LG Optimus G Pro review: Proceed to checkout

Display

The eye-catching 5.5" True HD IPS Plus display of Full HD resolution is definitely one of the LG Optimus G Pro's key selling points. LG is keen on making lots of noise about how the colors are rendered, pitting it against Samsung's AMOLED displays. Long story short, LG claims the Optimus G Pro's display shows 100% accurate colors, unlike AMOLED screens.

Here's what the screen looks like through the eyes of our digital microscope:

LG Optimus G Pro screen up close

Of course, we took it for a test drive ourselves and we can safely confirm that the images indeed look great and colors pop, especially the reds. The display is impressively sharp too, thanks to the amazing pixel density of 400 ppi.

So, the screen junkies that we are, we decided to take out the Galaxy S III and put its Super AMOLED 720p screen next to the True HD-IPS+ 1080p LCD of the G Pro. The S III has better contrast and oversaturated colors (which is plus or a minus, depending on who you ask).

A head on image of the two screens

The LG Optimus G Pro's screen is more reflective and there is contrast loss when you're looking at the screen at an angle. It's a minor thing though, the G Pro screen is excellent overall.

Check out the reflective surfaces and viewing angles

We also compared the Optimus G Pro to the regular Optimus G. The smaller phone has a screen of 318ppi and, while you can't quite see individual pixels, you can still notice jaggies on curves and diagonals.

The Optimus G Pro's screen has about the same contrast though it's brighter. It has a noticeable advantage in viewing angles, the Optimus G screen starts showing a shift in contrast earlier and the effect is much stronger. The Optimus G Pro screen is a bit more reflective though and it's sunlight legibility is worse.

Display test	50% brightness			100% brightness
	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio
LG Optimus G Pro	-	-	-	0.41	611	1489
Samsung I8730 Galaxy Express	0	201	∞	0	364	∞
HTC Butterfly	0.14	173	1200	0.45	501	1104
Sony Xperia Z	-	-	-	0.70	492	705
Oppo Find 5	0.17	176	1123	0.51	565	1107
LG Optimus G	0.14	197	1445	0.33	417	1438
Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III	0	174	∞	0	330	∞
Nokia Lumia 920	-	-	-	0.48	513	1065
Apple iPhone 5	0.13	200	1490	0.48	640	1320
Nexus 4	0.22	314	1447	0.45	608	1341
HTC One X	0.15	200	1375	0.39	550	1410

Sunlight contrast ratio

• Nokia 808 PureView
  4.698
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  3.419
• Samsung Omnia W
  3.301
• Samsung Galaxy S
  3.155
• Nokia N9
  3.069
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  2.970
• HTC One S
  2.901
• Samsung Galaxy Express
  2.861
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  2.832
• Samsung Galaxy S II Plus
  2.801
• Huawei Ascend P1
  2.655
• Nokia Lumia 900
  2.562
• Sony Xperia Z
  2.462
• Samsung Galaxy S III mini
  2.422
• Motorola RAZR i
  2.366
• Apple iPhone 4S
  2.269
• HTC One X
  2.158
• Nokia N8
  2.144
• Oppo Find 5
  2.088
• BlackBerry Z10
  2.051
• Apple iPhone 4
  2.016
• Sony Ericsson Xperia ray
  1.955
• Samsung Galaxy Camera
  1.938
• HTC Butterfly
  1.873
• Sony Xperia V
  1.792
• Sony Xperia U
  1.758
• LG Optimus G
  1.753
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  1.691
• HTC One V
  1.685
• LG Optimus Vu
  1.680
• HTC Desire V
  1.646
• Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
  1.632
• LG Optimus G Pro
  1.552
• LG Optimus 3D
  1.542
• Nokia Asha 302
  1.537
• Nokia Lumia 610
  1.432
• Gigabyte GSmart G1355
  1.361
• Samsung Galaxy Grand
  1.321
• HTC Desire C
  1.300
• 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

The capacitive sensor on the screen is very sensitive and will detect touches even if you're wearing gloves, using a long fingernail or an improvised stylus (like keys, some pens, etc.). Unfortunately, there was also a fair number of accidental taps as the screen is a bit too receptive.

We should note something we ran across during benchmarking the Optimus G Pro. After an intensive benchmark the screen refused to go over 92% brightness due to "temperature restrictions". The back of the device was warm, but not unpleasantly hot. It cooled off pretty quickly and the screen went back to full brightness, but it's something to keep in mind when running intensive games.