The LG Optimus G Pro ($199.99 with a two-year contract; $549.99 without) is a phablet for phone lovers. Where the Samsung Galaxy Note II really rides the line between phone and tablet, the Optimus G Pro does a better job of arguing for being a really large phone, for people who need a really large phone. It doesn't win at every one of our tests, but the Optimus G Pro's extensive customizability and smart thoughts about one-handed use make it the top phablet on AT&T.
Physical Features, Call Quality, and Performance
The LG Optimus G Pro looks like a smartphone?just bigger. At 5.91 by 3 by 0.37 inches and 6.1 ounces, it's 0.2 inches narrower and a touch shorter and slimmer than the competing Galaxy Note II, which makes a huge difference for me. I have pretty small hands for a man, but I can hold the Optimus G Pro securely in one hand where the Galaxy Note II feels too wide. That goes a long distance towards making this phablet feel more like a phone.
It's still huge, don't get me wrong. A former PCMag editor referred to these phablets as "pocket rippers," and he's right. The G Pro peeks out of some of my pants pockets and doesn't fit at all into one of my jacket pockets?but then again, neither does the Galaxy Note II.
Like most LG and Samsung phones, the Optimus G Pro is made of slick black plastic, with a front and back which both attract fingerprints. On the left side there's a user-settable "QuickButton," which you can set to launch any app immediately; that's part of LG's intense focus on customizability here, and I like it. I set the button to launch the camera, for instance, but other people might want to launch the remote control app. And while the back is slick, an engraved AT&T logo turns out to be just the right place to put your index finger.
The phone fits in a 1920-by-1080 IPS LCD screen by using a very narrow bezel. The screen is bright and extremely sharp at 400ppi, higher than both the Galaxy Note II and, for that matter, the Apple iPhone 5. Whites are a touch bluish, but not enough to worry you. Below the screen there's a wide, short physical Home button flanked by two soft keys; you can make the Home button glow various colors if you have an alert.
As for call quality, well, it's adequate. Reception isn't a problem, but it rarely is on gigantic devices like this. The earpiece is clear and has moderately strong volume. But transmissions through the microphone have a very compressed tone and trouble with wind noise. The speakerphone audio is tinny and transmissions through the speakerphone let through too much background noise. The Pro paired easily with a Plantronics Voyager Legend headset for basic voice dialing.
The 1.7GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor scored very well on our benchmarks. There's been a real performance break between 2012 phones and 2013 models based on new processors like the Snapdragon 600, and the Optimus G Pro is on the state-of-the-art side of that line. The only place the Galaxy Note II can even compare is on graphics benchmarks, and that's just because the Note II has a lower-resolution screen.
The G Pro runs on AT&T's HSPA and LTE networks here and HSPA+ 21 networks abroad; it doesn't have the radio bands to run well on any other U.S. carrier. Speeds on AT&T's LTE network in New York City were predictably awesome, averaging well over 20Mbps down and 7Mbps up on the Ookla Speedtest.net app. The G Pro has all the other radios you'd expect, including GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, and NFC. I ran into a minor bug where the GPS wouldn't initialize in Google Maps without downloading a free additional GPS Monitor app, but that was quickly solved.
Battery life is as good as you'd expect from the massive 3,140mAh removable battery. I got 5 hours, 36 minutes of video streaming over LTE with the screen on maximum brightness, and an amazing 18 hours, 8 minutes of talk time with the screen off. That 5.5-inch screen really draws power. Still, though, this phablet is ready for a full day's use.
LG's Version of Android
Like Samsung, LG has pretty heavily altered the UI of Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) to fit its vision. In LG's case, that vision involves a ton of user-accessible UI customization, which I find entertaining and appealing.
LG's default home screen has a big, bold clock and five app shortcuts; those are both customizable. You can change the phone's font size (up to a very large font) and switch the default font, including in the Web browser, to one of eight choices including Times New Roman and Comic Sans lookalikes.
Because this is a phablet with an accent on the "ph," you can pick a setting which crams the on-screen keyboard and dialpad to the left or right hand side of the screen so you can type one-handed without having gigantic fingers. It works! In landscape mode, you can use a split keyboard to reduce thumb reach. That works too, and I love it.
On the phone's home screens, you can change any of the icons to a range of other icons, including using your own photos for icons. You can make icons double size. You can edit the quick settings that appear when you slide down the notifications bar, as well as the order that QSlide apps list in.
Ah, Qslide. LG's windowed multitasking system lets you pop two other apps in small windows over your main app, but weirdly, it's a bit crippled on this version of the Optimus G Pro. You can only QSlide four apps: the video player, note pad, calendar, and calculator. The international version of the G Pro lets you pop up a small browser, which is really useful. Samsung's Galaxy Note II has many more apps which work with its dual-window multitasking mode.
(Next page: Multimedia and Conclusions)
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