LG Optimus 3D Max P720 review: Remastered

Connectivity has NFC

The connectivity set of the LG Optimus 3D Max is pretty much identical to what the original Optimus had to offer: quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE for world-wide network compatibility and tri-band 3G with 21Mbps/5.76Mbps for faster mobile Internet in areas with 3G. The only difference is in the HSDPA speed, which is now up from the Optimus 3D's 14.4Mbps.

The Optimus 3D Max has Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 (no HS profile) with A2DP and a microUSB port for local data transfers. USB tethering and Wi-Fi hotspot options are available for sharing the phone's data connection. You can secure the Wi-Fi hotspot using WPA2 or leave it open.

For multimedia connectivity, you have two choices - wired (MHL with the optional adapter) and wireless (DLNA). Using the SmartShare app you can control a DLNA network - you can play media from other devices (e.g. NAS) on your phone or play something from the phone on another device (e.g. DLNA-enabled TV).

The SmartShare app

The Optimus 3D Max is NFC enabled unlike its predecessor. It can read or share all kind of NFC tags, requests, etc.

Vanilla web browser with Flash

The Android browser has always been a solid performer and on the proper hardware the experience is flawless.

The user interface is pretty much nonexistent at first sight. Once the page loads, all you see is the URL bar and the bookmark button on a line at the top of the screen. After you zoom in and pan around though even that line disappears (scroll to the top or press menu to bring it back).

That way you have the entire 4.3" screen for web browsing. The Optimus 3D Max's browser supports two zoom methods - double tap and multi-touch pinch-zooming.

Browsing GSMArena.com on the Optimus 3D Max • page options

The browser supports text reflow, which requires a double tap. If the font size isn't right for you, you can readjust the zoom and double tap again and the 3D max will fit the text to the new zoom level.

The minimalist UI is quite powerful - hit the menu key and six keys pop up. You can open a new tab, switch tabs, subscribe to RSS feeds, go forward, add to Read It Later bookmarks section (for one-time bookmarks). The final button reveals even more options (text copying, find on page, etc.).

Tabs are managed with an attractive card interface.

The bookmark list shows a thumbnail of the bookmarked page and you also get a "most visited" list in addition to the history. Read it later also has a tab here.

Tab management • text selection • search on page • most visited

Overall, the browsing experience is quite good for the dual-core Gingerbread league. There's very little lag and the 4.3" WVGA screen offers plenty of room even for complex web pages. Text remains crisp regardless of the zoom level.

Text reflow in action

The Optimus 3D Max browser is Flash-enabled that means you can use the desktop YouTube and other video sharing sites and also play Flash games. Flash games ran smoothly, but videos were another matter - 720p lagged, which isn't quite disappointing for a dual-core 1.2GHz smartphone.

Desktop YouTube in the browser • Flash game in fullscreen, landscape mode

Speaking of YouTube, you can also use the YouTube 3D app. The app is exactly the same thing as the regular YouTube Android app, except that it directly hooks up to YouTube's 3D channel that's full of 3D content, some good and some not so good.

The YouTube 3D app lets you access arguably the largest database of 3D movies online

Organizer and apps

The LG Optimus 3D Max comes with the usual set of organizing apps and there's a preloaded document viewer and editor.

The app in question is Polaris Office and it's one of the most feature-rich mobile editors we've seen. Starting with the basics, you can, of course, view documents - Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents and PDF files too.

Polaris Office viewer and editor

Editing offers almost a full set of options - text style, justification, paragraph formatting, bullets, even creating tables. If you're editing an Excel file, you get a formula wizard, resize rows/columns, border style, merge cells and so on. Even creating a full PowerPoint presentation is possible.

You can do practically anything with the app - it's better than most other mobile editors we've tested.

Editing Word and Excel documents in Polaris Office

The app doubles as a file manager and also integrates with Box.net.

The calendar has four different types of view - daily, weekly, monthly and agenda. Adding a new event is quick and easy, and you can also set an alarm to act as a reminder.

The calendar has the usual good functionality

The LG Optimus 3D Max features an alarm clock application, which supports multiple alarms, each with its own start and repeat time.

You can easily set up multiple alarms • Stopwatch • Timer

The organizer package also includes a voice recorder, which might be pretty useful for making audio notes and a nicely touch-optimized calculator. There is a Memo app for text notes as well.

The calculator and the voice recorder • Memo

There are also weather, news and finance apps.

Weather app • Finance • News

A Video Editor is also pre-installed.

The Video Editor

What's missing are actual Facebook and Twitter apps - LG didn't bother but the Google Play store is a tap away.