Nice mini review though I'd ask for a couple additions: - screen reflectance - I've found that not all LCDs are the same and combined with max brightness gives an overall idea of outside legibility - more direct comparison to its competitors - I think most users in this segment will wonder whether to get the Note 3 or LG Pro 2. So is the better camera worth the digitizer/pen? Being 6 months after the Note 3, is anything else noticeably better hardware wise?
I've read the entire article, but I still don't know how "KnockCode" works or what it does (a small oversight). I'll be googling it momentarily, but it might be worth adding just a few words on this for future readers.
Looks like LG stopped one feature short of copying the note 3 completely. "Note" hardware without a stylus to compliment it = fail. I love the s-pen, wouldn't go back to a pen-less device ever.
It's pretty much a poor man's Note 3. I was planning on buying a Note 3, but it was $300 for 16GB, while the LG Optimus Pro G was $99 for 32 GB (and the rest of the specs were on par). Since this was my first foray into using a larger phone, I figured I would get the cheaper model. At least if I break it, I'm not out so much money - at least that was my thinking. If you don't use the pen, this is a cheaper option.
Am I the only one who doesn't want to stop EVERYTHING I'm doing because I have to 2-hand my phone to check a text?! Seriously, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!
4.5" is very near the upper limit of how big a phone can be. You gotta stay with .3" of that... on the absolute highest side of the scale.
I'm a 6'4" 240lb German Man. I can one hand a basketball. But I have to contort my hand to reach the upper left corner of a Galaxy S4. That's 5", that's too damn big.
believe it or not, people want good phones, maybe even phones with flagship specs. but for various reasons, not everybody likes the ever growing form factors of the recent years. the problem now is that besides the z1 compact, there are almost no high end phones left under 5 inches, and phones continue to grow.
if you are fine with those big phones, that's great. other people would prefer to get the same power in a device an inch shorter though, because they find it more practical. but sadly that got harder and harder. that's why we complain. we don't need you to join us, i just hope you can understand us a bit better now.
What is the purpose of a flagship phone with a tiny display? The tiny display only further cripples the functionality of a mobile device, there are much less things you can do on a small display, so why would you need the extra CPU performance or RAM? A phone with a small display will suck at watching videos, viewing photos, reading books, web browsing - so why do you need the performance?
I agree, also need to fit the phone in my pocket along with my wallet. I like to be able to use the phone one handed. Hence, I don't want any of these HUGE phones. My wife, on the other hand uses her phone as her main computer (web / fb / etc) and doesn't mind using 2 hands and of course she has a purse.
A good smaller phone is the Motorola X (there is an excellent review on this site for that phone) which most reviewers loving how the phone feels, its weight, etc. It has just started in Europe with very good reviews... considering its been in the USA market for over 6 months. The moto X has a 4.7" screen and a very small body.
The only thing that SUCKS on ALL ANDROID phones is Google Maps 7.x, which is why I dread replacing my AtrixHD which has issues from a drop, needing replacement. When I updated my phone, it stuck on the horribly useless Maps. Luckily, I can revert that particular APP to factory default. I'm researching to see if I can rip out 7 and install 6 when I get a new phone... otherwise, I'm screwed. Google should have fixed it months ago.
* Having a prettier map display is useless if its useless, doesn't work right and worse - require far more button presses than what is necessary.
For the most part, I have given up placing my 5.5" phone in my pocket. I've gotten used to it. They are starting to make dress shirts with larger, hidden cell phone pockets, and I think this will eventually catch on.
I do agree that Google maps seems to keep getting worse and worse... So has the Android music player. Actually a lot of Apps in Android seem to be getting worse, and anytime I want a new App it seems to take several tries to get anything decent, or not riddled with annoying ads.
i'm on your side. too bad you gotta go 5" or go home when it comes to "proper phones" nowadays. i just hope the z1 compact starts a trend and we see capable competitors in the form of a new and non-gimped one mini and s5 mini soon.
Screen size alone does not determine one handed usability. The size and shape of the bezel around it does as well. 5" phones feel great in one hand right now even if you can't reach the top without shifting, if bezels get even smaller (something LG has been pushing for a while now) that could extend to larger screens as well.
OEMs whitelist benchmark apps so that when the apps are launched, it will plug in all CPU cores as active and run them at max freq for the duration the app is running. That's what AT generally looks for. A normal behaving app will leave the SoC in idle states and ramp up based on instantaneous needs for the workload.
Thanks for the link, evidently I didn't read the GS4 review on this site, but I don't seem to recall very many Samsung (phone)reviews out there with KitKat installed on the device so do you have any link cause I'm curious as to how the performance is without the usual cheat sheet.
Looks pretty awesome - but I like the line in the description "Insanely Lightweight: 6.39 pounds". I have a 17.3" laptop, so the weight is no big deal to me, I'm used to it. There must be a lot of metal in there, used for heatsinks and heatpipes.
What's up with javascript benchmarks? I have a SGS4 (International) and it gets better numbers than most of the phones tested here, both with chrome and stock browser in Android 4.3, it's just odd
aryonoco - Brian couldn't review this phone because it has a micro-SD slot. Foolish LG is evidently unaware that nobody wants those and they're going the way of the dodo.
Uh.... Pretty sure that pic above is the anti theft device put on by whatever show the pics are taken from. Same as you see in any mobile phone store so no-one walks off with the device.
I have an LG Optimus Pro G and one big problem I have is that the buttons are far to easily pressed, so I find the phone unusable without a cover. So the glossy back cover plate doesn't matter, since you need a cover anyways. I don't now if the button pressing is due to bad design, or just the phone being so big.
LG needs to open up to rom development because their locked bootloader is hurting sales. The LG G Pro has been sitting on 4.1.2 since the phone was released. A leaked 4.4 is out but lacks the modem for other locations. They are too slow with the updates and I don't have any faith with them providing timely updates and bad custom rom support.
LG Optimus G was very easy to unlock using the FreeGee app in the Play Store. Had SlimBean 4.3 and SlimKat 4.4 running on up until I returned it in January with a dead touch layer.
LG G2 was also very easy to unlock using the FreeGee app in the Play Store. Had SlimKat 4.4 running on it the second day I had it.
Don't know about the LG Optimus G Pro or the LG G Pro 2, but I'd assume they'd be supported by FreeGee.
The LG Optimus G Pro is truly an amazing smart phone. I believe it is the best phone available on the market. If you are shopping around for a new phone, stop and check out this phone. It has powerful specs, a comfortable feel for the hands, which provides an enjoyable experience. http://num.to/2775-4892-5183
Joshua, great mini review (as always, much more informative than other 'full' reviews), but one thing I don't understand. You are saying that "the white point is also quite blue, likely because this phone is intended for the Asian market". So people in Asia prefer blue? :) Or is it that they don't care about calibration? Could you explain what you mean by this?
good review. i am thinking of this phone or g3 or nexus 5. lg did very good job on the hardware design. now i hope they can catch up the software update speed like samsung, if not better.
very, very few reviews mention sound quality in the 2 audio uses that i care about the most- as a telephone to make actual phone calls, and as a music player WITH HEADPHONES.
how do callers sound to you, and how do you sound to callers? i know it's hard to generate a NUMBER to put on a BAR GRAPH, but that doesn't mean it's unimportant. i really like the information here at anandtech, but would very much appreciate this kind of additional information.
further, no one with a set of functional ears will want to listen to music from a smartphone's speakers- front facing, rear facing, reflected or whatever. if you want to use it as a music player, you will use headphones, and from what i read ELSEWHERE the lg series has a better dac than the samsungs. i can't belive i'm the only reader who cares about this.
i'd appreciate reviews that address the use of phones as music players. you don't carry a separate camera anymore, most of the time. do you carry a separate music player? why?
ps- just reread my comment and it sounds like a rant, for which i apologize. i really DO appreciate the site, and i appreciate this review. i'm just asking for the addition of some audio specific information, which i think would make the reviews even more useful.
With the massive movement towards smartphones, buying a phone has never been so complicated. It's not longer enough to simply buy a phone that dials numbers, takes grainy pictures, and send text messages.
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63 Comments
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JoshHo - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
I apologize in advance for the poor product photos, I don't actually have a dSLR of my own so the Lumia 1020 was the closest thing I could get.Gunbuster - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
"Korean OEMs may be shifting their visual styles soon."I would hope so. Those screens look terribly dated.
ddriver - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
And people complained touchwiz was bad... What's with the "windows 3.1" styling LOLnoel_newell - Friday, October 3, 2014 - link
I agree, it does. I can't see how this phone can match up to some of the top phones on the market (at http://www.consumertop.com/best-phone-guide/ for example).dawheat - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
Nice mini review though I'd ask for a couple additions:- screen reflectance - I've found that not all LCDs are the same and combined with max brightness gives an overall idea of outside legibility
- more direct comparison to its competitors - I think most users in this segment will wonder whether to get the Note 3 or LG Pro 2. So is the better camera worth the digitizer/pen? Being 6 months after the Note 3, is anything else noticeably better hardware wise?
JoshHo - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
Unfortunately I don't have the equipment to test reflectance, I really would like to test that as well when it comes to screen protectors and such.I personally can't say which is better. If the pen is of secondary concern then the G Pro 2 is probably a more well-rounded phone.
TrackSmart - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
Thanks for the "mini review"!As a heads-up:
I've read the entire article, but I still don't know how "KnockCode" works or what it does (a small oversight). I'll be googling it momentarily, but it might be worth adding just a few words on this for future readers.
JoshHo - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
Thanks for the input, I'm going to make sure to cover that in the follow-up.ddriver - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
Looks like LG stopped one feature short of copying the note 3 completely. "Note" hardware without a stylus to compliment it = fail. I love the s-pen, wouldn't go back to a pen-less device ever.kmmatney - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
It's pretty much a poor man's Note 3. I was planning on buying a Note 3, but it was $300 for 16GB, while the LG Optimus Pro G was $99 for 32 GB (and the rest of the specs were on par). Since this was my first foray into using a larger phone, I figured I would get the cheaper model. At least if I break it, I'm not out so much money - at least that was my thinking. If you don't use the pen, this is a cheaper option.gostan - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
A writing style that's very unlike anandtech.JoshHo - Thursday, March 6, 2014 - link
How so? :)ASEdouard - Wednesday, March 12, 2014 - link
I feel it reads exactly like a usual Anandtech mini review.Hrel - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
Am I the only one who doesn't want to stop EVERYTHING I'm doing because I have to 2-hand my phone to check a text?! Seriously, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!4.5" is very near the upper limit of how big a phone can be. You gotta stay with .3" of that... on the absolute highest side of the scale.
ddriver - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
Grow bigger hands :)retrospooty - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
I think its a technique issue. You shouldn't need 2 hands on a 5 inch phone. 5.9 maybe, but not 5.Hrel - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
I'm a 6'4" 240lb German Man. I can one hand a basketball. But I have to contort my hand to reach the upper left corner of a Galaxy S4. That's 5", that's too damn big.ddriver - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
Is anyone forcing you to buy big phones? I don't understand why people have to complain for stuff that is not mandatory but entirely optional.fokka - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
believe it or not, people want good phones, maybe even phones with flagship specs. but for various reasons, not everybody likes the ever growing form factors of the recent years. the problem now is that besides the z1 compact, there are almost no high end phones left under 5 inches, and phones continue to grow.if you are fine with those big phones, that's great. other people would prefer to get the same power in a device an inch shorter though, because they find it more practical. but sadly that got harder and harder. that's why we complain. we don't need you to join us, i just hope you can understand us a bit better now.
ddriver - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
What is the purpose of a flagship phone with a tiny display? The tiny display only further cripples the functionality of a mobile device, there are much less things you can do on a small display, so why would you need the extra CPU performance or RAM? A phone with a small display will suck at watching videos, viewing photos, reading books, web browsing - so why do you need the performance?Belard - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
I agree, also need to fit the phone in my pocket along with my wallet. I like to be able to use the phone one handed. Hence, I don't want any of these HUGE phones. My wife, on the other hand uses her phone as her main computer (web / fb / etc) and doesn't mind using 2 hands and of course she has a purse.A good smaller phone is the Motorola X (there is an excellent review on this site for that phone) which most reviewers loving how the phone feels, its weight, etc. It has just started in Europe with very good reviews... considering its been in the USA market for over 6 months. The moto X has a 4.7" screen and a very small body.
The only thing that SUCKS on ALL ANDROID phones is Google Maps 7.x, which is why I dread replacing my AtrixHD which has issues from a drop, needing replacement. When I updated my phone, it stuck on the horribly useless Maps. Luckily, I can revert that particular APP to factory default. I'm researching to see if I can rip out 7 and install 6 when I get a new phone... otherwise, I'm screwed. Google should have fixed it months ago.
* Having a prettier map display is useless if its useless, doesn't work right and worse - require far more button presses than what is necessary.
kmmatney - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
For the most part, I have given up placing my 5.5" phone in my pocket. I've gotten used to it. They are starting to make dress shirts with larger, hidden cell phone pockets, and I think this will eventually catch on.I do agree that Google maps seems to keep getting worse and worse... So has the Android music player. Actually a lot of Apps in Android seem to be getting worse, and anytime I want a new App it seems to take several tries to get anything decent, or not riddled with annoying ads.
retrospooty - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
You are holding it wrong.brothamon - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
I now have a Xperia Z ultra. I can check messages with 1 hand, i just cannot write them.I would never go back to a phone with a smaller then 6 inch screen. Its so nice to be able to read news / do work / read emails on a giant screen.
I can actually use the smart functions of my phone and use my laptop much less then i used to with a smaller device.
I have a hard time even holding an Iphone, it tends to just want to fall out of my hand cuz its so small.
jonup - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
Couldn't agree more with you. 4.7" with G2 bezel would be the best I could comfortably do with one hand. My N5 is pushing it sometimes.fokka - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
i'm on your side. too bad you gotta go 5" or go home when it comes to "proper phones" nowadays. i just hope the z1 compact starts a trend and we see capable competitors in the form of a new and non-gimped one mini and s5 mini soon.blzd - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
Screen size alone does not determine one handed usability. The size and shape of the bezel around it does as well. 5" phones feel great in one hand right now even if you can't reach the top without shifting, if bezels get even smaller (something LG has been pushing for a while now) that could extend to larger screens as well.R0H1T - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
Alright I have to ask but how exactly does AT know that X device cheats in benchmarks & Y doesn't ?dtek - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
OEMs whitelist benchmark apps so that when the apps are launched, it will plug in all CPU cores as active and run them at max freq for the duration the app is running. That's what AT generally looks for. A normal behaving app will leave the SoC in idle states and ramp up based on instantaneous needs for the workload.jonup - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7187/looking-at-cpug...jonup - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
And it appears Samsung might have stop cheating with KK.R0H1T - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
Thanks for the link, evidently I didn't read the GS4 review on this site, but I don't seem to recall very many Samsung (phone)reviews out there with KitKat installed on the device so do you have any link cause I'm curious as to how the performance is without the usual cheat sheet.Hrel - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
You guys should review this new laptop soon: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=34...kmmatney - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
Looks pretty awesome - but I like the line in the description "Insanely Lightweight: 6.39 pounds". I have a 17.3" laptop, so the weight is no big deal to me, I'm used to it. There must be a lot of metal in there, used for heatsinks and heatpipes.Death666Angel - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
From the first page, Note 3 comparison: "newer SoC" -> Pretty sure they have the same SoC, you even state so in the table. :-)JoshHo - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
Sorry for leaving the typo up for so long. I thought I corrected it, evidently not...You might be able to tell that I thought the G Pro 2 was 8974AB for quite a while...
gonks - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
What's up with javascript benchmarks? I have a SGS4 (International) and it gets better numbers than most of the phones tested here, both with chrome and stock browser in Android 4.3, it's just oddaryonoco - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
So I'm just wondering, is Brian still the smartphone editor or not?Don't get me wrong, you are doing a very fine job Joshua, but there is a part of me which misses Brian's quirky sense of humour! :-)
Arbie - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
aryonoco - Brian couldn't review this phone because it has a micro-SD slot. Foolish LG is evidently unaware that nobody wants those and they're going the way of the dodo.ddriver - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
LOL spot on.fenneberg - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
Also, - Brian + AT do not like a spare battery in a shirt with larger, hidden cell phone pockets.blzd - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
Did you fail to notice the whole chart indicating your phone cheats on benchmarks? It's included with ever phone review such as this one.Gunbuster - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
I know it's trivial but who designs the charger so it covers up your own company logo? Total marketing fail.retrospooty - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
Uh.... Pretty sure that pic above is the anti theft device put on by whatever show the pics are taken from. Same as you see in any mobile phone store so no-one walks off with the device.Gunbuster - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
That makes it even worse. Would you show up at a trade show and then put black tape over your company logo?kmmatney - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
I'm pretty sure their booth has a lot of large company logos, so I don't think anyone isn't going to know who makes the phone...Scrote - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
On the first page, in the photo at the top what is that green light thing sticking out of the phone?CoryS - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
That's the security cable connected to it at a booth. For some reason he used a picture they probably took when it was announced as the cover photo.Scrote - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
Thanks ^________^kmmatney - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
I have an LG Optimus Pro G and one big problem I have is that the buttons are far to easily pressed, so I find the phone unusable without a cover. So the glossy back cover plate doesn't matter, since you need a cover anyways. I don't now if the button pressing is due to bad design, or just the phone being so big.vision33r - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
LG needs to open up to rom development because their locked bootloader is hurting sales. The LG G Pro has been sitting on 4.1.2 since the phone was released. A leaked 4.4 is out but lacks the modem for other locations. They are too slow with the updates and I don't have any faith with them providing timely updates and bad custom rom support.phoenix_rizzen - Friday, March 14, 2014 - link
LG Optimus G was very easy to unlock using the FreeGee app in the Play Store. Had SlimBean 4.3 and SlimKat 4.4 running on up until I returned it in January with a dead touch layer.LG G2 was also very easy to unlock using the FreeGee app in the Play Store. Had SlimKat 4.4 running on it the second day I had it.
Don't know about the LG Optimus G Pro or the LG G Pro 2, but I'd assume they'd be supported by FreeGee.
mihaikiss - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
You've mismatched the specs of the G2 Pro with those of the Note3 in the spec table at the beginning of the article... ;)JoshHo - Thursday, March 6, 2014 - link
I've checked and to my knowledge the spec table is correct....TracyJHughes - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
The LG Optimus G Pro is truly an amazing smart phone. I believe it is the best phone available on the market. If you are shopping around for a new phone, stop and check out this phone. It has powerful specs, a comfortable feel for the hands, which provides an enjoyable experience. http://num.to/2775-4892-5183victorson - Thursday, March 6, 2014 - link
Joshua, great mini review (as always, much more informative than other 'full' reviews), but one thing I don't understand. You are saying that "the white point is also quite blue, likely because this phone is intended for the Asian market". So people in Asia prefer blue? :) Or is it that they don't care about calibration? Could you explain what you mean by this?JoshHo - Thursday, March 6, 2014 - link
In general it seems that the Asian market prefers bluer white points for display calibration, although this may be a universal preference.vista1984 - Friday, March 7, 2014 - link
good review. i am thinking of this phone or g3 or nexus 5.lg did very good job on the hardware design. now i hope they can catch up the software update speed like samsung, if not better.
jk1 - Friday, March 7, 2014 - link
very, very few reviews mention sound quality in the 2 audio uses that i care about the most- as a telephone to make actual phone calls, and as a music player WITH HEADPHONES.how do callers sound to you, and how do you sound to callers? i know it's hard to generate a NUMBER to put on a BAR GRAPH, but that doesn't mean it's unimportant. i really like the information here at anandtech, but would very much appreciate this kind of additional information.
further, no one with a set of functional ears will want to listen to music from a smartphone's speakers- front facing, rear facing, reflected or whatever. if you want to use it as a music player, you will use headphones, and from what i read ELSEWHERE the lg series has a better dac than the samsungs. i can't belive i'm the only reader who cares about this.
i'd appreciate reviews that address the use of phones as music players. you don't carry a separate camera anymore, most of the time. do you carry a separate music player? why?
jk1 - Friday, March 7, 2014 - link
ps- just reread my comment and it sounds like a rant, for which i apologize. i really DO appreciate the site, and i appreciate this review. i'm just asking for the addition of some audio specific information, which i think would make the reviews even more useful.phoenix_rizzen - Friday, March 14, 2014 - link
The LG Nexus 5 and the LG G2 are part of the Anandtech.com audio benchmarking article from a month or so ago.hockey - Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - link
With the massive movement towards smartphones, buying a phone has never been so complicated. It's not longer enough to simply buy a phone that dials numbers, takes grainy pictures, and send text messages.Davidjan - Wednesday, April 16, 2014 - link
Looks good. It supports Meenova MicroSD reader to add storage: http://goo.gl/2iJ6gf