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The Optimus 4X HD is a really competent point and shoot. Not the best we've used but passable for a bit of playing about. It comes with two cameras on board – a 1.3MP job on the front which is good for vanity and an 8MP shooter round the back.
On the whole, we weren't overwhelmed with the quality of snaps. In average light, they looked clear and sharp with good colour representation. In some cases, strong light meant the whole image just looked washed out.
In no light, the LED flash made a world of difference and illuminated a pitch black room well enough to take a snap. That flash is pretty intense – much like the Samsung Galaxy S2 and S3 and far superior to the HTC One X which tends to throw in a bit of noise for good measure, unfortunately.
Plus, you get some good features like Continuous Shot (which gives you six photos snapped in burst mode) and Time Catch Shot which also captures the seconds before you hit the shutter so you don't miss the crucial moment.
HDR mode wasn't amazing – with a fair bit of blur making the final result.
Scene modes aren't overly generous – you get the basics like Sports and Night and not much else. The Optimus can switch between auto focus mode and face tracking mode.
We found that the auto focus was slow to refocus in good light though and that meant some good opportunities were lost. At least you do have the option of tap to focus.
We did have a few other gripes too. Firstly, there's no shutter button. We know lots of phones don't have them these days but that doesn't make it right.
When you hold these phones like cameras and they have so many camera-like features, it really grates to not be able to take a photo with a dedicated button.
Secondly, tasks like changing the flash from 'off' to 'on' are not overly easy as you have to go into the settings menu with no obvious way of putting a shortcut on the camera screen. Which obviously takes time.
And thirdly, there are four variations of shutter sound for you to choose from, there is no option to turn it off completely.
Even when the phone is completely in silent mode. Which we think is ridiculous. Sometimes, it's perfectly acceptable to want to take a picture quietly without being a pervert and we feel irked that LG refuses to let us. Is this a nanny-state?
Overall, it's a competent camera that fails to match the power of the HTC One X or Galaxy S3.
