LG Optimus 3D

A huge high-res screen, a new chipset expected to deliver beyond anyone's wildest hopes and 1080p video recording: the LG Optimus 3D sounds like a great package and we haven't even started yet. These are big ones no doubt, but not even close enough to making the headline. Not with a stereoscopic screen and a couple of 3D video-recording cameras at the back. The LG Optimus 3D is flagship stuff, head to toe. A premium package that doesn't need anything else to be complete. But whether it asked for it or not, the LG Optimus 3D might turn out to be the device of the season, on the shortlist of any self-respecting geek. Just look at those specs and you'll see what we mean.

LG Optimus 3D :

* General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/900/1900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 21 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps; * Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone; * Dimensions: 128.8 x 68 x 11.9 mm, 168 g; * Display: 4.3" 16M-color WVGA (480 x 800 pixels) TFT LCD stereoscopic touchscreen; * CPU: Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 proccessor, PowerVR SGX540 GPU, TI OMAP4430 chipset; * RAM: 512MB, dual-channel; * OS: Android 2.2 (Froyo); * Memory: 8GB storage, microSD card slot; * Camera: dual 5 MP, autofocus, LED flash with 1080p@24fps video recording; Stereoscopic 5 MP photos Stereoscopic 720p@30fps videos; geo-tagging face detection; * Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 3.0, standard microUSB port, microHDMI TV-out, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, stereo FM radio with RDS; * Misc: DivX/XviD codec support, built-in accelerometer, multi-touch input, proximity sensor, gyroscope sensor, front facing camera, video-calls.

2010 was a year of disappointment for the LG mobile division, but they're looking to turn things around in 2011. Having beaten all the competition to bring the first dual-core smartphone to the market, LG is now racing to get to the 3D checkpoint ahead of HTC.

And the really cool part is that LG didn't rush through the rest of the development in favor of the stereoscopic screen and imaging on the Optimus 3D. Quite the opposite, the phone is touted as the first to feature dual-channel memory, thanks to the brand new TI OMAP 4430 chipset. The only sour note is Froyo. LG are obviously taking their time with Gingerbread and we're yet to see a single phone of theirs running it. Design and construction

Despite its entirely plastic construction, the LG Optimus 3D is a pretty good-looking handset. The front is a well-done mix of faux brushed metal (the two plastic pieces at the top and bottom), touch-sensitive keys and an ample LCD.

The back has the LG’s trademark styling with a metal stripe on soft rubbery plastic. We liked that back in the Optimus 2X and a few months later we're glad to report we haven't tired of it.

If anything takes away some points from the Optimus 3D design, it'd be the thickness. Now, we realize it's probably impossible to squeeze all that functionality (including two cameras and a stereoscopic screen) in a anything slimmer so we are not blaming LG here. However, the fact remains that, when placed next to one of its slimmer competitors, the Optimus 3D loses some of its appeal. It simply looks chubbier.

A pretty good display that also does 3D

The 4.3" stereoscopic LCD screen of WVGA resolution is the key feature of the LG Optimus 3D. The LG engineers have come a long way since we first met the handset back in Barcelona and the screen has been improved significantly as far as regular 2D viewing is concerned.

At this point of its development, the Optimus 3D screen has very decent viewing angles, and so are the brightness and contrast. And no, when used as a regular 2D screen, the Optimus 3D display won't rival the Super AMOLED Plus blacks or the Retina display's sunlight legibility, but none of them does goggle-free 3D, do they?

The goal of the Optimus 3D display here was to trail the leaders closely and be ready to catch up and even overtake them by playing the trump card. Now the question remains how much is the stereoscopic ace worth to you.

The 3D mode only works in landscape mode and the glasses-free viewing relies on a parallax-barrier technology. It's an extra screen layer that makes sure each eye sees a different set of pixels, giving a sense of depth. On the downside, each eye gets only half of the screen horizontal resolution.

Also, to be able to enjoy it fully you will need to find the sweet spot between your eyes and the handset's screen, which is different for everyone. It might seem a bit of a nuisance at first, but you quickly get used to it.

The other thing that you have to get used to is there’s no way to share the 3D goodness of the screen. Only one person at a time can watch the 3D effect. Looking at the screen at an angle, gets you a regular 2D image. That aside, the 3D effects itself are pretty impressive, even more so if you are a fan of the technology - you know, the kind of guy who would go and watch any mind-numbing movie they threw at you, just because it's in 3D (did somebody say Green Hornet?)

Now the 3D visualization is only available in applications that are specially designed for 3D viewing, but those are in no short supply on the Optimus 3D (we'll get back to them later). The regular Android interface looks just like on any other smartphone, you’ve seen.

Still, given it's the first attempt we've seen at a mobile glasses-free 3D screen for mass sonsumption, the Optimus 3D display does pretty well. We were pleasantly surprised and we believe the technology has a future in smartphones. Or at least the potential is there.

3D space is where it gets exciting

If you didn't figure it out from the name than you should know that 3D is very important for the LG Optimus 3D. That's why the company developed the 3D space app, which brings the shortcuts to all the stereoscopic apps to a common hub and makes it all easier to access.

What's more the 3D space itself has a cool 3D interface with nice animations for each of the categories. Unfortunately there's no easy way to demonstrate 3D action going on with our camera, but here's what we came up with. Here's some animated GIF magic to give you a basic idea of the 3D effect.

YouTube 3D

Just as it sounds the YouTube 3D app is exactly the same thing as the regular YouTube Android app, except that it directly hooks up to YouTube’s 3D channel that’s full of good and not so good 3D content.

3D camera

At number four comes the 3D camera, which allows you to actually capture 3D content instead of just consuming it. You can either do 3 megapixel stereoscopic snaps or 720p 3D videos. The image feeds from both cameras get cropped partly when shooting in 3D mode, and that’s the reason why the resulting pics are only 3MP as opposed to 5MP.

The camera interface is standard LG stuff, but you do get the viewfinder in 3D too, which is pretty cool. On the other hand it makes shooting a bit trickier as you need to hold the camera at the sweet spot distance to see what you are shooting properly. Otherwise, all you get is a blurry mess and a headache.

3D games and apps

The 3D games and apps complete the tally. In fact our unit only had four 3D games and no other apps optimized to take advantage of its screen, but we are sure more will come in in the future.

The titles in question are Lets Golf 2, Nova, Asphalt 6 and Guiliver's Travels so there should be something for everyone. Much like the gallery, each of the games has a toggle to set the depth of the 3D effect and you can even get rid of it all together if you feel like it.

First impressions

Seriously powerful and having that one stand-out feature, the LG Optimus 3D certainly is a smartphone worth a second look. What's even better is that all the stereoscopic stuff actually works out fine so 3D fans won't regret their purchase.

And for the rest, this smartphone is capable of haunting geeks dreams even if you take the 3D coolness away (and let's be honest - no one's forcing you to use it). The only problem is that LG are still dragging their feet about updating its smartphone portfolio to Gingerbread. Even with Froyo though, the Optimus 3D offers a solid enough smartphone experience.

In the end, it all boils down to the importance of 3D for you. If you must have it (and take our word, it's the ultimate show-off feature to get), you probably won't regret sacrificing an AMOLED screen or the goodies brought by Gingerbread.

What's more, the Optimus 3D is unlikely to get much competition for the 3D crown in the short-term. The GSM-loving version of the HTC EVO 3D hasn't even been announced yet. So the Optimus 3D will basically be enjoying a free run at launch.