It feels like LG is on the cusp of making some big moves in mobile.
Not only does it make the excellent Nexus 4, but it also released a super powerful flagship phone of its own called the Optimus G.
The Optimus G is available now from AT&T for $199.99 with a two-year contract.
Here's a quick review.
What is the Optimus G?This is LG's newest flagship Android phone. It's really powerful, thanks to a quad-core processor and 2 GB of RAM. On paper, it's faster than a lot of top-of-the-line smartphones. It's very similar to the Nexus 4, which LG makes for Google.
DesignAs powerful as the Optimus G is, it isn't very attractive. It's just a plain black plasticky rectangle. You won't turn any heads carrying this thing around. Still, the Optimus G is solid and well-built.
LG makes some of the best displays in the industry (even for other gadgets like Apple's iPhone 5), and the company made no exceptions with the Optimus G's screen. You won't notice any difference between this display and the Retina displays on Apple's gadgets.
The phone is built with the power user in mind, so in addition to all that processing power, you get great battery life and expandable storage via a Micro SD card slot on the side.
How It WorksThe Optimus G is an Android phone with a bunch of modifications to the software. It seems like LG borrowed heavily from Samsung's OS design on the Galaxy S III with similar water ripple visual and sound effects.
But on its own, LG's changes to Android are pretty good and they don't get in the way of the basic operating system design. Unfortunately, the Optimus G runs an outdated version of Android called Ice Cream Sandwich that's over a year old now. Google updated Android to the latest version called Jelly Bean this summer, so the Optimus G is missing some great features like the voice-control app Google Now.
Should You Buy It?If you're looking for a very powerful phone, the Optimus G is a good buy. The software isn't as polished as what you'll find on the Nexus 4 or Galaxy S III, but it does the job well enough.
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