Display
As always, every smartphone reviewed has to go through our CalMAN 5 workflow to determine accuracy of calibration. I have to applaud LG for fixing their issues with the G2’s uneven saturation sweep, as it’s gone in the G Pro 2. However, it seems that LG is still missing the targets for the sweep, especially on the secondary colors.
The white point is also quite blue, likely because this phone is intended for the Asian market, although I don’t know if things will change if this phone makes it to Western markets.
Overall, the G Pro 2 doesn’t really rock the boat when it comes to color accuracy, although LG seems to be taking the right steps to rectify some of the issues that they’ve had. The Gretag Macbeth chart performance improves a bit as well.
It’s important to keep in mind for the grayscale data that I use an i1pro, which means that the extremely low brightness values are likely to be inaccurate, so I’m not posting official contrast numbers for the G Pro 2 quite yet.
Brightness seems to be relatively low at maximum relative to the best LCDs at 400 nits or so, but it’s in line with the LG G2. The minimum white level is 7.63 nits for those that use their phones in dark environs, so this certainly makes it easier on the eyes than the HTC One, which goes down to around 12 nits at the lowest brightness.
I’ll be sure to update this review with additional information, as time constraints dictate that I can’t quite get all the data collected to do a proper comparison across multiple phones for minimum 100% APL brightness.
Camera
I must defer to Brian in this case, as the camera is effectively unchanged from the LG G2. There is the OIS+ feature, and LG has added a few extra features such as 4K recording, flash for the front facing camera, and a natural flash feature that tries to emulate a dual temperature LED flash without the dual temperature LED. The OIS+ feature definitely works, and it’s effectively EIS on top of the OIS. Compared to the G2, I can definitely see a difference, although I don’t have a camera rig to show the effect. What doesn’t quite work out is the natural flash feature, which despite its best efforts, doesn’t seem to noticeably reduce the change in color balance that happens when flash is used. As seen below, I took the first photo with the flash off, and the second with the flash on.
One of the simplest features is the front facing camera flash, which is actually a great idea despite its simplicity and makes an enormous difference when it comes to low light photos with the front facing camera.
The Magic Focus feature also works, but like most HDR modes, it needs still subjects to work right. Otherwise it's pretty easy to end up with severe ghosting. The UI also only lets you refocus once, which is a bit disappointing.
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Belard - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
I agree, also need to fit the phone in my pocket along with my wallet. I like to be able to use the phone one handed. Hence, I don't want any of these HUGE phones. My wife, on the other hand uses her phone as her main computer (web / fb / etc) and doesn't mind using 2 hands and of course she has a purse.A good smaller phone is the Motorola X (there is an excellent review on this site for that phone) which most reviewers loving how the phone feels, its weight, etc. It has just started in Europe with very good reviews... considering its been in the USA market for over 6 months. The moto X has a 4.7" screen and a very small body.
The only thing that SUCKS on ALL ANDROID phones is Google Maps 7.x, which is why I dread replacing my AtrixHD which has issues from a drop, needing replacement. When I updated my phone, it stuck on the horribly useless Maps. Luckily, I can revert that particular APP to factory default. I'm researching to see if I can rip out 7 and install 6 when I get a new phone... otherwise, I'm screwed. Google should have fixed it months ago.
* Having a prettier map display is useless if its useless, doesn't work right and worse - require far more button presses than what is necessary.
kmmatney - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
For the most part, I have given up placing my 5.5" phone in my pocket. I've gotten used to it. They are starting to make dress shirts with larger, hidden cell phone pockets, and I think this will eventually catch on.I do agree that Google maps seems to keep getting worse and worse... So has the Android music player. Actually a lot of Apps in Android seem to be getting worse, and anytime I want a new App it seems to take several tries to get anything decent, or not riddled with annoying ads.
retrospooty - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
You are holding it wrong.brothamon - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
I now have a Xperia Z ultra. I can check messages with 1 hand, i just cannot write them.I would never go back to a phone with a smaller then 6 inch screen. Its so nice to be able to read news / do work / read emails on a giant screen.
I can actually use the smart functions of my phone and use my laptop much less then i used to with a smaller device.
I have a hard time even holding an Iphone, it tends to just want to fall out of my hand cuz its so small.
jonup - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
Couldn't agree more with you. 4.7" with G2 bezel would be the best I could comfortably do with one hand. My N5 is pushing it sometimes.fokka - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
i'm on your side. too bad you gotta go 5" or go home when it comes to "proper phones" nowadays. i just hope the z1 compact starts a trend and we see capable competitors in the form of a new and non-gimped one mini and s5 mini soon.blzd - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
Screen size alone does not determine one handed usability. The size and shape of the bezel around it does as well. 5" phones feel great in one hand right now even if you can't reach the top without shifting, if bezels get even smaller (something LG has been pushing for a while now) that could extend to larger screens as well.R0H1T - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
Alright I have to ask but how exactly does AT know that X device cheats in benchmarks & Y doesn't ?dtek - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
OEMs whitelist benchmark apps so that when the apps are launched, it will plug in all CPU cores as active and run them at max freq for the duration the app is running. That's what AT generally looks for. A normal behaving app will leave the SoC in idle states and ramp up based on instantaneous needs for the workload.jonup - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7187/looking-at-cpug...