Like your phones big, your batteries removable, your screens 1080p and absolutely massive? Then you’ll love LG’s Optimus G Pro – as long as you’re an AT&T subscriber with pockets big enough to house this monster.
You may remember the Optimus G name. Last year, LG put out two big, slightly different quad-core phones, the Optimus G on AT&T and the Optimus G on Sprint. Apparently LG’s idea of going Pro starts with upping the handset size into “phablet” territory.
While the LG Optimus G Pro is well built and loaded with raw power, we’re personally wary of buying a phablet. These phones are just too large for our way of life and cut of pants.
However, we’d never claim there’s no market for these devices. In fact, the biggest problem LG may face with the Optimus G Pro is convincing big phone fans to buy now, rather than wait for the rumored Samsung Galaxy Note 3.
Speaking of Sammy, LG has copied a few of Samsung’s favorite tricks. While there’s no Galaxy Note-style stylus, the plastic-bodied Optimus G Pro can be cracked open, letting you swap out the battery and add microSD storage. Just like on the Galaxy S4, there’s a 13-megapixel camera and a lot of software that bounces between groundbreaking and gimmicky.
LG didn’t shy away from the Samsung comparisons though. It actually had a Galaxy Note 2 on display right next to its own giant phone. You’ll notice that the Note 2 is actually a little bit bigger.
Once again, the Optimus G Pro is an AT&T only device here in the States. It’s $200 with two-year contract, and pre-orders begin Friday May 3. The actual release date is May 10, and if you pre-order, you’ll get a free case for your trouble, one that’s a lot like a Galaxy’s flip cover.
Just try not to stare at that screen
The most immediately striking aspect of the Optimus G Pro is its 1080p screen, which is just plain stunning. Our photos don’t do it justice.
This is the same intense resolution we’ve seen on the HTC One, but at 5.5-inches it’s absolutely attention grabbing. Not that you’ll want for attention if you whip this puppy out in public. At hair’s breadth under 6-inches, we don’t think you can make a phone any bigger and actually expect people to hold it up to their ear and talk.
Part of the supposed appeal of phablets is being able to carry a single device, rather than a tablet and phone. While we’d say the jury is still out on that concept, the size and pixel density of the Pro’s HD display does make it ideal for a little light web or Kindle reading.
Personally, we often carry a Nexus 7 in our bag for such a purpose, and could see leaving it home if the Optimus G Pro became our everyday device. It would also do for watching a trailer or two, but for video that we’ve paid for, even a true tablet doesn’t really satisfy, let alone this big phone.
Big screen, big internals, big performance
The Optimus G Pro might be big, but when it comes to performance this thing is nimble. Inside of it is a 1.7Ghz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM.
That makes for an extremely zippy Android 4.1.2 experience. Home screens fly with the flick of a finger, and going in and out of the basic apps loaded on the demo phones was downright snappy.
Plastic does has advantages, you know
Yes, the Optimus G Pro is plastic. It does have a band of authentic metal running around the rim, but ninety-five percent of the body is plastic. Dense, not at all brittle plastic; this doesn’t feel like a cheap phone by any means, but it doesn’t invite covetous stares and creepy stroking like the iPhone 5 or an HTC One.
However, unlike those “premium” build phones, the Optimus G Pro can be popped open, and its 3140 mAh battery can be removed. That’s a mammoth cell right there, so you’ll likely never need to swap in a fresh one, but the option is nice.
What we really appreciate about this open body design is the removable microSD storage. Those who pick up a phone as big and powerful as the Optimus G Pro will undoubtedly be gaming and watching movies on it. Being able to go beyond the 32GB already onboard will be a real boon.
We’d also reckon it’ll stand up to keys, coins or whatever other scratch-inducing ephemera you keep in your pocket better than the metal guys. We all know how abused a naked iPhone starts to look if you’re not careful with it.
A button that does whatever you want
Button placement on a phone this large is important. We’re still not sure why the HTC One has a lock button on the top when it would be so much easier to reach on the side. The Optimus G Pro avoids this pitfall and places its lock button in just such a place.
On the left side there’s another button that can be programmed to launch any app you choose, third-party or other wise. Camera, email, dialer, Facebook, Google Now, Angry Birds, whatever. It’s a great idea, and possibly our favorite feature on a phone that’s otherwise full of customization options you probably won’t use.
Then it gets gimmicky
LG’s Optimus UI has a tradition of following the lead of Samsung’s TouchWiz when it comes to modifying, and frequently over-complicating, Android 4.1: Jelly Bean.
You’ll notice it first on the lock screen, which makes a watery droplet sound like an S3. Then in the notification panel there’s we like: a row of quick toggles for things like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, airplane mode, etc. This is actually a touch we like on Samsung devices and missed when using an HTC One.
Below that you’ve got a row of LG’s own apps and stuff like the calculator and calendar. This is rather superfluous, as we can’t see how it’s an improvement over home screen icons, and it just makes the panel feel cramped.
Also, like on the Galaxy phones, there are some unique but gimmicky bits that are fun to show your friends but you’ll likely never use otherwise. There’s Mirror Cast, which lets you mirror your phone’s display on a television.
We were told that any TV from 2012 and on will be able to do this via an LG dongle. This current generation of LG TVs can do it with any extra accessories. There was a decent amount of lag when we tried it, so it wouldn’t be great for gaming. It might be a decent way to give a presentation though.
Getting back to the customization, you can actually alter the size, color and symbol of app on your home screen. You can even take a photo, crop it and turn it into a custom icon. There are also nearly a dozen screen transitions to choose from. They all add some unique animation when flipping across home screen panels. Honestly though, it all seemed superfluous. We’re just glad LG covered the basics before getting into stuff like this.
A camera with all the mega-pixels
LG isn’t exactly ignoring conventional wisdom with its camera. Whereas HTC has gone blue in the face explaining what an ultrapixel is, LG and Samsung have just bumped the megapixel count up to 13.
Both the S4 and the Optimus G Pro have a baker’s dozen of megapixels, but that doesn’t mean the two snappers will be equal. Image quality is often determined by software, not just the mp count.
The Pro’s shutter speed was average, not slow but not nearly as rapid as we’ve seen on other devices. To compensate, there’s a burst fire mode that takes up to twenty shots in a row by holding the shutter button.
There’s also 1080p video recording, which has a neat picture-in-picture feature. It records with the main camera as well as the front-facing lens, so you can sort of film your own reaction to what you’re shooting.
It’s gimmicky, and we had to laugh when an LG rep asked how often we’d shot videos and been sad that we couldn’t be in the, because that thought has literally never occurred to us, but we could see this feature being fun for vacation videos.
Other than that, we weren’t really able to test the camera much at the hands-on event. Given the great cameras on the S4, the HTC One and the iPhone 5, this is a place where the Optimus G Pro really needs to prove itself competitive. We’ll be paying close attention image quality in our full review.
The AT&T connection
When we first saw the Optimus G Pro, LG was silent on its U.S. release and carrier. Now we know that this big boy will be exclusive to AT&T, going for $200 with two-year contract. Pre-orders start Friday May 3, and if you put your name in early, you’ll get a free case out of it.
No one on hand could tell us what the Optimus G Pro will cost off contract. Our guess would be a lot, like in the $700 range.
Early verdict
While we’re not fans of the phablet, there were moments during our demo where we understood the appeal. That huge screen is awesome for entertainment, the battery is massive and there’s plenty of room for peppy hardware.
However, the two latest Android frontrunners, the HTC One and the Galaxy S4, both boast HD screens and silky smooth performance. Is bigness really an attraction for anyone but the most niche customer?
So while we’d never dismiss a phone simply because it’s size (except for maybe the Galaxy Mega. Have you seen that thing? It’s huge!), with so many standard Android phones getting larger and larger, we wonder if there’s room in the world for another big old phablet. Even a promising one, like the Optimus G Pro.
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