Here’s my review of the LG Optimus 2x on Wind. It’s currently $445 on Wind Mobile which is considerably cheaper than the Motorola ATRIX, Samsung Galaxy S II, HTC Sensation 4G, EVO 3D, etc.
The best thing about the 2x is it’s beautiful screen. When I first turned it on I was a little surprised by how great it looks. It’s very clear with great colour and an excellent viewing angle. I actually prefer it to the higher resolution screens found on the Motorola ATRIX (easy decision) and the HTC Sensation 4G (a little harder). It’s a 4” display with a resolution of 800x480.
Personally I think 4.0” is the perfect size for a phone. It’s big enough that it makes browsing easier while at the same time it leaves a lot of space for the rest of the phone. As such the 2x fits in my hand well. There’s plenty of room around the bottom of the phone to hold it without accidentally pressing something.
It’s a solid phone. The back is covered with rubberized paint. There’s small strip of metal along the middle of the back cover.
The 2x doesn’t creak or squeak when you squeeze it. My only concern is that some of the paint has rubbed off on the sides.
On top are a power button, micro HDMI out which is located behind a cover and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
On the right side are volume buttons.
At the bottom are a microphone, micro USB connector and speaker.
The Optimus 2x I’m testing is running Android 2.2.2. Despite that the 2x feels plenty quick though it really needs Gingerbread ASAP since some of dual core competitors are already running it.
LG has taken a minimalist approach when it comes to Android customizations. At a glance it feels like a stock Android phone. For better or for worse there’s no fancy launcher, extra social media applications, custom main menu, etc.
I found the 2x to be a little buggy. It crashed on me a couple of times. I also had to reboot the phone occasionally because it would lose connection to the internet. This is really disappointing especially when you consider that the 2x isn’t heavily customized.
The only extras I noticed are a SWYPE keyboard, a video player which can handle DIVX files, a modified camera app and an extra menu item to control the HDMI’s settings.. You also get Polaris Office allows you to view office documents and SmartShare; a DLNA streamer/viewer which also handles DIVX.
Every DLNA program that I’ve seen allows you to stream content stored on the phone to a DLNA device. Oddly enough SmartShare only lets you stream data from another device to either the phone or to a different viewing device. Otherwise it actually works really well. While most phone based DLNA programs allow you to view videos stored on a DLNA server the one on the 2x is the first one I’ve tried that actually works with high definition 720p mkv files.
The video player also handles DIVX files. It can handles 720p mkv files but you have to rename them to avi before it sees them. It doesn’t recognize my 1080p mts and mt2s AVCHD files from my high definition camcorder but it handles 1080p mp4 and 3gp files just fine.
While the browser doesn’t appear to have any customizations I couldn’t help noticing how fast it was.
The camera has a resolution of 8MP with a LED flash and autofocus. While it can capture good pictures the problem with the 2x is that the autofocus is really slow. It can take as many as 3 seconds from when you tap the shutter to when a picture is actually taken. I also found pictures to be quite noisy - even when taken outdoors though it didn’t bother me that much. The 2x also uses slow shutter speeds. That coupled with the slow AF speeds results in a a lot of blurry pictures. The shot to shot speed is also a little slow for a dual core phone.
Interestingly the 2x can capture video at 1920x1088 (1088p anyone?). Video quality is okay, the audio capture is actually not bad. It’s not as good as the iPhone 4’s but it’s better than most Android phones.
As far as HDMI output goes the 2x the UI can lag a little but otherwise it works well. You can select different output resolutions.
Both incoming and outgoing sound quality are good.
To check out RF performance I compared the 2x with a Google Nexus One. In areas with weak signal I found that the 2x would show no network while the Nexus One was still able to place calls. However, I also found that that the 2x would hang onto a call while the Nexus One would drop if I moved into an even weaker area. So I’d say RF performance is average.
The 2x comes with a 1500mAh battery which is absolutely tiny for a dual core phone. If you get a 2x make sure you buy an extra charger or battery.
In the end I didn’t mind the Optimus 2x. It has a fantastic looking display, good video codec support, it feels fast and most importantly I like how it feels in my hand. On the other hand I really didn’t like how I had to reboot it every now and then when it lost connection to the internet. I’m also disappointed that it doesn’t come with Gingerbread at this time plus the camera doesn’t take the greatest still photos.
Clearly, the 2x isn’t a leader when it comes to dual core phones. It’s also hard to ignore that it’s dual core competitors include the Samsung Galaxy S II and to a lesser extent the HTC Sensation 4G and Evo 3D. That said the Optimus 2x is priced at a lower point which can makes it an interesting choice.
Also as an FYI, I got a 3500mAh battery which came with the new cover since it is so large which made the phone usable for me.
Before using the phone, I could not last the day without charging (I get many emails per day on the phone)
Now with the new battery, it last the entire day.
I really need LG to step up and get the new update as well as fix the camera settings as I personally think the Samsung Nexus S 5MP pictures are much better than the LG 8MP pictures.
Howard, the only thing you missed which is a deal breaker for me is the LG 2X has a gorilla glass which is basically scratch resistance and will make you feel more safe in putting your phone in your pocket or purse.
I personally will not get a phone that does not have gorilla glass as many people do end up breaking their glass phone screen at some point and hope my gorilla glass will prevent this if I did drop it.
For anyone getting any Android phone, you need to get a second or an extended battery to really feel free and enjoy the phone as there is so much to do if you have a data plan and if you really set it up correct, you can actually replace you laptop with one of these phones.
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Also as an FYI, I got a 3500mAh battery which came with the new cover since it is so large which made the phone usable for me.
Before using the phone, I could not last the day without charging (I get many emails per day on the phone)
Now with the new battery, it last the entire day.
I really need LG to step up and get the new update as well as fix the camera settings as I personally think the Samsung Nexus S 5MP pictures are much better than the LG 8MP pictures.
Howard, the only thing you missed which is a deal breaker for me is the LG 2X has a gorilla glass which is basically scratch resistance and will make you feel more safe in putting your phone in your pocket or purse.
I personally will not get a phone that does not have gorilla glass as many people do end up breaking their glass phone screen at some point and hope my gorilla glass will prevent this if I did drop it.
For anyone getting any Android phone, you need to get a second or an extended battery to really feel free and enjoy the phone as there is so much to do if you have a data plan and if you really set it up correct, you can actually replace you laptop with one of these phones.
Since u agree with Howard, does this mean u finally agree the nexus s is an all around better phone?
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Originally Posted by DummyBuy
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