LG is making a lot of noise and stealing much attention at the Mobile World connotation in Barcelona this year. The LG Optimus 3D is world’s first, and the most anticipated, glass-less. This smartphone gives the users the chance to take photos and record videos in full 3D, and then play them back in 3D on the phone’s cutting-edge 4.3-inch display.
LG Optimus 3D is one of those powerful devices which are popular in the market. The ‘big display-fast processor’ combo ensures tasks such as surfing the web, watching videos, checking out social networks (yes, you can upload 3D pictures to them), and sending and receiving texts and mails, work without any difficulty.
While the phone has created enough buzz for itself for being a 3D phone but is that all what we need? Or can there be cons of this star attraction? Read further to find out:

Design

The phone looks like any other Android 2.2 smartphone in the market. What differentiates the phone from its counterparts is its bulky muscular look; the bulkiness can be seen as a compromise to have those beautiful dual cameras. Moving forward- It got a plastic feel to it but a good overall fit and finish. The buttons on the phone are quite neatly placed and you would have no such problems locating them once you get used to the phone. The LG Optimus 3D has a huge 4.3 inch display which makes the smartphone more attractive. Above the screen you will find earpiece speaker, the light and proximity sensor, and a 1.3MP camera for video calling. The phone says a lot about itself when you first look at it; it definitely has something in it which makes think about it. The LG logos are subtly placed on the phone, at the back the phone has a metal plate stuck on its plastic backcover that says 3D STEREOSCOPIC, and that in itself gives you a feeling that this phone is much beyond what it looks like. Techno stuff, isn’t it?

On the top and bottom edge of the screen are slightly raised metal strips, which may keep the screen protected from scratches when placing the device upside down by its surface. Company has paid attention to things as smallest as the above mentioned, protected but at the same time stylish.

Camera

LG Optimus 3D’s attention stealers apart from its 3Dness are its dual cameras on the back which let you take 3D photos and videos yourself. And because of these two 5MP cameras on the rear which are used for 3D photography and filming; the phone has got some added thickness. The lenses and LED flash are contained in a protruding steel strip in the top of the phone and the cover of the lenses is slightly inset – which should prevent scratching.

Interface

The LG Optimus 3D’s main interface looks like regular Android 2.2 smartphone of seven scrollable Home screens, populated with your own choice of shortcuts and widgets. LG’s carried out a few functions of its own, but they are mostly quite clean and simple visual tweaks.
When LG says 3D phone, they really mean it because 3D is not just included to create a buzz around the phone and to help it look good but 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. 3dness is actually weaved into several different aspects of the phone.

And here comes the darker side: The home screen will restart and redraw icons and widgets so there are times when you hit the home button and see a temporarily blank screen and left waiting. There can be instances when you will not be able to unlock the phone because the swipe screen only goes up a little bit and then resets, so just to try over and over until it finally unlocks.

Software

The smartphone is based on a dual core 1 GHz processor and runs Android 2.2.2 Froyo. But Android 2.3 Gingerbread update for the smartphone is available.  You also get a dual channel advantage with micro-USB and a micro-HDMI port. The phone also runs all the Google clients and the touch screen experience is super cool.

Media & Gaming

Gaming on this phone is just one great experience and the depth offered is exceptional. You definitely feel a sense of playing in another dimension. The easy access to 3D is also offered by a quick 3D space icon on the homescreen itself. The camera quality is brilliant as it’s capable of doing 720p HD video in 3D mode. And the 8GB internal memory makes you just go on and on shooting 3D content. To share all your 3D videos, there is a 3D YouTube channel icon pre-installed on the phone so all you can shoot can be shared and watched on a normal 3D screen like this one. The device allows you to share your 3D experience with the world with just one touch and all these social features are there upfront, you don’t have to dig to find out how and what more.

Battery

One of the biggest problems with the device is its battery life. When there are so many things loaded into one small device we can’t expect it to run for hours. Keep your expectations low from this device in terms of battery backup.  With the day-to-day usage one would perform with a regular smartphone (browsing, e-mails, instant messaging, app market browsing, phone calls, etc) it can last just long enough to make it home to the charging station in the evening.
Altogether, you can squeeze 6 hours of life out of it if you are a heavy 3D user. Fair enough right?

Verdict

Obviously, the 3D capabilities of the phone are the most attractive features in the device, and as mentioned above 3Dness is just weaved into the phone and it also has a dedicated section for this – the ‘3D Space’. Pressing the hardware 3D button or accessing the widget whisks you off to a 3D UI, a carousel of icons for the various 3D things you can do.
There is the 3D guide (essentially a tutorial); the fun YouTube 3D; the 3D Gallery of videos and pictures; the 3D Camera software; and 3D Games & Apps.

But this start attraction is very much capable of playing a devil’s role as well. Using 3D on one hand eats up phone’s battery faster while on the other hand it leaves you exhausted.  LG even puts up a warning on the phone, as extended viewing of 3D content makes you feel dizzy. Now that’s a consumer concern. All you need to do is just press the 3D button on the side and it switches back to 2D.
No phone is future proof. No matter what features or specs it has. There is so much thinking, experimenting is going on in technological space that customer expectation have gone way too high, with every blink, with every click and with every touch we want to see the innovation. Enjoy every bit of the 3D experience on your phone because you never know what will be there in stores tomorrow from our phone makers to tempt you try the novelties and dump the 3Dness.