Thanks to Three network UK, Â for allowing us to review another device, I have been fortunate enough to play, review, use And experience the latest LG Optimus 3D – the first Android based full 3D phone to hit the market.
Our First Impression
After being told by 3 we was soon to receive the LG Optimus 3D, Â All at GadgetsBoy eagerly anticipated the delivery. Luckily I was able to see the delivery guy before anyone else and rushed out with a beaming smile (I mow fear what the delivery guy actually thought I was waiting for). Anyway I ripped open the packet, pulled apart the box and snapped a picture which you will see below:
In The Box:
Some of you may notice that missing from the box was the wall charger – This is something that you do get as standard in the box but unfortunately as the one we received had been in the hands of someone else it was missing from the box. Although we found charging the phone from the USB PC cable was sufficient. What we can tell you is that the wall charger is a standardised USB wall charger.
Here is a list of what does come in the box:
- Battery
- Wall Charger
- Sync/USB Cable
- Headset
- User Guide
- Getting started guide
- Handset
Overall the box seemed very durable, and as you see with most HTC phones the LG Optimus 3D box was very compact yet sufficient enough to fit everything in nicely.
LG Optimus 3D Phone Specification
This spec was provided directly from the three.co.uk website.
Battery life.
- Standby: 450 Hours
- Talk Time: 540 Minutes
Camera.
- Resolution: 5MP
- Flash Type: LED
- Video Camera
- Zoom: Digital
Size/Weight.
- Depth: 11.9mm
- Height: 128.8mm
- Width: 68mm
- Weight: 168g
Connectivity.
- Bluetooth
- Cable
- WLAN
Sound Formats.
- AAC
- AMR
- AU
- M4A
- MP3 ringtones
- MP3
- OggVorbis
- RealAudio
- WAV
- WMV
Network.
- FM Radio
- Band: Quad
- Java
Features.
- FM Radio
- GPS
- Java
- Loudspeaker
- Music Player
- Video Calls
- Video Player
- Voice Dial
- WAP Browser
Memory.
- Slot: MicroSD
- Phone Memory: 5,632MB
- Card Max. Size: 32GB
Messaging.
- IM
3D Affair:
OK so this is what you have all been waiting for, Our views on the 3D element of the phone. So to some it up before going in detail we found it to be a fantastic innovation in the phone market but too much of an inconvenience for continual use. Allow me to explain – So what you need to understand is that the whole phone isn’t in 3D, instead its only certain elements such as some 3D videos, some 3D pictures and some 3D games. So one of the first things I did on the phone was jump into the LG Optimus 3D space. This give me an instant feel for the 3D element of the phone and immediately I was blown away by the level of 3D it renders and how fantastically weird it felt viewing 3D menus without glasses. I then navigated my way through the various options and found myself watching 3D videos on YouTube and built into the phone with ease as if the technology had been around for decades. I was completely comfortable with the whole 3D experience and found myself showing it off to others around me.
BUT – and a big BUT unfortunately after 30 – 60min or so of usage and at this point I was engrossed in Asphalt 3D – and shortly after the warning message from LG that told me to take regular breaks from the 3D experience – I started to feel my eyes had gone dry and sore and I had developed a headache, I also noticed the clarity of the 3D had suddenly dropped (because of my vision) and the 3D experience suddenly became inconvenient and a struggle. Disappointed by this and adamant that it was me and nothing to do with the phone, I gave the phone to 3 other people to use over a similar period of time only to find 2 out of the 3 experienced the same issue. This for me really did dampen my excitement about the 3D experience and made me realise even more that 3D is fantastic if used only in small doses.
Nevertheless I continued to play about with the phone and over the few days I had it and with my Gunnar Optiks on whenever using the 3D experience it’s safe to say I thoroughly enjoyed the 3D experience and found taking 3D photos and shooting my own 3D videos to be simply mind blowing.
Below shows images of the LG Optimus 3DÂ Space which consists of 3D games, 3D YouTube, 3D Gallery (Photo’s and Video’s) and a 3D Guide.
Operating System (Android) and Processor
The LG Optimus 3D in my personal opinion (Tomi and others will possibly disagree) uses the best operating system this being Android. Combined with the 3D experience the 2 work together in perfect harmony to create a remarkable multimedia phone. But it doesn’t stop their – those of you that have used an Android system will agree Android is by far the best phone OS for social media simply because all the most popular social media sites have been bread into the phone from day 1 and with the click of a button you can instantly share updates, pictures, videos, apps, links and more with all your follows on Twitter or Friends on Facebook without any third party software/apps required.
With all the 3D rendering, Android and a high quality screen we expected a slow and laggy phone. However due to its Dual Core and Duel Channel memory which LG refer to as its “Tri Dual Technology” we experienced nothing but effortless rendering of graphics both 2D and 3D and smooth transitions between programs – even when we jam packed the home screen with the most demanding of apps and widgets we failed to cause any lag or unpleasant user interaction so a massive thumbs up to LG their for the remarkable blend of hardware and software.
CameraS
It almost seems strange to say that a phone has 3 cameras!!, However this one actually does. The LG Optimus has 2 x 5Megapixal cameras on the rear with LED flash to produce 3D images and Videos plus a 1.3MegaPixel front facing camera for video calling.
Look & Feel
Overall I couldn’t help thinking the LG Optimus 3D looks and feels wise was very similar to that of my HTC Desire HD. With only a small difference in size (the LG being slightly longer) and with very little/no noticeable difference in width they did share similar characteristics as you can see from the picture below which shows the 2 phones together (LG is on the Left – HTC on the right):
Generally looking at the phone as a whole I found the phone to feel weighty (which I like), very durable and very well made. However I don’t think the design/style is a slick looking as the Uni body design of that on the HTC’s nor did it compare to the quality of the iPhone but certainly falls in the upper tier of comparable phone qualities.
Summary
As a whole we think the LG Optimus 3D is a fantastic phone, packed full of innovative gadgets. I would consider the 3D elements a success and LG have definately set the bar high and I struggle to picture how it can be improved on or how competitors can top this. However I think the whole 3D concept be it on a Phone, TV, Laptop, Games console etc has it’s problems and is only suitable for short doses and the effects we experienced when reviewing the phone confirmed this. Finally one last thing to consider is, its all good and well shooting 3D videos and photo’s but are they short lived? How likely are you to buy another 3D phone allowing you to transfer the 3D images and videos to it? or how likely are you to view them on other devices such as 3D TV’s and PC’s???? So although a fantastic concept is it worth buying the phone on the basis that it is 3D if 12/18/24 months later when your due for a renewal you face the dilema of buying another 3D phone (if there is one) or losing your 3D videos & pictures and buying a non 3D phone.
