MWC 2014: LG G Pro 2, G2 mini and L III series hands-on

LG G Pro 2 hands-on

The LG G Pro 2 went official 10 days prior to the MWC. It's already selling in Korea, with US and Europe getting it in March and April.

The G Pro 2 is the successor of the Optimus G Pro phablet and upgrades all major specs. It comes with a larger 5.9" 1080p IPS display, runs on the Snapdragon 800 chipset with 3GB of RAM, and comes with a 13MP camera with enhanced optical image stabilization (OIS+).

LG G Pro 2 next to the Samsung Galaxy Note 3

The G Pro 2's display looks great, colors are punchy, the viewing angles are OK too, though the performance under direct sunlight is rather unimpressive. Still the display occupies 77.2% of the entire front, the bezels are impressively slim.

The other key features of the LG G Pro 2 are expandable 16 or 32GB of internal storage, 4K video recording @30 fps, 1080p videos @ 60fps and 720p@120fps. The phablet is powered by a 3,200mAh battery.

LG G Pro 2

LG G Pro 2 is running Android 4.4.2 KitKat skinned with LG's proprietary Emotional UX. The phablet also introduces the so-called Knock Code - allowing device unlock by a combination of taps on the screen. We tried this feature and liked it, though it takes some time to get used to.

LG G Pro 2: a closer look

Here's a quick video demo of LG's latest software:

The LG G Pro 2 is made entirely of plastic. Its back has barely visible pattern, and is glossy and very slippery. We expected to find fingerprints and smudges all over the G Pro 2 after handling the phablet for a while, but as it turns out it is not affected too badly, never mind the glossy finish.

The back of the G Pro 2 has the already familiar control deck just below the camera - a Power/Lock key squeezed between the volume keys. Those can be configured to launch different apps (such as the camera) upon a long press.

A peek under the battery cover

We've taken the LG G Pro 2 out for a quick spin. We were eager to test its OIS camera, so we snapped e few photos.

LG G Pro 2 10MP 16:9 camera samples

And here is a full 13MP 4:3 photo.

LG G Pro 2 13MP camera sample.

We've also shot two short 4K videos with the LG G Pro 2. The first we uploaded to YouTube for convenience, the second is available for download untouched. Enjoy!

4K video sample

We'll keep our comments on the quality for the retail review unit, but the G Pro 2 camera indeed looks promising.