LG G Pro 2 review: Best high-end phablet

The top-end phablet segment is dominated by Samsung's Note series, but bigger Android manufacturers are trying to wrest sales away from the company. In comes LG's G Pro 2, a phablet equipped with top-end hardware and the latest software. At its launch price of Rs 49,990 in May, LG G Pro 2 was too expensive an option to consider, especially for a device without a stylus. But with the price now hitting Rs 36,000, it finds its place among top-end phablets you can buy in India without shelling a very steep price. Should you go for G Pro 2 or spend another few thousands and buy Galaxy Note 3 instead? Does the LG phablet have enough features to offer enough value for money? We find out in our review... Display The display, of course, is the highlight of LG G Pro 2. It is bigger than that of its predecessor by 0.4-inch and measures 5.9-inch; both models have Full HD resolution. The screen quality is excellent and it is not possible to discern individual pixels with the naked eye. Sunlight legibility of the LG G Pro 2 is pretty great too, as we did not face any problems when using the phablet outdoors. The big screen also ensures that two people can easily watch videos on the device without colours looking washed out at either end. Colour reproduction in LG G Pro 2's screen is, however, not as great as that of Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The Samsung phablet renders colours that are rich and vibrant, while the LG model's display delivers colours that feel relatively colder. That's not to say colours look poor or inaccurate, but they are simply not as vibrant as that of Galaxy Note 3's. It will matter if you are a discerning customer. Design Design is one area where G Pro 2 is much ahead of its rivals as well as the predecessor. The phablet is thinner and lighter than last year's Optimus G Pro and is far easier to handle than most big-screen devices. In fact, the design is among the highlights of G Pro 2. Sure, it does not use metal and relies on plastic in construction, but the attention given to design certainly shows that LG means business. The screen takes up over 75% of the front area and the bezels are very thin, meaning that the device is not too wide at 3.2-inch. The sides of LG G Pro 2 are bare and the keys have moved to the back panel. LG introduced this setup with the G2 last year and used it again this year with G3. With the keys positioned on the back, the phablet is slightly easier to operate with one hand than both Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and HTC One Max, not to mention Sony's 6.4-inch behemoth Xperia Z Ultra, which is difficult to handle with one hand. With the keys on the back, you get the camera on top, followed by the Volume Up, Power and Volume Down hardware keys. The power button also functions as an LED notification light so that you don't miss a message, email etc when the phone is placed downwards. Another remarkable thing about the LG phablet is how light it is considering it has a pretty big screen. Managing the 5.9-inch display and all the regular innards in a body weighing 172 gram is pretty neat to say the least. Of course, Samsung's top phablet weighs 4 gram less, but its display is also 0.2-inch smaller. On the back of LG G Pro 2, you will find a plastic casing with a wire mesh design that is not too premium, but certainly helps holding the device easier. The bezels around the screen bear a glittery look that seems a bit tacky. Hardware Being a top-end phablet, LG G Pro 2 comes with all the features you can think of. Huge display? Big battery? Fast processor? Enough RAM for all your apps and then some? High resolution camera? It's got all. But every phablet in this price range has these features, so there is very little to differentiate LG G Pro 2 from the rest of the lot. LG G Pro 2 has a 5.9-inch 1080p display, 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, 3GB RAM, 16GB internal storage (with microSD card support up to 64GB), 13MP rear camera, 2.1MP front camera and 3,200mAh battery. It has all the usual connectivity features like 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, Infrared and microUSB 2.0. Software Android phone makers have always tried to differentiate themselves by changing the user interface of the core software and LG is no different. With the Android 4.4 (KitKat)-running G Pro 2, we see the latest version of the company's Optimus UI available in the market. Just like on Galaxy Note devices, you get to open two apps on the same display on G Pro 2, something that utilizes the screen size pretty well. The Slide Aside feature, where you swipe an app away by sliding three fingers over the screen is good too, but we feel that the big screen is a bit of hindrance to using it regularly. To do away with the problem of picking up the phone each time in order to unlock it, you get the Knock Code feature that allows you to tap on the screen to access your handset. While the feature had been available in previous LG smartphones as well, this time it is more refined. You can set a customized knocking pattern, so that it also acts as a security code. Unless you repeat the same pattern, the device will remain locked (you can, of course, pick it up and hit the Power key). LG says that there are over 87,000 patterns you can use; we tried five patterns and it worked well, recognizing the knocking pattern most of the times, but not all. LG G Pro 2 also gets Guest Mode, a common feature on many smartphones nowadays. It shuts down access to the app menu and permits others to only use apps that you have previously approved. The phablet also gets the Q Slide feature, a staple for LG phones. The Q Slide menu consists of apps that can be moved around the screen and minimized or maximized with a single tap. Quick Memo is there too, allowing you to write quick notes with your finger. One cool thing that some might not give due credit to is the ability to choose the layout of the keys below the home screens; you can either go for the Back-Home-Options or Options-Home-Menu layout. While it is not as big as a feature as some others are, it certainly helps those who are upgrading from a low or mid-range smartphone to a more powerful one as it lets them continue with the navigation pattern they are used to. For a phablet nowadays, one-hand operation is a common feature to make it easier to operate. Just like most one-hand operation software, LG's feature also shrinks the content on display to a more manageable size. And just like the feature on other phablets, you can move the screen to either the left or the right side of the display. LG allows you to increase the size of the on-display area as well. Performance Being a top-end phablet, LG G Pro 2 does as advertised. It delivers excellent performance on the device, easily matching the likes of Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Sony Xperia Z Ultra and HTC One Max. G Pro 2 is fast, delivering zippy performance on all fronts. Apps open quickly, switching between multiple apps is easy and overall experience is quite satisfying. There is no hint of lag on the device and even the most resource-consuming game or app we threw at it failed to slow it down. Common tasks like browsing the web, editing images or playing videos and audio were a breeze. Call quality of LG G Pro 2 is pretty good, and it does not lose signals even in areas where other handsets falter. It also latches on to weak Wi-Fi networks. Media playback is easily one of the highlights of LG G Pro 2. It can play all the commonly used video and audio formats. It, of course, does not play 4K videos even though it can record them. The audio quality is pretty good, delivering loud and less distorted (at high volumes) sound than other smartphones and phablets. Another selling point of the device is the battery life. The 3,200mAh battery has enough juice to get you through a day and a half without looking for the charger; you can even go two days without charging if you are not a power user. Camera On the camera front too LG G Pro 2 scores high marks. The 13MP rear camera delivers photos that are true to life and offers great white balance and contrast as well as colours and details. The best part is that images are captured and processed very fast, so you don't miss another important shot. Like many new smartphones, G Pro 2 also allows you to change the focus in pictures you have already taken. Optical image stabilization system of LG G Pro 2, named OIS+, works as advertised and helps maintain focus and avoid blurs in stills. Then there's a selfie mode as well, where your face and surroundings are illuminated by placing them in a white frame; this does help make selfies better in low-light conditions. LG G Pro 2 gets a leg up on its chief rival Galaxy Note 3 with 4K recording, which the Indian version of the Samsung device does not have. You can record movie-hall quality videos (though that will take up a lot of space), but viewing them right on the phone is not possible; you need a special 4K monitor to play them. The phablet, however, downscales such videos to play them. Gaming Playing even the most demanding games on G Pro 2 is a pleasure. The Snapdragon 800 CPU and Adreno 330 GPU make sure that there is no lag or frame drop even while handling resource-hungry titles like Riptide GP2, Dead Trigger 2 and Real Racing 3. Graphics are pretty intensive on these games, but the chipset is able to handle everything. With the Full HD display and powerful graphics, you really get to notice each aspect of the game, how the cars move, how the water ripples, how sparks fly when the car hits a wall. Only after a while of gaming will you notice heating, which is really not that big a problem with this device. Verdict If you want a big screen smartphone, then LG G Pro 2 should easily make it to the top of your list of probables. It has whatever you want from a phablet and it's much cheaper than market leader Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 at Rs 36,000. But this comes with a trade-off as there is no stylus. To make use of the productive side of a phablet, a stylus is a tool that Samsung has used successfully. But most others, including LG, HTC and Sony, have ignored it even though there are quite a few apps that make use of one. Buying G Pro 2 is absolutely fine if a stylus does not have much use for you. There's no big reason for you to not consider LG G Pro 2 as it offers all the crucial elements of the phablet experience (big screen, fast processor, great camera, powerful battery) at a pretty reasonable price.   TOI Tech