Over the years, Android phones have gradually, and drastically, increased in size. From the 3.2-inch G1 to the 5.5-inch Galaxy Note II, phones just keep getting bigger and bigger. For the most part, though, the aspect ratios of Android devices have all been 16:9, making them relatively easy to navigate. Apps are also able to scale up to fit the larger displays. LG, however, has decided to break that trend and released a 5-inch phone with a 4:3 aspect ratio. The LG Intuition is is much wider and shorter than your average Android phone and is available now on Verizon Wireless.

Specs

• OS: Android Ice Cream Sandwich
• Processor: 1.5 GHz Dual–Core Processor & 1GB RAM
• Memory: 32GB internal memory
• Display: 5.0″ XGA IPS Display, 16.7M Color TFT, 1024 x 768 Pixels
• Wi–Fi Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth v3.0 + HS
• 8 Megapixel Rear–Facing Camera, 1.3 Megapixel Front–Facing Camera
• Battery: 2080 mAh
• Dimensions:5.50″ (H) x 3.56″ (W) x 0.33″ (D)

Review

LG has not had much luck in the Android phone space before. In the past, their devices have launched with quality control problems and buggy software. The G2x was expected to be one of the best Android phones ever, but fell short of those expectations due to serious hardware issues with the device. LG is now following Samsung’s suit and entering the phablet game. Though, LG has put its own twist on their phablet. The 5-inch display may not seem all that large, but the 4:3 aspect is the real kicker. The Intuition is a odd-looking device unlike any other Android device out there.

Display

The LG Intuition features a 5-inch 1024 x 768 display. That equates to 256 pixels per inch and a 4:3 aspect ratio. The screen’s quality is superb. Text is crisp and colors really stand out. However, the aspect ratio is utterly pointless. I understand that LG needed to stand out from the Galaxy Note, but using a 4:3 aspect ratio was not the way to do it. In some cases, it doesn’t seem quite as crazy, such as web browsing, but in all other cases, it’s more of a hassle than a feature. When you attempt to watch a movie on the device, you’ll be greeted with huge black bars on either side of the video. The video size is essentially the same as it would be on a 4-inch device.

LG offers the ability to correct aspect ratio issues you may have with certain apps by placing the same black bars on either side of the app. By default, the apps will be stretched to fill the whole display. Which, for text heavy apps, looks just fine, but when you get into apps like Instagram that are image heavy, it looks horrible. Again, the 4:3 aspect ratio seems more like a hassle than a feature.

Design

Much like the Galaxy Note, if you use the LG Intuition out in public, you’ll get some pretty strange looks because of its size. It is a whopping 3.56 inches wide, slightly wider than a credit card. It’s nearly impossible to reach from one side of the device to the other while holding it one handed, which is a really big downside of the size.

However, aside from the size, the device is actually very well designed. It’s just .33 inches thick and 168 grams heavy. The back will not scratch or attract fingerprints easily, which is always great.

On the right side of the device is the volume rocker, while the left of the device is bare. On the top is the micro-USB port hidden under a sliding door, the power button, the headphone jack, and a screen capture button. The bottom is also bare.

Performance

The LG Intuition features pretty much the same specs as most other high-end Android phones…..released last year. It’s powered by a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S3 processor with 1GB of RAM. However, even though it’s powered by a last generation processor, the Intuition can still handle the average task pretty well. Gaming was decent, though going into more advanced games such as Dead Trigger, I did experience some lag. Scrolling through menus and home screens was, however, pretty smooth.

Software

The Intuition ships with Android 4.0 and LG’s custom skin.

The software on the LG Intuition looks suspiciously like Samsung’s TouchWiz, but sadly, once you start to use it, you’ll notice it’s nowhere near as polished as TouchWiz.

First off, the browser is absolutely dreadful. Load times are long, pinch to zoom is laggy, and the interface just looks bad. To bring up the tool bar, you to pull up a very tiny menu at the bottom, and with my large fingers, I found myself accidentally hitting the capacitive buttons.

The device also comes with loads of bloatware, which is not removable. Some of those apps include Color, Verizon Apps, Real Racing 2, Shark Dash, and more.

LG’s software has come a long way since their first Android device, but it still has a long way to go. There are still many inconsistencies and bugs throughout the OS, but like I said, it’s greatly improved.

Camera

The device is packing your standard 8MP camera. There’s not really anything that stands out with the camera. If anything, it’s worse than the competition. Pictures, especially indoors, can be washed out and dull, though outdoor shots turned out ok.

The camera app does feature some features (some may call gimmicky) that are cool, such as the ability to say “Say Cheese” and automatically capture a picture. There is also face tracking where it will automatically find and focus on a face.

Data and Phone Performance

The LG Intuition is compatible with Verizon’s blazing fast 4G LTE network. Currently, this network is available in more than 330 markets, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and covers more than 400 million Americans.

Using the speedtest.net app, I was able to consistently get 20-25mbps up and 5-9 up. ESPN’s mobile site loaded in a speedy 6 seconds.

The speaker was decent as well, though I did notice quite a bit of crackling when I would turn the volume up all of the way.

Microphone quality was great and people often couldn’t tell I was on a cell phone while using the Galaxy S III.

I was very impressed with the device′s GPS performance as well. In a pair of commutes, it stuck onto satellites and updated my position more quickly and accurately than other phones I’ve used.

Battery Life

One thing that has been disappointing on nearly every Android phone is the battery life. Sometimes, I can make it through a day, but others I can’t. With the LG Intuition, however, I could usually make it through a day with the 2080mAh battery in the device. Battery life was pretty good. A day for me consists of web browsing, music, Twitter, Google+, and some texting. I usually kept the display at 75%, though I didn’t notice that much change when cranking it up higher.

Usually with a device that has LTE, you experience a pretty significant battery drop of over other HSPA+ devices and that appears to be the case with the Intuition. On a day with heavier LTE usage, my battery was far worse than days spent mainly on WiFi.

Stylus

Much like the Galaxy Note, the Intuition comes with a stylus, dubbed the Rubberdium Stylus. Unfortunately, I was extremely disappointed with it. The tip is made out of rubber, which affects the accuracy greatly in my testing. In all honesty, it feels like the stylus was an afterthought. There’s no built in holder for it on the device like with the Note, so it’s a lot easier to lose than the Note.

Overall

Pros

• Good performance
• Good display
• LTE

Cons

• Awkward form factor
• Apps don’t always scale correctly
• Poor, inconsistent software
• Stylus feels like an afterthought
• So-So camera

Don’t buy the LG Intuition. There’s no reason to. With the Galaxy Note II coming to Verizon this quarter, you’ll do so much better with it than with the Intuition. The Intuition is just awkward. It’s nearly impossible to hold with one hand. Apps also don’t scale correctly in some cases and even though LG offers tools to correct that, it doesn’t always look right. Also, what’s with the stylus? LG offered no integration between the device and stylus, so I really have no reason to use it.

Just don’t buy the LG Intuition. Go with the Galaxy Note II if you need a phablet, if not, the Galaxy S III is a great device.

T-Mobile sold the original Galaxy Note for all of a week and this could be why. The fine folks at TmoNews have gotten their hands on a leaked internal document that claims the Galaxy Note II will be available in both white and grey on October 24th. What’s interesting about that date is the fact that Samsung is holding an event in New York City on the same day. During that event, the company is expected to announce U.S. availability for the Galaxy Note II. So does that mean we’re looking at same day availability for every carrier’s Galaxy Note II or just T-Mobile’s?Either way, we’ll be sure to keep you updated on further Note II news.

[Source: TmoNews]

When Motorola announced the original Atrix 4G one of the big selling points of it was the WebTop accessory lineup. WebTop was software that allowed users to dock their phone into a laptop dock and use it to power the laptop.

Motorola, which called this software the future of computing, announced this weekend that it will be discontinuing this software due to the lack of adoption and poor execution by the company. The biggest downside to the WebTop laptop dock was the fact that it cost $500 in addition to the phone.

Motorola’s Webtop app helps users extend their smartphone experience to larger screens. While consumers around the world have adopted Webtop and the concept spurred a lot of innovation in the industry, the adoption has not been strong enough to justify continued resources being allocated to developing Webtop on future devices. We have also seen development of the Android operating system focus on the inclusion of more desktoplike features. Beginning with Photon Q and Droid Razr M/Droid Razr HD/Droid Razr Maxx HD, we will no longer be including Webtop on our products moving forward.

Did you ever use Motorola’s WebTop accessories? Let us know in the comments!

After teasing the project last week, Rovio officially took the wraps of a Star Wars themed Angry Birds game today. Angry Birds Star Wars will be available on Google Play and the Amazon App Store on November 8th. The app features stages based on settings like Tatooine and the Death Star. There will also be a big merchandise portion to the game, with toys and clothes based off of the game hitting Toy ‘R Us shelves on October 28th. Rovio’s CEO claims this is the “best Angry Birds game we’ve ever done.”

Do you still find Angry Birds entertaining or has it grown a bit old to you? I know it has for me. Maybe a Star Wars themed game will change that.

HTC’s struggles continued in Q3 2012. Today, the company released its Q3 earnings and it marks the fourth consecutive quarter in which the company’s profits have decreased. For Q3 2012, HTC made a net profit of $133.2 million with a revenue of $2.4 billion, this is down largely from Q3 2011′s net profit of $636.5 million and revenue of $4.64 billion. The $133.2 million net income is down from $247 million in Q2 2012.

HTC has released several highly received devices this year, such as the One X and One S, but they just aren’t connecting with the general consumer in the way Samsung and Apple are.

HTC has several new devices in the pipeline for the holiday season, which they hope will help turn them around.

Last month in South Korea, LG unveiled the Optimus G, but with no U.S availability information. Today, however, the company announced that both AT&T and Sprint will carry the device.

The AT&T model will feature an 8MP camera, while the Sprint model will have a 13MP shooter. Both variants will feature LTE connectivity, a quad-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro, 2GB of RAM, and a 2100mAh battery. Both models will also have 32GB of internal storage.

Sadly, there is no pricing or availability for the U.S. models, at the moment.

What do you think of the Optimus G? Let us know in the comments!

While some people are just now getting their Ice Cream Sandwich update, a few lucky souls have moved on to Jelly Bean. According to ASUS’ Gary Key, Transformer Pad Infinity and Transformer Prime users in the United States should be seeing an update to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean within the next 72 hours. The update will bump the devices up to version number 10.4.4.14.1 and remove Adobe Flash and WiFi direct.

Dear Valued ASUS Customers,

We are pleased to announce that we will soon be rolling out a major software update for both the ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity (TF700) and ASUS Transformer Pad Prime (TF201), which will bring Android™ 4.1, Jelly Bean to the devices. We always strive to deliver the latest updates for our customers – we hope you enjoy it.

Thank you for your continued support.

North American Update -

For those users in the US and Canada, the 10.4.4.14.1 Release should be available within the next 72 hours.

Have you received the update yet? Let us know in the comments!

[Source: XDA]