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Score: 7/10 (Average)
Pros: Lots of screen real estate, 4:3 aspect ratio is great for browsing the Web, strong battery life, 4G LTE, LG Optimus 3.0 includes tons of customization options. | Cons:4:3 aspect ratio may be cumbersome for some and causes letterboxing when watching video content, dual-core processors aren't the fastest out there, Android 4.0, mediocre call quality. |
Big displays seem to be the rage of smartphones nowadays. A year ago, a 5-inch display on a smartphone seemed ridiculous. Now, we look down upon smartphones if they have a screen that's smaller than 4-inches. The smartphone market is constantly moving forward to bigger screens on our favorite little gadgets. If this describes you at all, then the LG Intuition might just be the smartphone for you. The LG Intuition originally had a global release in early 2012 as the LG
Optimus Vu. We got the handset here in the U.S. in September last year as the LG Intuition. You can currently pickup the Intuition for $99 on Verizon Wireless with a 2-year contract. The Intuition comes in at a affordable price point but, are you better off with spend the extra money and getting the Samsung Galaxy Note II for all of your phablet needs? Lets find out.
Optimus Vu. We got the handset here in the U.S. in September last year as the LG Intuition. You can currently pickup the Intuition for $99 on Verizon Wireless with a 2-year contract. The Intuition comes in at a affordable price point but, are you better off with spend the extra money and getting the Samsung Galaxy Note II for all of your phablet needs? Lets find out.
Design/Build Quality
The LG Intuition certainly has one of the oddest designs we have ever seen in smartphone. Unlike most smartphones, the LG Intuition's screen has a 4:3 aspect ratio instead of 16:9. This means that you will have a full screen view on the Intuition instead of the widescreen view that is on most smartphones today. This is great for browsing the web and reading digital magazines but, it also means that you will get a lot of letterboxing when streaming any video content. The 4:3 aspect ratio also causes some applications to look stretched out and ugly. Most, if not all, apps on the Google Play store are designed to run on a 16:9 aspect ratio. LG allows you to calibrate the aspect ratio when using an app or game to adjust it to fit on the screen better though. While certain games like Temple Run and apps like Facebook looked fine, others such as Angry Birds
did not look good at all of the handset. The awkward ratio also makes the Intuition a little awkward to carry around with you and put in your pocket. I have relatively large hands and I still can't wrap my entire hand around the device. If you have smaller hands, the Intuition is going to be a bit of an annoyance to operate because of it's odd aspect ratio. With that said, the LG Intuition is actually very lightweight weighing in at only 6.08 ounces and only 0.33-inches thick. The back of the Intuition is made of plastic and has a textured, grainy feel to it. While this is probably a big help in making the device so light, it also gives it a cheap feel.
did not look good at all of the handset. The awkward ratio also makes the Intuition a little awkward to carry around with you and put in your pocket. I have relatively large hands and I still can't wrap my entire hand around the device. If you have smaller hands, the Intuition is going to be a bit of an annoyance to operate because of it's odd aspect ratio. With that said, the LG Intuition is actually very lightweight weighing in at only 6.08 ounces and only 0.33-inches thick. The back of the Intuition is made of plastic and has a textured, grainy feel to it. While this is probably a big help in making the device so light, it also gives it a cheap feel.
Hardware
The Intuition has a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM to help it power through all of the apps and games that you through at it. Although quad-core is the rage when talking about mobile processors, I was actually pretty impressed with the performance of the Intuition. Browsing the web was smooth, games ran great, and steaming video content is a breeze.
The Intuition's screen resolution is 768 x 1024. While we are seeing 1080p HD displays on more and more smartphones, the screen doesn't look bad at all. Text was very crisp and colors were all nicely saturated.
The Intuition's screen resolution is 768 x 1024. While we are seeing 1080p HD displays on more and more smartphones, the screen doesn't look bad at all. Text was very crisp and colors were all nicely saturated.
Verizon has great LTE coverage
The LG Intuition has 4G LTE capabilities and Verizon's LTE network is one of the best out there. In Paw Paw, MI, a small town in southwest Michigan, I was able to get steady download speeds of 15mbps and upload speeds of 10mbps. Call quality is a bit of a different story though. People's voices on my end were perfectly audible but, sounded muffled and
turning up the volume will only decrease the quality. However, people on the other end said I sound crystal clear and as if I was standing right next to them. The external speakers of the Intuition are nothing to write home about. They are very dim and are very disappointing.
The Intuition packs in a 2,080 mAh battery. I got a total usage time of about 10 hours with moderate web browsing, playing games, streaming video content, making calls, and texting. This is most likely because I live in an area, Lawrence, MI, where 3G data connections are the only available data speed with Verizon. If you live in an area with strong 4G LTE support, you may find that the battery life does not last as long since LTE tends to drain batteries faster than 3G and standard 4G.
The LG Intuition has a rear-facing 8MP camera with LED flash. It takes good pictures but, you can definitely find better cameras on other handsets out there. The Intuition also features a front-facing 1.3MP camera. For taking profile pictures and video chatting, the front-facing camera won't disappoint. I was actually pretty impressed with it's image and video capture considering it is only 1.3MP. LG also includes some nice added features in their camera app. One of my favorites was the option to take pictures by saying "cheese" out loud.
turning up the volume will only decrease the quality. However, people on the other end said I sound crystal clear and as if I was standing right next to them. The external speakers of the Intuition are nothing to write home about. They are very dim and are very disappointing.
The Intuition packs in a 2,080 mAh battery. I got a total usage time of about 10 hours with moderate web browsing, playing games, streaming video content, making calls, and texting. This is most likely because I live in an area, Lawrence, MI, where 3G data connections are the only available data speed with Verizon. If you live in an area with strong 4G LTE support, you may find that the battery life does not last as long since LTE tends to drain batteries faster than 3G and standard 4G.
The LG Intuition has a rear-facing 8MP camera with LED flash. It takes good pictures but, you can definitely find better cameras on other handsets out there. The Intuition also features a front-facing 1.3MP camera. For taking profile pictures and video chatting, the front-facing camera won't disappoint. I was actually pretty impressed with it's image and video capture considering it is only 1.3MP. LG also includes some nice added features in their camera app. One of my favorites was the option to take pictures by saying "cheese" out loud.
The rear-facing camera takes very detailed pics
The Rubberdium stylus feels great in the hand
One of my biggest hardware issue with the Intuition is the stylus. While the stylus itself feels sturdy and comfortable in the hand, there is no option to hold the stylus internally in the handset. This greatly detracts from the portability of the Intuition because, if you want to take it's stylus with you, you will be forced to keep it in a safe place and retain from loosing it. This may seem like a small issue to a few of you readers but, after using the Intuition for 2 weeks, you just want to leave it's stylus at home so you don't have to deal with the responsibility of not misplacing it.
Optimus 3.0 brings welcome additions
The Intuition runs Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich with LG's Optimus 3.0 UI layered over it. The Optimus UI does not get in the way of day-to-day use but, while I prefer vanilla ICS, Optimus 3.0 is not an ugly UI. It does also offer some welcome customization options that
stock ICS does not offer. Optimus 3.0 allows you to change the transition effect when swiping between home screens and change icons of apps as well. You can also add up to 5 app icons on your locks creen and open them by sliding over their icon. I am a huge fan of customization on my phone and greatly appreciated these added goodies. Optimus 3.0 also includes LG's note taking software, QuickMemo. QuickMemo allows you to take a screen capture of your handset and edit it as you please, as well as a standard blank piece of paper to take notes on. You can access QuickMemo through the app screen or, on the Intuition, by clicking the physical QucikMemo launcher on the top of the device. I played around with QuickMemo for a bit and, while it is connvinient to have a note taking feature built into your phone, I still found that I tended to use apps like Evernote when I need to make a note of something.
With all of LG's Optimus 3.0 UI features on top of ICS, there is no denying that this is an outdated version of Android. You will not find "Project Butter", Google Now, improved notifications, or Quick Settings on the Intuition. While it ran smoothly, I still noticed the infamous Android lag present in the device. The lack of Google Now and the improved notifications and also a downer since they enhance the Android experience so much, as well as all of Jelly Beans other
fantastic features. There is also no official word from LG as to when the Intuition will be receiving Jelly Bean so, if you want to get a new phone with the latest and greatest from Android, you may want to look elsewhere.
stock ICS does not offer. Optimus 3.0 allows you to change the transition effect when swiping between home screens and change icons of apps as well. You can also add up to 5 app icons on your locks creen and open them by sliding over their icon. I am a huge fan of customization on my phone and greatly appreciated these added goodies. Optimus 3.0 also includes LG's note taking software, QuickMemo. QuickMemo allows you to take a screen capture of your handset and edit it as you please, as well as a standard blank piece of paper to take notes on. You can access QuickMemo through the app screen or, on the Intuition, by clicking the physical QucikMemo launcher on the top of the device. I played around with QuickMemo for a bit and, while it is connvinient to have a note taking feature built into your phone, I still found that I tended to use apps like Evernote when I need to make a note of something.
With all of LG's Optimus 3.0 UI features on top of ICS, there is no denying that this is an outdated version of Android. You will not find "Project Butter", Google Now, improved notifications, or Quick Settings on the Intuition. While it ran smoothly, I still noticed the infamous Android lag present in the device. The lack of Google Now and the improved notifications and also a downer since they enhance the Android experience so much, as well as all of Jelly Beans other
fantastic features. There is also no official word from LG as to when the Intuition will be receiving Jelly Bean so, if you want to get a new phone with the latest and greatest from Android, you may want to look elsewhere.
Final Verdict
The LG Intuition is not a bad handset. If you favor larger displays on smartphones and are looking to get into the phablet market, the LG Intuition is certainly not a bad choice. However, it is extremely hard to overlook the Samsung Galaxy Note II with the vastly superior S Pen, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, quad-core processor, and larger screen. While the Note II is truly superior to the Intuition, it is a lot more expensive at $299 with a 2-year contract. The Intuition is selling on Verizon for only $99 with a 2-year contract, an entire $200 less than the Note II. If you are in the market for a phablet on Verizon and don't want to spend an arm and a leg, the LG Intuition is a great choice. Although the device is running an outdated version of Android, has dual-core processors, and does not have an option to store it's stylus internally, it is still a great choice. It's price point of only $99 doesn't suck either. If you need a new phablet right now and can't wait for the Note II's price to come down, go for the LG Intuition. If you aren't in a hurry though, you may want to wait for some deals on the Note II to come up to ensure that you get the best phablet currently out there and, at a reasonable price.
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