Tuesday, February 15, 2011

HANDS ON: LG Optimus 3D

by Stan Schroeder
LG Optimus 3DLG is stealing a lot of thunder at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year by making everything 3D. We’ve had a chance to try out the LG Optimus 3D, the world’s first glasses-free 3D Android smartphone, and although the device is not without quirks, we’re impressed.
The Optimus 3D looks like a regular Android 2.2 smartphone, with a huge 4.3-inch screen with the standard four Android menu buttons at the bottom. What makes it different is its glasses-free 3D technology and the dual cameras on the back which let you take 3D photos and videos yourself.
For the 3D effect (which can be turned on and off at will) to work you need to position the phone just right; once you do it, though, the effect is quite convincing, especially in gaming. LG has included several 3D-enabled games with the device, including a first person shooter called Nova and a game of golf, both of which are quite fun to play on the 3D screen.
A lot of other features on the phone also revolve around 3D, such as videos, photos, and there’s even a 3D-enabled version of the UI for the device. In other words, 3D isn’t included just to make LG look good, it’s actually weaved into several different aspects of the phone.
While we don’t think the 3D features are a necessity for most users, they’re definitely fun to use and we wouldn’t mind having them, if only for the “wow” factor when you show the phone to someone.
Unfortunately, the phone is somewhat prone to crashing, especially when you delve deeper into its 3D features (the fact that most of the devices were running out of battery juice didn’t help). With a bit of polishing, though, LG might have a winner on its hands, at least until the other smartphone makers catch up with the 3D features.
Update: here’s a list of LG Optimus 3D’s specifications: 4.3-inch TFT screen with a 800×480 pixel resolution, a 1 GHz dual core CPU, 1080p playback for 2D content and 720p playback for 3D content. The device weighs 168 grams and is 128.8 x 68 x 11.9 mm in size. It should become available this March starting with the United Kingdom.
 
 
 
 

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