your messages, send e-mails; without interrupting the shared media. So envision yourself giving a boring presentation at work and your significant other sends you a naughty text and your alerts are set to ‘PREVIEW’ – crisis averted.
Ready For Your Closeup?
Well you will be, not only is the camera 13MP with 1080 HD video recording (Sprint)- packed with features making it possible to leave any other camera you own at home. It has other cool features such as:
- Live Zoom – As you’re replaying videos that your recorded you can zoom in with Live Zoom
- Smart Shutter reduces blur by auto correcting action shots based on the speed of the moving object
- Cheese Shutter – trouble remembering where the “take picture” button is? Just say “Cheese” and your image will be captured
- Time Catch- takes shots just before the moment you actually choose to to make sure you dont’ miss any “perfect” moments.
- Live Shots, lets you take still pictures as you’re recording video. No longer wishing you had used the camera instead of the camcorder. Camera Resolution defaults to 4208×3120.
How Low Can you Go?
Battery life didn’t drop too low after about 8 hours of steady use. I texted, talked, played Spotify (2 hours straight), played games and emailed. In my area Sprint has yet to get LTE so to be fair I gave that model more use. The quad-core made a huge difference. It wasn’t as sluggish or slow as Sprint phones can normally be in m area. I surfed for hours during the day on both models and still averaged about 25% battery life by the time I got home.
Simply Beautiful
The LG Optimus G is beautiful. It features a slim Zerogap Touch unibody, making it sleek and beautiful from every angle. Zerogap Touch is a high gloss tempered glass design giving you a clearer picture, minimizes reflections, better outdoor visibility and super responsive touch input. Built with Corning Gorilla Glass 2 to provide extra protection against the usual bumps, scrapes, angry outbursts; etc.
Final Take:
I love this phone. The great people over at LG were gracious enough to send me both the AT&T and Sprint models. It’s not a thin or light as other phones on the market but it feels sturdy yet comfortable in my hands. It’s about .33″ thick and 5.11oz in weight. I honestly didn’t feel the urge to run out and buy a case wich is good because I couldn’t find any. The display was gorgeous and I was very pleasantly surprised especially with the Sprint model. We don’t have LTE yet in the Orlando area, but I didn’t experience any dropped calls, lagging net browsing or noticeable delays. The LG Optimus G could very well be the 2012 smartphone best kept secret-even though it lacks Jellybean. On both carrier sites the LG Optimus G is available for $199, but you can pick it up on Amazon for $99.
