LG announced the world’s first smartphone powered by a Nvidia Tegra2 processor. At CES 2011 , several handset makers announced products based on the Tegra2 but this is the first smartphone or super-smart phone to hit the market. Lets see how the device meets our expectations.
LG Optimus 2X - Hardware:
The first thing you would notice about the phone is the huge 4 inch display which has great clarity and color reproduction. The display runs on a 800x480 px resolution. The left and right edges of the display have a minor curve towards the end and its nice to use.
Although the phone is made of plastic for the most part, it does not feel cheap like other phones like the Samsung Galaxy S. The phone is certainly big compared to other devices but since this is the world’s first dual core smartphone, we are not complaining.
LG Optimus 2X - Camera:
The LG Optimus 2X is equipped with an 8 Megapixel camera, autofocus and an LED flash. The amount of detail in the pictures is great. The colour rendering is on the more natural side. No artificial colouring or over saturation.
The noise level is kept to a minimum even though it is present. The LED flash is not as powerful as a Xenon or Dual-LED so lighting up a dark room is out of the question. But it can do a decent job. Try avoiding using the flash while taking macros as it may wash away the colour of the subject.
The level of detail in the video is brilliant. One of the best we’ve seen in recent devices. It becomes quite useless in low light because of the amount of noise in the videos.
Another problem is that the videos are recorded in 3GP format and are compressed quite a bit. We feel that the quality would have been even better if the compression rate wasn’t so high and also at least an mp4 format would have been more helpful. But the compression rate and the video format can be fixed with a software update and we hope that LG do bring these changes.
LG Optimus 2X - Multimedia:
Audio:
The audio quality on the Optimus 2X is average or above average at best. The audio quality through the 3.5mm Audio Jack is quite good and even the volume levels are enough for even loud environments. The music player is actually one of the sweetest implementations we have seen in Android
Video:
The phone sports a 4″ LCD screen with 800x480 pixels (WVGA) Resolution. The display is definitely good but still falls short of the Samsung Galaxy S and the Wave in terms of contrast and visibility under sunlight. The video player supports a wide variety of formats including mp4, 3gp, DivX, XviD etc.
There is no lag while playing even big files and seeking through them is fine as well. However files larger than 4GB will be an issue if the phone is still in FAT 32 format. To add individual videos of over 4GB you have to convert it into NTFS file storage format. Subtitles are supported as well. However languages other than english might not be supported sometimes.
The loudness of some videos were higher than the others. We are not sure whether Optimus 2X is at fault or whether the audio bit rate is to be blamed. The skipping or changing from one video to the other was instant. There is also the option of resuming the videos from the point of last playback or to start from the beginning.
LG Optimus 2X - Software:
The phone comes with Android 2.2.1 build FRG83. We got to tell that Android 2.2 is not seriously optimized for dual core phones but despite that the phone runs fast. LG has promised an update to Android 2.3 Gingerbread for this device and we can’t wait to try our benchmarks with that update. Even with FroYo , most operations seem a lot faster than other Android phones in the market.
UI:
We have a mixed feelings about the UI. While we loved the unlock screen and homescreens , the icons looks a bit inconsistent or out of place. You can configure the number of homescreen panels and add widgets to each homescreen. Both LG widgets and Android widgets can be added.
Apps:
The phone comes with several apps pre-installed. Twitter, Facebook and Myspace for LG apps are social networking apps developed by LG for this device. There is a Browsing Protection app from F-Secure.
LG Optimus 2X - Connectivity:
The phone supports plenty of connectivity options include HSDPA and Wifi(n). You can also use the phone as a WiFi hotspot. The browser is pretty fast and supports flash content.
The Video out via HDMI is really impressive and we have a video which is processing currently to show you how it works.
LG Optimus 2X - Battery Life:
This is something we were not expecting much as the Optimus 2X is the first dual core phone. But we were surprised as we could sail through a complete day with the phone. You might have to reduce the screen brightness to achieve this. With heavy usage like constant 3G downloading, video playback it lasted for around 12-13 hours. With minimal usage it can last close to 2 days with a single charge.
Conclusion:
There are few things to complain about the Optimus 2X. There are a lot of things which LG has got right on this phone. It could have had a more premium external casing just to make it look special. They could have added a dedicated camera key. It would have been cool with Gingerbread on board. If are a person who loves to stay up-to date with the latest technology , you can go ahead and get the Optimus 2X, the future is here. It might take a while before other phones hit the market.
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