Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve just gotten back from playing around with LG’s 8.9-inch, 3D-friendly Optimus Pad (known as the G-Slate in the US). This Android Honeycomb tablets sports a dual-core CPU inside and a dual-camera array outside, giving you both the optical and processing capabilities to produce 3D video. Its screen cannot actually play back glasses-free 3D, but if you really have to have that third dimension on the move, you’ll be able to buy a set of glasses to recreate the effect. The Optimus Pad is slim, though we couldn’t get a great feel for its ergonomics with all the wiring attached to it, has nicely curved corners, a matte black back cover that’s pleasant to the touch and seemingly durable, and an extremely glossy screen up front.

We likened the Pad to the Optimus 2X in an earlier post and it carries over a lot of industrial design elements from its smartphone sibling, including the metallic strip down the middle of its rear branded with a “with Google” logo. That’s actually meaningful this time — the Optimus 2X wasn’t a stock Android installation, it was subjected to LG’s (not entirely successful tweaks), however the Pad looks to be a straight Google Experience Device, in much the same vein as the Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, its nearest and most direct competitors. That being said, the code on the device we handled still wasn’t up to scratch on the software front, as evidenced by us managing to crash both the browser and Google Maps within a few minutes of putting down our first fingerprints on the tablet. The 3D camcorder also seems like a memory hog, we weren’t able to get it started up initially because of the number of apps that were already open (which at the time was no more than four). Let’s remain optimistic, though, this wasn’t exactly a slate we snatched off a retail shelf and LG has time to optimize and spruce things up before shipping this thing out. We’ve got pictures for you below and a press release after the break. Video is incoming at the very fastest speed our wireless connection can carry it.

Update: Video is now in, get to the ogling!

Continue reading LG Optimus Pad first hands-on! (video)

LG Optimus Pad first hands-on! (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Feb 2011 05:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading LG Optimus 3D previewed in remarkably convincing teaser video

LG Optimus 3D previewed in remarkably convincing teaser video originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Feb 2011 13:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The world cried out for a dual-core smartphone and LG and NVIDIA answered the call. Actually, the world only ever dreamt about multicore mobile architectures up until late last year, but sometimes that’s all it takes to get those zany engineers engineering. So here we are, in early February 2011, beholding the world’s first smartphone built around a dual-core processor, the Optimus 2X. This is a landmark handset in more ways than one, however, as its presence on the market signals LG’s first sincere foray into the Android high end. Although the company delivered two thoroughly competent devices for the platform with the Optimus S and T in 2010, they were the very definition of mid-range smartphones and the truth is that Samsung, HTC and Motorola were left to fight among themselves for the most demanding Android users’ hard-earned rubles. So now that LG’s joined their ranks, was the wait worth it?

Continue reading LG Optimus 2X review

LG Optimus 2X review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Feb 2011 12:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android is our future, the stat mavens all agree, but for all its rapid growth, Google’s OS still suffers from a shortage of top tier differentiation. This has in part been down to LG and Sony — two of the world’s biggest phone makers — spending the majority of 2010 watching the battle for Android supremacy from the sidelines (the X10 disqualified itself when it announced it neither knew nor cared what Froyo was). 2011 might just be the year of redemption for both, however, as LG will soon assault the European market with a pair of truly desirable and powerful Android smartphones in the Optimus 2X and Black, while Sony Ericsson’s well leaked portfolio of new Xperias includes the Arc, Neo and Play, each one of them coming with Gingerbread preloaded. We’ve wrapped our mitts around a pair of these high-hope devices, one from each manufacturer, and photographed the living daylights out of them sat side by side.

We humbly submit that the Xperia Arc looks and feels far more refined than LG’s admittedly well designed Optimus 2X. The Arc’s curvature seriously makes it feel like the thinnest phone we’ve ever handled and its weight is also dramatically, unreasonably minimal. Another note of import is that the 2X comes with a 4-inch screen whereas the Arc offers a more generous 4.2-inch display, yet their overall dimensions are nearly identical. All in all, we’d hardly object to having either one in our pockets, but the Arc wins it for us in terms of aesthetic appeal. Of course, the Optimus 2X has a dual-core Tegra 2 heart beating within, it’s not all about looks, though in the case of this hands-on comparison, it kind of was. We’ll have a full review of LG’s handset in the coming days, while Sony Ericsson promises the Xperia Arc will land in Europe by the end of March. You can see more of the prototype unit we got to handle in the gallery below and there’s a video comparison of the two Android newcomers after the break as well.

Continue reading Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc vs. LG Optimus 2X… fight!

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc vs. LG Optimus 2X… fight! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Feb 2011 13:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve had a feeling that LG was going to tackle 3D smartphones heads-on sometime in February, and after a spat of rumors today purported to be showing off the Optimus 3D (pictured above, via Phandroid), the company’s flat-out confirmed its Mobile World Congress debut. The Optimus 3D sports a dual-lens 3D camera, a glasses-free LCD display, and HDMI / DLNA for sharing on whatever 3D sets you have. A live demo will be at Barcelona, but whether that means we’ll get to hold it in our own hands. Other specs? We’ll have to wait and find out. Press release after the break.

Continue reading LG confirms Optimus 3D for MWC 2011: glasses-free screen and 3D camera

LG confirms Optimus 3D for MWC 2011: glasses-free screen and 3D camera originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 21:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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