LG Optimus 4X HD - The Affordable Quad-Core Contender

Overview & Design

Admittedly, the LG Optimus 4X HD took quite awhile to reach our shores; it has been about 5 months since we last saw it at Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona alongside the now delayed Optimus Vu. With two of its formidable quad-core and competitors, HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S III, already out in the market for a substantial amount of time, LG's flagship quad-core Optimus 4X HD mobile phone might face some difficulties in gaining ground despite its relatively high-end specs. Aside the obvious NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip inclusion, the smartphone also boasts of impressive hardware like an 8-megapixel camera, a 4.7-inch HD IPS 1280 x 720p screen and 1GB of RAM. How will it fare in comparison with the other players? That's what we intend to find out in this review.

LG has tried to be at the forefront of phone designs but it hasn't yet forged a design trait that it can call its own other than the Chocolate series. That's not to say that they don't make good-looking handsets. In the case of the Optimus 4X HD, this statement rings especially true: the device itself doesn't look bad but neither is it outstanding. To give you a visual gauge, it takes on the angular, minimalist form of the Prada Phone by LG 3.0 with the black variant showcasing a similar color scheme of black and silver trimmings. The phone fits comfortably in our hands, in part due to its rather thin and lightweight body. Like the Prada Phone by LG 3.0, the device comes sheathed in a plastic body with a grooved back which does make it less susceptible to slipping. At a quick glance, it isn't a stretch to say that it resembles the Samsung Galaxy S II either, albeit with a bigger screen.

For those looking for a little variety, the Optimus 4X HD does come in two flavors, black and white. If black's too dull for you, the white one is an option to look towards. On the whole, the LG Optimus 4X HD isn't groundbreaking in terms of looks but will certainly meet consumers' expectations, especially so with its thin 9.19mm frame and 141g lightweight body.

Unlike most Android 4.0 smartphones in the market, the LG Optimus 4X HD isn't fitted with the usual back, home, and multitasking touch controls. In this sense, it bears more resemblance to the Samsung Galaxy S III, showcasing a trio of back, home and menu controls on the front. Like the Galaxy S III, you simply long press the home button to get to the multi-tasking menu. Android 2.3 users will find this transition a smooth one while Android 4.0 users might find this slightly confusing. Nonetheless, it is neither a radical change nor one that makes or breaks the LG experience for us. Hardware buttons like the volume rocker and the power control are very thin and almost too well-camouflaged for our liking. On the flip-side, they present good tactile feedback when pressed, so with regards to usability, the buttons work just fine.

Features

As with most Android phones, manufacturers prefer to add their own special touches to their user interfaces so as to differentiate their bot-flavored devices. The open-source nature of the Android platform certainly has its pros and cons, which makes it even more exciting for manufacturers as they compete to innovate their products. In this sense, we say Samsung and its close competitor, HTC with its Sense UI, have emerged on top. Of course, the Android experience on the different devices remains well-preserved despite the little goodies that manufacturers inject into their handphones.



LG of course, is no different. The Optimus 4X HD comes loaded with ICS (it's too early for a Jelly Bean update) and the LG UI isn't too different or difficult for someone using another Android device to pick up. Of course, we noticed a couple of similarities between the LG Optimus 4X's UI and other Android 4.0 handphones like HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S III.

 

LG has added a couple of small but cool features to its UI as seen from above, including the customizable quick settings bar, folder customization and the Quick Memo function. These are frilly additions but nonetheless, make for a slightly different and improved experience. Otherwise, the user experience pretty much retains the essence of the Android OS.

Performance

The LG Optimus 4X HD comes with a quad-core Tegra 3 processor clocked at 1.5GHz alongside 1GB of RAM. Along with the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core powered HTC One X and the Exynos quad-core powered Samsung Galaxy S III, it forms part of the league of top-tier smartphone devices that are currently preloaded with Android 4.0 and feature quad-core processors. The other quad-core Android 4.0 smartphone that was showcased at MWC 2012 but is not out yet is the Huawei Ascend D Quad / D Quad XL.



As usual, we subjected the review unit to the Quadrant benchmark, which can be found on Google Play. To gauge how it performed against the competition, we matched its scores against similar devices using quad-core processors such as the Samsung Galaxy S III and HTC One X.

We were impressed with HTC One X's Tegra 3 quad-core processor, which propelled it ahead of its competition by a huge margin when it first came out. Soon after, we were even more impressed with the Galaxy S III's Exynos 4 Quad quad-core processor when we tested the Galaxy S III with Quadrant and other benchmarking apps. The LG Optimus 4X HD comes with the same NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor and ULP GeForce GPU that are found on the HTC One X but it fared slightly worse than its competitor. We attribute the difference to better optimization on the HTC One X.



Raw benchmarking results aside, the LG Optimus 4X HD ran extremely smoothly and had absolutely no problems rendering pages or running graphic-intensive apps like Temple Run, thanks to its quad-core processor and 1GB RAM. The phone's lag-free performance, brisk day-to-day user experience and blazing fast web loading definitely contributed to a positive user experience.

Imaging Performance

Before we get into camera photo capture capabilities, we share a few notes of its 4.7-inch qHD (1280 x 720 pixels) HD display. Colors seemed a little muted on the screen but otherwise, it featured crisp details, good viewing angles with adequate brightness even under sunlight. However, one thing we noticed that has happened on a few occasions was the auto-brightness feature on the Optimus 4X HD appeared to malfunction during certain situations, often becoming too bright even under well-lit conditions for example.

Next up, camera imaging performance. The LG Optimus 4X HD comes with a 8-megapixel camera and a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera. Testing the 8MP camera, we found the images looked relatively sharp, though noise levels could have been improved. Colors are slightly oversaturated and a faster shutter speed is preferable; otherwise, the Optimus 4X HD performed respectably in this department.

Battery Mileage

Using the same 480 x 800 pixels resolution video that we use across all our mobile device battery tests, we set the same test parameters which includes having the video looped under the following conditions:

• Brightness and volume at 100%
  
   
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity turned on
  
   
• Constant data streaming through email and Twitter
  
   

The LG Optimus 4X HD didn't perform too well in the battery test, lagging behind both its quad-core competitors. The Samsung Galaxy S III remained at the top of the trio with 581 minutes uptime! In comparison, the Optimus 4X HD only obtained 280 minutes of video playback before refusing to play the video at the 3% mark. Even HTC One X's mediocre 339 minutes managed to outlast Optimus 4X HD. The only obvious reason for this outcome despite its listed specs about is because of the phone's power consumption which certainly needs improvement. The wide margin over its competitors can be attributed to several factors: an energy-sapping HD IPS touch screen, less power-optimized software and as mentioned earlier, a heavier body.

The results are likewise replicated in the portability index (battery to volume ratio). While the LG Optimus 4X HD shares almost similar dimensions with the other two quad-core devices, it is slightly heavier than the comparisons. Coupled with its low battery mileage, it is unsurprising that the Optimus 4X HD came up last in this index. 

To give you a real-world gauge, we observed that the phone could last almost a whole working day on a single charge, with emails and Twitter feeds pushed constantly to it. Other activities included occasional web surfing and phone calls. So while it's not stellar in our battery formal video-based battery life test, in actual day-to-day usage, it's about on par with the rest of the phones. The video based performance results would probably appeal more towards users who tend to watch movies while traveling long distances.

Conclusion

The LG Optimus 4X HD is most definitely not the best quad-core phone out there but on the whole, it is a functional phone with some unfortunate downsides. We had no problems with its design (though somewhat bland), because it is practical: the angular build, grooved back and plastic lightweight body gives it a better grip. To add on, it comes with a 4.7-inch 1280x720 pixels resolution touchscreen, expandable SD card memory of up to 64GB and a 8-megapixel camera, all of which makes it primed for multimedia purposes like video playback and photography. Its camera capabilities might not be the best of the 8MP devices in the market, but it is rather decent to say the least, with room for improvements. Of course, its quad-core Tegra 3 chipset and 1GB of RAM keeps the performance on the device running smoothly without any noticeable quirks. The user experience is not too derivative from one that's on the stock ICS user interface, but thankfully, LG has added a couple of gems that improve the phone usability and make it easier to use.

But of course, everything is not all sunshine and rainbows. The LG Optimus 4X HD's battery performance in media playback is lackluster to say the least and could have been better, given that its hardware components are similar to the HTC One X. Fortunately, more casual day-to-day usage like voice calls, data usage on apps and a dash of multimedia was handled decently and as can be expected to last just as long as with any modern phone prior to needing a charge (which is close to a full day).

However, we would say the main factor that will sway opinions to favor it above its competitors is undoubtedly in its price point.

Available from 28th July onwards in Singapore, the LG Optimus 4X HD will be retailing at a sweet tune of S$738, just a tad less than the recently released dual-core HTC One S ($748). The device will also be accompanied by a free LG leather case (worth $50), while stocks last. Compared to the HTC One X (S$898) and Samsung Galaxy S III (S$998), its price is significantly lower and on par with older/top-tier dual-core smartphone devices. If you are looking for an affordable quad-core device, the LG Optimus 4X HD is certainly an option to consider. For those who are looking for phones with long-lasting battery life of around the same price point and don't care about chasing the best hardware specs, the Motorola Razr Maxx (3300mAh) is an upcoming device to look at.

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