LG Nitro HD Review

AT&T and LG released yet another LTE 4G device— the LG Nitro HD. It is also the first and only device with a 720p display on AT&T. Priced at a hefty $250, the Nitro HD has set some high expectations. To see if the Nitro HD met these expectations, read on for our full BriefMobile review.

• The 4.5″ True HD capacitive touch screen with 329 ppi gives you higher image resolution and text readability.
• Enjoy an undistorted, full screen True HD viewing experience with the 16:9 HD aspect ratio.
• See more page content on a single screen with Nitro HD’s 720 x 1280 high-resolution display.
• Powered by a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor and supporting AT&T’s LTE/HSPA+ 4G LTE compatibility.
• Android 2.3 platform (Gingerbread) delivers improved power management, multitouch, and enhanced copy/paste.
• Experience 1080p, True HD video capture.
• Nitro HD also sports a 1.3 MP front-facing camera, making video chats easy and fun.
• Nitro HD’s portable Wi-Fi hotspot capability allows you to share your 4G connection with up to 5 wireless devices.

The Nitro HD is a typically built Android device. The rectangular shape with a rough, plastic backing has been the trend for the past few major devices. The microUSB/MHL port is positioned at the top of the device covered by a cheap flap. Right next to the port is a second microphone for noise cancellation. On the outer edges of the top of the device are a 3.5mm headphone jack and the power button.

The strangest part of the device to me is the placing of the volume keys. The rockers are found in the upper-center of the left side of the Nitro HD. This is a bit awkward when trying to change volume on the fly since it is much lower down than usual. Nothing is to be found on the bottom or along the right side of the device.

On the front of the Nitro, the front facing camera can be found at the top along side an AT&T logo. The earpiece stretches across the upper part of the device, which provides ample sound levels. Underneath the massively large 4.5″ display, there are only 3 capacitive buttons located at the bottom: a combo menu/search, home, and back button.

The rear of the device is very plain. The 8MP HD camera is spotted at the upper center of the device. The LG logo graces the very center of the rear, while the external speaker is located in the bottom right-hand corner.

The 4.5-inch True HD AH-IPS installed on the Nitro HD may be the best screen on today’s market. Not only is this screen just as bright, if not brighter than the Super AMOLED Plus displays, it only utilizes half the power! The AH-IPS display is truly remarkable piece of technology— it’s revolutionary. Top that off with a 720p resolution and a 329ppi and this device is now equipped with one deadly weapon.

When it comes to benchmarks the LG Nitro HD flies and performs like no other. It puts up numbers like 6309 on AnTuTu, 86.098 MFLOPS on LinPack, and an average of 56 fps on Nenamark and 37 fps on Nenamark 2. On paper this device is one of the top performers in the smartphone world.

The Nitro HD is no slacker when it comes to hardware. It packs a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm dual-core processor, the outdated Adreno 220 GPU, and 768 MB of RAM. One would be quick to think that the Nitro would be extremely smooth running, but it’s not. Strikingly, the Nitro stutters and freezes constantly and sometimes locks up so hard it requires a reboot, and this is just with typical usage. Consistency is very important to me when using a device, but this dropped the ball.

Your standard run of the mill set-up’s on the Nitro, Gingerbread with LG’s own flavoring added in. LG’s UI is eerily similar to Samsung’s TouchWiz. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, but I’m certainly not saying it’s good either. This could possibly be the cause of the Nitro’s sluggish woes. It seems to have plenty of CPU speed and RAM, but it’s still sluggish.

We’ve seen this before with the LG G2x. An impressive device hardware wise, but lacking in the software department. Other than the inconsistency, the software is extremely clean. I just can’t get past the point it is a straight rip of TouchWiz 3.0, minus the widgets.

I was disappointed to find that there was no way to disable AT&T LTE 4G without root. We saw this originally with Verizon, and we also saw the side-effects: terrible battery life. Combine this with AT&T’s very limited LTE coverage, and you have a recipe for disaster. The device scans at least every 15 minutes for a 4G signal, and since it can’t be disabled it drains the battery nearly 40 to 60% faster than with it disabled. If it was connected to the LTE 4G, it would be even less of a burden on the battery. Again, not a whole lot of coverage for AT&T’s LTE network.

The camera is subpar at best. The “HD” part of Nitro HD is generally referred to for the screen and camera, which both may be true, but the camera does not produce the same level of quality as the display.

The pictures of the Nitro HD are blurred due to the difficulty to focus the camera. The Nitro HD does have an auto-focus ability, but it does a terrible job. It took me nearly three tries before I got a clear enough picture that I found to be satisfactory. Even so, the picture still lacked the upper-level quality found in the iPhone 4S or Samsung GALAXY S II.

The front facing camera was on par with nearly every other device. Basically made for low quality video streaming, and it gets the job done.

Videoing with the Nitro HD was no where near as difficult as the camera was to focus. The videos came out with better quality than the photos did, which is rare. You can see a sample of a video I took with the Nitro below.

The battery life on the Nitro HD is the most disappoint aspect of the device. Even with a large 1830 mAh battery, the Nitro can barely make it through an entire day without charging. One of the attributing causes to this plague is the lack of a LTE 4G toggle. As I specified previously, at least 40% of battery drain can be attributed to just the radio scanning for LTE.

When put through the AnTuTu battery tester, the Nitro ranked in with an extremely low score of 256. Compared to the Epic 4G Touch and GALAXY Nexus, which both scored in the 500 area, this is unnerving. However, in my personal experience with the device, it was just as good if not better with battery life than my Epic 4G Touch even with the LTE running constantly.

When it comes down to it, the LG Nitro HD could be one of the better devices on AT&T. Aside for the sluggish performance by the Nitro, the display is down right magnificent and the hardware is top of the line when it comes to dual-core. Here’s hoping that Ice Cream Sandwich comes soon!