LG Optimus G Android Smartphone Review

This is one BORNING looking phone, completely square, flat, with a Kevlar backing ripped off of Motorola

I like the design, and the power, but I feel like it's falling short in some area's that I personally would enjoy. It could have a little higher screen resolution like some of the newer phones coming out, the battery life is just down right horrible, I couldn't expect this thing to last through a typical workday without plugging it in.

The camera seems to be about average, maybe a little above average with the available software to help the image look a little better. The screen size is a little big for me, I like the smaller screens, I think the iphone 5 at 4" is plenty for me, however I've never actually owned a phone bigger than that, so my opinion isn't from experience.

Not a bad phone overall though, I'll have to have my wife check it out, she might like it. She's still telling me everyday she wants a Note II, but doesn't want a huge screen.

@sevaggs - are you shopping for a phone, or a chrome-covered jacked-up 4x4 pickup? Does the phone have to actually work, or are you just going to use it to impress idiots with its looks?

And to the author: "if you tilt the screen at a more extreme angle, you'll notice a subtle discoloration. Whites turn a slight off-white, almost yellow, and based on the information we have available, this issue seems to be uniform across these devices. It's not a huge issue until you tilt the screen at fairly extreme angles, but most other devices don't have the same issue. For a flagship phone, it's fairly disheartening to see such an obvious weak spot in the panel."

Who's going to do that in normal use? This is not an "antennagate" issue, it's something that no one would ever have a problem with if they were using their device like everyone else uses theirs. Do you frequently lay your LCD TV down on its back, and then watch it at an extreme angle? That's the same kind of thing - and will get you similar results.

its not kevlar, its glass.

Why is this phone SO much more powerful than the Google Nexus 4 when they are essentially the same phone with a few minor differences????

Hey Acarzt; it is a quad core processor phone, has more memory, and I am pretty sure a higher memory bandwidth internally as well. Oh and an enhanced GPU as well!

rapid1:

Hey Acarzt; it is a quad core processor phone, has more memory, and I am pretty sure a higher memory bandwidth internally as well.

Yep, and the benchmark scores on this phone are crazy.

Google Nexus 4 is made by LG... here are the specs taken from here at hothardware.com:

"Under the hood you'll find a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz with Adreno 320 graphics and 2GB of RAM along with either 8GB or 16GB of storage and a 2100mAh battery."

And a line from this review:

"If you weren't aware, the Optimus G was the first commercially available smartphone to use Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC (APQ8064) paired with an LTE radio. That's a 1.5GHz quad-core chip, inside a smartphone. That's about as cutting edge as it gets right now, and when you consider the beefy 2GB of RAM and Adreno 320 GPU, it's pretty clear that the bar is set high. "

Yet the Opimus smokes the Nexus 4..... What gives???

"The Nexus 4 lacks LTE, and if that's a huge deal to you, be sure to take that into account,"

The Nexus 4 has an LTE chip on board. It is turned off by default.... It can be turned on... But it doesn't exactly work on every network in every location... lol

acarzt:

"The Nexus 4 lacks LTE, and if that's a huge deal to you, be sure to take that into account,"

The Nexus 4 has an LTE chip on board. It is turned off by default.... It can be turned on... But it doesn't exactly work on every network in every location... lol

Yep I thought that was really odd as well.  From what I read it will only work on T-Mobiles band 4 once they get it running.  Maybe it was just an inside deal with T-Mobile?

acarzt:

Why is this phone SO much more powerful than the Google Nexus 4 when they are essentially the same phone with a few minor differences????

Not sure about the power but I've heard the Nexus 4 has heat issues.

digitaldd:

acarzt:

Why is this phone SO much more powerful than the Google Nexus 4 when they are essentially the same phone with a few minor differences????

Not sure about the power but I've heard the Nexus 4 has heat issues.

Mine does get quite hot... but it doesn't appear to have caused any problems for me... yet