NTT Docomo unveiled its 2013 Spring lineup to a packed house of invited Japanese and technical press at the Prince Park Tower Hotel in Tokyo. They showed off and explained 12 new models that will launch, beginning on January 25th, with a lot of nice improvements over their current line-up of 16 models.
NTT Docomo President and CEO, Kaoru Kato, 7 months into his tenure at the position, gave a confident, nicely-paced, clear and concise presentation of the company’s lineup and vision of …
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 7 days — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Here in Detroit at NAIAS the 2014 model year car is making another appearance…
Selecting the best in show is no easy task, because CES covers such a crazy range of devices…
We just had a quick hands-on of Facebook’s new “Graph Search” at one of the demo stations…
It was increasingly probable T-Mobile would expand its truly unlimited data to no-contract plans, and it’s using CES to get a little more attention now that it’s official. Starting January 9th, Monthly4G fans can pay $70 a month to get throttling-free internet access as well as unfettered calling and voice. They just need to have bought a supporting device outright to qualify. T-Mobile knows that might not be enough for those used to subsidized device prices: to sweeten the pot, it’s cutting the off-contract price of an LG Optimus L9 to $200 for the foreseeable future. Although we’d naturally opt for slightly more powerful hardware, we could easily see more than a few converts when both the plan and the phone cost that much less than usual.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, T-Mobile
Source: T-Mobile
I’ll start out this review by saying that I’ve been an avid iPhone user since the day the first model came out. I just haven’t seen an Android phone I liked well enough to even consider a switch – until now. I’ve had the opportunity to use an LG Optimus G smartphone for the last several weeks (I tested the AT&T version) and I’m impressed with just about everything about this phone.
For starters, it’s just gorgeous. I know, so many of today’s Android phones are just black slabs, but this is one sexy black slab. The Optimus G is the same thickness as my iPhone 5, but it feels so much more substantial – with a little bit of extra heft, glossy metal bezel, and a Gorilla Glass 2 front, it just looks great. There’s also a layer of a carbon-fiber like material under the scratch-resistant back panel giving it a little added panache. This is one phone you won’t want to hide away in a case.
Like many other Android phones, the back, home and menu icons display on the bottom edge of the screen only when needed, fading into the background when not in use, and offer a nice haptic-feedback “click” when you tap on them.
Thanks to LG’s own display-manufacturing savvy, the Optimus G has got a screen that anyone would envy. The 4.7-inch IPS screen has a 1280×768 resolution (~318ppi), and is substantially larger and easier on the eyes than the display on my trusty iPhone 5. A technology LG calls “Zerogap” puts the display even closer to the glass of the device, which does give it a really clear, sharp image and reduces reflections on screen. I also found the display to be easier to read in the sunlight than my other LCD devices.
Under the hood, the Optimus G sports a fast Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 CPU, with four cores and running at 1.5GHz and 2GB of system RAM. This seemed to be more than powerful enough for running anything I could throw at it. The CPU and GPU-intensive game Death Dome ran a smooth as butter on the ample 4.7″ display. This, combined with the lightning-fast 4G LTE connectivity made the phone just zip along surfing the web and watching streamed video content. The stock 16GB media storage is upgradeable via a microSDHC card that snaps into the side of the phone under a protective cover.
The camera itself is solid, snapping sharp 8-megapixel images and 1080p HD video at 30fps. Here’s a couple of example still images shot with the camera. There are some artifacts and softness when looking up close at the images, but that’s pretty typical of compressed digital images. Overall, images were very true-to-life and color fidelity is excellent in daylight photographs. Photos shot in darkness suffer from significant noise, but the built-in LED flash helps improve portrait shots in low-light situations.
While I tested out the AT&T version, it’s my understanding that the Sprint version is largely the same, other than its 13-megapixel camera – but word on the street is that the 8-megapixel camera in the AT&T version is as good or better. Remember, more megapixels doesn’t always mean higher image quality, despite what the marketing folks out there might tell you.
Other camera features include a “Live Shot” ability that lets you snap still images while recording video, and “Time Catch” which automatically grabs a few extra shots prior to snapping your picture in case you’re too slow with the shutter. There’s also a front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera which is nothing to write home about, but more than sufficient for video chats.
The Optimus G ships with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), which is the first version of Android that I think beats iOS in terms of overall capabilities and uniformity of experience. There’s no official word on a Jelly Bean (4.2) update, but rumors abound that one will come out at some point. Though that’s obviously dependent on the phone’s carriers. I won’t talk too much about Android itself, but there are a handful of LG-specific enhancements that are worth a mention. The home screens themselves are highly configurable, letting you drag and drop icons onto one or multiple screens, as well as into folders, and to customize the on-screen size of folders. You can even create your own custom icons for applications if you so desire.
LG’s Quickmemo feature lets you grab and share a screenshot of anything you’re looking at and add handwritten notes or annotations – a very handy feature activated by pulling down the notification bar and tapping the Quickmemo icon. The feature offers a variety of different pen styles, and even a see-through highlighter.
Another slick feature is the ability to zoom in on videos you’ve already recorded – so if you see something of interest in a video clip, you can “zoom in and enhance” just like Jack Bauer used to do on 24. A couple of more esoteric add-ons include the “Cheese Shutter” which lets you remotely trigger the camera to take a picture when you say a word like “cheese” or ”whisky.” There’s also the ability to clear icons and widgets from the screen using a special “pinch-out” gesture, though I’m not sure why you really need to do that.
If there’s any complaint at all about the Optimus G is that it’s pretty power-hungry due to its large screen and beefy processor. While I could get through an entire day with its 2,100 mAh battery with moderate use – playing games, watching videos and heavy 4G usage drains it much more quickly. That said, a typical day gave me about 9 to 10 hours of battery life. And since LG sacrificed a user-replaceable battery for better build quality and a slimmer form-factor, you’ll definitely want to have a USB charging cable handy if you’re out and about. I also found that I could only get about 3 days of standby power before the battery drained to 0% sitting on my desk. Not a big deal for me, since I’m always good about plugging in my devices every night.
Overall, between the speed, build quality, industrial design and awesome screen, the LG Optimus G is a real winner in my opinion. While I haven’t given up my iPhone 5 quite yet, I’ll be using the Optimus G as my preferred handheld gadget for surfing the web, viewing video content and for playing games.
You can find the Optimus G from AT&T or Sprint for $199.99 (USD), who both require a 2-year contract.
Disclosure: LG provided us with the device for review in this article. However, all reviews are the unbiased views of our editorial staff, and we will only recommend products or services we have used personally, and believe will be good for our readers.
Well, that was quick. It’s only been two or so months since LG pulled officially pulled back the curtains on its flagship Optimus G smartphone, but it seems the Korean company isn’t done fiddling with the formula just yet. According to a recent report from Korea’s MK Business News, LG is already preparing a followup (tentatively called the Optimus G2) that could launch as early as next May.
At this point it’s tough to say whether or not the G2′s spec sheet is already set in stone, but MK’s report paints a pretty impressive picture. First up is the rumored inclusion of a 5-inch, 1080p display — LG is hardly the first to take the plunge into 1080p territory (that distinction goes to Taiwan-based HTC and its Butterfly J). During my week spent with Butterfly J’s American cousin, I found its 1080p display to be an impressive performer despite some minor flaws and it’ll be interesting to see how well LG’s own homebrew panel fares.
Honestly, the timing isn’t exactly a surprise here — both LG and its eternal rival Samsung were both expected to release 1080p smartphones in the first half of 2013 — but there’s more to the G2 than just a pretty screen. If the report holds true, then the G2′s internals are nothing to sneeze at either as an unspecified 2GHz Qualcomm chipset is expected to run the show. The original Optimus G was one of the snappiest I’ve gotten to play with in quite some time thanks in part to its beefy Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset, so the G2 has a hell of a bar to live up to. Sadly, there doesn’t seem to have been much digging done when it comes to the G2′s battery — a wimpy little thing could spell doom for a device like this.
May might seem like a long way off, but don’t be surprised if the further leaks start trickling out well in advance. Frankly, between the Optimus G and the Nexus 4, LG has managed to impress me in ways I didn’t think the beleaguered company was capable of — here’s hoping the G2 is just as pleasant a surprise.
LG Electronics has reported its earnings for Q3 2012, notching its third straight quarter of positive income with a net profit of 157 billion won ($138.57 million) and “solid” performances from its home theater and mobile businesses. Revenue is down from the same period last year, but seeing as it’s actually making money this time around it’s probably still reason to celebrate. On the mobile side of the aisle it reports an operating profit of $19.42 million with slightly higher sales than Q2, mostly thanks to those LTE smartphones it’s been rolling out. Its home entertainment biz noted a rise in LCD sales, with 3D TVs and LED-lit models growing from last quarter in most markets. Looking towards the future it’s obviously going all-in on the Optimus G (although our interests run towards the Nexus G that should debut next week), and also looks for its Ultra HD television to raise its standing as a premium brand. Check the press release after the break and PDF linked below for more numbers if that’s your thing.
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile, LG
LG records a ‘solid’ $138.57 million net profit for Q3, keeps the positive trend going originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 00:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It’s either a premature confirmation or one of the larger executive gaffes we’ve seen in recent memory, but it’s hard to ignore. LG’s Mobile Product Planning lead for India, Amit Gujral, just claimed in an interview with IBNLive that the “LG Nexus” will launch at Google’s October 29th event and ship to India “by the end of November.” He even stuck his neck out to offer specifications — the Nexus will reportedly have a very Optimus G-like 4.7-inch screen and quad-core 1.5GHz chip while throwing the unreleased Android 4.2 into the equation. Nothing’s official so far despite the statements, and we’re not expecting to Google to spoil its own party; if Gujral really does have the inside track, though, we may have been given a peek at the main attraction in Google’s playground.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google, LG
LG exec claims Nexus due at October 29th event, ships to India one month later originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Oct 2012 14:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
You’ve heard it before: the more things change the more they stay the same. It wasn’t that long ago that we reviewed LG’s flagship Optimus 4X HD, the world’s first quad-core HSPA+ handset. Despite representing the company’s best engineering and design effort to date, it wasn’t quite able to match the competition’s global offerings — Samsung’s mighty Galaxy S III and HTC’s lovely One X. Today, just a few months later, quad-core LTE superphones are the state of the art. Samsung’s selling the global Galaxy Note II, HTC’s just announced the One X+ and LG’s betting everything on the Optimus G — the first handset to feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 Pro together with an LTE radio.
The Optimus G is a pivotal device for the Korean manufacturer, especially in the US, where rival Samsung is massively popular and LG’s success has been hampered by a series of forgettable products (hello, Intuition) and a lackluster track record for software updates. It’s so critical that LG even invited us to spend some quality time with the Optimus G at the launch event in Seoul last month. In the US, LG’s partnering with Sprint and AT&T and there’s strong evidence that Google’s upcoming Nexus will be based on the Optimus G. So, does the company’s latest powerhouse measure up to the competition? How different are the US versions from the Korean model? Does LG finally have a winning formula with the Optimus G? Find out in our review after the break.
Gallery: LG Optimus G review (Korean model)
Gallery: LG Optimus G review (Sprint model)
Gallery: LG Optimus G review (AT&T model)
Gallery: LG Optimus G review (comparisons)
Continue reading LG Optimus G review: a quad-core powerhouse with Nexus aspirations
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sprint, AT&T, LG
LG Optimus G review: a quad-core powerhouse with Nexus aspirations originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 10:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Today in Japan KDDI announced a full lineup of new devices and other than the first smartphone with a 1080p 5-inch display and a tablet with all-new IGZO display tech, it’s also home to its own variant of LG’s quad-core CPU powered Optimus G. The second Japanese carrier to offer the phone after NTT DoCoMo, it launches on KDDI’s LTE network November 2nd, and will be available in either Astro Blue or White Prism colors. Labeled the LGL21, it features similar specs to other worldwide variants, hit the source link for more details or doublecheck US Optimus G launch info on AT&T and Sprint.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG
LG Optimus G comes to Japan’s KDDI in blue, white November 2nd originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Oct 2012 02:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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LG has been getting plenty of attention these days because of some recent carrier announcements (case in point: Sprint announced it would carry the LG Mach and Optimus G), but that’s not all of the LG hardware here at MobileCon 2012. T-Mobile recently outed a new LG device of its own — the decidedly mid-range Optimus L9 — and I spent a few moments getting to know it a little better.
As is usually the case with LG hardware, the L9 is light and plasticky, but it just manages to avoid crossing over into chintzy territory thanks in part to its solid construction (there were no telltale creaks to be heard when apply pressure to it) and the lightly textured finish on the device’s rear. Sure, it’s far cry from the sort of solid construction that companies like HTC are known for, but it certainly makes for a pocketable portable.
That said, there are a few curious touches here. Most notable is that when looked at dead-on, the L9 bears more than a passing resemblance to a Samsung device because of what sits below the 4.5-inch qHD display — an elongated home button and the Android soft keys that flank it.
I didn’t have a chance to load up any of my favorite benchmarking tools (the T-Mobile guy was watching us pretty intently), but there weren’t instances of visual lag or stutter as I bounded from menu to menu and app to app. That’s due in large part to the dual-core 1GHz processor and the 1GB of RAM lurking inside the L9′s slim chassis, which is probably enough horsepower to handle most daily tasks with aplomb, but I’ll have to hold off on issuing final judgment for now.
Save for the particular flavor of carrier bloatware loaded onto the L9, the software is awfully similar to the version I spotted when playing with LG’s Mach earlier today. To provide a quick recap, LG’s customer Android overlay doesn’t seem quite as offensive as it has in days past. It feels lighter and less obtrusive, an approach it seems that more and more Android-device OEMs have decided to adopt recently.
The end result is a device that in some ways thoughtfully manages to augment Android with some neat additional features without slowing it to a crawl. That said, T-Mobile seems to have sunk its claws into the device more so than Sprint did with its LG hardware. The L9 packs just a few more preloaded apps and a persistent notification indicating your account details (minutes used, texts sent, etc.).
In many ways, I feel the same way about the L9 as I do about the Mach. It’s a perfectly serviceable device with its share of nice flourishes, but it just doesn’t stand out very much. Maybe that’s just me being a jaded tech blogger, but it seems to me that T-Mobile will need to play hardball with the L9′s price tag. Naturally, that’s exactly what they plan to do. T-Mobile’s on-site staff wouldn’t budge when it came to the prospect of talking pricing, but one of them referred to the L9 as a “great entry-level smartphone.” In other words, it should be nice and cheap whenever the carrier finally decides to launch it.
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