There were phones and then there were smartphones. Now there’s the latter and then are super-smartphones. Not only are they distinguishable by their high price tags but also by their promise of bigger screens and powerful processors. When you think of super-smartphones it’s usually an Apple or Samsung that comes to mind. But there are other players who are still in the game, looking to cater to similar tastes. One such is LG, and the latest from the company is a super-smartphone, the LG Optimus G, which we’ve had on the test bench for a while now.

Aesthetics

The LG Optimus G is one of the few smartphones that sports a full IPS display. This basically means you have wider viewing angles on the 4.7-inch HD display. The colours are quite vivid and readability wasn’t an issue even in direct sunlight.

The body looks quite sleek but had us being more paranoid than usual about dropping it as the back panel is a full-glass one too! There’s a single metal strip running around the bezel. The body only has two physical buttons –the volume rocker and the lock button. Those who are used to a dedicated camera / shutter button will miss it on this one.

The LG Optimus G runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 quad-core processor and is one of the quickest phones we’ve handled. It’s based on Android Jellybean 4.1 and comes with a 2,100mah battery which sadly gave us just enough fuel for an entire day, that too mostly without it being connected to the internet.

Keyboard

The virtual keyboard on the Optimus G wasn’t the most intuitive we’ve come across but it sure was a quick learner. A double tap on a word saved it on the dictionary and it was aptly prompted next time we wanted to use it.

During most of the usage, there was barely an instance when the phone slowed down. It seemed to handle multitasking well and didn’t lag even when we had some heavy-duty apps running. On benchmarking tests, the device scored around 7629 points shooting way ahead of the likes of HTC One X and the LG Optimus 4X HD.

The speakers on the handset were loud enough for a couple of people to listen to some music and maybe catch an episode of Family Guy.

Apps

There was the usual bunch of apps on the handset including Polaris Office as a productivity app, SmartShare to connect the smartphone to DLNA-enabled devices and RemoteCall Service where you can get the handset diagnosed remotely in case you have any problems.

The manufacturer’s app market LG SmartWorld was also pre-installed on the phone but most of the apps were something that you would already find easily in the Play Store.

One problem with the LG Optimus G was that it got heated up quite a bit while charging.

Camera

I used the 13-megger camera on the LG Optimus G over a week. And while the megapixels are big, the results on the camera weren’t the best we’ve seen. For starters, it almost always failed to focus well, even if we tapped on a particular point to guide it. Most pictures were a bit blurry when zoomed in and those snapped even in decently lit surroundings turned out to be a bit noisy.

Verdict

The LG Optimus G fares well on some parameters such as aesthetics, a super efficient processor and decent multimedia capabilities. However, an underwhelming camera performance and an average battery life do work against the product. Also, for those looking to add on storage to the phone, the LG Optimus G doesn’t come with an expandable memory slot.

While it still falls in the super-smartphone category, there are competitors such as the Samsung Galaxy S III or HTC One X that might still give it a run for its money. Having said that, the Optimus G definitely makes it to the top five most powerful handsets you can find in the market right now.

Rs 34,500

Love – Fast processor, multimedia capabilities

Hate – Average battery life, underperforming camera

mahananda.bohidar@thehindu.co.in