LG OPTIMUS 3D MAX REVIEW

The LG Optimus 3D MAX is the second edition of the world's first 3D phone announced – theOptimus 3D – and it is more of a refresh than anything else. The processor is clocked higher and we have 1GB of RAM now, but most else stays the same, save for one important detail.This season's 3D phone from LG is much more compact and light than its 2011 predecessor, which was a heavy hitter. LG has also thrown in a bunch of new 3D-related content in it as well, like a 3D Converter and video editor, as well as cubicle icons, but are these enough to lure you into the third dimension? Read on to find out...

Optimus 3D

Design

The LG Optimus 3D Max measures 4.99 inches tall and 2.65 inches wide. At 0.38 inch thick, it's thinner than the original Optimus 3D, but at 5.22 ounces, it's still heavy. I have a small grip, so the device felt too wide to handle. I dropped the handset a couple of times trying to use it with one hand, and its slick backing didn't help out either. Although I can put it in my jeans pocket, the fit is snug and a good half-inch is still exposed.

On the left side are a volume rocker and a Micro-USB port that has a small cover you can toggle back and forth. Though I appreciate the faux-metallic finishing on these features, the volume buttons are difficult to press. They're so flush with the side of the phone, it makes them hard to find by feel and even harder to push. Up top are a 3.5mm headphone jack (a pair of midlevel earbuds comes with the 3D Max) and a sleep/power button. To the right is the 3D shortcut button, which gives you quick access to your 3D games, 3D YouTube videos, and the 3D camera (more on all these later).

The back is made out of a black, slightly textured thin piece of plastic. Again, it's incredibly smooth, so don't expect any friction to keep it in place on, say, an airplane seat's tray table or your car's dashboard. On the left side, you'll see two 5-megapixel lenses for the 2D and 3D cameras, and on the bottom right are two slits for the output speaker. Using a small indent on the bottom edge of the device, you can pry the backing off to gain access to the 1,520mAh battery, the microSD card slot, and the two little gold NFC antennas.

The only vaguely interesting physical design feature here is the metallic strip along the phone's rear, which houses the Optimus 3D's two camera sensors and its LED flash. It's one nice touch in an otherwise quite generic lump of black plastic.

In the box:

Travel charger

microUSB cable

In-ear stereo headphones

Sleep Mode, Car Mode and Office Mode NFC tags

Warranty and information leaflets

Apple iPhone 5 revie

                                            

            

While we are eager to get started on battery life testing, that'll happen late tonight after a full day's worth of use and a recharge cycle. Meanwhile, we went straight to work on performance testing. As we've mentioned before, the A6 SoC makes use of a pair of Apple's own CPU cores that implement the ARMv7 ISA. These aren't vanilla Cortex A9s or Cortex A15s, but rather something of Apple's own design. For its GPU Apple integrated a Powers SGX543MP3 GPU running at higher clocks than the dual-core 543MP2 in the A5. The result is compute performance that's similar to the A5X in Apple's 3rd generation iPad, but with a smaller overall die area. The A6 has a narrower memory interface compared to the A5x (64-bits vs. 128-bits), but that makes sense given the much lower display resolution (0.7MP vs. 3.1MP).

                              

Baertty performance

What can we say: It’s “okay.” Apple has improved many things with the iPhone 5, but battery life isn’t one of them. Like the iPad 3, the new iPhone holds a charge well when idling, but when you’re using it, don’t expect an improvement in battery life over the iPhone 4S. We’ve only been using it a few days, but it hasn’t impressed us at all. With moderate use (not much downloading, but a lot of emailing and browsing), we’ve managed to make it through a normal 12-hour day, but never without being down to the wire.

Apple claims the phone will get about 8 hours of constant use. We’re hoping the next iPhone packs in more than a 1,440mAh battery, as most Android competitors have batteries in the 1,800mAh to 2,100mAh range. Competitors like the Galaxy S3 and Droid Razr Maxx definitely outshine Apple in the battery department.

Specs and performance

We can’t pit the iPhone 5 against our usual benchmarks for Android phones, but we wouldn’t subject you to that boring pissing contest anyway. Suffice it to say, it feels fast. From unlocking to loading apps and crunching 3D graphics, Apple’s new processor is up to the task in a way that previous iPhones have not been.

As best we can tell (Apple isn’t completely forthcoming with all specs) the iPhone 5 runs on a 1GHz dual-core Apple A6 processor, has 1GB of RAM, and comes with 16GB to 64GB of internal flash memory, with no microSD slot. Other specs include an 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, a 1.2-megapixel front camera, an 1136 x 640 pixel 4-inch LCD screen, and a 1,440mAh battery, which we’ll get into shortly.

Camera

The iPhone 5 has an 8-megapixel camera -- the same basic resolution as the iPhone 4S, though Apple has made tweaks to the technology within. This phone performs better than the iPhone 4S in low light, has better video stabilisation and produces more vibrant colours, though the change is subtle.

Check through the following comparison shots, which show iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S photos of the same subjects in the same conditions. While I think the iPhone 5 photos are slightly brighter and more colourful, you'd be hard pressed to split them.