Review: LG Optimus G (AT&T)

Introduction and design

LG has long been a player in the world of consumer electronics, making everything from televisions to air conditioners. Up until recently, its strategy in the smartphone world was to undercut the competition on price, with devices like the 4G-ready LG Spectrum, or niche devices like the stylish world phone the LG Prada. However, its LG's flagship line of Optimus phones have earned the attention of consumers and carriers worldwide, especially after the LG Optimus 4X HD, with its capable quad-core processor.

Now LG, aka Lucky Goldstar, has unleashed the LG Optimus G. With a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich OS, 32 GB of storage, a high-resolution display and enough memory to choke a mid-range handset (a whopping 2GB, to be exact), it's built to take advantage of the high data speeds available on AT&T and Sprint's growing 4G networks.

However, the two carrier versions of the LG Optimus G were not created equal. Not only do both phones come packed with carrier-specific apps (some useful, some irksome bloatware), the bodies of the two phones are physically different, and the Sprint handset sports a 13-megapixel camera, while the AT&T model has a more standard 8-megapixel.

The reasons for the discrepancies between the two versions of the LG Optimus G are unclear, but are likely related to the relationships between the carriers and LG. This review will focus on the LG Optimus G for AT&T. Look for our full review of the LG Optimus G (Sprint) early next week.

We don't know why the two versions of the LG Optimus G are so distinct, or if the Optimus name is meant to recall everyone's favorite leader of the Autobots. What we do know is that with this powerful 4G handset, LG is transforming itself into a major competitor in the smartphone arena.

The Optimus G is the best phone LG has ever produced, but is it a true contender among other powerful, big-screened handsets supported by AT&T? Phones like the HTC One X or the Samsung Galaxy S3? Let's find out.

Design

The LG Optimus G for AT&T (model number LG-E970) is big and rectangular, to the point where it feels like a tablet that was shrunk down to fit in your pocket. Other than the fact that it doesn't come in white, it bears a heavy resemblance to the LG Optimus 4X HD. It's a slab of black plastic with right-angled edges and a spacious 4.7-inch screen, measuring 5.15 inch x 2.82 inch x 0.33 inch (130.8 x 71.6 x 8.4 mm) in total.

The overall body of the LG Optimus G may be Gorilla Glass but it sure feels like plastic. Smooth, durable, seamless plastic, but plastic nonetheless. Running a finger across the screen to the the edge of the bezel, you can hardly feel any gap between the two. It has a slick feel in the hand that helps to offset the inherent awkwardness of a such a large handset.

It's big, but surprisingly thin. Being only 0.33 inches thick adds to its overall slickness. The relatively thin design of the body is owed to a completely sealed design. Other than a little hatch for a microSD and SIM card, there's no getting into this device without a screwdriver. That means the G's 2100mAh battery is not removable. That's more than can be said for the Sprint version of the handset, which has no removable SIM or microSD expansion slot.

The sides of the Optimus G are rounded, but the backside is completely flat, unlike the Samsung Galaxy S3 or HTC One X, which have slightly bubbled rears. This makes the G feel even more like a slab of technology.

It's slick but not slippery. Thankfully, the polycarbonate body is just grippy enough that it won't fly out of your palm. While we generally prefer phones with aluminum bodies, like the Droid Razr M or the iPhone 5, the Optimus G is not unappealing to the touch. It's a nice combination of smooth but easy to hold on to.

The LG Optimus G's power button is located on the upper right side, with the volume rocker set slightly lower on the left side. On the AT&T version of the phone, the power button serves as notification light, glowing red like a coal when you've got an alert. You can choose what triggers this alert, be it new email, missed calls, text message, calendar event and more. Of course, these alerts also show up on the lock screen, and on the Sprint handset that's the only place they show up, since it lacks this power button light.

The two carrier versions of the LG Optimus G are in an unusual position, in that they're different from each other both physically and internally. As we mentioned, the LG Optimus G for AT&T measures 5.15" x 2.82" x 0.33" (130.8 x 71.6 x 8.4 mm). The Sprint version (model number LG-LS970) is 5.19" x 2.71" x 0.33" (131.9 x 68.9 x 8.5 mm). The essential specs like processor and memory are the same, though.

Display

That big 4.7-inch multi-touch display is one of the best feathers in the Optimus G's cap. It's huge, and running at 1280x720 resolution (318 ppi) makes it great for reading, browsing the web or playing games. While 1280x720 is the G's default resolution, LG claims support for up to 1920x1080 for the right video. We'd say it's one of the best displays on the market, right next the beautiful HTC One X.

That, coupled with AT&T's speedy 4G service, make it a video streamer's delight. It's not just the sharp resolution, but the Optimus G's balance of color tones. Watching True Grit via Netflix, the display did an excellent job of balancing darkness and light sources in nighttime scenes, and capturing the subtle blues of cold, wintery moments.

Still images and HD videos via microSD were even more impressive. It makes surfing the web or perusing pictures on Pinterest or Facebook a real pleasure. Viewing angles on the device were also very strong, a pair of friends would have no problem watching a YouTube video together on the bus.

Rotating the phone in and out of landscape mode is a bit disappointing. It's not as snappy as we'd hoped, considering all the horsepower under the hood. This is especially true on the home screen, where you have a to wait a beat for app icons and widgets to pop back in. The browser, however, does an admirable job of quickly resizing the page between landscape and portrait. Overall, not an unreasonable amount of lag, just more than we'd expect from a quad-core phone with 2GB of RAM.

E-book fans, take note, the Optimus G's large screen size and penchant for displaying sharp text make it great for doing a little reading on the go. Fan's of Amazon's Kindle app will appreciate the extra display real estate. There's enough room so that pages don't end up formatted oddly, and you don't need to flip across several screens just read a single paragraph, as on smaller smartphones.

Interface

The LG Optimus G will be getting an update to Android 4.1: Jelly Bean in December, LG has announced. Out of the box it's running Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich. There's also LG's own Optimus 3.0 custom user interface, which adds a handful of cute visual tweaks and customization options some user.

Ice Cream Sandwich

We're excited to see what the Optimus G's hardware can do with Jelly Bean, and it's nice hear that the update will be here soon. We do wish it had been installed in this new flagship from the get-go, but if even devices from Google-owned Motorola, the Droid Razr M and Droid Razr HD, can't ship with it, we suppose it's to be expected.

Still, the Optimus G's hefty hardware runs Ice Cream Sandwich very well. You can whip across those seven home screens as fast as your thumb will allow with nary a stutter, even if you really load up on widgets. We surely have that quad-core processor and the excessive 2GB of RAM to thank for that.

The Optimus G's has three Android buttons, back, home and menu. They are capacitive, aka non-physical, with haptic feedback, and quickly go dim when not in use. A long press on the home button brings up a scrolling recent apps menu, and holding menu triggers a Google search.

Three buttons is an interesting choice by LG. While we agree that there's no need for a search button, since there's a Google bar on at the top of every home screen, we would have liked a dedicated recent apps button.

From the unlock screen you can jump directly into Phone, Messaging, Browser or Camera. From the settings menu these four icons be altered. We swapped out the stock browser for Chrome, our personal preference. From this menu you can also change the type of clock and calendar are shown when the phone is locked. Calendar alerts can also be displayed on the lock screen, as are incoming text message and email alerts.

Unlocking the phone has its own unique visual effect, thanks to LG's custom UI.

LG's Optimus 3.0 UI

The Optimus G isn't a vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich device. There's also LG's Optimus 3.0 UI, and you'll notice its visual flair from the moment you unlock the phone. Swipe your finger to unlock reveals the screen below like an expanding iris. It's a neat visual touch we appreciated.

Locking the phone is a reverse of this effect. It's a sort of "iris out," like at the end of a silent movie. The screen goes black from the edges, quickly forming and then closing up a circle in the center of the screen. It happens in the blink of an eye, and it's another nice effect.

Optimus 3.0 adds some flair to home screen transitions, making them turn like pages in a book. Widgets and app icons turn across the front of the screen. It's a bit like watching a street sign or a weather vane rotate in front of your face. Whip across the home screens quickly and it can almost be a bit dizzying.

The pull-down notification center displays all your incoming emails, updates and social media functions. It also has icons called Quick Settings that allow you to toggle Bluetooth, WiFi, Airplane mode NFC and more with ease. Strangely, Mobile Hotspots are not option here, but it is on the Sprint version. Maybe they're trying to get people using the AT&T SmartWiFi app? All icons can be rearranged but not deleted.

LG's UI also adds app icon customization options. You can swap icons, choosing from a couple dozen pre-loaded ones, or make a custom icon from a photo you snapped or a picture in the gallery. You can also expand the size of certain widgets and increase their functionality, or even stretch an app icon to turn it into a widget.

For example, expanding the Chrome app into a widget will show shortcuts to bookmarked websites of your choose. Expanding it further increases the number of shortcuts displayed. It's a great option power users will eat up.

Optimus 3.0 takes ICS's native support for folders and adds to it. Folders can be expanded so you can job into the apps inside without opening said folder. You can devote a whole home screen to website quick links, if you like.

Thanks to the combo of ICS and LG's own UI, the Optimus G has a ton of customization options that we enjoyed. A lot of them, such as expanding and re-coloring icons are not terribly intuitive, and the average user may only stumble across them after a few weeks of use. Still, they're great options, but easy to ignore if they're not the kind of thing you want to fool with.

Apps

For better or for worse, the LG Optimus G is packed with both AT&T software and proprietary apps from LG. They can't be deleted, which is never fun, but a few of them are useful enough to earn a place on your home screen.

LG's apps

QuickMemo is a fun and handy LG app that allows you to compose fast and sloppy handwritten messages, right over a home screen or on a blank memo page. Being able to jump into it from a home screen icon or the notification center makes it fast enough to actually be helpful, since yanking your smartphone out of a pocket or purse is usually faster than digging in your bag for pen and paper.

Writing with your thumb or index finger is never going to make for great penmanship, but it's a fine substitute for jotting down a quick phone number when you can't find a pen. After you make the note, you can save and export it like a gallery picture, or share it via email, Google Drive or social networks. You can also keep the note showing over the home screen as a handy reminder.

For the multitasker user there's QSlide. Similar to Samsung's "text and video" app, it lets you make a video semi-transparent in the background while browsing the web, checking Facebook, texting or doing anything at all. The concept is amusingly ADD, but the Optimus G, with its 2GB of memory, runs it extremely well. You can also make videos more or less transparent with a slider, which is a nice touch.

This is a clever feature, and we wished it was compatible with more common video apps like YouTube. As is, it only works through the Google Play app, which really hampers it. You'll only be able to engage it when watching videos streamed or purchased through the Google Store, or ones saved on your microSD card.

We also loved LG's twin Wise features, Wise Ring and Wise Screen. Wise Ring uses the Optimus G's microphone to monitor the noise around it and amp up your ringer volume when necessary. You won't hear it over the din of a concert or anything, but at a noisy party it can really help. Wise Screen is even better, disabling the screen dimmer when it detects a face looking at the display. It's a great option for those who get annoyed with auto-dim but want to save some battery life.

AT&T's apps

For every cute or useful LG app on the Optimus G there's a clumsy or just plain useless AT&T app. There's an egregious eleven carrier apps in total. Among them only the AT&T Navigator is worth noting, just for its widget, which gives fast access to traffic reports. You set up a home and work address and the widget will calculate the drive time from your location to both places. All you have to do is hit refresh, no need to jump into the app itself. Otherwise it's superfluous, since it falls well shy of Google Maps in terms of detail. It also charges a baffling $9.99 a month for turn-by-turn directions, something that Google Maps does for free.

The rest of AT&T's apps aren't particularly useful, but they're inoffensive (although it is annoying when they start whining for updates). All except for AT&T Address book, which handles your contacts, and can sometimes take an excessive amount of time to open. Jump to the Contacts section of this review for more on that.

Games

Thanks to the Optimus G's massive screen and powerful specs, it's a real pleasure to game on. Fast moving, graphically intense titles like Asphalt 7: Heat are no problem for the phone's peppy processor and ample RAM. The racing game loaded with enviable speed and handled smoothly throughout.

Rayman Jungle Run, a new game with particularly nice art direction, looked just plain stunning on the Optimus G's display. A fast moving "runner" game full of surprisingly intricate animations, nary a frame was dropped while we played.

Maps

As mentioned, the LG Optimus G comes preloaded with the awesome Google Maps app and the functional but overpriced AT&T Navigator. Between those two you shouldn't be wanting any more navigation options.

Want to make an iPhone 5 user cry? Show them your Google Maps, which has only gotten better with age. Not only does it provide turn-by-turn directions on Android devices, it's even begun to show interiors of famous places and large metropolitan transportation stops. These days it even calculates bike routes and public transportation, where available. Apple Maps has a ton of catching up to do.

And so does AT&T Navigator, which only works as well as a moderately priced GPS devices. It gives accurate, spoken turn-by-turn directions and provides maps that are none too detailed. Still, it can't match the data or the interface of Google's map app, which has become extremely intuitive over the years. It's a wonder why AT&T even bothers including it, let alone charging for spoken directions.

Both navigation services use voice recognition to accept spoken commands, and with this we find one place where Apple still rules the roost, at least when compare to Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich. Post-iOS 6, Siri is still the reigning champion of understanding what you mean and accepting commands in colloquial terms. Voice command on the Optimus G's maps are decently accurate, to the point where it can serve as a minor shortcut, but not as a reliable hands-free device. Asking for directions to a contact in your address book works well, but performing a more general search or complex command produces unreliable results.

This is one place where the upgrade to Android 4.1: Jelly Bean should help, as the latest version of the Google OS has improved voice recognition technology. We'll reevaluate and update this review when the update becomes available.

Calling and contacts

With its massive screen and impressive specs, it's easy to forget that Optimus G makes calls too. On AT&T's network in the San Francisco Bay area, we never had trouble getting a signal or maintaining a connection. No dropped calls or other such problems.

Calling

As for the microphone on the LG Optimus, it's average at best, and honestly leaves a little something to be desired. Calls often had a bit of static in the background, and voices over the line were fuzzy. It was usually necessary to play with the volume levels in order to get things comfortable. We'd call it an average performance overall, not a deal breaker, but not a feather in the Optimus G's cap either.

Speakerphone performance was equally fuzzy. Calls needed to be kept at half volume to prevent voices from being distorted. The Optimus G has two pinhole microphones, and their range doesn't pick up well beyond sitting at the end of a desk. Within that range voices came in loud and clear.

Contacts

Your contact information can be found the Contacts app, as is standard with Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich. Unfortunately its been hijacked by AT&T Address Book, a rather quirky carrier app.

You can set AT&T Address Book up to back up to a server, which is great, because it makes migrating to a new phone a breeze, and it will preserve your information if your phone is lost or damaged. However, the app is a finicky beast and occasionally took over thirty seconds to open. We could never get a bead on when and why this delay would occur. These hiccups felt random, which is unacceptable, since it's the only way to get at your contacts information, even if you go at it sideways through the Phone app.

We've never been crazy about how ICS imports contacts information from social networks and then doesn't let you edit some of them. The Optimus G's People app is hampered by this, imposing inscrutable restrictions on which of your contacts can be collected in the Groups feature. It's a real shame, because it displays your friends using great-looking tiles. Luckily, favorites is far more functional and just as good looking.

Messaging and Email

Messaging

Messaging on the LG Optimus G is handled through the Messaging app, which is found on the dock by default. Like all icons on the Optimus G, it can be moved or completely done away with.

Messages appear in the typical back and forth of an instant message conversation. In the upper right there's a phone icon that allows you to quickly call the person you're texting with.

Turning the phone to landscape mode shows previous messages on the left hand side. It's both attractive and convenient. Touching the Enter Message field brings up the wide landscape keyboard, but obscures the current conversation. While we appreciated the bigger keys, not being able to see the whole conversation felt odd.

Email

Email is, of course, handled by the Email app. While Gmail and Exchange are the default email addresses it asks for, it will accept other types of accounts easily.

Email does an admirable job of handling multiple accounts, allowing you to see a selection of or all of your inboxes at once.

There's a Gmail app on board by default, and it comes along with a fantastic widget that offers you a preview of your inbox, right from your home screen.

Keyboard

The Optimus G's keyboard has two available keyboards, the standard Android keyboard and LG's keyboard. Both sets of keys are a good size on the G's big screen, and have a mic icon for quick access to Google talk to text.

LG's keyboard provides fast access to symbols like @, / and ? by giving alternate functions to basic keys. You just give a key a long press to access these. It takes a little getting used to, but it can be faster than scrolling key menus in the normal fashion.

In text messaging mode, the keyboard's key are signifigantly wider and easier to type with. When browsing the web, or whenever the Optimus G decides its relevant, a .com and @ button are crammed in. This forces all the other keys to slim down in order to make room, which makes them a bit harder to hit.

Battery and 4G

We thought a quad-core processor and 4G LTE support would spell trouble for the LG Optimus G's battery. Since the battery is non-removable, we were worried, but ended up pleasantly surprised with the phone's 2100mAh cell's performance.

Battery

Just like the Samsung Galaxy SIII, the Optimus G has a quad-core and a 2100mAh battery. That's a good sized cell, which is necessary for the potentially thirsty specs like you'll find in this phone. Using the TechRadar battery test, which consists of running a ninety minute video with brightness maxed, WiFi on and 4G service engaged, we gave it a run for its money.

After the test, the Optimus G still had 73 percent of its battery life remaining. This is pretty well beyond the HTC One X, which ran down to around fifty percent, but not as good as the Galaxy S3, which only went down to 82%.

Testing the phone around town, we found that a day of heavy usage would generally have the handset around 20% by nighttime. This after a day of browsing the web, checking Facebook, making calls and watching videos.

It's definitely a charge nightly kind of device, but it performs surprisingly well for being so hardware-intensive. It also has a lot of battery saving settings such as eco mode and quad-core management to help squeeze more life from its cell. While it would be no fun to engage those options and lose all that awesome power, they're nice if you absolutely must make it through the day on one charge.

AT&T's 4G LTE

While it hasn't quite covered the country to the extent of its rival Verizon, AT&T boasts an impressive 4G coverage area in the United States. Depending on where you live, that gives the AT&T version of the LG Optimus G a big leg up over its Sprint counterpart, whose 4G coverage is much smaller.

Testing the Optimus G around the San Francisco Bay area, we were impressed with the both the data speeds and the reliable connection AT&T offered. We rarely had less than three bars, and download and upload speeds were comparable to a WiFi connection.

Of course, those data plans are never cheap, and AT&T doesn't offer unlimited data. Instead customers will have to choose from a tiered "Mobile Shared" plan. This means you'll have to share your allotment of data with others on your plan. While we haven't been able to see what kinds of plans Sprint will offer for the Optimus G as of this writing, it currently offers unlimited plans for other devices. We see no reason why they wouldn't do the same with the Optimus G.

Camera

One of the biggest differences between the Sprint and AT&T versions of the LG Optimus G is the camera, with the Sprint boasting a 13-megapixel camera and the AT&T having 8-megapixels. Both phones shoot 1080p video.

As is the the case with most phones, the camera on the AT&T model of the LG Optimus G does its best work outdoors in strong sunlight. Indoors shots or pictures with uneven light gave it trouble. Pictures were sometimes dark, but could be improved by adjusting the white balance or ISO. There's also manual focus control and few color effects.

On the default setting, color contrasts are high, resulting in some rather eye-popping hues. It's not true to life, by the stylization can be nice.

Still, we're not sure you'd want to. The lens isn't capable of shooting anything too amazing, we'd call it perfectly acceptable. The bumped up color saturation adds some life to what would be otherwise boring cell phone shots.

Make no mistake, the camera is perfectly acceptable, just nothing to write home about. Your shots will never be mistaken for anything but cell phone camera snaps.

On an amusing note, the LG's UI gives the camera a voice command shutter. When activated, saying phrases such as "cheese," "whiskey," "kimchi" or "LG" will trigger a picture. Of course, it's best for self shots, since tell your subject to say cheese will trigger a photo.

The front facing 1.3-megapixel camera is extremely standard and takes an extremely standard picture. It's just fine for video chat and Skype.

Verdict

With its beefy stats, big and beautiful display and 4G capability, the Optimus G is easily the most powerful phone LG has ever produced. We'd even say its the best Lucky Goldstar has made to date. The question is, is it worth reccomending among the other 4G smartphone avaialble on AT&T?

We liked

That hardware. If you're picking the Optimus G's best asset, it's a toss up between the internal specs and awesome display. A quad-core processor and an impressive 2GB of RAM makes playing games, browsing the web or just flicking across home screens smooth and downright fun. With all that memory, the browser can handle a dozen or so tabs with ease and the latest games are no sweat either.

The screen is big and sharp, making pictures and videos gorgeous. All that visual real estate is great for gaming, and even makes the Optimus G a decent e-reader substitute.

LG's UI is also nice. It compliments that standard Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich nicely, allowing you to resize and customize app icons and widgets. Also, we won't be waiting long for that Android 4.1: Jelly Bean update, it arrives in December.

AT&T's 4G service, while not cheap, is very good. It was fast, reliable and most importantly, available in our area. The AT&T version of the Optimus G also sports a removable SIM card and a microSD slot. Add that to the 32GB of internal storage and you've got a truly high capacity device.

The battery also impressed us. While it's nothing phenomenal, it had decent longevity for a quad-core device, which is essential since it's not removable.

We disliked

Some of the software, mainly all the AT&T bloatware jammed in this device. One or two of those apps, like the AT&T navigator widget, are worth your time, but the rest is junk.

The camera didn't impress us much. It's not bad, just not great. Despite the nice high contrast colors, you'll never take a picture that would be mistaken for anything but a cell phone shot. We didn't like making manual adjustments to improve indoor and low-light shots.

The size of the Optimus G will certainly be divisive. While we like big phones, a handset this large (5.19-inches long) won't please everyone, and neither with its plastic-feeling body. It might be made of polycarbonate Gorilla Glass, but it feels like plastic all the way.

The phone's speaker quality was not impressive. Calls often had static or buzz, and we were always tweaking the volume to compensate. The speaker phone suffered from similar issues.

Finally, the use of the AT&T Address Book often annoyed us. It would occasionally have to load before opening, and our inability to pinpoint when and why it would do this was a real flaw.

Verdict

We quite like the Optimus G. We're confident saying it's the best LG phone we've seen yet. The specs are tremendous, and it manages to have a big display, quad-core processor and 4G LTE without terrible battery life.

However, the phone falls just short of greatness due to a somewhat dated OS and carrier bloatware. We're glad to know that Jelly Bean is on the way, but having it out of the box would have been fantastic. The amount of carrier software that can't be uninstalled is egregious, and most of these apps are rendered moot by other onboard programs, like AT&T Navigator compared to Google Maps.

At $200 with two-year AT&T contract ($549 without) the Optimus G it's a lot of horsepower for the money. It's worthy of being called a flagship device for LG, and we look forward to updating this review once it makes the leap the Jelly Bean.