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Tuesday 14 February 2012

LG DoublePlay

The most unusual feature is the phone's two screens, one main 3.5-inch touchscreen running at 320 x 480p resolution and a second 2-inch, 240 x 320p screen.

 The two-screen approach, like the 3DS or the Echo, lets you run an app in one screen and see app icons in another. Or, you can see your main Facebook page and chat with someone on the second screen.

As you can imagine, having two screens means putting up with some bulk. The phone weighs 192 grams, or about 50 grams heavier than the Galaxy Nexus. At 64mm thick, the DoublePlay feels like it could double as a hockey puck or maybe a doorstop. If thin is in, then LG didn't get the memo.

With its 1GHz processor, the DoublePlay is a bit behind the curve compared to the new crop of 1.2GHz and 1.5GHz phones that have added zip for games and browsing the Web. The phone is loaded with Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread and we kept missing the superior performance and usability of Android 4.0.


The 5-megapixel camera is also a bit behind the pack. At CES, we saw a bevy of phones with extremely high-res cameras, up to 16MP in some cases. The DoublePlay supports 720p video recording, but it is equally inadequate. The phone includes 2GB of internal memory, but if you need more space for your photos and videos, it supports up to 32GM microSD cards.
As for wireless connections, this is an HSPA+ phone running on T-Mobile in the US with a rated download speed of about 14.4Mbps. Real-world speeds were much lower, hovering around 3-4Mbps.

The phone supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 3.0. Unlike an Android 4.0 phone, the DoublePlay does not work with the new Bluetooth Health Device Protocol (HDP) standard and does not have an NFC chip.
Further lessening its appeal, the DoublePlay comes equipped with a 1500 mAh battery is not quite capable of all-day functionality. The two screens definitely hamper the experience if all you care about is talking and texting. The phone is rated for just three hours of talk time.

In our own tests, the DoublePlay lasted for about six hours of normal use during the day. As with many recent Android phones, we installed the Juice Defender and were able to use the phone an entire day.
Alas, none of that is likely to matter if you're interested in the DoublePlay solely for its dual-screen functionality. We think only the most hardcore dual-screen users will appreciate the hardware design; other will miss a slimmer phone.
 

The LG DoublePlay is a unique phone that, if nothing else, tries to do something different. When it works, the dual-screens let you multitask at an unprecedented and entirely awesome pace.

Unfortunately, its uses are so sparse, that the novelty of the DoublePlay starts to wear thin, quickly. The phone is quite a bit too big and bulky, so everyday tasks like making calls and browsing the Web become too cumbersome.

Merits

The dual-screen does afford some extra functionality – namely, texting or taking notes on the small screen while you perform other tasks on the main screen. And when you're done using the physical keyboard, it's handy being able to slide up the phone keyboard and use the virtual keyboard.
Apps generally ran fast, and we had no problems visiting sites (except a few that buckled under their own large Flash animations).

Demerits

The LG DoublePlay felt bulky and heavy by the end of the day. The battery can't match the longevity of comparable models.
The camera did not provide enough clarity for photos or video, and did not include enough settings to fake good picture-taking.
Typing on the split-screen was a bit cumbersome and, perhaps most unforgivable of all, the small display frequently had no functionality in conjunction with apps. There was no way to know what was supported, aside from opening each app.

Verdict

The LG DoublePlay gets extra points for doing something almost entirely different. For some, the second screen will be a productive aid.
However, at the end of the day the second screen feels more like a mistake than a revolution, and as an everyday phone, the DoublePlay just doesn't cut it.
It's too bulky, too unintuitive, and too low-tech to be anything besides a gimmick.

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