LG Optimus G Pro vs Huawei Ascend P2

We take a quick look at two new contenders from MWC 2013 with Huawei's Ascend P2 and LG's Optimus G Pro

Published on Feb 25, 2013

The LG Optimus G Pro is the Korean manufacturer’s latest flagship handset based on Android and runs a quad-core processor with a large 5.5-inch display.

Huawei’s Ascend P2 is a bit smaller with a 4.7-inch display but packs a similarly powerful quad-core chip and a slightly different design.

LG Optimus G Pro: key specs and what’s hot

The exterior build of the Optimus G Pro is a bit of an odd hybrid, sitting somewhere between an iPhone and a Samsung Galaxy S3 – it has flat, broad edges, silver trim and a shiny plastic finish.

Some standout features, however, include the fact that the bezel is virtually non-existent, meaning the star of the show is that vast touch display – this is how things should be.

Speaking of the display, it’s a sizeable 5.5-inch IPS LCD which is incredibly bright and vivid, while the Full HD 1920x1080 pixel resolution ensures things are suitably crisp at 401 pixels-per-inch (ppi).

The Optimus G Pro also has plenty of power owing to the use of Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 600 chip, the very same one found in the HTC One. It’s a quad-core setup clocked at 1.7GHz with 2GB of RAM and an Adreno 320 GPU in tow.

Benchmarks of the HTC One suggest this chipset utterly dominates everything else on the current market.

LG’s device also has plenty of storage with 32GB onboard and microSD support for up to 64GB.

Huawei Ascend P2: key specs and what’s hot

With the Ascend P2 Huawei has reeled in a few specs from their runaway number-chasing nature in current trends, or at least, that’s the official story.

For example, Huawei points out the human eye can’t perceive pixel densities higher than around 300 pixels-per-inch (ppi), so the Ascend P2 sticks to a 1280x720 pixel 4.7-inch IPS LCD display at 312ppi.

Certainly a 312ppi display is still going to be rewarding to look at and things appear to be reasonably sharp and colourful.

The Ascend P2 is powered by Huawei’s own K3V2 quad-core chip clocked at 1.5GHz with 1GB of RAM. While some pre-release models seem to have a few hiccups early benchmarks suggest a higher-end capability than the iPhone 5 or Samsung’s Galaxy S3.

In terms of build it’s not too dissimilar to its opponent, being made of similarly shiny plastic with silver trim, although it’s more curved on the back, more angular at the front and slightly smaller overall.

Verdict

Both phones have a similar fit and finish in terms of materials and build quality, they also both run quad-core chipsets and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The LG Optimus G Pro should perform a bit quicker with its premium Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chip, but both phones will give good speeds.

While both use Android with the same underlying experience for the end user both also have very thick UI overlays which we’d rather they didn’t employ.

Not only do these not add useful or desirable functions over stock Android but they can also compromise performance. Fortunately, you can always use a launcher.

The Optimus G Pro scores big points on storage with more space and greater flexibility than the Huawei’s 16GB onboard and lack of microSD.

At a push we’d say the LG Optimus G Pro’s faster processor, more generous storage and better build quality makes it our preferred choice here.

by via Know Your Mobile