LG Optimus 3D - Keepin' it Real

Three Dimensional Mobile

With 3D technology penetrating TVs and even game consoles, it was only a matter of time before the 3D wave hit the most popular consumer product segment - the handy mobile smartphone. Will the niche technology take off? While it's too early to tell if consumers would treat it as an added feature or an unused gimmick for salesmen, today we're going to evaluate one for the first phones to feature it - the LG Optimus 3D. First glimpsed at MWC 2011, it was one of two dual-core smartphones (the other being the HTC Evo 3D) to showcase the technology. For those who weren't aware, we even did a quick video preview to compare both the LG Optimus 3D and the HTC EVO 3D against each other:

Off the bat, the LG Optimus 3D sports a rather simple design similar to its contemporaries. Materials used were a mixture of plastic and faux brushed aluminum (front), adding a touch of class and sturdiness to the device. However, the phone isn't exactly light at 168 grams and to add on, it isn't sleek enough at 11.9mm in thickness. The real estate in the front is taken up mostly by a large 4.3-inch touchscreen with minimal space assigned to the four touch buttons below. Otherwise, the smartphone looks relatively unassuming. 

Acquainting Yourself with the Optimus LG 3D

The user experience on the LG Optimus 3D is similar to the one on the LG Optimus 2X, so getting around the phone was pretty self-explanatory. Like the Optimus 2X,  the user interface (UI) on the Optimus 3D seems to have taken a leaf out of Samsung's TouchWiz UI, featuring a blend of widget-positioning and app shortcuts.

The LG Optimus 3D also comes with an embedded smart content conversion software embedded in the phone that allows users to convert existing or newly-captured 2D content - specifically photos and videos - into 3D, and vice versa. As such, the Optimus 3D offers more flexibility in terms of 3D creation and content sharing as compared to the HTC Evo 3D. To add on, an upcoming free software for converting 2D games to 3D will be available for download in the fourth quarter of 2011, a move which will effectively expand LG Optimus 3D's 'portfolio' of 3D games.

The LG Optimus 3D is unfortunately equipped with a slightly outdated Android 2.2 OS but an official LG spokesperson has informed us that the Gingerbread update will be coming in the fourth quarter of this year.

Benchmarking the LG Optimus 3D

We have adopted a few benchmark tests specific to the Android platform for a few reasons. With the Google Android platform maturing so quickly, choosing a suitable phone in a growing sea of Android devices with close to identical specs is extremely difficult. To add on, with manufacturers jumping on the dual-core processing bandwagon, these results will give a gauge of how they will fare against their lesser-endowed counterparts. Also, should a phone not perform favorably in our usage experience, these results would also help add a valuable dimension to further back up why it didn't meet expectations. Hopefully, these benchmarks will allow for a clearer picture on which smartphone is worth your while.

Within this page, we'll be looking at two specific benchmarks, both of which are downloadable via the Android Market.

• Quadrant: It measures the device's performance based on its CPU, I/O and GPU. Simply put, Quadrant is a benchmark that gives you a general idea of how your device performs against other Android devices.
  
   
• NeoCore: It is targeted towards the device's GPU performance. This is especially important given how smartphones of today have evolved into an alternative, high-powered device that dabbles in heavy graphical interfaces and gaming.

Do note that the above two benchmarks are not absolute in measuring performance, but they give you a good rough estimate of how the device performs. Our tests were conducted on devices from a fresh reboot on a stock firmware. To show how the LG Optimus 3D performed against similar smartphones, we compared its results against the following high-end Android devices - HTC EVO 3D, HTC Sensation and Samsung Galaxy S II.

With a score of over 2000 on most of the dual-core devices (considering how usually only single-core variants manage below this mark), the Quadrant benchmark did not deviate much from the expected results. The LG Optimus 3D comes with the least powerful hardware specs out of the lot (not to mention that it is preloaded with Android 2.2 instead of 2.3). Nonetheless, the smartphone sports a powerful dual-core 1GHz processor and ample 512 RAM. Benchmark results show however, that the LG Optimus 3D came in second in terms of Quadrant benchmark scores, almost nose-to-nose with the HTC Sensation's results. Noticeably, it performs better than its closest competitor, the HTC EVO 3D despite the latter's dual-core 1.2GHz and 1GB worth of RAM. Considering both HTC devices run on a graphics-intensive Sense UI, this fact might play in LG Optimus 3D's favor. 



However, when it comes to the NeoCore scores, all devices gave remarkably similar scores. With an FPS score of 57.9, the device admittedly has the lowest result of the lot but just slightly. This however, has little bearings on its actual performance; in fact, the LG Optimus 3D performed smoothly. 2D and 3D apps loaded almost instantaneously and we experienced no lags and crashes in performance while surfing the web, or running various apps during our test run. However, we noticed two irregularities: occasionally, navigation does get rather sluggish especially when it comes to adding on widgets and shortcuts; secondly, the phone heats up relatively easy, even after only about 15 to 20 minutes of 3D gameplay.

Multimedia Performance

As mentioned, the LG Optimus 3D comes with a huge 4.3-inch touch screen. That makes it big and roomy enough for both 2D and 3D content viewing. That aside, an acceptable 480 x 800 pixels resolution is sufficient for comfortable video playback and gaming. The LCD touchscreen might pale in comparison with Samsung's Super AMOLED counterparts, but we assure you that performance-wise, it delivers in terms of details, colors and brightness. In terms of the screen implementation for the 3D effect, it uses the parallax barrier method, which is what HTC's Evo 3D, Nintendo 3DS and more are using. You can read more about 3D display types and implementation here and we've also talked about how it works. The 3D experience is implemented smoothly here, with most apps presented with a side slider that allows users to control and customize the depth of the effect accordingly to their comfort level. Having allowed several of our other peers to have a go at the smartphone, they had no problems viewing the 3D effect to its fullest; the only caveat here is that viewing in 3D on such a tiny screen might give one bouts of nausea and dizziness and we would like to stress that it isn't a feature for everyone.

Messaging was a fluid and error-free affair too, not only in terms of agility but also thanks to a huge screen, which gave us ample space for our fingers to maneuver around. 



Armed with dual 5-megapixel cameras at the back and an LED flash, the phone is capable of taking  5-megapixel resolution 2D images and  3-megapixel resolution 3D images. As we recall, the dual-core LG Optimus 2X's camera performance wasn't up to our expectations, so we were hoping that the LG Optimus 3D might an improvement in this segment. So here are the results from our usual camera tests.

We found that the overall photographic performance for the LG Optimus 3D was about average for a phone. Colors were white-washed while photos exhibited low level of details and clarity due to noise reduction. The Optimus 3D is definitely not fit for someone looking to take relatively good photos on-the-go. While it showed improvement over the LG Optimus 2X (another dual-core smartphone under LG's belt), it certainly pales in comparison with other current dual-core smartphones like Samsung Galaxy S II and the Motorola Atrix. Again, we would like to stress that while we're disappointed with the overall imaging performance from the Optimus 3D, it's more of a norm in many phones today. So if imaging quality isn't a priority, this isn't going to be a concern.

Battery Life Performance

Our final performance test is our regular battery test. This consists of comparing the smartphone to a select group of devices chosen based on their similarities across battery capacities, display sizes, resolution and processing power. Our testing methodology involves testing a video with a 480 x 800 pixels resolution looping under the following conditions:

• Screen brightness and volume at 100%

• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connection active

• Constant data stream via email and Twitter

To ascertain how well its dual-core processor will handle its power management and battery mileage, we compared other similar dual-core Android devices such as the HTC EVO 3D, HTC Sensation, and Samsung Galaxy S II.

And herein lies the LG Optimus 3D's Achilles' heel. The combination of a dual-core processor, a 4.3-inch screen and built-in 3D capabilities takes a serious toll on the smartphone's battery mileage for it only managed to clock in a mere dismal 166 minutes (note that the phone will not play videos when battery life falls within the range of 4 to 5%). Likewise, the HTC EVO 3D edges pass this result by a slight margin, most likely due to having a battery with higher capacity rating. If you take a look at the power consumption chart, both devices yield almost identical results. Now the funny thing is that we weren't using any of the 3D functions during the endurance test so it's bewildering why both the 3D phones consume so much more power than the other phones. On the same note, we observed that the phone gets really hot after 15-20 minutes of 3D gameplay, which we take as a sign of poor power efficiency. 



Unsurprisingly, packing in extra features into a smartphone also increases its weight. Taking a look at the comparison table, you will note that both LG Optimus 3D and HTC EVO 3D are equipped with larger and heavier bodies; the former weighs in at 168g and the latter, 170g. Naturally, these factors have negative bearings on the battery life to (weight x volume) ratio. Coupled with only 2.77 hours of battery time and a larger, heavier body, the Optimus 3D had the lowest portability index in the lot, making the Samsung Galaxy S II an obvious choice for those who want the best of both mileage and good portability. 



As for rationing the phone for normal day-to-day operations, the phone could only last for at most half a working day (5 to 6 hours). Keeping that in consideration, we feel that the Optimus 3D's poor mileage will hurt its performance greatly if it can't even last a typical day's needs.

3D - Yay or Nay?

With smartphones becoming more powerful with multi-core processors, updated graphics processing engines and higher memory capacities, manufacturers are scrambling to include new technologies to differentiate themselves and empower users with features that these powerful mobile devices can finally seamlessly support. The LG Optimus 3D is currently one out of two dual-core smartphones in the market that can support 3D functions without the use of 3D glasses.



To accommodate the necessary hardware, the LG Optimus 3D is big and heavy; it is certainly not a svelte and light phone like all its other modern contemporaries. At 168g, it stands as one of the heaviest dual-core smartphones in the market. At 11.9mm thick with a huge 4.3-inch screen, it is also a little too bulky and big for comfortable handling. Otherwise, the phone, while classy in design, comes with a rather uninspiring body.  The handling experience isn't perfect as we found that some physical controls are too small for comfortable pressing but on the whole, the Optimus 3D scores well on user friendliness.



If you are looking for bells and whistles in the Optimus 3D's user interface, you are probably looking in the wrong place. The phone comes with a simple and bare UI that does its job - that's about it.  Probably something noteworthy to mention here is the smartphone's dedicated 3D software. The Optimus 3D user interface allows quick access to apps like 3D games, 3D camera and 3D Youtube. Not to mention, the phone comes with support to convert 2D media to 3D, with an upcoming software update to enable the phone to even convert 2D games to 3D games. This feature will definitely be an asset for those who want to try the option of playing existing and popular 2D games like Angry Birds in 3D. Hopefully, fingers crossed, LG will implement this properly. Once again, we would like to reiterate that the 3D experience might not be for everyone - some might find it unpleasant, even to the point of nausea and dizziness. Our advice is to try a set at a store first before investing in a 3D smartphone.



Another important thing to note as well is that the LG Optimus 3D comes with the Android 2.2 OS; most dual-core smartphones are already running on the Android 2.3 OS. Though it's not a big concern since LG mentioned that the update will be available later this year, it's nonetheless a delayed feature which consumers would have to take the added hassle to update the phone in due time.



In terms of speed and performance, the LG Optimus 3D, with its dual-core 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM and PowerVR SGX540 GPU, performs generally smoothly, with minor hiccups. 2D and 3D apps load almost instantaneously and we experienced no lags and crashes in performance while surfing the web, or running various apps during our test run. Occasionally, navigation did get rather sluggish especially when it comes to adding on widgets and shortcuts; we can't quite pinpoint why this was happening. Comparing it to other dual-core smartphones in the market, the Optimus 3D has slightly less impressive hardware specs, but it generally doesn't feel too different from the other closely compared phones in this review. However, if you are talking in terms of getting a phone which is the most bang-for-your-buck, the differences in hardware specs might deter you from considering an Optimus 3D.

Multimedia-wise, its 4.3-inch TFT-LCD display with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels does its job rather succinctly with both 2D and 3D media viewing, delivering in terms of details, colors and brightness. The same however couldn't be said for its imaging capabilities, turning in a less than decent performance. We noted that captured images had white-washed colors and loss of details was apparent. Noise levels were low, but that's due to aggressive noise reduction at work.

However, battery life was abysmal. With a 1500mAh battery, we managed to get less than 3 hours of  video playback on our battery testing; it was almost a new all-time low in our books. Using it for normal day-to-day operations (moderate usage out of calls, data services and multimedia playback/games), the phone could only last for five to six hours. This was again far too low for our liking. Just think about how exactly would you be able to comfortably rely on a phone that won't even last a decent work day? If you're the sort who charges the phone at home and charges it again at your work desk, you could probably afford to have a power inefficient phone. In any case, we believe any decent phone should last at least a day of practical usage to even consider it seriously. Else, the phone is as good as a complementary device, which is not the case for people these days.

If you are looking to be one of the early adopters of 3D smartphones, the LG Optimus 3D is a good bet to put your money on. Compared to its only competitor (at the point of writing), it comes with better support for creating and consuming 3D content. Then again, there are only two in the market to choose from, so you might want to wait a while longer before other manufacturers come up with their own 3D mobile devices.



In all honesty, we feel that 3D on mobile phones is a novelty feature that one can forgo, especially if you are paying a notable premium price for it. Take the LG Optimus 3D for example - the phone might do a good job of including extensive 3D features but it also comes with poor battery life, subpar imaging performance and a bulky build. We say, if you are looking to get a dual-core smartphone and 3D capability isn't at the top of your list, you're better off looking at more well-endowed options.

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