LG Optimus G Pro review: Proceed to checkout

Google Now shows what virtual assistants should be like

Google Now was first introduced in Jelly Bean 4.1 and is definitely one of the most interesting additions to the OS. Simply put, it's Google's version of a personal assistant. Google Now is in the same neck of the woods as Apple's Siri, but it learns constantly from your use patterns.

It's accessed by swiping up on any of the on-screen controls and gives you a short overview of information it believes is relevant to you. Going to work the same route every morning? Google Now will let you know there's a big traffic jam on your usual way to the office and will offer an alternative route.

It can interpret a lot of things from your search history as well. If you've been searching for, let's say, your favorite football team, Google Now will prepare a card showing you the next match the team is playing and will provide you with score updates once the game begins.

Google Now is getting better

Google constantly updates Google Now and in its latest version has become even smarter. If you allow it, the service can scan your email for upcoming flights, deliveries or restaurant reservations and let you know when they are due. There are also numerous kinds of cards like birthdays (yours and those of your contacts and friends in the Google+ social network) and what distance you've walked in a particular month.

Google has also integrated Voice Actions. They can handle stuff like sending messages (SMS or email), initiating a voice call, asking for directions, taking a note or opening a site. Google Now can also launch apps, check and manage your calendar and look for nearby places of interest and stuff like movie openings in theaters.

One big advantage of Google's Jelly Bean is that the voice typing functionality doesn't require an internet connection to work. You can enter text by speaking anywhere you can use the on-screen keyboard - be it the Messaging app or a note taking app - without the need for a data connection as long as you have pre-downloaded the needed language packs (and those only take about 20-25MB of your storage per pack).

Making voice typing available offline also made things faster as it's not dependent on the speed of your data connection. What's even more impressive is that the transition hasn't cost it anything in regards to accuracy.

Synthetic benchmarks

The LG Optimus G Pro boasts a Snapdragon 600 chipset with four Krait 300 cores clocked at 1.7GHz, 2GB of RAM and the Adreno 320 GPU. With specs like that you would expect the phablet to be a real benchmark champion and luckily it delivers.

The Optimus G Pro managed to top the Benchmark Pi and Linpack tests, which are meant to judge single and multi-core performance respectively.

Benchmark Pi

Lower is better

• LG Optimus G Pro
  147
• HTC One
  151
• Sony Xperia Z
  264
• HTC Butterfly
  266
• Oppo Find 5
  267
• HTC One X+
  280
• LG Optimus G
  285
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  305
• HTC One X (Tegra 3)
  330
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  350
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  359
• Meizu MX 4-core
  362
• Nexus 4
  431

Linpack

Higher is better

• LG Optimus G Pro
  743
• HTC One
  646
• Sony Xperia Z
  630
• HTC Butterfly
  624
• LG Optimus G
  608
• Oppo Find 5
  593
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  214.3
• Nexus 4
  213.5
• Meizu MX 4-core
  189.1
• HTC One X+
  177.7
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  175.5
• HTC One X
  160.9
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  141.5

The 5.5" LG flagship had excellent performance in the two compound benchmarks we run, too. At Antutu it didn't quite manage to come on top, but it still posted a great score of over 20,000 points, while Quadrant saw the LG Optimus G Pro score another victory.

AnTuTu

Higher is better

• HTC One
  22678
• Sony Xperia Z
  20794
• LG Optimus G Pro
  20056
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  15547
• Oppo Find 5
  15167
• HTC Butterfly
  12631

Quadrant

Higher is better

• LG Optimus G Pro
  12105
• HTC One
  11746
• Sony Xperia Z
  8075
• HTC One X+
  7632
• LG Optimus G
  7439
• Oppo Find 5
  7111
• HTC One X
  5952
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  5916
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  5450
• Meizu MX 4-core
  5170
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  4814
• Nexus 4
  4567

We ran GLBenchmark off-screen, which means we're testing at a fixed resolution, which lets us test the raw GPU power. The Optimus G Pro didn't disappoint, but failed to beat the HTC One. Still, it scored as much as the less powerful Xperia Z, and a tad better than the iPhone 5.

GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC One
  34
• Asus Padfone 2
  31
• Oppo Find 5
  30
• LG Optimus G Pro
  29
• Sony Xperia Z
  29
• LG Optimus G
  29
• Apple iPhone 5
  27
• Nexus 4
  26
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  17
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  15
• HTC One X+
  12
• HTC One X
  9

But most games will probably want to run at native resolution, so we're including Epic Citadel, which uses Unreal Engine 3. Unreal Engine is popular with mobile game makers, so it's a pretty important test. The benchmark was run at the High Quality setting and yet the Optimus G Pro posted a great result and is breathing in the Xperia Z's neck pushing the 60fps limitation.

Epic Citadel

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia Z
  55.6
• LG Optimus G Pro
  54.2
• Nexus 4
  53.9
• Asus Padfone 2
  53.4
• LG Optimus G
  52.6
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  41.3
• Oppo Find 5
  38.6

SunSpider is all about pure JavaScript performance. Here, the Optimus G Pro only got a mid-table finish, but the truth is the difference is hard to perceive in real-life scenarios.

SunSpider

Lower is better

• Samsung Ativ S
  891
• Apple iPhone 5
  915
• Nokia Lumia 920
  910
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  972
• HTC One X+
  1001
• LG Optimus G Pro
  1011
• Motorola RAZR i XT890
  1059
• HTC One
  1124
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  1192
• Meizu MX 4-core
  1312
• LG Optimus G
  1353
• HTC Butterfly
  1433
• Sony Xperia Z
  1906
• Nexus 4
  1971
• Oppo Find 5
  2045

BrowserMark 2

Higher is better

• LG Optimus G
  2555
• HTC One
  2262
• Sony Xperia Z
  1865
• LG Optimus G Pro
  1801
• Oppo Find 5
  1797
• Nexus 4
  1794
• Nokia Lumia 920
  1774
• Nokia Lumia 820
  1760
• Samsung Omnia W
  1632
• HTC Butterfly
  1475
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  1247

Overall, the Snapdragon 600 platform proved itself to be an excellent choice for the full HD Optimus G Pro, turning it into an excellent performer. UI navigation is fluid and smooth with apps launching more than swifly.