HANDS ON: LG L-Series and Optimus 4X HD28 February 2012
We preview LG's quad-core superphone and its new design series of phones
We've toured LG's booth and taken lots of photos of its latest smartphones, including the Optimus 4X and the new L-Series designer range.
First up is the powerful quad-core Optimus 4X HD, which can run the latest games perfectly thanks to its speedy Nvidia Tegra 3 processor. It packs a 'True HD' IPS+ display - IPS being the screen tech that offers sharp, true colours and excellent clarity. IPS panels also deliver good viewing angles, so it should be a great one for HD media.
The 4.7-inch touch-screen is speedy and responsive, set in a lightweight but good quality plastic body. The Optimus 4X launches on Ice Cream Sandwich, with a light LG overlay skinning shortcut icons and adding a cool page-turning effect when you swipe to the next home screen.
The textured back adds a bit of heft to the phone, which is almost surprisingly light considering its flagship status.
The Optimus 4X has already won a 'Best of MWC' award from the Tom's Hardware site, no doubt down to its raw power in a sleekly designed body.
Next up is the L-Series. Where the Optimus 4X is LG's flagship device, the three-phone L-series will be LG's core push in 2012.
Below is the L7:
The L7 comes in at the high-end of the L-Series, a well-built but lightweight plastic phone with a five-megapixel camera and LG's new squared design – taking cues from its Prada collaboration – and metallic accents. Its 1GHz processor is a modest single-core to a four-core chip powering its bigger bro, but it does pack NFC for contactless payments and other touch-free transactions. It will launch on Ice Cream Sandwich in late April, and will be available free on £20 per month contracts.
The L5:
Down a rung is the mid-range L5, an 800MHz-packing Ice Cream Sandwich phone with the same squared design, metallic accents but a four-inch touch-screen. Like the L7, it supports NFC. There's also a 3.15-megapixel camera, which isn't mindblowing but perfectly sufficient, particularly when you consider this good looking device will be available for free on a £15 per month contract.
And the L3:
An even more compact designer phone featuring a rich, sharp screen and thin, ultra-light body. Even this phone pitched at the entry-level feels reasonably solid considering its lightweight build. The L3 will launch at sub £90 on prepay, putting it head to head with good 'uns like the Orange San Francisco II.
Finally, we heard that the LG Optimus 3D Max was not coming to the UK. So this is what we're missing out on – and there's more where that came from in our full hands-on.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for all the behind-the-scenes MWC action. You can also follow Natasha and Chris on our personal Twitter feeds, as we get increasingly more hyper on coffee and taurine.<
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