LG Optimus 4X HD

Gone are the days when people's judgements over which phone to choose were based on whether it played Snake and had interchangeable fascias. The new breed of elite handsets that are getting people excited are all about big screens and burly processors.

The LG Optimus 4X HD is no exception and comes packing a 720p resolution screen and a quad-core processor. There's no word on availability or pricing yet, but along with high-end specs usually comes a top-whack price, so get saving now.

Stay tuned for a full review soon.

Design

With a screen size of 4.7 inches, the 4X is pushing the boundaries of what can legitimately be called a phone, rather than a tablet. It's not pushing the gargantuan proportions of the Samsung Galaxy Note, which clocks in at a whopping 5.3 inches, but it's a fair bit bigger than the Samsung Galaxy S2, which already feels pretty large in the hand.

You'll either love or hate a screen of this size. On the one hand, the extra screen real estate will make web browsing and watching your favourite YouTube clips a delight. On the other, it does mean having to fit quite a hefty device into your pocket. Those of you with teeny-tiny hands may find it difficult to type on with your thumbs.

The screen itself is an IPS LCD affair that offers an excellent resolution of 1,280x720 pixels. I haven't been able to check out exactly how the display looks, but it has the same resolution as Sony's new Xperia S phone. The latter looks amazing so I have high hopes for a similarly great experience on the 4X. If LG manages to make it bright and vivid too, then it may well take one of the top spots among my favourite phone screens.

Looks wise, it doesn't push any boundaries with its industry-standard black rectangle case -- what LG calls a "prism-edged" design. I've no idea what that means, but from the look of the pictures, it seems to be sporting subtle chrome banding, not unlike the Galaxy S2.

There are no physical buttons in sight on the front of the device, so you'll be using touch-sensitive controls to navigate around the Android interface.

Around the rear is an 8-megapixel camera, with a back-illuminated sensor that's designed to offer better results in low light conditions. Together with the LED flash, it might make this a good snapper for parties in grimey underground pubs. I'll be giving the camera a full test in the main review. There's also a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video calling using services like Skype.

LG clearly ran out of budget for the press shots of the Optimus 4X HD, but no expense has been spared on the quad-core tech within.

Quad-core processor

Under the hood of the 4X you'll find Nvidia's latest Tegra 3 processor that offers four main processing cores. The only device I've used so far that uses this chip is the Asus Transformer Prime tablet. Operation on that was extremely swift, with no lag whatsoever when swiping between the various home screens or opening apps.

Given that the smaller screen size of the 4X will be less demanding, I'm expecting at least as good a performance. The processor is also designed to handle 3D gaming much better than regular mobile processors, so if you're a fan of titles such as Blood & Glory, or any of the high-definition racing titles on Android Market, this phone may well offer a great gaming experience.

The Tegra 3 has a little trick up its sleeve in the form of a fifth core that it uses for less demanding tasks, such as when the phone is simply idling in standby, but still running live widgets in the background. The idea behind it is that the phone can switch to this lower-powered core to make more economical use of battery life, turning to the main cores when you start firing up more demanding apps.

Fingers crossed this translates to a decent battery life. But with that massive screen sucking up the juice, I'd be amazed if you were able to get a full day of use out of a single charge.

Ice Cream Sandwich

The 4X will ship with the latest version of Android, known as Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS). A lot of new phones -- including LG's own Optimus 3D Max -- are being launched with the older 2.3 Gingerbread software on board, but promising updates to the newer software soon.

It's therefore nice to see that LG has had the good sense to launch with ICS on board. It's pretty galling to spend what will undoubtedly be a small fortune on the latest kit, only to find its software is out of date.

As standard, ICS offers Android's multiple home screens that you can fill up with all kinds of apps and live widgets. They can be resized to be as prominent as you want -- a feature that has been pulled over from the tablet-specific version of Android called Honeycomb.

Of course, you'll get full access to Android Market to take advantage of the hundreds of thousands of apps, games, widgets and wallpapers on offer.

Pretty much every company applies its own skin over the stock Android experience, so I expect LG will be tweaking the interface, although what these changes will be, and if they're any good, remains to be seen.

Outlook

The LG Optimus 4X HD offers a potentially great combination of a high-resolution screen and an incredibly powerful processor. It will no doubt appeal to hardcore gadget junkies, although these specs will likely result in an unimpressive battery life and a steep price tag.

Stay tuned for a full review soon.