LG Optimus Pad, 3D Beast

With Optimus Pad, LG enters the tablet market, a market which seems to destroy netbooks, by the way, I never grasped that concept, anyway.
 The 8.9 inch tablet has Tegra 2 inside and some 3d angel dust for more fun while geeking around.
The specs of LG Optimus looks like a dyno sheet on a Nissan GTR Nismo Spec V, it’s like you’ve seen the top of the mountain and it was damn’ good, son.
 This uber tablet comes with Nvidia Tegra 2 chipset, it features dual 5 megapixels cameras and 720p 3d video recording (and 1080 in 2D) plus other few goodies I will soon reveal, here’s the summary:

Key features


• 8.9" 16M-color TFT LCD capacitive touchscreen of WXGA (1280 x 768 pixels) resolution
• Tegra 2 chipset: Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor; 1GB of RAM; ULP GeForce GPU
• Android 3.0.1 Honeycomb
• GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 10.2 Mbps, HSUPA 2 Mbps
• 32GB of built-in memory
• Dual 5 MP 2592x1944 pixels resolution autofocus cameras; geotagging
• 2.0 MP front-facing camera; Video calls
• 1080p FullHD video recording @ 24fps (2D), 720p HD 3D video recording @ 30fps
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with hotspot functionality; DLNA
• microUSB port; USB On-The-Go support
• Stereo Bluetooth v2.1
• miniHDMI port, HDMI v1.4
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Flash 10.1 support
• GPS with A-GPS support; digital compass
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor; Gyroscope sensor
• Document viewing and editing out of the box
• 6400 mAh Li-Ion rechargeable battery

Please visit here for full specs.

The Optimus Pad is one of the first LG soldiers to enter the 3d field of battle, but unlike other devices (smartphones) this pad uses anaglyph glasses instead of a 3d screen. The good thing is that Optimus Pad can play 3d stuff over the HDMI, that transforming it into a portable video player.

Unboxing this tech-marvel, we get ourselves a treat, the box contains a charger, a micro USB cable, manuals, a USB On-The-Go and mini HDMI cables.

The LG Optimus Pad has an 8.9" screen at a resolution of 1280 x 768, with a pixel density of 167ppi. Unfortunately, is a plain TFT unit, not an IPS, ergo the viewing angles are not impressive, anyway is a good screen, its only weakness being the poor sunlight legibility.
For design, it’s not ugly, I must say, it has almost the same design as the Optimus line smartphones.
On the front side, besides the screen, we find a 2 Megapixels secondary camera for video calls, the usual ambient light sensor and a status LED.

On the top, we find the charger port, the 3.5 mm audio jack, the Power/Lock key and one loudspeaker. On the left side, there are the micro USB ports and the micro HDMI, on the right a volume rocker and the microphone, and on the bottom another two loudspeakers.
The back of Optimus Pad houses the dual 5 MP camera lenses, fitted with LED flash, when slided reveals the SIM compartment, you don’t get a micro SD card slot, the in built memory should be enough and the battery is not replaceable.

Speaking about the battery, it’s a 6400mAh unit which is quoted at up to 9 hours and 20 minutes of calls or 273h of standby time. For a normal user, it should last for a day without charging.
The LG Optimus Pad has a nice design, the assembly quality is very good, the rubbery finish on the back is nice and also provides a better grip, even the screen adds to the good impression. The only downside is its weight, a little bit more than I expected.
The LG Optimus Pad on Android 3.0.1 Honeycomb, this tablet version of Android is powerful enough to handle almost anything.

The UI is very well thought,  the usability is excellent,  seems like a lot of work went into its design and I think it’s a better UI than the competition offers at the present moment, the Optimus Pad did well in terms of handling.

Contacts get synced with your Google account, since Optimus Pad has no telephony, clicking a phone number opens the messaging app and tapping an email address or a website automatically launches the email app or the web browser. Messaging is easy and fairly simple, the mail is optimized out of the box, the device comes with Gmail and one to use with any POP3/IMAP account. Writing messages and emails is pretty easy on the big QWERTY virtual keyboard, it features auto correction and capitalization, but no haptic feedback, overall typing on Optimus Pad it’s a pleasant experience.

 The music player looks very good, it has a nice interface and lets you sort your music by album, artist, song, genre, playlist or just bring the new and recent additions on top. Video playback offers full HD capabilities but lacks on CODEC’s, the player handles MP4 videos up to 1080p but no DivX/XviD ones out of the box. You may convert them or install another third party app to manage them.
The audio output quality is very good, as you probably expected, it’s nice and clean, with the right pair of headphones you can kiss your mp3 player good bye for good.

With its dual 5 Megapixels camera lenses, the LG Optimus Pad is the super star of tablets, but it’s kind of weird shooting with your kitchen table, sort of speak.
The camera interface is pretty simple and intuitive, the image quality is good, the amount of resolved detail is excellent, the colors are quite pleasant. In terms of video recording, Optimus Pad can record full HD videos of up to 1080p at decent quality, on par or better compared to most of its competitors.
Even if you can record 3d videos, it’s not the same story with still pictures, due to a software glitch, LG has the hardware for that, of course.

In terms of connectivity, the tablet is well equipped for the job, you get the standard microUSB complete with USB host functionality, naturally  Wi-Fi and GPS radios plus 3G speeds of up to 10.2 Mbps HSDPA and 2 Mbps HSUPA.There is no microSD card slot but the 32GB of internal storage is plentiful and Mass Storage is enabled. The tablet also has
Bluetooth (with file transfer support) and the microHDMI port that allows high definition TV-out without an adapter.
The web browsing is very pleasant due to the tablet’s big screen, the 3.0 Honey Comb browser has full Flash support, you can watch 360p and even 480p flash videos, the pages load quick and without trouble.

In conclusion, this is a powerful tablet, with its unique 5MP dual camera capable of 3d recording, with an excellent connectivity and build quality, overall is a nice gadget to have.

If you want one, you can visit us here for a good deal.

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LG Optimus 4X HD, Fire in the Hole!

Optimus 4x HD plays ball in a pretty rarefied league, the quad-core phones. Alongside the LG Optimus 4X HD are HTC  One X and Samsung Galaxy S III.
There are some similarities  between HTC One X and LG. Both are based on a quad-core Tegra 3 processor at 1.5 GHz, 1 GB RAM + GeForce ULP as a graphics accelerator.   LG was the first company worldwide to sell a dual-core smartphone - LG Optimus 2X. Now I suppose they want  to deliver a completely  new product with a bang :  Full name - LG P880 Optimus 4X HD.
Let’s see the the hardware and the strong points of this south koreean baby. Their ambitions are big  and I suppose they do not like to stand in the shadow of Samsung smart phones.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM and quad-band 3G support
• 21 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 4.7" 16M-color True HD-IPS capacitive touchscreen of 720p resolution (720 x 1280 pixels), ~312 ppi; Gorilla glass
• Android OS v4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich with Optimus UI v3.0
• 1.5 GHz quad-core Cortex-A9 CPUs, low-power companion core, ULP GeForce 2 GPU, Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset
• 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB (12.26 GB user accessible) of storage
• micros card support (up to 32 GB)
• 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash; face and smile detection , geotagging and image stabilization
• 1080p and 720p video recording @ 30fps with stereo sound
• 1.3 MP 720p-capable front-facing camera for video-chat
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n and DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
• GPS with A-GPS
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Accelerometer, proximity sensor and auto-brightness sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• micro USB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v4.0
• MHL TV-out (requires MHL-to-HDMI adapter)
• DivX/XviD video support
• High-capacity 2150 mAh Li-Ion battery
• Smart dialing, voice dialing
• NFC support
• LG SmartWorld app

 Full specs here.



Optimus 4x comes in an extra solid cardboard box with a slip-on lid with glossy black 4X imprints that opens halfway. Here we find the smartphone, a charger, the micro USB cable - USB 2.0, a set of 3.5 mm in ear headphones and the manual. What's missing is a memory card, although the inbuilt storage of 16 GB is more than enough to get you started.

The phone is characterized by rectangular shapes, it has right angles slightly rounded at the corners. Straight lines dominate, it’s a minimalist design.
LG has managed to make the most compact quad-core smartphone with a 4.7-inch display, at least in width. That is why it seems easier to handle.
Build quality is very good, even if the case is entirely made of plastic, LG managed to fit a massive HD screen in a slim body keeping the weight in normal limits.
Optimus 4x ‘s display is a True-HD IPS  of 4.7 inches with a resolution 1280 x 720 pixels, 312 pixels-per-inch  density, features Corning Gorilla Glass-protected glass.
It is an excellent screen,  the colors are displayed naturally with impressive detail and crisp. The display of the LG 4X HD is brighter than AMOLED and uses a RGB matrix with a full set of sub pixels, as opposed to the PenTile panel in AMOLED.
Sunlight  legibility is decent, even if not as good as in AMOLED screens, no surprises here.
Above the 4.7" screen is the earpiece, along with proximity and ambient light sensors. Below the screen are the three capacitive controls - Back, Home and Menu. At the top side we have a 3.5 mm headphones jack and a secondary microphone, at the bottom the micro USB port (which allows HD TV output) and the main microphone in the corner.

On the back we have the 8 Megapixels with a single LED flash camera and the loudspeaker grille. The back panel has leather like texture, looks and feels cheap; I was disappointed in this regard.

 Underneath the back cover we find a big strong 2150 mAh battery, a Micro SD card slot and a regular size SIM. This is the biggest battery I have ever found in a mobile phone so far and it features  SiO+battery technology  for better performance.

Unlike the One X, the LG 4X HD has a removable battery (using a new advanced technology at that) and expandable memory.

Optimus features Android 4.0.3 ICS with the custom Optimus UI 3.0 on top, the LG customized interface which looks pretty nice.

 Telephony is very good; I had no trouble holding on to signal even in areas of poor coverage and the in-call audio is consistently good too.

The audio quality doesn’t shine, it is mediocre at most and that’s a bit of a bummer, it’s nowhere near what you would expect from flagship smartphone. The music player is ok though.

The video player is excellent, it has a simple interface and it plays everything,  DivX, XviD, MKV and MP4/MOV up to, and including, 1080p resolution. The AC3 audio codec (among lots of others) is supported, so you don't have to worry about the sound either. There are no limitations for the bitrate, file size, etc.

The camera has 8 Megapixels and it’s capable of capturing 3264 x 2448 resolution images. In terms of picture quality, the phone is doing rather well; the photos have plenty of detail and accurate colors. The Video recorder is capable of shooting 1080p videos at 30fps.

 In terms of connectivity, Optimus has quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE for global roaming and three-band HSDPA with 21 Mbps of download and 5.76 Mbps of upload. Wi-Fi is dual-band with a/b/g/n support, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct and Hotspot capabilities. There is NFC and Bluetooth 4.0 too.
SmartShare is an app that lets you control a DLNA network - you can play media from other devices (e.g. NAS) on your phone or play something from the phone onto another device (e.g. a DLNA-enabled TV).

Also, you get an excellent web browser, minimalist and competent, that’s the Google way. The powerful quad-core hardware enables the Optimus 4X HD browser to play 1080p Flash video without a hitch. That was truly impressive stuff considering a lot of netbooks would choke on something like that.  You also have Google Maps and Navigation.

Final words, the Koreans managed to offer a really solid smartphone with focus on the essentials, with no weak points and at an attractive price. It has the latest hardware in terms of processing power and display quality but it costs less than its direct rivals.

 You can get one free on a monthly contract deal here.

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