It’s review time again here at TechGuySmartBuy and we are here with the LG Nitro HD for AT&T. The Nitro is LG’s high-end offering modeled after the overseas Optimus HD now the second LTE Android device offering a 720p HD display. LG has had quite sometime breaking into the U.S. Android market but the company is hoping to make some ground with this new device. So what would make you give LG your attention with the Nitro HD? We have put it to the test to answer just that.
LG representatives at the press event wanted to give consumers the quality of an HDTV on your smartphone. That was the thought behind using a 4.5inch IPS (In Plane Switching- same color-accurate technology used in the various iDevices) screen w/ 1280 x 720 resolution. Using IPS technology does give the Nitro quite the advantage in the visual department. Compared to the Super AMOLED Plus and even the Rezound’s Super LCD HD display, LG shows off its dominance in what they are calling a ‘True HD Display’. Everything seen on the Nitro from icons, widgets, internet, & media showcases the clarity & excellent vibrance of colors that has yet to be seen on an Android phone. The screen is definitely one of the main selling points on the Nitro.
The Nitro is equipped with 1GB of RAM and powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor. For a high-end with great specs on paper, there were times where simple tasks like opening the browser or sending a SMS/MMS message were quite tedious as well as moving from the App screen back to Home. Not sure if this was a software-related issue or not. But it is not uncommon for a new device to offer a laggy performance but we would hope these days that is more of thing of the past. I am not sure if it was just my unit suffering from this or is this just something to be expected. On the speed side of things, at the press event AT&T’s LTE network was present as I was able to pick up over 15Mbps download/1Mbps upload. Which is on par with Verizon’s average LTE speeds as their LTE network has yet to officially launch in the NYC area. Since the Nitro works on both LTE & HSPA+, in Jersey using the latter of the 4G technologies I was able to get speeds of over 7Mbps download/2Mbps upload.
The Nitro ships with an 1830 mAh battery without brings that heft & bulk to the design. With Android devices, a long-lasting battery life is something users only hope to experience but always fall short. With the Nitro, the battery life is definitely better than most Android smartphones. I was able to pull out almost 8 hours of regular usage (consisting of Facebook, Twitter, taking pics, some Words w/ Friends, sending/replying to emails, & browsing several sites on the browser). Where the past few devices we’re reviewed has gotten us only around 6 hours of juice. Kudos to LG for that one.
The Nitro HD is equipped with 1.3MP shooter in the front & an 8MP shooter w/ auto-focus & single LED flash that is capable of recording video in 1080p HD. The front-facing camera performs as grainy as you would expect but like almost all smartphones, the star shooter lies in the back. The 8MP shooter takes great photos on-the-go accompanied by the camera’s software which renders your results quickly. The rear camera takes more accurate color hues similar to the iPhone cameras lens. While other phone cameras offer a tint in certain shots. Thumbs up for this. The video capture works well also but doesn’t perform as well as the camera. With the added ability to focus while recording video would have helped tremendously but you do have the option to add color filters to your videos. You can still get use out of it though.
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| Nitro HD sample photos |
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| Nitro HD sample photos |
I was definitely able to appreciate what the Nitro HD has to offer as a blogger & a consumer. The Nitro does offer similarities with the Samsung Galaxy brand in design & UI-skin. That is not necessarily a bad thing for the user experience but sucks on the branding side of things. But not to move too far away from the phone’s positive aspects. The True HD display and camera are among the main reasons to pick this phone up. LG is one of Apple’s parts suppliers for various iDevices (iMacs, iPads, iPhones, iPod Touches) so they definitely know what they are doing. The Nitro is a lightweight LTE device that has a solid build w/ good call quality. LG’s latest is not without its flaws. It could have added some things to the camera’s software like focus while recording video for a better experience. The speakerphone could have been clearer & louder. My unit got extremely hot when using apps like Google Maps Navigation and Google + Hangout. And the placement of the micro-USB could have been placed somewhere else like the right-side of the device which is bare. The Nitro does lead the pack in offering a superior HD display as well as being the third LTE Android smartphone to choose from for AT&T. If things like a great display, camera, & battery life are important in making your purchasing decision, you should head down to your local AT&T retailer to demo the Nitro HD.
