LG Optimus 2X review

LG Optimus 2X review: Design and handling

From the front, the LG Optimus 2X is a big black pane of glass, which will surprise absolutely no one who's seen a smartphone in the last few years.

It brings to mind HTC phones such as the Incredible S and HTC HD 7 with its all-black visage and four touch-sensitive Android buttons for Menu, Home, Back and Search at the bottom.

Unusually, the glass rounds off slightly at the left and right edges of the front fascia. It's a hard edge at the top and the bottom, but the softer edges at the sides to help the phone to feel comfortable when you're reaching across the four-inch screen with your thumb.

That screen is is the now-standard WVGA 480 x 800 that we expect to see on Android devices on this size. While inevitably not quite as sharp as the iPhone 4's Retina display, we'd go out on a limb and say it'll do for most people.

The screen is bright, and colours are vibrant and hugely appealing when viewed straight on. Stray too much to the side and they lose their brightness and gain a slight blue cast, but text is still perfectly legible. It's not quite offering the high quality screen of the HTC Desire S, but it's more than adequate.

Above the screen is a small earspeaker and the front-facing camera.

Moving away from the glass screen of the Optimus 2X, a kind of gunmetal grey is the outfit of choice. The right side of the phone features two buttons for volume control, while the bottom has speaker grilles and the micro-USB port.

On the Optimus 2X's top edge the 3.5mm headphone jack, the Sleep/Wake button (pulling double duty to turn the phone on and off) and a covered mini-HDMI port to connect to your HDTV.

It seems a little odd that this port is covered while the almost identically sized USB port is open, but maybe it's so LG can write 'HDMI' on the cover to gloat.

The back of the phone features a long shiny strip etched with Google's logo that leads up to the LED flash and eight-megapixel camera's lens. The faux brushed metal strip will definitely get itself scratched up during your time with the phone, suffering a severe case of 'iPod back syndrome'.

The backplate pops off if you slip a nail under a notch down by the USB port. It's plastic, and so just pops off with a bit of a bend. It feels high quality and solid when it's on the phone, but is quite thin and flexible once removed.

Underneath is a capacious 1500mAh battery along with slots for the SIM card and microSD card - although the competition is moving to 1620mAh or even 1930mAh options these days.

You have to remove the battery to get your SIM in and out, but the memory card slot can be accessed any time.