LG G Pro 2 review: See you 2morrow

Controls

The innovative design with back-mounted keys means that there's very little going on at the LG G Pro 2's front. Besides the huge and vibrant IPS display, the phablet accommodates the earpiece, the 2.1 MP secondary camera, the proximity sensor and the LED status light.

There's not a lot going on at the front

So the most interesting part in terms of controls is the back, where the optically-stabilized 13MP camera lens is joined by the power button and the volume keys. There's also a 1W speaker here, which LG says offers Hi-Fi studio quality. Now that might be a bit too much to ask from a speaker this tiny, but we did notice it delivers audio cleaner than most competitors.

The back is where all the controls are

When the screen is locked a long press on the Volume Up key launches the Quick Memo tool, while a long press on the Volume Down control fires up the camera. The Power/Lock combo at the volume rocker's center has a LED-lit rim that doubles as a notification LED.

LG made a big deal out of the key's location when it introduced it with the G2 and now, having spent some time with it, we can see why. It favors a more secure hold of the device and improved ergonomics, as the buttons fall exactly where the index finger usually rests. The key placement spares you excessive finger stretching (quite important on a phablet). It's really one of those moments, when you can't help but wonder how no one thought of this earlier.

The sides of the LG G Pro 2 are completely bare, as the microSD and microSIM slots are moved underneath the back cover.

The sides are perfectly bare

The top houses the secondary mic, the 3.5mm audio jack and the IR emitter for the remote control functionality.

The top has a mic, a 3.5mm audio jack and an IR port

The bottom has the primary microphone, the loudspeaker and the Slimport-enabled microUSB port. The G Pro 2's connectivity port supports TV-out and USB host.

The primary mic is next to the microUSB port

Finally, undoing the battery cover reveals the two card slots (the microSD being hot-swappable) and the ample 3,200mAh Li-Ion battery. This time the battery is user-replaceable too although, from our early impressions, you won't have to do that too often.

Taking a peek under the battery cover

Naturally we are doing a dedicated battery test, but that's yet to be completed. We'll make sure to update this page with the scores in the next few days.

Display

The eye-catching 5.9" True HD IPS Plus display of Full HD resolution is definitely one of the LG G Pro 2's key selling points. Large and bright, the screen really makes images spring to life and colors pop.

The display is impressively sharp too, thanks to the great pixel density of 373ppi. It's not quite up there with the 1080p 5-inchers in terms of pure numbers, but in real life you can't really see the difference.

Contrast is excellent, too, as we've come to expect from LG flagships. It is a somewhat lower than on the G2, though, as stretching the panel to the greater size has obviously taken its toll.

Viewing angles are very wide and although the contrast compression and color shift at extreme angles aren't quite the best we have seen they are close enough to perfection in real life usage. Everything remains legible no matter how wide you go and that's all you should care about really.

The sunlight legibility is virtually on par with what the LG G2 offered, which is to say good but not quite spectacular. You will be able to easily read what's on your screen on a bright sunny day, but you won't really get to enjoy multimedia content properly.

Sunlight contrast ratio

• Nokia 808 PureView
  4.698
• Apple iPhone 5
  3.997
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  3.997
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  3.419
• Nokia Lumia 925
  3.402
• Samsung I9505 Galaxy S4
  3.352
• Samsung Omnia W
  3.301
• Samsung Galaxy S
  3.155
• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
  3.127
• Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom
  3.118
• Nokia N9
  3.069
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  2.970
• Sony Xperia Z1
  2.950
• HTC One S
  2.901
• BlackBerry Q10
  2.856
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  2.832
• Samsung Galaxy S II Plus
  2.801
• BlackBerry Z30
  2.790
• Huawei Ascend P1
  2.655
• Sony Xperia ZR
  2.672
• Nokia Lumia 900
  2.562
• HTC One Max
  2.537
• Nokia Lumia 720
  2.512
• HTC One
  2.504
• Sony Xperia Z
  2.462
• Samsung Galaxy S III mini
  2.422
• Motorola RAZR i
  2.366
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  2.307
• Apple iPhone 4S
  2.269
• HTC Desire 600 dual sim
  2.262
• LG Nexus 5
  2.228
• HTC One X
  2.158
• Nokia N8
  2.144
• Oppo Find 5
  2.088
• BlackBerry Z10
  2.051
• Apple iPhone 4
  2.016
• HTC One mini
  2.003
• LG G2
  1.976
• Sony Ericsson Xperia ray
  1.955
• Samsung Galaxy Camera
  1.938
• LG G Pro 2
  1.922
• HTC Butterfly
  1.873
• Huawei Ascend P6
  1.865
• Sony Xperia V
  1.792
• Sony Xperia U
  1.758
• Meizu MX3
  1.754
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  1.691
• HTC One V
  1.685
• BlackBerry Q5
  1.682
• LG Optimus Vu
  1.680
• LG Optimus GJ
  1.666
• HTC Desire V
  1.646
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 3
  1.622
• Sony Xperia Z Ultra
  1.578
• Samsung Galaxy Core
  1.563
• LG Optimus G Pro
  1.552
• LG Optimus 3D
  1.542
• Samsung Galaxy Core LTE
  1.542
• Nokia Asha 302
  1.537
• Sony Xperia M
  1.473
• Nokia Lumia 610
  1.432
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo
  1.393
• Gigabyte GSmart G1355
  1.361
• Samsung Galaxy Grand
  1.321
• HTC Desire C
  1.300
• Nokia Asha 501
  1.270
• LG Optimus L7
  1.269
• LG Optimus L9
  1.227
• Meizu MX
  1.221
• Sony Xperia E dual
  1.203
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  1.180
• Sony Xperia tipo
  1.166
• Samsung Galaxy mini 2
  1.114