Software
Goodbye, UI 3.0. Hello, Optimus UI. The
name change in the outstanding user interface of LG comes with an upgrade to
Jelly Bean (Android 4.1.2) and plenty of bloatware that is dedicated to the
network of LG U+ in South Korea, the carrier on which our reviewed model is
being sold. Not counting the standard kit of Android applications, there are
less than 35 applications pre-loaded on the phone, some of which cannot be
disabled or uninstalled.
In addition to the carrier-specific
programs, LG is also placing a heavy emphasis on the Q-branded services. For
instance, QSlide is the method of LG for Multi Window, one of the features of
the Note II that we love. First of all, it's all about multi-tasking. QSlide
allows you to open two windows simultaneously, while a third-party application
(or the front page, depending on your preference) is allowed to stay in the
background. Each window can be resized and even made transparent, supplying
you with the ability to see the application while making changes to the window
below it simultaneously. QSlide also occupies the space in the notification
bar, which is different from the Note II’s use of a specific sidebar on the
main screen.
Not
counting the standard kit of Android applications, there are less than 35
applications pre-loaded on the phone, some of which cannot be disabled or
uninstalled.
The worry we have had with QSlide up to now
is the lack of application support. This may change when the G Pro (and Optimus
G, which also has this feature) becomes popular, but the seven available
applications will not do much - especially at this time Samsung is rapidly
adding third-party support to Multi Window. We also want to be able to open
more than 2 apps at the same time. It is hard for us to believe that the
Snapdragon 600 is not strong enough to support it.
QRemote utilizes the pre-installed IR
sensor, making your phone turn into a remote control for your home theater
system. And we were satisfied with the results, the application lists support
for almost all of the major and minor manufacturers that we can think of, and
within a few seconds, we calibrated it to work on Hitachi HDTV and LG Blu-ray
player, each interface is only separated by the tabs on the application. It is
not a perfect substitute for the dedicated remote controls, but most of
necessary navigation and menu buttons are there, and it is quite convenient
when you are lying down and the remote is out of reach.
If you are a fan of BlackBerry’s old
convenience key, QButton will be particularly interesting to you. While the
purpose of the QButton is to allow you to fast access to any of LG's Q
services, you are able to actually use it as a shortcut for any application you
select - and it also holds concurrently as a camera shutter key, if you like.
We like it, but there's always room for improvement: we really want to see both
a short-press and long-press options to provide you with two shortcuts on the
same key.
There are many of the other applications so
that you can use them freely, such as QTranslator, SmarTag (NFC tag), Video
Editor and Video Wiz, AhnLab V3 Mobile 2.0 (antivirus), SmartWorld (LG’s app
store) and SmartShare (DLNA) . Finally, LG has put in a service called Safety
Care, which gets the concept of Find my Phone and expands it. The service can
send messages to a predefined emergency contact when the phone has not been
used for a certain period of time, when you are making an emergency call or
when you call (towards predefined contacts). Each of these messages displays
your present location, so your friends and family will be able to find you as
soon as possible if you are in a bad situation.
Performance and battery life
LG has unveiled the Optimus G, which was
the first device with Qualcomm's Fusion 3 chipset. The company did not waste
time with another first: the Optimus G Pro is the first device to launch with
next-generation 600 chipset of the Snapdragon, which has a 1.7GHz quad-core
CPU, Adreno 320 GPU and 2GB RAM to keep all of the things running fast.
Whenever a new generation wafer is released, it is only natural that we all
expect to see a big increase in performance of the device. Before going into
more detail, let's look at some normal tests below:
LG
Optimus G Pro
·
Quadrant 2.0: 12,435
·
Vellamo 2.0: 2,254
·
AnTuTu 3.1: 19,300
·
SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms): 904
·
GLBenchmark Egypt 2.5 HD Offscreen (fps): 27
·
CF-Bench: 20,019
LG
Optimus G Pro
LG
Optimus G
·
Quadrant 2.0: 7,628
·
Vellamo 2.0: 1,710
·
AnTuTu 3.1: N/A
·
SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms): 1,312
·
GLBenchmark Egypt 2.5 HD Offscreen (fps): 31
·
CF-Bench: 14,398
LG
Optimus G
Samsung
Galaxy Note II
·
Quadrant 2.0: 6,819
·
Vellamo 2.0: 1,814
·
AnTuTu 3.1: 17,874
·
SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms): 1/075
·
GLBenchmark Egypt 2.5 HD Offscreen (fps): 17
·
CF-Bench: 15,244
Samsung
Galaxy Note II
SunSpider: lower scores are better
