LG Optimus 2X Unboxing and Hands-on

More LG Optimus 2X coverage by PhoneArena:

- LG Optimus 2X vs Apple iPhone 4: ultimate camera + video comparison
- LG Optimus 2X Benchmark results
- LG Optimus 2X Full HD 1080p video playback test
- 3D gaming on the dual-core LG Optimus 2X
- LG Optimus 2X vs Samsung Galaxy S vs Apple iPhone 4: Browser shootout

Today we at PhoneArena got our hands on something really exciting for us, and, we guess, for you too – the LG Optimus 2X - the first cell phone to hit the market with a dual-core 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 chipset. Other phones with this chipset are coming soon, but the Optimus 2X will stay forever in our hearts as the first with two 1GHz cores we touched. This is the dawn of a new year in mobile technology, folks, so read our initial impressions

Our LG Optimus 2X arrived with a charger, microUSB cable, and an HDMI cable for hooking the phone to your TV. The HDMI cable is an especially nice touch, saving you the trouble to buy one, and look for compatibility.

The phone itself feels solid in the hand, with its 4.9 ounces (140 grams), and a tad on the large side, but thin enough at 0.43” (11 mm) thickness. The sides have the bare necessities – volume buttons on the right, and a power/lock button at the top, which are easy to press, with a nice feedback. On the top are also the standard audio jack, and an HDMI port with a protective cap, which is very easy to pry open.  The bottom hosts the microUSB port and two stereo speakers, which, we have to tell you, are very capable.


The elevated square module on the back hosts the 8MP camera sensor with LED flash, which transitions nicely into a chromed strip running along the middle of the back cover with etched Google branding. The camera department is where the big added bonus of the dual-core chipset shines –  an ability to record 1080p full HD video – check for our samples on the PhoneArena YouTube channel in a bit. The Full HD video was eating about 85MB per minute, so half an hour 1080p video will run you roughly 2.5GB out of the 8GB internal storage.

The LG Optimus 2X has a 4” display with 480x800 pixels of resolution, which, judging from the wide viewing angles, is with IPS-LCD technology. The display seems bright, with vivid colors, which can be expected from LG – after all, these guys make the Retina Display for the Apple iPhone 4. The four capacitive Android buttons below the screen are very responsive. All in all, the LG Optimus 2X has a spartan industrial design, which feels very streamlined, with a whiff of quality materials, like the soft- touch plastic on the back, and the metallic strip.


The Android 2.2 Froyo interface got some LG skinning going on over it, but not to the extreme, just  a dock at the bottom with four app shortcuts, the main menu is almost stock. The interface and list scrolling feel very fluid, but we expected nothing less from a handset powered by Tegra 2. We ran some benchmarks, and got 2777on Quadrant, and 74.4 frames per second on Neocore, which are the highest results we've seen on a literally out-of-the-box phone.

In the app list we have a few preinstalled games, as well as something called the Tegra Zone, which showcases news related to the 1GHz dual-core chipset, as well as games that will look particularly good on it. NVIDIA is pushing hard to position the Tegra chipset as a gaming platform too, so expect the Tegra Zone to be populated more and more with time.

What can we say, folks, the LG Optimus 2X is definitely a winner now in the Android universe. NVIDIA said they intend to push hard to enter the mobile industry, and LG will be their Trojan horse way back last summer, and now we are seeing the first fruit of their collaboration. The Optimus 2X seems like an amazing handset, and we can't wait to spend some quality time with it in the next few days, and give you a full review!



More LG Optimus 2X coverage by PhoneArena:

- LG Optimus 2X vs Apple iPhone 4: ultimate camera + video comparison
- LG Optimus 2X Benchmark results
- LG Optimus 2X Full HD 1080p video playback test
- 3D gaming on the dual-core LG Optimus 2X
- LG Optimus 2X vs Samsung Galaxy S vs Apple iPhone 4: Browser shootout