LG Optimus G Pro (E988) Review

LG has had quite  a bad rep when it comes to build quality of its smartphones. This issue has been persistent since the days of the Optimus Black and continues to be a problem with the current LG phones as well. The Optimus G was the last LG handset we reviewed and while the design and look was definitely a notch above its previous attempts, the bezel was prone to chipping in the event of a drop. Today, we have LG’s flagship handset with us, which entered the market rather late. The Optimus G Pro will take on the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S4, iPhone 5, Xperia Z Ultra and the HTC One. Is the G Pro’s late entrance fashionable or has LG missed the bus? Let’s find out.

Design and build
The Optimus G Pro looks nothing like its younger sibling and is more akin to the Galaxy Note 2. Instead of it being wider, it’s longer, so holding it is more comfortable. The phone is fitted with LG’s full HD IPS panel, which is quite stunning. It’s incredibly bright at 400nits and the viewing angles are one of the best we’ve seen. LG’s zerogap-touch display also makes it very sensitive to even the slightest finger gestures and the near-borderless design gives it good presence. There are two capacitive buttons at the bottom and a physical home button. The translucent button is also home to a multi-colour LED notification system. This can be customised for different contacts and event alerts. 

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Not the most striking phone for a flagship

The Optimus G Pro isn’t very slim at 9.4 mm and is a bit heavy as well at 172 g. Personally, I like a little heft in my phones as it gives a reassuring feel when you hold it or place it in your pocket. The body is mostly plastic, with a faux chrome trim running along the sides. The power and volume rocker are placed comfortably within reach while there’s a quick launch button that can be customised to open any app of your choice. There’s an IR blaster next to the headphone jack on the top along with the noise cancellation microphone.

Very good build

The rear cover is removable and features the similar chequered design on the Nexus 4, minus the glass. There’s a 13MP shooter on the top flanked by a speaker and an LED flash. Inside, we have a massive 3140 mAh battery and a slot for the microSim card along with a hot-swappable microSD card slot. Overall, the Optimus G Pro is a handsome-looking handset, but it does lack the flair of the Optimus G. 

Features
LG has customised Android Jelly Bean (4.1.2) with the Optimus UI. The skin is so well optimised that everything just happens in an instant. There’s quite literally no lag no matter what you do, which makes it the perfect phone if you’re Flash Gordon. If you’ve used the LG Optimus G, then you’ll be right at home. LG has added some new software features to the G Pro, such as the new Quick Remote app, which can be activated from the notification bar. You can still only open two QSlide apps, though, which is ok since you won’t be able to use more than that on a screen this size. Other apps bundled along include File Manager, Polaris Office 4, LG SmartWorld, LG SmartShare, Video Editor and a Remote Call Service.  

The interface is lightning quick

The 5.5-inch display is truly stunning and is on par with the displays on the iPhone 5 and the HTC One. It’s incredibly snappy too thanks to a boosted Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 SoC. This is similar to the one used in the G, but the APQ8064T chipset comes out-of-the-box with a higher clock speed of 1.7GHz. Coupled with 2GB of RAM, we’re looking at some pretty impressive performance. We got a higher AnTuTu score of 20690 points compared to 17865 on the Optimus G.

Very good overall performance

Media
The music player is exactly the same as the one on the Optimus G. The new brushed metal theme for the media player looks slick and is feature-rich too with support for FLAC amongst other formats. There’s also Dolby Mobile sound enhancement along with the usual suite of equaliser presets. The audio quality is good with a decent pair of IEMs. The bass is punchy and the midrange is well defined. Sadly, there’s no lockscreen widget for controlling your music if you have a pattern lock on. There’s 16GB of onboard storage, which can be further expanded to 64GB.

Very good media playback

The video player is pretty robust as well and is on par with Samsung’s TouchWiz player. There’s support for DivX HD video format as well and MKV files are also supported. The video player can be used as a QSlide app as well, so you can browse the web and watch a video at the same time. Full HD 1080p playback is handled without skipping a beat through the stock player.

Connectivity
India gets the E988 model of the G Pro, which is a quad-band GSM phone with support for LTE. However, the LTE option is not visible right now in the settings, so we feel it could be available via a software update in the future. Other features include dual-band Wi-Fi with support for the ‘ac’ draft, Bluetooth v4.0, DLNA, NFC and GLONASS for navigation. Google Chrome also comes pre-installed along with Google+, Cell broadcast, Messenger etc. Call quality is very good and we didn’t experience any drops. The noise cancellation mic really helps in noisy environments too.

The large screen is great for browsing

Due to the large screen, LG has added the option for “One-handed” operation. This works for the dial pad, LG keyboard and the lock screen. There are a bunch of gestures as well like flipping the phone over to silence incoming calls or to snooze an alarm. LG has added two new features called Smart Screen and Smart Video, which work in a similar way to Samsung’s Galaxy S4. Smart Screen tracks your eyes and keeps the display on as long as you’re looking at it, while Smart Video pauses the video when you look away. Both work fairly well but are highly dependent on the ambient light and the direction in which you hold the phone.

The QuickRemote app is pretty cool as well. You can use your phone to control most IR devices, including your air conditioner. We tried it on an LG AC, which powered on fine, but we were unable to change modes or toggle any other features.

Camera
The 13MP BSI sensor wasn’t as impressive as we hoped it would be. We had an issue with the light metering as the camera keeps re-adjusting despite having focused on an area. You get the usual suite of tweaking options like scene modes, HDR and continuous shot along with a couple of new ones like Time catch shot and Cheese shutter, of which the latter comes in really handy. The phone recognises a couple of phrases like “LG”, “Cheese” etc. and works very well, making group portraits super easy.

Macros are good but lack detail

The dual-camera mode in action

Video recording is also handled very well and the Optimus G Pro records stable 1080p video with little to no jitter. There’s even an option for HDR video that LG calls WDR recording. There’s even dual-recording that uses the front and rear camera like the S4. Unlike the S4, however, you can’t customise the frames for smaller window.

Battery life
The G Pro’s 3140 mAh battery easily sailed through our 8-hour loop test with about 31 percent battery to spare. The Power Saver mode kicks in at about 30 percent and does a great job of prolonging the battery life. I had it on before going to bed at 10 percent battery and, surprisingly, the phone was still working in the morning.

Verdict and price in India
LG’s Optimus G Pro is available online for a smidge under Rs 40,000, which is an expensive buy now that the Galaxy S4 is down to Rs 36,500. If screen size is what you’re looking for, then Samsung’s Galaxy Note 2 is still a very relevant option and is a lot cheaper too. We feel the G Pro has entered the market a little too late and a price cut is in order if LG wishes to move them off the shelf. Some of the standout features includes the gorgeous screen, incredibly snappy response, good battery life, IR blaster with the very handy QRemote app and a form factor that’s not terribly unusable for one-handed operations. Overall, we feel the Optimus G Pro makes a good buy if priced closer to Rs 30,000.