Finally a Test of LG Optimus Black (P970) Android
Finally a test of Optimus LG Black- P970, one of the latestmodels of the brand, presentedat the Mobile World Congress 2011and already present in manyoperators. A less efficient than the Optimus 2X or 3D, but subjectto many surprises and is a verywide audience.
This smartphone witha sober design, offers abeautiful display of 4 " witha beautiful light, a 5-megapixel sensor that can record videoin 720p and all the wirelessconnectivity that can be expected ona model of this range.
Inside:
the phone
The charger (plugs into the cable microUSB)
Cable microUSB
A hands-freeGuide Quick
The appearance of the LG Black Optimus is sober, dressed all in dark colors: black and gray on the front on the back. Rather late compared to other brand products, it does not, however, the sharpness of the Samsung SGalaxy II.
With a large screen with a diagonal of 4 inches (about 10.16 cm), the edges of the device are slightly askew.Weighing 107 grams with dimensions of 122 x 64 x 9.2 mm.
On the top of the screen you can see the LG logo on the right side of the front camera of 2 megapixels. On the bottom, we can guess the four touch buttons for Android: Menu, Home (Home), Back and Research.
The device on his back is slightly rounded. Theunit is thicker in the center on the outskirts ofthe latter.The back of the camera,black, contains a speaker, the 5-megapixel camera (photos of2592 x 1944 pixels) andan LED flash and autofocus.The plastics used seem to be quality and not let themselvesbe easily soiled by fingerprints, which will satisfyboth those who are notalways careful and more manic.On the front, a black border of 0.3 mm between thescreen and the edge of the phone. This edge goesto 1.5 cm at the top and bottom.
On the bottom of the screen the 4 touch buttons standards.It has four backlit touch buttons, since the screen is on. The intensity of the backlight depends on the screen.
On the left side, you will find the volume button and a button marked with the sign "G", which according totheuser manual to enable gestural actions without having to touch the screen. For example, you can by pressing the button and tilting the smartphone on the left or right to scroll through the various screens of the office (also known as or homescreen launcher). The utility at first seems very subtle. But in the settings, you can for example definedefine others as scrolling a web page on the tilt up / down smartphone, without having to touch the button.
I invite you also see this video we made at the MWC, a few months ago.
The back of the phone is made as indicated above 5 megapixel sensor and a LED flash. No effect on the glossyshell. One of the most sober gray. The video capture is limited to a maximum of 720p.
The screen of the LG Optimus Black (P970) has a screen Nova, known to consume less energy than AMOLED. It is also said that this screen is brighter (700 nit) and has a contrast greater than can be supplied with an AMOLED.
In use the screen, with a configuration for a light to half of its possibility, is really good. The images and videos have a good color rendering. A test with screen test between a Nexus S displays thedifference.
In general, at thesame brightness, thescreen of the LG is much more flashy thanthe Nexus S.
Inuse the screen did not appear to suffer from the phenomenonof fingerprints, in that it did not take to clean itevery 5minutes, fingerprints making the visibility of thescreen limits. So a good place for this model from LG!
4. Layer manufacturer
Like TouchWiz Layer (Samsung), you will find four largeicons on the launcher, which contains seven defaultvirtualscreens to set up your many widgets.
Many features areincluded, such as pitch-to-zoom (pinchto zoom) to view all the offices and movefrom one to another easily. Itmakes you wonder if LG did not buy thesolution to Samsung orits operation. Thetwo companies are the same country, theinspiration had to be identical.
For the presentation of this part we could take our test word for word from Samsung S2 Galaxy.
By default, the Application Launcher displays applications as each other, positioning the end applications that you installed. First appear in the list, the pre-installed applications. This display is not suitable.
Fortunately, once the application launcher ouvet, by pressing the touch button menu you can change it by selecting a horizontal list or list (as in the contacts application, where the applications are in alphabetical order).
4.a Bar amended notification
The screendisplays notification icons on the top 5, to power on / off WiFi, Bluetooth,GPS, sound (vibration passage if enabled) and remove the automatic rotation.
The lock screen change the standard Android as it is a wallpaper to slideup. Some information is displayed as hour, day or even active alarms andthe status of GSM, missed calls
The keyboard provided in the LG-P970 is not the standard keyboard: it did notat all convinced. Nominated Keyboard LG, seizure is sometimes risky andsyntactic proposals are sometimes incomprehensible.The haptic rendering is pretty average.
5. Applications
LG provides several native applications such as:
Polaris Office to read documents in Microsoft Office suite and PDF RemoteCall that allows you to be in relationship with a LG so that it helps youuse your smartphone-Martshare turns your smartphone into a remote DLNA. And launching the applicationall materials supporting this standard will be offered and you'll be able tosend reading a file from one device to another. Too bad, it is notpossible to send the reading of the smartphone to a device or vice versa What's new is an application that synthesizes the latest one screen telephonethat you may have the last message or Facebook and TwitterApplications Facebook and Twitter are here to sauce LG: nothing special, onlythe title of the application changes. The question is whether they followthe same frequency of updates that the application of the two official sitesThe phone application has been reviewed graphically, but retains the samefeatures as standard version of Android.In operation, the sound quality is very good and the caller does not seem tohave any problem to get along.
The contact application is actually included in the phone application. Asa tab in the phone application you will be able to do a manual search by typingthe first letters of the name.As with Contacts, the area to the right will scroll through the contactsquickly by selecting the first letter. Small flat in this case, the inputbox to search disappears.
DivXThis smartphone is certified Divx HD authorizing the Divx video playback in720p. We could not achieve all the desired tests, however, loading a divx(not HD) 720p takes no more than 3 seconds and move in the film does not causeany blocking or slowing down playback.
Radio TunerBlack also has an FM tuner and FM Radio the associated application. Once thehands-free kit connected you can make an automatic tuning or manualsearch. Each station will be saved so you can reuse. The receptionquality is quite good and the number of stations found.
LG App Advisor LG does not offer its own market, but an application of recommendedapplications. This application will display 10 applications selected byLG. Unfortunately nothing is said about the selection criteria. Adescription of the application (not necessarily in French), the average ratingon the market and a button to launch the Android Market on the applicationform.
LG PC SuiteLG provides an LG PC Suite to synchronize the smartphone with its Windows PC(The application is provided on the memory card supplied with the device it issufficient to 2GB or download it to the manufacturer's website. The connectionto the PC Bluetooth will not be possible as the timing of theagenda).http://www.lg.com
6. Telephony
Too often forgotten our smartphone is also used to call!At the specific absorption rate, the quality is not the mostterrible. While the Galaxy SII offers 0.338 W / kg, 0.752 desire HTC LGOptimus Black displays a score by 1.270 W / kg (limit of European 2W/kg).
7. Internet connection
The WiFi chip is more powerful than a Nexus S. With a test with WiFiAnalyzer installed on both machines, the same network and under the sameconditions, the LG Black Optimus detected over the network Nexus S (almost 40%more). The browser is the same as that provided as standard inAndroid. Nothing to note on that side.
Adobe Flash Player is installed by default on the LG Black Optimus and displayof web pages seemed really fast and efficient (especially on sites with flashcomponents).
8. Camera and Video
LG offers this LG Optimus Black (P-970) a 5 megapixel sensor and back to frontof 2 megapixels. The pictures are OK but not great. The colors seemto lose their heat and light is often too strong. You will be able toperform zooms from the two sensors at resolutions up to 2592 x 1944 pixels and1600 x 1200 pixels. For videos, we will go to 1280 x 720 pixels for thecamera back and 640 x 480 pixels for the front.Some pictures belowwith the front camera andcamera back.
Many will be offered for shots from each camera size, white balance, color effects, ISO ...
Pros:ScreenLightweight / FinesseDivX certificationDLNA support2-megapixel front cameraradio TunerautonomyCons:A keyboard efficiency improved (but can be changed viathe Android Market)MicroSD memory required (2 GB card included)high DASFinal note: 15/20This smartphone is to be compared to devices that have thesame processor and in this case, the device is a good product!The smartphone has a rich native softwarelibrary and the contribution of the layer constructor,except for the keyboard, is to report positively.This smartphone is the general public by providing thebasis for all services available todayon a smartphone ina more than acceptable quality.
LG Optimus Black P970 Specification &Feathers:
Opareting System:Android 2.2 Froyo,Upgradable to 2.3 Gingerbread Processor:1GHz Single Core Cortex-A8 processor.
Ram:512MB
Graphics Card:PowerVR SGX 530 graphics
Memory Option:Internal Memory is 2Gb and microSD up to 32GB
Display Option:4.0inch 480×800 pixels NOVA feathers multi touch (touchscreen)
Connectivity:GSM/GPRS/EDGE/HSDPA,Wi-Fi802.11b/g/n,
Bluetooth 2.1,A-GPS,Micro USB,
Audio Output:3.5mm headphones
Camera:5 megapixel with LED Flash,autofocus,geo-tagging,multi-shot,smile detector,
Video recordingVideo playback:MPEG4,H263,H.264,DivX,XVid,WMV
Radio:Stereo Radio FM with RDS option.
Battery Review:Li-ion 1500 mAh. 375 hours of standy timeand Up to 6 hours talk timeSize:122x64x9.2mm
Weight:111g
Others:Call Recording Option. Java MIDP emulator,unlimited phonebook entry,Digital compass,
2. General AppearanceThe appearance of the LG Black Optimus is sober, dressed all in dark colors: black and gray on the front on the back. Rather late compared to other brand products, it does not, however, the sharpness of the Samsung SGalaxy II.
With a large screen with a diagonal of 4 inches (about 10.16 cm), the edges of the device are slightly askew.Weighing 107 grams with dimensions of 122 x 64 x 9.2 mm.
On the top of the screen you can see the LG logo on the right side of the front camera of 2 megapixels. On the bottom, we can guess the four touch buttons for Android: Menu, Home (Home), Back and Research.
This phone is light for its size,although its weight and fineness do not reach those of theS II king in this area(including LG,however, trying to praise). In fact, the famous flagship phone competitionis thicker than a small part, where the Black Optimus issatisfied with a constant thickness over theentire device. However, the effect isless fragile feelthat the model of Samsung. The finishes are there, thematerials look good. It should be remembered thatthese two smartphones are not meant the samecustomers (average against high-end), which is an importantcriterion.
2.a. Front
Let us now review the various elements of this smartphone.
On the top, it has a 2-megapixel frontcamera. Likeall other cameras front made available onour smartphones,this camera will only be useful for videochat or quick snapshots of themselves in frontposition mode,the application provided for the management of thecamera will offer a opticalzoom is effective even onthe sensor.The speaker islocated on the notch thinner atthe edge of the edge of the screen ontop. Lessthan 1 mm for thisspeaker ... youworry at the telephone conversation, therendering is good!
2.b. Theslices
On top, the 3.5 mm jack to plug in your headphones favorites, the micro-USB connector and the button ON /OFF. Exceeding this button relative to the hull is very subtle, 1mm.
I personally did not like the position of this button and ergonomics, requiring a finger gymnastics, for example, pause the device quickly. It would certainlyhave beenmore significant, it is thicker and is on the side.
2.c. Rear
On the bottomof the screen will present a second speaker dedicated to one makea sound more powerful than that presentin front, tolisten to music, toshare his telephone conversation ...
The sound is really good. Especially when viewing video, Dolby applying the filter proposed in the application will provide a more realistic, especially in the bass.Below the hull, which has been raising a notch placed on the bottom of the phone, you will find the locations forthe battery, SIM card and microSD-HC (supporting up to 32GB).The side of the GPS chip, little to say. The fix was done indoors in less than 10 seconds. A temperature of 32 °and its use for 10 minutes did not seem to cut off the battery (verification by applying GPS Status).3. Screen
The screen of the LG Optimus Black (P970) has a screen Nova, known to consume less energy than AMOLED. It is also said that this screen is brighter (700 nit) and has a contrast greater than can be supplied with an AMOLED.
This screentechnology still uncommon really differs inits white,which are much closer toreality.
In general, at thesame brightness, thescreen of the LG is much more flashy thanthe Nexus S.
The multitouch screen is up to 5 points based on the test application Multitouch Test of the511plus
Inuse the screen did not appear to suffer from the phenomenonof fingerprints, in that it did not take to clean itevery 5minutes, fingerprints making the visibility of thescreen limits. So a good place for this model from LG!
Like TouchWiz Layer (Samsung), you will find four largeicons on the launcher, which contains seven defaultvirtualscreens to set up your many widgets.
Moving from the list of applications willbe vertical. Applications installed at the bottom of thelist in an area called Download. I regret this operation,which is first in the list, the pre-installed applications,and not necessarily those I use most couramment.us
Many features areincluded, such as pitch-to-zoom (pinchto zoom) to view all the offices and movefrom one to another easily. Itmakes you wonder if LG did not buy thesolution to Samsung orits operation. Thetwo companies are the same country, theinspiration had to be identical.
For the presentation of this part we could take our test word for word from Samsung S2 Galaxy.
By default, the Application Launcher displays applications as each other, positioning the end applications that you installed. First appear in the list, the pre-installed applications. This display is not suitable.
Fortunately, once the application launcher ouvet, by pressing the touch button menu you can change it by selecting a horizontal list or list (as in the contacts application, where the applications are in alphabetical order).
4.a Bar amended notification
4.b. The lock screen
The lock screen change the standard Android as it is a wallpaper to slideup. Some information is displayed as hour, day or even active alarms andthe status of GSM, missed calls
4.c. The keyboard
The keyboard provided in the LG-P970 is not the standard keyboard: it did notat all convinced. Nominated Keyboard LG, seizure is sometimes risky andsyntactic proposals are sometimes incomprehensible.The haptic rendering is pretty average.
This keyboard has several options such as can be displayed at the T9 format(not yet offer the prediction of a real keyboard T9), the opportunity to spenda touch of a keyboard azerty to qwerty even while typing this whichgenerates some errors ... The keyboard was really a black spot in this test:This behavior really bad compared to many other smart phones, any brand.
5. Applications
LG provides several native applications such as:
Polaris Office to read documents in Microsoft Office suite and PDF RemoteCall that allows you to be in relationship with a LG so that it helps youuse your smartphone-Martshare turns your smartphone into a remote DLNA. And launching the applicationall materials supporting this standard will be offered and you'll be able tosend reading a file from one device to another. Too bad, it is notpossible to send the reading of the smartphone to a device or vice versa What's new is an application that synthesizes the latest one screen telephonethat you may have the last message or Facebook and TwitterApplications Facebook and Twitter are here to sauce LG: nothing special, onlythe title of the application changes. The question is whether they followthe same frequency of updates that the application of the two official sitesThe phone application has been reviewed graphically, but retains the samefeatures as standard version of Android.In operation, the sound quality is very good and the caller does not seem tohave any problem to get along.
The contact application is actually included in the phone application. Asa tab in the phone application you will be able to do a manual search by typingthe first letters of the name.As with Contacts, the area to the right will scroll through the contactsquickly by selecting the first letter. Small flat in this case, the inputbox to search disappears.
DivXThis smartphone is certified Divx HD authorizing the Divx video playback in720p. We could not achieve all the desired tests, however, loading a divx(not HD) 720p takes no more than 3 seconds and move in the film does not causeany blocking or slowing down playback.
Radio TunerBlack also has an FM tuner and FM Radio the associated application. Once thehands-free kit connected you can make an automatic tuning or manualsearch. Each station will be saved so you can reuse. The receptionquality is quite good and the number of stations found.
LG App Advisor LG does not offer its own market, but an application of recommendedapplications. This application will display 10 applications selected byLG. Unfortunately nothing is said about the selection criteria. Adescription of the application (not necessarily in French), the average ratingon the market and a button to launch the Android Market on the applicationform.
LG PC SuiteLG provides an LG PC Suite to synchronize the smartphone with its Windows PC(The application is provided on the memory card supplied with the device it issufficient to 2GB or download it to the manufacturer's website. The connectionto the PC Bluetooth will not be possible as the timing of theagenda).http://www.lg.com
6. Telephony
Too often forgotten our smartphone is also used to call!At the specific absorption rate, the quality is not the mostterrible. While the Galaxy SII offers 0.338 W / kg, 0.752 desire HTC LGOptimus Black displays a score by 1.270 W / kg (limit of European 2W/kg).
7. Internet connection
The WiFi chip is more powerful than a Nexus S. With a test with WiFiAnalyzer installed on both machines, the same network and under the sameconditions, the LG Black Optimus detected over the network Nexus S (almost 40%more). The browser is the same as that provided as standard inAndroid. Nothing to note on that side.
Adobe Flash Player is installed by default on the LG Black Optimus and displayof web pages seemed really fast and efficient (especially on sites with flashcomponents).
8. Camera and Video
LG offers this LG Optimus Black (P-970) a 5 megapixel sensor and back to frontof 2 megapixels. The pictures are OK but not great. The colors seemto lose their heat and light is often too strong. You will be able toperform zooms from the two sensors at resolutions up to 2592 x 1944 pixels and1600 x 1200 pixels. For videos, we will go to 1280 x 720 pixels for thecamera back and 640 x 480 pixels for the front.Some pictures belowwith the front camera andcamera back.
Many will be offered for shots from each camera size, white balance, color effects, ISO ...
8. Performanceand autonomy
8.a. BenchmarksThe results of several benchmarks show that Black is not a lightning war compared to other models on the market, but responds very well to being asked to do for the 3D or the office. It has the same cadence as a Nexus S for example.The tests are performed on course a smartphone with the original rom without overclockresults:Quadrant: 1248
8.b. Autonomy
After playing a well-defined scenario for 45 minutes, thebattery had lost 10% (video playback of divx 9minutes, only GSM and Wi-Fi, MP3 playback 3 pieces of3.30 minutes each consultation 3 pages of articlesweb, downloadinga file, 7MB 3G, using Google Mapswith 3D display of monuments for 1 minute and 5minutes of reading radio).
According to our calculations, the smartphone could for example bringyou 7 hours of video playback before falling into the armsof Morpheus!
In daily use (3G constant),the LG Optimus asked a charge after15 hours.
Category Article Android, Android Phones Review, Business Android Phones, Froyo, gingerbread, LG, LG Android Phones, LG Optimus Black, Mobile Phones, Smartphones
