LG Optimus 2X

If you’re looking for a high-end smartphone from 2degrees, the LG Optimus 2X is it. It’s New Zealand’s first dual-core smartphone – although we’re sure there will be a few more over the coming months – and 2degrees claims it’s the fastest smartphone in the country.

The Optimus 2X certainly is fast – we tested it with the Quadrant Standard benchmarking app, and it was nearly twice as speedy as the Google Nexus One running Android 2.2. The phone blazed along at an average of about 60 frames per second, and during one animation, it got up to 97fps. In terms of real world use, we didn’t notice a huge difference between the Optimus 2X and other high-end Android smartphones, but we can’t argue with the second highest benchmark result we’ve ever seen, next to the Samsung Galaxy S II.

While it’s nothing special in terms of form factor – your typical black, rectangular smartphone – the Optimus 2X is thin, light, and rather robust looking. It does have an aluminium strip down the back that acquired small scratches very quickly, though, just from being in the cellphone pocket of a purse.

Fortunately, the Optimus 2X is also feature-packed – it can act as a 3G wireless hotspot, has an HDMI output, records video at 1080p and includes a 4-inch display with an 800 x 480-pixel resolution. Between the big display and the high speeds, the 2X provides one of the best gaming and video-watching experiences we’ve seen on a smartphone. There’s no sluggishness here, even when games require a super-quick reaction time from the device.

It’s unfortunate that the Optimus 2X is only running Android 2.2, as 2.3 would make the whole experience even faster and cleaner than it already is. 2degrees tells us the 2X will be upgradable to 2.3 by October, at least, but by then Android 3.1 – the OS designed with both smartphones and tablets in mind – could be well on its way.

The 2X comes with LG’s own Facebook and Twitter apps installed, but we’re not sure they’re as good as the free, official apps you can download from the Android market. Fortunately it’s easy to delete them and replace them with the apps you want.

This might come as a surprise, but some people actually use their smartphones to make calls and send text messages. Call quality is great on the 2X, but texting can be a bit grating. For some strange reason, the full stop has been delegated to the symbols section of the on-screen keyboard, rather than being paired with the alphabet keys. Every time we put a full stop into a text message, we had to change screens and then change back again. Auto-correct is also not turned on by default, and is rather buried in the settings.

All in all, the LG Optimus 7Q is a fantastic phone, with only a couple of minor black marks against it. Some of the quirks of the UI are a bit annoying, and more importantly, the design is just a bit boring. It has to compete against the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S II, and style-wise, the 2X doesn’t quite match up.