LG G2, A Massive Attack From The Korean

LG, the third largest manufacturer in the smartphone sector, with 12 million units sold has announced the LG G2 at New York. A giant smartphone (with 5.2 inches screen) with a very sharp technical sheet the device lacks buttons, but is that such a bad thing? Let’s take a look…

Design, Ergonomy, Functionality

We note an air of Samsung Galaxy S4 when looking at the LG G2. But make no mistake they are very different both in terms of aesthetics and functionality. So it wears a Glossy plastic hull, presumably to dampen production costs and offer the device at aggressive prices as is the norm with LG.

The jig of the G2 remains extremely compact with very attractive dimensions: 138.5 x 70.9 x 8.9 mm, for 143g. The first striking thing is that the Korean abandons the “Optimus“ denomination. So we no longer talk about LG Optimus G2, but rather the LG G2. Probably for practicality sake. Second striking thing is that the LG G2 boasts a borderless screen, which covers 80% of the area of the phones face.

The main novelty is ergonomics as LG have decided to put the single button on the rear of the device, just below the camera. The explanation given is that the index finger is naturally and mostly placed there when using a smartphone, so the theory is that it’s particularly easy to control the LG G2.. This famous button will thus increase or decrease the volume, or take a picture. A long pressure will launch QuickMemo. The dedicated LG known notes app.

The innovations do not stop there. Inside has also introduced some new features to the software interface, which now completely covers the Android stock look. Note for example the possibility of answering a call simply by bringing the phone to your ear, or the automatic display of multimedia applications when connecting the headphones.

The LG G2 also have “guest mode” which allows others to use the device and only have access to certain applications. So the person cannot navigate elsewhere in the phone out of the selected apps. Finally, LG signs a masterful job with the introduction of “dual camera” mode for taking pictures simultaneously using the two cameras of the smartphone, and it is now possible to wake it up by tapping twice on the screen.

Technical Specifications

On the paper, the LG G2 is the most powerful smartphone on the market, for now at least. It is driven by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC, a Quad-Core built with four ”Krait 400″ hearts clocked at 2.3 GHz and an Adreno 330 GPU. It is powered by 2 GB of RAM and storage is provided by 16 GB or 32 GB of internal memory. Someone will certainly regret the lack of micro-SD slot. The screen occupies almost the entire width of the smartphone. It has a 5.2 inches IPS display with a Full HD resolution of 1080×1920 pixels, a pixel density of 423 ppi, and reinforced by a Gorilla Glass 3. This, according to the manufacturer should provide better images than AMOLED.

In addition to this, the LG G2 incorporates “Panel Self Refresh” technology, which will take care of managing the consumption of screen and CPU. Specifically, it is the use of a GRAM (Graphic RAM) to reduce display power consumption. The GRAM is a sort of equivalent of a cache which stores the catch of the screen when it is not solicited or when nothing is modified on. For example, while reading a book, not necessarily need to have the original document open. Instead of cooling the GPU continuously 60 times per second, a fixed screen (as if it were an animated screen) is returned. This method allows to pause some sub-process of the GPU and reduce overall energy consumption.

There are two cameras. A front 2.1 megapixels, and a rear 13 megapixels associated with an optical stabilizer and an LED flash. LG says that this camera is expected to take good pictures even in low light. LG also introduced Pure Sound Technology, which will permit to obtain a 192 kHz audio quality. Otherwise, connectivity is complete. So we find 3G, 3G+, 4G, Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi, an NFC chip, and DLNA compatibility. The battery is a Lithium-Ion of 3000 mAh. Finally, the LG G2 will run Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

Conclusion

Everything suggests that LG has thrown in the water, and has the serious ambition to present itself as high-end products manufacturer. It will be available in October, but no price has been published as of yet but knowing LG the price will be very competative. The device will be offered for sale in Europe, USA and South Korea in the next eight weeks.