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The Optimus 4X HD really is a true multimedia phone. Out of the box, you have 12GB storage to play with (technically, it's 16GB but the OS takes up a fair chunk of this).
For many, this'll be enough, but the beauty is that unlike handsets like HTC's current One crop, you can indeed expand the memory here by up to 32GB.
Some users have reported being able to slip a 64GB card in there with no problems, though that's not technically supported.
Music
The stock music player does an admirable job and we found it worked well enough with every format we threw at it. It comes with a widget preinstalled for easy access and the full app allows you to view your tunes by songs, albums, playlists, artists or folders.
When listening to music via headphones, there are also several audio effects from Dolby Mobile to Bass Booster and Headset Enhancer. It's basically the stock Android player with a little bit of LG plastered on top. Unfortunately, quality isn't amazing and we found the volume to be very low – even with headphones on max.
We had no specific complaints about the music app but it did feel a little basic. We'd strongly urge you to download a third party alternative – PlayerPro, PowerAmp etc are all credible alternatives.
There's also an FM radio and while we didn't seem to be able to locate RDS support, we were impressed with the lack of hissing compared to other premium Android handsets we've used.
Video
For a phone with "HD" in the title, you'll be pleased to know that the included video player is a belter.
It makes us laugh to look back at early Android handsets and how they didn't come with any kind of video playback installed. Whereas the offering from the Optimus 4X HD is quite an advanced bit of code.
In fact, it's brimming with features – so much so that the first time you use it, it guides you through them. Fingertip Seek is one of them and what it does is allow you to move to various points in the movie much easier.
Pinch-to-zoom (literally) is another, plus a preview mode which actually lets you view one video whilst checking another. It's all very intuitive, fluid and obvious that LG has put a bit of time into this.
Almost all video files are supported (we say almost because every file we tried - DivX, MP4, WMV, Xvid etc - worked, but there are sure to be some obscure ones that cause trouble.) And the great thing is that the Google Play store has really come of age so that you don't have to feel you're missing out if you're not in Club iTunes.
In fact, with that HD screen and the Optimus 4X HD not being too heavy to hold, whilst still giving you a great resolution, you really can use this as a comfortable and fun PMP.
Plus you have the fantastic YouTube app. We love using this on Android and think it wipes the floor with Apple's version. What more could you need?
Photos
The photo gallery is stock Android which we find to be fairly competent. It sweeps the phone for every form of photo and sticks it in a folder depending on which app it came from.
It can be a little annoying because you end up with gazillions of folders if you use gazillions of photography apps. But then again, if everything were in the same place all the time, we'd probably moan about that too.
If you want to share your media, DLNA is here as it is on most similar handsets these days. LG ships the Optimus 4X HD with an app called SmartShare which allows you to send your stuff back and forth from your phone to appliances like a Smart TV.
We used it with our PS3 and found it to be a fairly fluid experience although we hate to say it, we think Apple still leads the way with the whole iOS to Apple TV link. It's just all there and Android could catch up a bit here.
All in all though, if you're looking for a good media phone, you could definitely do a lot worse than the Optimus 4X HD.
