Greetings
This week the LG Testpilot program focus is about the screen and camera.
The Looking Glass Screen
First, let me say sorry for the headline on this paragraph - I’ve just been playing a game based on Alice in Wonderland ;-)
As you might already be aware, the LG G2 i sporting a nice 5,2” LCD IPS screen, with a resolution at 1920x1080 it also qualifies for the Full HD stamp.
So technically we know the phone should have great colours, good viewing angles and a nice sharp image.
If this was a movie, this is where a big plot twist was due some introduction. Well, this is just a blog, and though I could certainly make up something wicked, this is based on real experiences with the device. Thus I can only second, what the technical specifications have already revealed.
In comparison to it’s predecessor, the LG Optimus G, the screen, in terms of size, has been stretched quite a bit. They’re almost same width, but the greater size of the LG G2 is mainly due to it’s length. This extra length is, when relevant, used for the front touch buttons (home, settings and go back). When not relevant, e.g. when watching a movie, the buttons will be hidden in order for you to get the full HD experience.
I really like this implementation of the front touch buttons, which also makes them customisable! It’s possible to change the order of the buttons, and even extend the panel to four buttons, either with a button to pull down the notification panel, or one that launches QuickMemo.
Camera
First of let me warn/reassure you, depending on how adept you yourself are at these matters: I know nothing about cameras. Okay that’s not 100% true, but they aren’t really my primary point of interest, I know how to hit the button that takes a picture or starts/stops a recording. And of course I know how to activate the preset features, that directly makes me take black/white photos, scenic panorama views or other neat stuff.
My point of comparisons has primarily been built up by some minutes of toying around with the LG G2 vs. the LG Optimus G, and very limited time with a Canon EOS 700d (limited because, damn it’s heavy). And of course years of very random, halfhearted, completely oblivious use of whatever camera has been within reach, when wanting to harass family and friends ;-)
The LG G2 has a 2.1 MP front camera, and a 13 MP rear camera with Optical Image Stabilization.
One of the things I’ve been quite curious as to how would work when taking photos, has actually nothing to do with the cameras themselves. It is of course the volume buttons on the back, that can be used to shoot pictures (you alternatively change this to a zoom-function). The testing of this design choice has left me in a bit of an ambivalent state. If you’re the kind of person who likes taking “selfies” (using the front-facing camera) then this is awesome.
However when taking photos in landscape mode, with the camera on the back of the phone, it’s a very different experience. I can’t really seem to find a good way to place my hands, which will allow me to both navigate in the menus, set focus and so forth, and easily push the button without moving my hands a lot around. And I’ve tested, it isn’t just due to me having small hands. Whenever finding a nice way to hold it, that allows for great navigation etc. there are freaking, annoying fingers in front of the lense! This could probably be alleviated by having the lense in one of the traditional upper corners of the phone, rather than in upper middle, directly above the buttons. This would unfortunately also ruin the beautiful, distinct look of the back of the phone.
When finally getting my fingers out of the shot, the pictures looks really nice. And this is where my knowledge doesn’t yet suffice, these are good quality as far as I can tell, but not, where, why or how it might need improvement.
So instead I’ll focus on some of the features that comes with this phone.
As you can see we have all the usual suspects lined up here, image size, brightness, colour effects etc.
A couple of things are interesting though, if you know a bit about what you’re doing you can choose to manually adjust focus in your picture. The automatic focus however works really well, at least for unknowing bastards - like me =)
They’ve kept their nice little feature - the Cheese Shutter. You can say either Cheese, Smile, Kimchi, Whiskey or LG and it will take a picture, without you having to use the buttons - problem with the buttons mentioned above = solved ;-) Unless you need to be in a sneaky ninja mode O.o
Talking about modes; there’s twelve of them, but none specifically for Ninja’s. Though the Time Catch Shot probably would deliver a nice result, when catching them jump-flying through the air.
I won’t go over all the modes, just a few ones that really caught my attention.
Shot & Clear - a really nice feature that makes it possible to remove moving persons/objects that you don’t want in the shot. The idea is to make it easier for you to get good shots of your friends and family, or the location itself, when visiting crowded places.
Beauty Shot - “#Selfies” made even easier, this mode will instantly apply changes that gives anyone the looks of buttery smooth skin. I personally find it a bit creepy - I’ve probably read too many gruesome tales of mannequins and dolls. It seems however to be a trending idea to include auto-beautification tools in photo-services.
Dual Camera - This makes it possible to capture motives with both the front and rear camera at once. You yourself choose where to place the smaller picture (from the front-facing camera) within the big frame, and you can also adjust the size a bit. This is possible not only when taking a photo, but also while filming - making it perfect for capturing everyone's reaction. Finally the person behind the camera will also be in some of the photos from [whatever event]. =)
And here at the end, a confession: It would usually have taken me at least half a year to check out all these camera settings. So for me, this have been a very enlightening weekly theme. I now know what the phone is capable of, and is at least aware of the great tools that can help me get the shot that I want.
I can also be found at
Wicked Regards
- Nitte von Evil
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