A supersized smartphone done right

In fact, when you first pick up the Optimus G Pro, you might actually mistake it for a Samsung device. The phone shares Samsung's plastic-centric construction, all the way down to the candy-shell-like removable back panel. Like with Samsung's phones, the plasticky construction makes the device look and feel less premium than some of its more strikingly constructed contemporaries, but within the realm of supersized phones, that style of build is presently par for the course.

The Optimus G Pro is 3.0 x 5.9 x 0.37 in. (that's a fifth of an inch narrower than the Note II, for anyone keeping track). Factor in its 6.1 oz. weight and this baby definitely ain't svelte: The sheer size of the phone makes it somewhat uncomfortable to carry and even more awkward to hold up to your ear. That's more of an issue with this category of product than with this device in particular, though; a phone this big just isn't going to work for everyone. I'd suggest spending some time holding it in a store and seeing how it feels in your hand to figure out if the form suits you.

Size aside, LG has ditched the all-capacitive button styling it used on past devices for a distinctly Samsung-like setup: The Optimus G Pro has a physical Home button flanked by capacitive Back and Menu keys. This is unfortunate, as the odd and dated hybrid configuration presents the same disadvantages seen on Samsung's products. The Optimus G Pro's Home button is narrower and more recessed than Samsung's, too, which makes it especially awkward to press after you get used to gently tapping the capacitive keys at its sides.

 One nice touch: The Optimus G Pro's Home button doubles as an LED indicator. The button glows a rainbow of colors when the phone boots up and then flashes different colors to alert you of missed calls and other notifications during use. It's a clever and unusual implementation that serves as a distinctive visual element for the phone.

The Optimus G Pro has another useful button-related feature: An extra physical button on the device's top-left edge called the QuickButton. By default, pressing the QuickButton loads the phone's QuickMemo feature (more on that in a bit), but you can customize it to load any app you want. You could set it to open the Camera app, for instance -- in which case it would also serve as a shutter button -- or you could turn it into a one-touch shortcut to Google Now or Google Voice Search. That's a pretty powerful option to have.

The Optimus G Pro has a giant 5.5-in. 1080p IPS LCD display. With 400 pixels per inch, the screen looks fantastic: Images are crisp and vivid with bright, true-to-life smart card, and text is sharp and easy to read.

To my eye, the phone's display doesn't quite reach the level of the HTC One's in terms of color brilliance, but we're talking about a slight level of difference here -- an amount akin to the difference between first and second place in an Olympic swim race. For all intents and purposes, this phone has a stellar display; it's among the finest you'll find on a smartphone today.

LCD technology in general does tend to show less deep-looking blacks than AMOLED screens, which are used on most Samsung smartphones. On the flip side, LCD shows noticeably purer-looking whites -- and, perhaps most important, it remains easy to see outdoors, even in direct sunlight. That's a significant advantage over AMOLED screens, which are often difficult to view in glary conditions and impossible to see in direct sun.

 The Optimus G Pro hums along effortlessly with anything thrown its way: Swiping between home screens is fast and fluid, and even the most intricate system animations execute flawlessly. Apps load instantly, Web browsing is snappy and multitasking is smooth as butter. All around, the phone performs the way a high-end phone should today, with immaculate responsiveness and no signs of lag.

The phone is equally impressive in battery life, and it's no wonder: The Optimus G Pro packs a massive 3140mAh removable battery to keep it running from morning to night. In my experience, it did just that: Even with heavy usage, I consistently got through a full 14 hours before the device started giving me low battery warnings (and those only occurred when I neared five full hours of screen-on time -- including, in some cases, nearly an hour of LTE-based HD video streaming). That's commendable, to say the least.

The Optimus G Pro provides 32GB of onboard storage, about 23GB of which is actually usable after you factor in the operating system and various preinstalled applications. The phone also has an SD card slot that allows you to add up to 64GB of extra external space.

 I also noticed that the Optimus G Pro's images -- while perfectly suitable for online sharing or small-sized prints -- had a visible amount of noise when viewed at their full resolution. With the way most people use smartphone images, that won't make a difference, but camera enthusiasts may want to take note.

What about low-light performance? The Optimus G Pro did well in moderately dim conditions and was able to produce respectable shots (more so than the GS4). When conditions got very dim, though, the phone failed to pick up much of anything -- which is generally the case with most smartphones, save for the low-light-focused HTC One.

The Optimus G Pro's camera interface is simple and easy to use. It's a little light on show-off features compared to some other devices, but it has the important stuff -- controls for adjusting brightness, ISO and white balance; an option for manual focus; a variety of scene modes and even a live color-effect applicator. You can also opt to activate the camera shutter by voice if you want: The phone will take a picture in response to a handful of spoken commands, ranging from "cheese" and "smile" to the more puzzling "whisky" and "kimchi" (I swear I'm not making those up).