This phone is a big deal for AT&T and the US in general; its the third of AT&T’s LTE range and the first of AT&T’s 720p screen phones (and its just the US’s second). It’s certainly got impressive specs and is LG’s flagship model.
LG Nitro HD
Hardware
LG Nitro HD may not appeal to those who base a phone on looks; it is very bland and is pretty much a slimmer version of the ATRIX 2. The phone ships with a 16GB microSD card, better than most rivals who ship with just a 8GB card. And the actual card can be put into the device without even removing the battery.
LG Nitro HD Screen
The rest of the specs are quite bland as well; a 1.5Ghz dual core and a gig of RAM. This allows Android to run smoothly but isn’t insane; expect results of 2500 – 2700 on the Quadrant test. The hardware puts in among the top tier of smartphones but given the speed of the industry it won’t stay there for long.
Software
LG has put its own interference on top of Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread. This is iPhone-esque and if you know Touchwiz (Samsung’s Software) then this is very similar. AT&T have somewhat spoiled this phone with their bloatware but thankfully you can remove a lot of it. But there is two apps that won’t go away; Zynga Poker and Yellow Pages. Yellow Pages has some sort of use and is integrated in the dialer. But Zynga Poker lacks any real purpose unless you want a poker game; and if you did you should be able to get it from the market, not pre-loaded. We imagine Zynga are paying AT&T quite a bit and its a shame that AT&T have fallen to this.
LG Nitro HD Apps Screen
On the upside, the interface runs smooth and you shouldn’t experience any slowdowns when using the phone for most usage. We can also expect a ICS update sometime in the future.
Battery
As with all powerful smartphones you should expect to be charging this phone every night. The Nitro HD is even worse and after 3-4 hours of typical to high usage had hit 50%. And it fully died after 8 hours. If you don’t have access to a charger throughout the day this might be a problem unless you don’t use the phone very much.
LG Nitro HD Battery
Camera
The camera is your typical 8MP, 1080 affair but this camera stands out from the rest producing some great pictures. Videos on the other hand aren’t too great and despite having 1080p it really only suits YouTube clips.
LG Nitro HD Camera
Conclusion
This phone is really a mixed bag. The screen, although having a 720p display isn’t too great – its way too dim. The styling leaves a lot to be desired and the battery life quite frankly, sucks. But you do have a decent camera and a 720p screen (the only one on AT&T). It costs $250 on contract, the same as the Galaxy S II Skyrocket that I would recommend instead, despite having a much lower resolution screen.
