So my second hand LG VU 2 F200 arrived today. This is the Korean version which comes with the TV antenna. 2GB RAM with Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8960 Dual-core 1.5 Ghz Krait CPU. Guess that 2GB RAM really does make a difference cause this thing flies even though it is using a much older processor. It is just a bit slower than my current Nexus 4 with Jelly Bean 4.3.
Out of the box (well actually no box since it only came with the phone and nothing else. No charger. Nothing. Nada. Zilch) it comes with ICS 4.04. Updated it to LG's latest Jelly Bean 4.1.2. Funnily enough I find it smoother when it was on ICS 4.04.
At any one time it seems to really use up RAM and constantly hitting 1GB and beyond but due to the 2GB headroom, it never seems to slow down. I'm very very impressed. Thank God I never got the Singapore version (P895) which comes with Tegra 3 and 1GB RAM.
I know its form factor gets a lot of grief from the West but there is a reason why I got this. Hear me out.
Like most people I have always been wanting to get that 1 device that will do away with 2 or more other devices. A smartphone plus tablet all rolled into one. A phablet? But current phablets like the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 or even the Nokia 1520 with its 6 inch screen are too big to fit in pockets. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is able to fit into normal pants or jeans but it gets really uncomfortable when you start to move your legs or worse still sitting down. When I think about it, the issue is really not about the width but really about the height of the device. The LG VU series solves this problem by being the height of a normal smartphone and yet has the width of a device like the aforementioned Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Nokia 1520. It makes a whole world of difference. For browsing the web and reading your email, the width is more important than the height.
I think the Koreans are onto something here and that they are way ahead the rest of us. The LG VU series is very popular in their home country and is already into its 3rd iteration with the LG VU 3.
The real problem with the LG VU series is that it's UGLY. But looking at the newest LG VU 3, the lines are now a lot smoother and it looks quite a bit better. Really looking forward to it.
UPDATE 1 : The looks are growing on me. I mean I don't love it but I don't hate it as much as I thought I would. Did not elicit any comments (well maybe 1) when I brought it to office. The one who commented says he loves the wide screen and the form factor makes sense to him. Quite taken aback that it was a positive response. I would have thought that people would ridicule me due to the short and chubby form factor. That was a pleasant surprise. So I guess all is not lost for this form factor. On an another note, I heard rumours that LG will not be bringing in the LG VU 3 to Singapore (maybe due to the unpopularity of the other 2 previous models). That is a bummer cause I really liked this previous model. Maybe have to look at those exotic handphone importers like SGKEITAI.com for the LG VU 3.
UPDATE 2 : The battery does not seem to hold a charge very well. It drains pretty fast especially when browsing. It's idle time is also quite bad. I easily lose 10% percent when it's left overnight. However on a positive note, it recharges quite fast. Maybe it's time to get a new set of battery.
UPDATE 3 : Two more colleagues have handled this and they seem to like it. It makes sense to them too. Or maybe they are just being polite. Or maybe it's just a West thing. Either that or people just parrot what they read and are judging a book by its cover.
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