LG announced their latest flagship, LG G2 during early August. G2 is one of the first smartphones to come with a Snapdragon 800 SoC. Among the many features, that LG introduced in their new flagship, one of the key aspects was that the 13-megapixel camera on the G2 comes with Optical Image Stabilization(OIS).
Continue reading “LG G2 Camera Samples”
Google Wallet, Google’s payment solution was expected to make payments much easier and make NFC payments mainstream, but ever since Apple ditched NFC, Wallet hasn’t really caught on. Google Wallet hasn’t been on available on what is one of the most popular smartphone platforms, iOS until now. Apple just updated their iOS platform with a complete redesign in iOS 7 and it was available to the general public just a couple of days ago. And Google Wallet finally made its way to iOS app store just after iOS 7 went public.
Continue reading “Google Wallet finally comes to iOS, without NFC”
Apple not only changed the smartphone industry with their iPhone, but they also made a huge impact on the handheld gaming industry. Since the iPhone 3GS, iOS devices have become an integral part of the handheld gaming platform. It became very clear when the developers of iOS games had more revenue than the handheld console game developers. However, one of the things that has been holding back the gaming experience on the iOS devices is the lack of proper physical gamepads. Despite the many number of third party gaming accessories, iOS devices have lacked native support for gamepads until iOS 7.
Continue reading “GameCase to bring native supported gamepad to iOS 7 devices”
Yesterday, BlackBerry announced their big Z30 and we brought you news that BBM will be available for Android and iOS very soon. After months of waiting, BBM will be finally available as a cross-platform service starting this week. BlackBerry have officially announced that BBM is be coming to Android on September 21st and to iOS on September 22nd.
Continue reading “BBM for Android and iPhone coming on September 21st and 22nd respectively”
Blackberry just announced their first 5inch phablet, Z30, in an event today at Malaysia which was a surprise because many of us were expecting the multi-platform launch of BlackBerry’s very popular BBM messaging service. However, there is still hope for BBM to be unveiled pretty soon as BlackBerry is rumored to have an event tomorrow(September 19th) at Jakarta in Indonesia.
Continue reading “BBM for iPhone and Android to be unveiled tomorrow”
In addition to the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Gear, Samsung announced a third device at the IFA 2013 – Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition. The Galaxy Note 10.1 is basically a huge version of the Galaxy Note 3. You can check out our quick hands-on video right below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNGlO5XXeD4 Continue reading “Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition Hands-on”
The two current flagships from their manufacturers, the Sony Xperia Z1 and the Lumia 1020 put up a good fight against each over photography. Sony announced their flagship, Xperia Z1 at the IFA 2013 in Berlin earlier in the month while Lumia 1020 was launched in July. You can check out our quick hands-on comparison video of the Xperia Z1 and Lumia 1020 right below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsZilVUVUd8 Continue reading “Sony Xperia Z1 vs Nokia Lumia 1020 Hands-on”
Another year, another Nexus smartphone and another bar story. The relationship between bars and yet to be announced phones never ceases to amuse the internet folks. A couple of weeks ago, just ahead of the IFA, Google announced their next version of Android – 4.4 KitKat with some theatrics and “accidentally” showed off the next Nexus smartphone in their video. Recent images from FCC filings have also identified the same device and it shows stronger evidence of a new Nexus device.
Yesterday, a Google employee supposedly left a Nexus 5 device unattended while it was put for charging in a bar(Yes, you heard it right, A bar) and an employee of the bar was able to make a quick video and get a couple of images of the supposed Nexus 5. The images show that the device is quite identical to the one spotted at FCC filings and the one Google showed off in their video. It has the Nexus logo at the back in horizontal orientation and there is a huge camera which was seen in the video. There is a LG logo at the bottom and a Not for Sale text above it. The design language seems to be quite similar to the Nexus 4, but with less rounded corners and a bigger screen. There are no navigation keys which is quite typical of a Nexus device.
The boot screen shown in the images supposedly belongs to Android 4.4 KitKat, but it seems quite similar to the ones on the Google Play Edition phones. And the video shows just the lockscreen of what is believed to be Android 4.4. KitKat.
The rumored specifications of Nexus 5 include
You can check out the video right below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPYVbaF1Jmg
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yJSYSuyKfY
What do you think of the new Nexus 5? Is it impressive enough?
FIFA 14 is set for release in the next week across consoles and PC, but today we EA released the FIFA 14 app for iOS as a free app in the App Store, but only in New Zealand. The game has been released as a free game, but to unlock features and extras in-app purchases come into play.
Continue reading “FIFA 14 released as free to download for iOS in NZ”
Notion Ink, an Indian company known for its Adam tablet, has just launched an Android application – I’m Shakti. The app is meant for usage in emergency situations and it sends out text messages with the location of the user to five emergency contacts set by the user.
Continue reading “Notion Ink releases I’m Shakti Android app for emergency situations”
LG announced their first tablet in nearly two years at IFA 2013 in Berlin – LG G Pad 8.3. The G Pad 8.3 has its design language from the company’s current flagship, G2 and has a very big 8.3inch display. We managed to get our hands on the LG G Pad 8.3 and do check out that video right below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AosOVdjrIZA Continue reading “LG G Pad 8.3 Hands-on”
Android 4.2 Jellybean brought along the concept of Wireless Display through Miracast to the smartphone market. Wireless Display technology lets you directly stream your content on a device to either a TV or Monitor with HDMI input. The Netgear Push2TV is on close lines with Google Chromecast.
Samsung has a wide range of Android smartphones in the form of its Galaxy series and it even touched the 6inch+ phablet territory with its Galaxy Mega 6.3. LG announced the Optimus G Pro with dimensions similar to Samsung’s yesteryear phablet champion – the Galaxy Note 2.
Samsung announced their Galaxy Mega 6.3 at the end of May earlier this year and it has been available since June. LG announced the Optimus G Pro way back in February, but it was launched in India only in India to very little fanfare. The Samsung Galaxy Mega is on its way to become the most wanted big phone while Optimus G Pro tries to succeed as a LG smartphone.
Lets check out how they perform.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiC7pYpMYCM
Design, Build Quality
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 looks like any other Samsung Galaxy phone and has an all plastic build with a plastic aluminum running across the device. The LG Optimus G Pro, on the other hand, has a solid glass front and back supported by a solid and heavy metal rim at the center . The Optimus G Pro feels quite solid and feels extremely premium than the huge and sturdy all plastic Galaxy Mega 6.3.
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 is taller and wider than the Optimus G Pro, but is considerably thinner. The Galaxy Mega 6.3 weighs around 200 grams while the Optimus G Pro weighs around 170 grams.
On the front of the phones, we have the display above which we have the earpiece and front cameras along with ambient and proximity sensors on the right side. The earpiece on the LG Optimus G Pro is along the edge.
Below the display, we have a physical home button with capacitive touch keys on either side on both the phones, but the home button is surrounded by LED light only on the G Pro. The LED notification is found on the left side of the earpiece in the Galaxy Mega.
The positioning of keys is similar with only the power lock key on the right side.
The bottom of both the phones have the microUSB port and the microphone.
On the left side, the Galaxy Mega has just the volume rocker while we have the volume rocker and a special Q-Slide key that is customizable for various functionalities.
On the top, we have the IR blaster and 3.5mm audio jack along with secondary microphone on both the phones.
Moving to the back side, the 8MP camera on the Galaxy Mega is at the top center along with the LED flash while we have the 13MP camera on G Pro with LED flash and speaker grill on its sides. Both the phones have a very glossy textured back, however, we liked the glassy finish on the G Pro.
The back cover is removable on the both the phones and removing it, we have the 3200mAh battery along with the microSIM and microSD card slot in the Galaxy Mega while we have a 3140mAh battery and microSD and microSIM card slots.
Overall, the LG Optimus G Pro has a very premium finish and solid build quality while the Galaxy Mega has a more common all plastic build which makes it less solid.
Display
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 has a 6.3inch HD(1280×720 pixels) SC LCD display with a pixel density of 230ppi while the Optimus G Pro has a 5.5inch Tru IPS+ Full HD display sporting a pixel density of 401ppi. The Optimus G Pro is way ahead of the Galaxy Mega in terms of pixel density. The display on the LG Optimus G Pro is better than the Galaxy Mega in almost all factors like Contrast, viewing angles, color reproduction and sunlight legibility.
Hardware and Performance
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 is powered by a 1.7GHz Snapdragon 400 SoC with two Krait cores, has 1.5GB RAM and graphics is taken care by the Adreno 305 GPU while the LG Optimus G Pro is powered by a 1.7 GHz QuadCore Snapdragon 600 SoC, has 2GB RAM and Adreno 320 GPU.
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 comes in two variants ( 8GB/16GB variants – we have the 16GB variant) and the Optimus G Pro has 16/32GB variants(we have the 16GB variant). Out of the 16GB, both the phones have around 12GB user accessible memory and have a microSD card slot for expansion.
Out of the 1.5GB RAM in Galaxy Mega 6.3, only 1370MB is usable and when the device is idle, there is 700MB available. On the Optimus G Pro, out of the 2GB RAM, 1.8GB is usable and when the phone is idle, there is 1.3GB usable RAM.
The faster processor and more RAM give the LG Optimus G Pro a big upper hand in terms of performance. The G Pro is smoother and faster in opening apps and switching between them.
In benchmarks, the Galaxy Mega 6.3 is no competition to the LG Optimus G Pro.
Camera
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 has a 8MP camera at the back and 1.9MP camera at the front while the Optimus G Pro has a 13MP camera at the back and 2.1MP camera at the front. Both the phones can record 1080p videos at 30fps with stereo sound from the rear camera while only the Optimus G Pro records 1080p videos from the front camera as well.
The camera UI is different on both the phones as it is always the case with Samsung and LG phones. The camera app on the Galaxy Mega 6.3 is borrowed from Samsung’s Galaxy S4, but it does not have all its shooting modes. The LG Optimus G Pro’s camera app is better than it was on the Optimus G and has more shooting modes. It can record dual videos(both front and rear camera) and there is a HDR mode for videos as well.
In terms of image clarity, the Optimus G Pro was much better with less noise, more details, better contrast and true colors.
Software features
Galaxy Mega 6.3 has the Samsung’s custom TouchWiz UI on top of it while LG Optimus G Pro has LG’s own UI. Underneath, the Galaxy Mega runs on a more recent Android 4.2.2 Jellybean while the G Pro is still stuck on Android 4.1.2 JB. So, features like quick toggles in the notification bar, lockscreen widgets and other under the hood optimizations are currently restricted to Galaxy Mega until Optimus G Pro gets a software update from LG. The Galaxy Mega has a lot of Samsung software goodies like Smart Stay and Multi-window, Samsung’s Beam while the Optimus G Pro comes with its own version of those features like Q-Slide. There are small floating apps that can be used in LG’s phone which reminds us of Sony’s small appss.
Galaxy Mega 6.3 is better in terms of software features.
Gaming
Both the phones are quite good for gaming and the Galaxy Mega was mainly good because of its bigger screen. All the games ran smoothly on both the devices although there were a few occasional glitches on the Galaxy Mega, but the gameplay experience was good. The Optimus G Pro is an excellent device for gaming as all the games ran lag free and very smooth. After continuous gaming, we noticed that the Optimus G Pro got heated up near the home button.
Battery
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 has a 3200mAh battery while the Optimus G Pro has 3140mAh battery. In terms of battery life, the bigger battery in the Galaxy Mega is definitely better as it has to power a relatively low resolution display and less power hungry chipset.
In terms of connectivity, both the devices are equipped with features like WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, NFC, WiFi Direct and microUSB(MHL) connectivity.
Conclusion
LG Optimus G Pro was meant to be LG’s bet in the phablet market and it pretty much gets the job done. The Samsung Galaxy Mega on the other hand was not Samsung’s flagship with top of the shelf features, but it was meant to be a huge phone with decent specifications and it does pretty well.
Advantages of Galaxy Mega 6.3 over Optimus G Pro
Advantages of Optimus G Pro over Galaxy Mega 6.3
LG announced their flagship smartphone, G2, nearly a month back and the Moto X was announced just before it and is already available while the LG G2 is yet to be available. LG G2 is equipped with top of the shelf features like a monstrous Quad-core Snapdragon 800 SoC and a Full HD 1080p display while the Moto X is a lot more subtle with a dual-core processor and a 720p display. Check out a quick comparison video of the two just right below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLnr5lvV9SQ Continue reading “LG G2 vs Motorola Moto X Hands-on”
LG announced a tablet after a long time in the form of LG G Pad 8.3 in September 2013 and Apple had launched the iPad Mini way back in November 2012. The G Pad 8.3 takes its design and features from the company’s flagship, G2 while the iPad Mini is a smaller version of iPad. Check out our quick hands-on comparison below to know more.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WMeP-fx74I Continue reading “LG G Pad 8.3 vs Apple iPad Mini Hands-on”
