The LG G PRO 2 as expected was launched at the MWC 2014 and a few days back, it was launched in India with the price tag of 50k competing with the Samsung Galaxy note 3 and the HTC one max. The specs of the LG G pro 2 as you would expect are top notch with no flaws whatsoever so what is in this phone that you should buy it for and ditch the others? Let's find out!
DESIGN AND BUILD.
The g pro 2 is a big device to carry as it is addressed as a phablet, not a normal phone but what concerns the customer or any mobile user is how the phone feels in the hand and is it comfortable or slippery?
The g pro 2 looks gorgeous at first glance but there's more to look out, The first thing you'll notice is that the bezel sparkles, thanks to a glitter-like paint that LG refers to as "pearl." The paint is featured on the black and silver models, but not on the white version, so you might wanna avoid the white version as those pearls look great!on the back, we have a polycarbonate textured finish whose mesh pattern is so fine that it feels like a thick canvas. But it looks great as you would expect and doesn't really attracts dust or sand as I feared!
The phone looks good but is not particularly comfortable to hold, the texture is a little slicker than it would have been if it were made of rubber or some sort of soft-touch material, and the actual edges of the phone are only 4.1mm thick at its thinnest point, which made it too easy for my fingers to slip off. I really want a big phone like this to be comfortable to hold all the time as you would probably use it for long time for gaming and other things that you would do on a big screen phone!
Speaking of finger placement, the back of the phone is completely flat, with the exception of a steep slope around the edges and back-mounted buttons, which were designed to be easy to reach even when you're using the phone one-handed which is nice once you get used to it especially on a big phone like this!
The design and build of the phone is great and looks much more premium that it's competition, not really comfortable but it is nice and you won't have any problems with it.
DISPLAY.
LG G Pro 2 rocks a 1080p Full HD IPS panel, which means it has the same resolution as the original G Pro. Unfortunately for pixel density lovers, this means fewer pixels per inch -- 373 vs. 401, to be exact. Arguably, this small difference in density doesn't make the viewing experience visibly worse unless you're looking at the two side by side, but we expect that most people would rather sacrifice a few pixels per inch for more screen real estate. We'd add, too, that the display itself is easy to see in the direct sunlight when it's cranked up above 80 percent brightness. Likewise, the viewing angles are great too.
Bottom line is the display is gorgeous and is a pleasure to look at whether you are watching movies or playing high definition games.
HARDWARE.
The device comes with all the connectivity options out there including NFC, Bluetooth v4.0 and basically everything you can think of.
This phone even comes with the HDMI port which is a nice addition if you want to show your media on a bigger screen!
When it comes to storage, the device comes with 16/32GB internal storage which the ability to increase the storage via a micro SD card up to 64GB for movies or anything else like the 4K videos you will be recording on this phone.
Underneath that back cover, the phone is running on a 3200 mAh REMOVABLE battery which will talk about later in this article.
SOFTWARE.
The g pro 2 ships with the android kitkat 4.4.2 with the not-so-great LG's UI that is not really appreciated by many but it is still untouched with few enhancements on this device.
The phone includes the popular KnockCode of LG that lets you unlock your device by tapping in different patterns on the display which sounds a little damaging but is not. The success rate of you passing the KnockCode Is actually only 80% but it is still a great feature to have.
With the new G Pro 2, LG's introduced a new feature called Mini View designed to make one-handed use a little more feasible ( really a must on a 6-inches device) . In truth, Samsung already does something similar with the Note 3, but the implementation here is different. Swipe left or right on the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen, and the interface will shrink into a 3.4-inch window that you can move around and even resize (it goes up to 4.7 inches).
Meanwhile, there are plenty of options for those of you who enjoy the extra screen space which you should be as you are paying a lot for it! Dual Browser is LG's version of the Galaxy Note's Multi Window, which lets you view more than one app at the same time. Hold down the back button to bring up a small menu of apps, and you just drag apps to either side of the screen. There's also QSlide, a suite of apps that appear as floating windows. While hovering over the rest of the screen, you can choose to make them as transparent as you'd like in order to make sure they're not distracting you when you need to focus. It is not as laggy as on Samsung's phones but it still freezes sometimes.
The G Pro 2 also marks the debut of LG's new Content Locker feature, which lets you hide photos and other files from view, and the only way to access them is by entering a password. Now you won't have to download third party apps for that!
Finally, LG threw in a few audio enhancements. The G Pro 2 comes with 1W Hi-Fi sound, which, according to LG, offers "studio quality sound" without any loss to the original audio. The idea is to add clarity and improve the high notes, while the speaker setup handles the mid to low end of the spectrum. It is not particularly louder than HTC one or older LG devices but it still increases the quality which is useful when you are watching movies!
LG's also added in a couple new tools as part of its Smart Music Player, including the ability to change the pitch and speed of your music in real time.
The software is feature rich and great, however I still hope LG updates the look as soon as possible.
PERFORMANCE.
When it comes to performance the specs are not really top notch and latest but they are capable enough of making your life lag free!
The new G Pro comes decked out in full Snapdragon 800 glory, which means you're going to get a quad-core 2.26GHz CPU and Adreno 330 GPU, not to mention 3GB of RAM to keep things running smoothly. This sounds like a fantastic setup, but it's technically not the best of the best. That honor now belongs to the Snapdragon 801, which is really just the 800 with a higher clock speed. Frankly, you get an additional 0.19GHz CPU speed and 128MHz higher maximum GPU speed.
That minor speed bump won't be apparent to most users (hardcore gamers aside), which means even with a slightly slower chip, the G Pro 2 is still powerful enough to handle anything you throw at it whether it is gaming or heavy multi-tasking.
CAMERA.
The G pro 2 features the same old 13MP camera with the addition of some features and better image quality.
The G pro 2 features the OIS+ that takes the normal OIS to a whole new level and gives great images even if your hand is shaky at times!
It also consists the Natural Flash, which is LG's implementation of Qualcomm's Chroma-Flash technology. Taking pictures using an LED flash normally results in image usually coming out overexposed, but with Natural Flash, the camera takes two pictures at a time -- one with flash, one without -- and then the software merges them into an image that looks more balanced. In comparison with the G2 and iPhone 5s, the flash is not only stronger on the Pro 2; it also does a better job reproducing colors.
Even when it comes to low light, the camera performs great thanks to the f/2.4 aperture that results in great images, I won't say it's the best but it is sufficient and acceptable. The only issue you would come across will be the camera's inability to snap moving objects in lower-light situations; this typically resulted in blurry shots more often than I would have liked.
Fortunately, the camera performs great in daytime with fast focus and accurate color reproduction. The images are not overexposed and truly come out great as one would expect from a 13MP camera.
One by one, each phone maker seems to be adding the ability to change focus in post-production, Lytro-style. Nokia introduced the Refocus Lens a few months ago, and last week, Samsung announced a similar feature in the Galaxy S5. LG's doing the same thing on the G Pro 2 with something called Magic Focus; the company once again recruited Qualcomm for help, taking advantage of its Ubi-Focus technology. Magic Focus doesn't do anything we haven't seen before: It lets the user take a picture and then specify which objects you want in focus, and you can even choose to bring everything in the picture into focus if you'd prefer.
Video recording is also great on this device with faster focus and LG added some features too like 4K recording and recording slow motion videos at 120fps.
BATTERY LIFE.
Now, the most important part of a phablet that it should have long battery life, let's see how this phone performs here!
The device as I said before comes with a removable 3200mAh battery life that is great and can get you a full day on heavy usage and you can always carry a spare thanks to the removable feature of the battery.
TO SUM UP...
The LG G Pro 2 is a great phablet with almost no flaws in any aspects, however you will miss the S Pen from the Note 3 but that's the only thing you will miss and in exchange of that, you get better build and a better camera.
I will do an in depth comparison of the LG G pro 2 and Note 3, so stay tuned for that.
ONCE AGAIN THANK YOU FOR READING, IF YOU HAVE ANY MORE SUGGESTIONS OR QUESTIONS ON THIS ARTICLE , COMMENTS ARE ALWAYS WELCOMED OR YOU CONNECT ME ON TWITTER@phonesoldier or Facebook!
DO MAKE SURE TO HIT THAT SHARE BUTTON IF YOU LIKED READING IT!
DESIGN AND BUILD.
The g pro 2 is a big device to carry as it is addressed as a phablet, not a normal phone but what concerns the customer or any mobile user is how the phone feels in the hand and is it comfortable or slippery?
The g pro 2 looks gorgeous at first glance but there's more to look out, The first thing you'll notice is that the bezel sparkles, thanks to a glitter-like paint that LG refers to as "pearl." The paint is featured on the black and silver models, but not on the white version, so you might wanna avoid the white version as those pearls look great!on the back, we have a polycarbonate textured finish whose mesh pattern is so fine that it feels like a thick canvas. But it looks great as you would expect and doesn't really attracts dust or sand as I feared!
The phone looks good but is not particularly comfortable to hold, the texture is a little slicker than it would have been if it were made of rubber or some sort of soft-touch material, and the actual edges of the phone are only 4.1mm thick at its thinnest point, which made it too easy for my fingers to slip off. I really want a big phone like this to be comfortable to hold all the time as you would probably use it for long time for gaming and other things that you would do on a big screen phone!
Speaking of finger placement, the back of the phone is completely flat, with the exception of a steep slope around the edges and back-mounted buttons, which were designed to be easy to reach even when you're using the phone one-handed which is nice once you get used to it especially on a big phone like this!The design and build of the phone is great and looks much more premium that it's competition, not really comfortable but it is nice and you won't have any problems with it.
DISPLAY.
LG G Pro 2 rocks a 1080p Full HD IPS panel, which means it has the same resolution as the original G Pro. Unfortunately for pixel density lovers, this means fewer pixels per inch -- 373 vs. 401, to be exact. Arguably, this small difference in density doesn't make the viewing experience visibly worse unless you're looking at the two side by side, but we expect that most people would rather sacrifice a few pixels per inch for more screen real estate. We'd add, too, that the display itself is easy to see in the direct sunlight when it's cranked up above 80 percent brightness. Likewise, the viewing angles are great too.
Bottom line is the display is gorgeous and is a pleasure to look at whether you are watching movies or playing high definition games.
HARDWARE.
The device comes with all the connectivity options out there including NFC, Bluetooth v4.0 and basically everything you can think of.
This phone even comes with the HDMI port which is a nice addition if you want to show your media on a bigger screen!
When it comes to storage, the device comes with 16/32GB internal storage which the ability to increase the storage via a micro SD card up to 64GB for movies or anything else like the 4K videos you will be recording on this phone.
Underneath that back cover, the phone is running on a 3200 mAh REMOVABLE battery which will talk about later in this article.
SOFTWARE.
The g pro 2 ships with the android kitkat 4.4.2 with the not-so-great LG's UI that is not really appreciated by many but it is still untouched with few enhancements on this device.
The phone includes the popular KnockCode of LG that lets you unlock your device by tapping in different patterns on the display which sounds a little damaging but is not. The success rate of you passing the KnockCode Is actually only 80% but it is still a great feature to have.
With the new G Pro 2, LG's introduced a new feature called Mini View designed to make one-handed use a little more feasible ( really a must on a 6-inches device) . In truth, Samsung already does something similar with the Note 3, but the implementation here is different. Swipe left or right on the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen, and the interface will shrink into a 3.4-inch window that you can move around and even resize (it goes up to 4.7 inches).
Meanwhile, there are plenty of options for those of you who enjoy the extra screen space which you should be as you are paying a lot for it! Dual Browser is LG's version of the Galaxy Note's Multi Window, which lets you view more than one app at the same time. Hold down the back button to bring up a small menu of apps, and you just drag apps to either side of the screen. There's also QSlide, a suite of apps that appear as floating windows. While hovering over the rest of the screen, you can choose to make them as transparent as you'd like in order to make sure they're not distracting you when you need to focus. It is not as laggy as on Samsung's phones but it still freezes sometimes.
The G Pro 2 also marks the debut of LG's new Content Locker feature, which lets you hide photos and other files from view, and the only way to access them is by entering a password. Now you won't have to download third party apps for that!
Finally, LG threw in a few audio enhancements. The G Pro 2 comes with 1W Hi-Fi sound, which, according to LG, offers "studio quality sound" without any loss to the original audio. The idea is to add clarity and improve the high notes, while the speaker setup handles the mid to low end of the spectrum. It is not particularly louder than HTC one or older LG devices but it still increases the quality which is useful when you are watching movies!
LG's also added in a couple new tools as part of its Smart Music Player, including the ability to change the pitch and speed of your music in real time.
The software is feature rich and great, however I still hope LG updates the look as soon as possible.
PERFORMANCE.
When it comes to performance the specs are not really top notch and latest but they are capable enough of making your life lag free!
The new G Pro comes decked out in full Snapdragon 800 glory, which means you're going to get a quad-core 2.26GHz CPU and Adreno 330 GPU, not to mention 3GB of RAM to keep things running smoothly. This sounds like a fantastic setup, but it's technically not the best of the best. That honor now belongs to the Snapdragon 801, which is really just the 800 with a higher clock speed. Frankly, you get an additional 0.19GHz CPU speed and 128MHz higher maximum GPU speed.
That minor speed bump won't be apparent to most users (hardcore gamers aside), which means even with a slightly slower chip, the G Pro 2 is still powerful enough to handle anything you throw at it whether it is gaming or heavy multi-tasking.
CAMERA.
The G pro 2 features the same old 13MP camera with the addition of some features and better image quality.
The G pro 2 features the OIS+ that takes the normal OIS to a whole new level and gives great images even if your hand is shaky at times!
It also consists the Natural Flash, which is LG's implementation of Qualcomm's Chroma-Flash technology. Taking pictures using an LED flash normally results in image usually coming out overexposed, but with Natural Flash, the camera takes two pictures at a time -- one with flash, one without -- and then the software merges them into an image that looks more balanced. In comparison with the G2 and iPhone 5s, the flash is not only stronger on the Pro 2; it also does a better job reproducing colors.
Even when it comes to low light, the camera performs great thanks to the f/2.4 aperture that results in great images, I won't say it's the best but it is sufficient and acceptable. The only issue you would come across will be the camera's inability to snap moving objects in lower-light situations; this typically resulted in blurry shots more often than I would have liked.
 |
| Low light shot from the LG G pro 2. |
Fortunately, the camera performs great in daytime with fast focus and accurate color reproduction. The images are not overexposed and truly come out great as one would expect from a 13MP camera.
 |
| Daylight sample from the LG G pro 2! |
Video recording is also great on this device with faster focus and LG added some features too like 4K recording and recording slow motion videos at 120fps.
BATTERY LIFE.
Now, the most important part of a phablet that it should have long battery life, let's see how this phone performs here!The device as I said before comes with a removable 3200mAh battery life that is great and can get you a full day on heavy usage and you can always carry a spare thanks to the removable feature of the battery.
TO SUM UP...
The LG G Pro 2 is a great phablet with almost no flaws in any aspects, however you will miss the S Pen from the Note 3 but that's the only thing you will miss and in exchange of that, you get better build and a better camera.
I will do an in depth comparison of the LG G pro 2 and Note 3, so stay tuned for that.
ONCE AGAIN THANK YOU FOR READING, IF YOU HAVE ANY MORE SUGGESTIONS OR QUESTIONS ON THIS ARTICLE , COMMENTS ARE ALWAYS WELCOMED OR YOU CONNECT ME ON TWITTER@phonesoldier or Facebook!
DO MAKE SURE TO HIT THAT SHARE BUTTON IF YOU LIKED READING IT!
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