Besides Apple, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, LG has also been really busy in supplying its own touch screen smart phones to the market. And now, with LG Optimus Black
, LG wants to prove its existence in the world of smart phone and grasp some market share around this industry.
Design
At a glance, the design of
LG Optimus Black no doubt looks like iPhone. As a matter of fact, this phone really looks similar with iPhone, either from the front side that looks flat, iPhone’s flat design, and also, from every corner side that looks rounded, iPhone’s rounded corner
. Moreover, this phone is also sold in 2 different case covers. Yup, they are Black and White. So, what exactly LG wants to introduce with this smart phone besides as iPhone’s copycat?Luckily, among all of those identical sides of this phone that look similar with Apple’s iPhone, there are still many things that differentiate LG Optimus Black with iPhone. For instance is the front physical buttons. If on every iPhone, there is only 1 physical button that can be found on the front side of device, then LG Optimus Black has 4 physical buttons.
- Type: LG Optimus Black P970
- Release Date: 2011, July
- Price Purchased: $289
- Vendor: LG
Readers' Score
NextPhones4u Score
Phone Specs: IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 4.0 inches, 16M colors, 480 x 800 pixels, Android Froyo OS (update to Gingerbread), 1 GHz processor, 5 MP camera, Wi-Fi, 2 GB Internal + microSD, See Full specs.
- Pros
- Screen size is bigger than iPhone | Tough battery life, just like on iPhone 4| Elegant and slim design | Comfortable to grasp | Great for Gaming
- Cons
- Design looks just like iPhone | Body is too lengthy
- Bottomline
- Bottom line, as a smart phone that resembles the iPhone, especially on design aspect, this phone looks and works great. The great things that can be found on this phone are Nova Display and its tough battery life.
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| LG Optimus Black |
The other thing that differentiates LG Optimus Black and iPhone is the length of this phone. If you have a hold of this phone in your hands, this phone has much longer vertical body than iPhone. And the seeing how this lengthy smart phone is also slim is just fantastic. With the thickness of 9.2 mm and weight of 109 grams, LG Optimus Black becomes one of the lightest smart phones in its class. This phone is really pleasing to hold and light in weight.
The speaker of this phone is concealed and the screen itself is covered by IPS layer that doesn’t look too prominent at a glance.
Interface and Functionality
The user interface of this phone looks really different with iPhone. Having been injected with Android Gingerbread OS of course will bring different user interface than iPhone.
Moreover, in default, the standard themes of beautiful scenery have been provided by the vendors. Unlike the Apple that is so strict when it comes to Homescreen background and gives no power to users to customize the Homescreen background, the interface of this phone and also any Android devices around the market is really attractive and intuitive to use.
Many people that don’t like Apple’s iPhone have opinions that iPhone with its iOS interface looks more like an App launcher than a normal smart phone. I couldn’t agree more.
Screen
As I mentioned earlier, this phone has already been injected with Android Gingerbread OS. Beside of that, the screen of this phone has also been embedded with great screen technology called Nova Display. For your information, Nova Display is claimed to have the capability to improve the brightness of the screen in 700 nit.
This screen technology can give much better and comfortable experience to the users when starring at the screen for long period, even under the sun light. Nova Display is also believed can reduce the energy consumption of its battery for around 50% and help improve the battery life compared to the other smart phones that still use general LCD screen.
Besides Nova Display technology, this phone also has the capability of UI Gesture or User Interface Gesture. This UI Gesture can be used on this phone by pressing the “G” button on the left side of device. And then, to use this technology or feature, users will only need to shake this phone in order to activate the wished application or menu.
Performance
Having had the 1 GHz processor and Android Gingerbread injected inside the device will automatically open the access of this phone to run many higher quality applications and games across Android platform. It’s also great news that the Android Gingerbread OS on this phone can be upgraded with the latest Android version called Ice Cream Sandwich.
Data Storage
The 2 GB external memory has been provided by the vendor to the users to store files and data, which can also be expanded up to 32 GB.
Camera
The 5MP camera with the supports of auto-focus, white balance, timer and macro mode has been placed on the back side of device. The HD photo quality of this phone looks really clear, sharp and delicate in our eyes. The 2MP front camera has been provided to do video calling and self portrait.
Battery Life
iPhone 4 has been really popular with its tough battery life and it’s difficult to find the genuine contender for this phone when it comes to battery life. But surprisingly, this phone could be the major threat for iPhone 4 in the future.
Unlike the other Android phones around the market that have a weakness on battery life aspect, in heavy usage for gaming and internet browsing, the battery life of this phone could last until 8 hours. Yup, that’s true. The battery life of this phone is really powerful in its class, especially among other Android devices.
Conclusion
Bottom line, seeing how the battery of this phone is really powerful and could even last around 8 hours for playing Android games and browsing the internet in heavy intensity can make LG Optimus Black the biggest threat for iPhone 4, which is already popular with its powerful and long lasting battery life.
If it’s proven to be that this phone has the capability to open and run any kind of high quality or High Definition (HD) Android games, then LG Optimus Black is definitely a worth buying smart phone and top recommendation for Android device.
Check out LG Optimus Black at Amazon to get special price.
