Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
It is not unusual for images of unreleased smartphones to get leaked well before they’re even due to be announced. We’re a few days away from Google I/O 2013 and already the Android community is buzzing with rumors, leaks and speculation. A very well known person, who has leaked images in the past that were spot on, has now posted an image of an unnamed LG smartphone which is said to be the Optimus G2.
People have theories about what this device can actually be. Some believe that it might be the Nexus 5, but it is difficult to believe that the next generation Nexus smartphone will have LG branding on the front. The leaker, @evleaks, guesses that this might be the LG Optimus G2. While details about the G2 are vague, it was previously expected that the smartphone will be released alongside Google’s launch of Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie, but that software launch too has reportedly been delayed. Most recently this smartphone was sighted at Bluetooth SIG from where it picked up its Bluetooth certification. It is also rumored that the LG Optimus G2 will have a 5″ full HD display with 13 megapixel camera and Android 4.2.2. [Image via @evleaks’s Facebook]
Hello, what’s this? While many of us were out enjoying the spring weather, @evleaks was busy posting photos of an unknown LG smartphone that, if real, represents a notable shift in the Korean company’s design language. The device shares the Nexus 4‘s slightly curvy outline and lack of front-facing hardware buttons, but appears to have a taller screen, a new speaker grille and a different sensor layout. It’s not very likely to be part of the Nexus program with that conspicuous LG logo at the front, but there are few other clues as to where it would fit in LG’s phone family — is it an Optimus G sequel, an Optimus LTE2 follow-up, or something entirely fresh? We may well see more of this mystery hardware in the near future, though, and there’s already a close-up of the top bezel to be found after the break.
The LG Optimus G Pro brings a massive upgrade to the LG Optimus G, a device put together so well that Google decided to use it for its most recent hero smartphone, the Nexus 4. The LG Optimus G Pro has been released internationally with essentially the same hardware build as you’re seeing here, AT&T’s additions being largely app-centric. That leaves the same high-powered processor, 5.5-inch display, and collection of odd software abilities that draw us in just as much as they did in the original.
Hardware
Up front of the LG Optimus G Pro is a 1080 x 1920 pixel display across 5.5-inches of IPS LCD. This equals 400 PPI resolution and the same amount of pixels the HTC One and the Samsung GALAXY S 4 have spread over a slightly larger area. The display reaches out to the sides of the device with a bezel that’s extremely narrow, this giving the phone the illusion of having a near-edge-to-edge screen.
The front of the device is covered by a single piece of reinforced glass from top to bottom with a bent-in flat edge that, with flat sides and rounded back, give the whole package a unique feel. While the design comments in our LG Optimus G Review suggested LG’s hardware to be a bit more slippery than the average phone, the Pro’s shape and size allow for a bit better grip.
The front panel is interrupted only by a single plastic bit up top to make way for the earpiece for phone calls and a physical button on the lower front surrounded by multi-colored LED light. This pulsing spectrum of color is easily one of the most well-implemented bits of finesse ever implemented on a smartphone. This feature alone pushes the hardware design over the edge: from Pretty Good to Unique and Cool.
Along the sides of the device you’ll find two mic holes (one on top, one on bottom), a standard-sized headphone jack with Dolby Digital audio technology for all your headphone music blasting adventures, and a microUSB port below. Also on top you’ll find a tiny black piece of plastic – this is your IR-blaster, aka your key to using this device as a remote control for a variety of electronics around your home, including but not limited to your television (most televisions, not just Smart TVs), stereo system, projector, Blu-ray player, and air conditioner.
On the right you’ve got your power button and on your left you’ve got your volume rocker below a third button. This last button is what LG calls a Quick Button. With this Quick Button you’ll be able to “get quick access” to whatever app you like. If you’re a photo-taking sort of person, set it to your camera. If you’d rather it connect to Google Search / Google Now, that’s an option as well. If you do decide to set it to Camera, the Quick Button also acts as a shutter button inside the camera app – just as it should.
This device feels nice to hold and, unlike some of its competitors, isn’t larger than the average adult’s hand grip. Where the LG Intuition fell a bit flat due to it’s massiveness, the aspect ratio of the LG Optimus G Pro allows it to be even larger yet fit in your hand far more naturally. Here we’ve got a phablet with a size that’s not too wild.
Software
Inside you’ve got LG’s newest approach to Android, complete with their complete utilization of the full processor power under the hood with oddities galore. One example of a simple – yet impressive – use of the power this device’s processor presents is the massive bubble that pops up when you unlock your screen. It and flipping through screens with a door-like drag happen so seamlessly that you’ll scarcely realize how slick it is. Until you use a phone later on with a lesser processor, of course.
LG’s software here keeps with the nice parts of Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean, including Google Now, and push forward with features like QSlide apps. While I’m not entirely sure when the ability to have an app appear above the fold and accessible as a window in a desktop operating system app would be, here you’ve got the future right in front of you. This sort of floating app functionality is also seen in the Samsung Galaxy and Note line of smartphones and tablets in a just-as-mystifying implementation.
The notifications pull-down menu is utilized by LG in a variety of creative ways the likes of which no other hardware company has pushed to a smartphone. You’ve got brightness control, notifications, access to full settings, quick settings (toggles), QSlide apps, Music control (when music is playing), and Quick Remote. Each of these is customizable too, of course.
QuickRemote is LG’s current app interface for remote controlling your home hardware. This app allows you to work with the infra-red blaster that sits at the top of the device and allows you to control your TV, Cable box, Audio system, DVD player, Blu-ray player, Air conditioner, and projector. You’ll have to go through a short trial-and-error process to connect this control to each device around your home, but in general, anything that’s controlled by a normal universal remote can be controlled here.
Though you don’t have the Rubberdium Pen you did with the LG Intuition here with the Optimus G Pro, you still have access to apps like Note Pad and Notebook, both of which allow you to draw and take notes on your display with your finger. You also get a simple task manager to keep yourself on-point with notifications of to-do items, Video Wiz to edit your own self-filmed videos, and LG Tag+ to create your own unique NFC tags (not included in the box this time around).
In display settings you’ll find Smart screen, similar to a feature Samsung has been pushing with the last several smartphones it’s released, here detecting your eyes and keeping the device’s display awake so long as you’re looking at it. You can customize your home button LED light colors and alerts from this screen as well.
In Share & Connect in the device’s Networks tab in Settings you’ll find an NFC switch (off and on) aside Direct/Android Beam. With Wi-Fi direct you’ll be able to share files between mobile devices (that also have such connectivity abilities) and with NFC this connection is made extra-easy. You’ll also find File Networking to connect to your local network (if you’re sharing files via your PC, for example), and with SmartShare Beam you’ll be sharing files back and forth between LG devices specifically.
Then there’s Miracast – this being the first time we’ve seen the system named specifically since Google implemented this connectivity in Android Jelly Bean earlier this year. With Miracast you’ll have a new industry standard for wireless connectivity of devices, in this case allowing you to mirror your Optimus G Pro’s display to your high-definition television at high speed.
Have a peek at a demonstration of LG’s “World’s First Wireless Ultra HD Transmission Technology” filmed earlier this year at Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona. You’re seeing this hands-on with the LG Optimus G, this letting us know that the ability isn’t just there in the less-powerful of the LG hero devices, it’s ready to go for 4K televisions as well! Now we just need a 4K television to test it on with LG’s final implementation of the connection between on device and the other.
You’ll find the LG Optimus G Pro out-performing most devices on the market today regardless of the slightly larger display size it works with. Above you’ll find a gallery of benchmark results run on the device, many of which we’ve run for similar devices in the past. As you’ll see, this device’s biggest competitors are the HTC One and Samsung GALAXY S 4, the whole bunch running the same Qualcomm processor under the hood – the battle continues!
Camera
While we’ve done a slightly more extensive exploration of the abilities of this device’s camera earlier this year in our LG Optimus G Pro Photo Tour: Barcelona, you’ll also find a new set of examples below. This device uses a 13 megapixel camera on its back, a 2.1 megapixel camera on its front, and a set of odd abilities you’ll have a good ol’ time working with. NOTE: we’ll be including further examples of the Dual Recording feature in the near future. For now: courage!
Battery
With a 3,140 mAh battery it’s not easy to knock the power out of this device in one go. That said, if any display was going to do it, it’d be this beast’s. As you can see in the example here, you can either keep the device running actions for hours on end and kill it in less than 8 hours, or you can let it sit idle for many days. This appears to be the case with most devices running Qualcomm processors in this newest generation – we’re expecting this trend to continue.
Wrap-up
The LG Optimus G Pro is a rather fine piece of machinery. It’s offers you an alternative to the HTC One and/or Samsung GALAXY S 4 here up on the top tier with its similar display (larger, though again, with the same amount of pixels), identical processor, and surprisingly similar set of features. It also offers you a unique hardware build and a camera that’ll go very nearly toe-to-toe with the leaders.
You’ll find the LG Optimus G Pro costing the same or less than the competing top-tier smartphones out with AT&T right this minute and/or in the near future, and its feature set makes it a solid package in the battle against the other titans of this mobile industry. Here in this massive smartphone, LG has created an amalgamation of elements that’ll satisfy legacy LG lovers and newcomers to the size, all the same.
We’re still a week away from LG’s Optimus G Pro from officially releasing in the States, but as promised, pre-orders for the new handset have officially begun. The AT&T-exclusive device is available now for purchase, with a ship date of May 7 in the hopes that you’ll get your new Optimus G Pro on your doorstep in time for the May 10 launch.
The new phone will cost you $199 after signing a new two-year contract, or you can shell out $549 for the off-contract version if you so desire. Early adopters will also get a free LG black folio case to keep their new device safe from the elements, but it seems AT&T only has a handful of these, so if you’re going to pre-order the phone, there’s no better time than right now.
The Optimus G Pro looks to take on the Samsung GALAXY S 4, the HTC One, and the Galaxy Note II with a 5.5-inch full HD IPS display that has a resolution of 1920 x 1080. On the inside, there’s a 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor, coupled with 2GB of RAM to keep things going along smoothly.
The $199 price of the Optimus G Pro will land you 32GB of storage, with the ability to slap in a microSD card if you ever find yourself with not enough space for all those movies and music files. On the back you’ll spot a 13-megapixel camera with a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera that can record 1080p video. Check out our complete photo tour of the phone to get a better sense of the Optimus G Pro’s camera.
LG is an Android smartphone OEM that, like many others, finds itself in the shadow of Samsung. But it scored an impressive hit with the Nexus 4, the $300 unlocked Google-branded Android reference phone it released last year, and according to the Korea Times, it’s already working on a follow-up with the search giant.
The new report claims that LG is working on a new Nexus-branded smartphone, and that LG also wants to add to its existing partnership with Google for TV products, and would like to be closely involved in future developments like Google Glass. LG clearly sees the value of being closely associated with Google, as it managed to pull into third place in the global smartphone race in Q1 2013 according to IDC and Juniper.
LG’s Optimus G and the Nexus 4 helped it gain some ground in the smartphone war, although it still trails far behind Samsung and Apple, who hold 32.7 percent and 17.3 percent of the global market respectively, compared to LG’s 4.8 percent. Recent estimates have put sales of both the Optimus G and the Nexus 4 at somewhere north of 1 million, which, while once again trailing devices by Samsung and Apple, are impressive enough. Especially in the case of the Nexus 4, LG proved that it could make a strong seller out of a line that usually has more limited consumer appeal.
In the past, we’ve seen reports that an LG Nexus 5 was in the works, with the code name “Megalodon.” This isn’t just an upgraded version based on the LG Optimus G Pro, but a truly new device with a very powerful quad-core 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor on board. Recent rumors indicate we might see a Nexus 4 variant at Google I/O in two weeks, with a 32GB storage option and both LTE and CDMA cellular wireless bands on board. The current Nexus 4 maxes out at HSPA+, but it does have an LTE-capable radio, early hacks revealed.
There’s very little downside to LG building a new Nexus device, and Google might be more inclined to let them, given the success of the last one. It’s possible we’ll hear more about this at I/O, but given that the Nexus 4 only arrived late last year, we might have to wait a little longer, too.
Are you looking for a phablet-like device that is not the Samsung Galaxy Note 2? While you may or may not want to wait and see what the Galaxy Note 3 has to offer, LG in the meantime has the Optimus G Pro which is now currently up for pre-order. The device is scheduled for a 10th of May release, but according to AT&T’s website, the phone is expected to be shipped on the 7th of May, so if you hurry you might be getting it a bit earlier than everyone else.
For those hearing about the Optimus G Pro for the first time, or who are wondering what they are getting for their $200 (with 2-year contract), you can look forward to a 5.5” Full HD display with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 600 quad-core chipset under the hood clocked at 1.7GHz, a 13MP camera and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean running the show. You can also check out our comprehensive review of the device here, or our recent hands-on preview with AT&T’s LG Optimus G Pro.
Getting the Nexus 4into customers’ hands aside, the Google-LG team-up was a huge boost to the Korean manufacturer’s smartphone fortunes. According to the Korea Times, LG’s now looking to repeat the magic and is already working with Google on a Nexus sequel. Presumably another phone beyond that Optimus G sequel we’ve been promised, there’s no word yet on whether we’ll see any new Google-branded hardware at this year’s I/O event. We reached out to an LG spokesperson, who told us that it doesn’t comment on rumor and speculation, although the meeting wasn’t all about the Nexus series. LG is also apparently looking for more cooperation with Google on TVs and other future hardware — Glass was apparently mentioned in passing.
LG will make Google’s fifth Nexus smartphone, Korean reports suggest, following the Nexus 4 with a second Google-branded smartphone. Timing for the release of the smartphone, which The Korea Times says is part of LG’s attempt to further develop its relationship with the search giant, is unknown, though given the Nexus 4 was only revealed in November last year, it’s perhaps unlikely that any “Nexus 5″ would be shown off at Google I/O later this month.
Google’s more recent Nexus releases have stuck to a roughly yearly refresh cycle, though given the fast pace of the smartphone market, there’s no guarantee that the Nexus timetable will stay the same. Nonetheless, demand for the Nexus 4 remains strong, with Google and LG struggling at times over the past months to produce sufficient stock to meet orders.
If the collaboration rumors are true, it means LG would become the second firm to have two successive Nexus projects. While HTC worked with Google on the first device, the Nexus One, it was replaced in that role by Samsung, who developed the Nexus S and then the Galaxy Nexus.
LG then took Samsung’s position for the Nexus 4, creating a device – built mainly to the pattern of the existing LG Optimus G – that was sold at an ambitious $299 off-contract, as Google attempted to ween smartphone users off of their carrier dependence. Samsung instead contributed the Nexus 10 tablet.
One possibility is that the new Nexus could follow LG’s even larger new smartphone, the Optimus G Pro, though with that handset’s sizable 5.5-inch display, it’s possible some would-be buyers might find it simply too large. Specifications for the device are yet to leak.
Meanwhile, LG is also believed to be talking with Google about the potential for an OLED Google TV, as well as more “futuristic projects as part of the big picture” in consumer electronics. That could include wearables like Google Glass, sources suggest.
We have seen our fair share of devices being revealed or mentioned by the Bluetooth SIG before it has been officially released in the market, so it comes across as no surprise to discover that the LG Optimus G is going to be on the receiving end of a sequel – that is, none other than the non-creatively named LG Optimus G2. After all, this device has picked up its Bluetooth certification at the Bluetooth SIG, not to mention having been spotted in AnTuTu benchmark scores.
The benchmark scores point towards three different variants of the LG Optimus G2, and they are the F320K, F320L and F340L. The F320K would run on a 1.5GHz processor with Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean in tow, while the remaining two would have a speedier 2GHz processor that in all probability, would be the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 since it remains the only processor which is capable of hitting such clock speeds at the moment, and both of them will be powered by a more recent version of Jelly Bean, that is Android 4.2.2. Additional hardware information on the LG Optimus G2 include a 5” Full HD display, a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 2.1-megapixel front facing camera.
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Are you looking for a phablet-like device that is not the Samsung Galaxy Note 2? While you may or may not want to wait and see what the Galaxy Note 3 has to offer, LG in the meantime has the Optimus G Pro which is now currently up for 
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