Our friends over at LG have sent us the Verizon Intuition by LG for us to review! This is LG’s answer to the phablet, and it is a similar device to the Galaxy Note from Samsung. Currently it is the only phablet on Verizon Wireless so it has the market for now, but coming soon it will have competition from the Galaxy Note II. And the big feature(literally), is the 5-inch 4:3 display. And you need to be able to handle the device to enjoy it and get the most out of it, but should this be your next smartphone? We will answer that in the full review which begins now!
Display
Let’s start off with the biggest feature of the Intuition by LG for Verizon Wireless. It has a huge 5-inch 4:3 aspect ratio touchscreen display. It has a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass, which will give you some protection. Reading books, viewing websites, and looking at presentations look great on this display. However, some applications are not correctly formatted to work on a 5-inch display with a 4:3 aspect ratio. In that case you can either size the application up or down, depending on what you prefer. Text is very legible and the overall display is very sharp, this helps make reading super easy. And it won’t hurt your eyes, as you won’t have to squint to be able to read what is on the device. Color’s on the Intuition look very vibrant and make images look very life-like. Of course you get the best images from the Intuition when the brightness is all the way up. However, viewing angles are not the best. The colors get less vibrant when you look at the screen from different angles. And there is more glare when viewing the display from the side. Overall, the display on the Intuition is great for reading and viewing presentations.
Design
As you may have guessed the design is both large and important on the Verizon Intuition by LG. LG’s design team decided to put most of the ports and buttons on the top of the device. You have a nice micro USB port, that is hidden behind a silver sliding door. You also get your headphone jack, microphone, QuickMemo button, and power/sleep button. The power/sleep button does have a LED light that glows around it when the device is on and being used. The left hand side is home to your volume rocker, it split up into 2(two) separate buttons that are both black in color. There is a silver-aluminum siding going around the device. There is another microphone on the bottom of the device. And the micro SIM card slot on the right hand side. It can be opened by a skilled hand or a paper clip. Above the screen you have a Verizon Wireless logo, earpiece, and 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera. Below the display you have a LG logo, and 4 touch Android buttons. Those being the back, home, menu, and settings buttons. On the back of the device you have a LG logo, 4G LTE logo, serial number information, speaker, and 8 megapixel HD camera with LED flash. The Intuition is quite a large device and may not fit in everyone’s hand. With that being said you most certainly can feel it in your hand and it comes in at 0.33-inches thick. It has a textured back, that gives you some grip. Overall, the Intuition by LG has nice design but it is quite large, meaning that you have to be able to handle it.
Hardware
The Verizon Wireless Intuition by LG has some nice hardware in it, for starters you get the 5-inch 4:3 HD display. You also get access to Verizon’s super fast 4G LTE Network. So, if you like editing documents for work on the go or streaming video you can get it done with these super fast speeds. For speed when using the device itself you get a 1.5GHz Dual-Core Processor with 1GB of RAM. While at times may be a little slower than the new Galaxy S III, it still performs very well. The 1GB of RAM certainly helps when you have multiple applications running at the same time. Swiping through the home screens happens very smoothly and opening applications works smoothly as well. You do have NFC or Near Field Communications built-into the Verizon Wireless Intuition by LG and out of the box you get 2(two) LG Tag +’s. One is in Car mode while the other is the Office mode tag, if you want others you can purchase them from LG. These NFC tags let you turn WiFi on, change brightness, open an application, play a song, and much more. These will help make everyday tasks easier. I was happy to see that you get 2(two) of them right in the box. For storage you get 32GB of Internal Space, but there is no micro SD card slot. Keep in mind that the back does not come off of the Intuition. On the back of the device you have your 8 megapixel HD camera with LED flash. A unique feature of the Intuition is that you can use your voice to take or capture a photo. Or of course you can tap the shutter button inside the camera application. I was a little disappointed with the camera on the Intuition, it does not compare to the great camera on the Nitro HD or Spectrum. The photos can look dark at times and do not come out that clear. However, if you have the right conditions you might be able to get a good photo out of the camera. I hope in the next version of the Intuition that they improve the camera. I do have to say that all of the features built-in to the camera application are quite advance, and I hope to see these incorporated into their other new devices. Now, last but not least we have the LG Rubberdium Pen. This is LG’s version of the S-Pen, but it does not have all of the awesome features like pressure sensitivity or a place to keep it in the device. It does look more like a pen, than a stylus but it doesn’t have that many features that make it better than a regular stylus you could just go out and buy. It has a rubber top to it, which makes it very smooth when using it. However, you do have to use pressure to get it make the line darker or thicker. I wish that LG would have added some of the sensors into the pen, but it does write smoother than most other pens on the market. Overall, LG did a nice job with the hardware in the Intuition.
Software
The Verizon Wireless Intuition by LG is running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box with a LG User Interface. It is similar to LG’s past interfaces and it does add some nice features to the operating system. One of the newest applications that you will notice is QuickMemo, this both a quick note taking application and a way to take and customize screenshots. To open QuickMemo simply tap the silver button on the top of the device from here it will automatically take a screen shot of your device and then will let you draw or customize it. You have 3(three) different pen types and several colors to choose from. Of course you also have an eraser option in case you make a mistake or your idea changes. You can either save your image to the gallery or NoteBook application. If you want to exit the application simply tap the back or home buttons. You also have the NoteBook application which is very similar to the S-Note application. Here you can take notes, insert photos, and do much more. You get to choose the cover of your notebook, the type of paper, and the color of the paper. From there you can either draw, type, or insert multimedia files. This is great for jotting down notes during a meeting or drawing a simple piece of art. You will also find the LG Tag + application this is where you create and customize your LG NFC Tag +’s. The Intuition also comes pre-loaded with an Amazon application folder, that includes Kindle, Amazon Shop, IMDB, Audible, Zappos, and Amazon MP3. In terms of other pre-loaded applications you get Color, Verizon App Store, Google App Suite, Guided Tours, Mobile Hotspot, My Verizon Mobile, NFL Mobile, Polaris Office, Google Play, Real Racing 2, Shark Dash, Slacker Radio, SmartShare, V Cast Tones, Video Wiz, Viewdini, VZ Navigator, YouTube and more. So, if you were looking for a very clean operating system it may not be for you, the Intuition has a lot of pre-loaded applications. The good thing is that many of them come in handy! Overall, I enjoyed the operating system on the Verizon Wireless Intuition by LG.
Bottom Line
The Verizon Wireless Intuition by LG is currently the king of the phablets on Verizon’s Network. However, when the Galaxy Note II does eventually arrive it will have some competition. However, both devices have pros and cons. The Intuition has 4G LTE from Verizon and a 1.5GHz Dual-Core Processor with 1GB of RAM inside, making it very fast. You have a large design, that is missing a space to hold the LG Rubberdium pen, but luckily it has a little clip on it. The LG Rubberdium pen also does not have many features, but it does write very smoothly. LG did a great job with making sure the Intuition has a simple to use User Interface with special applications that take advantage of the device. Those applications being Quick Memo, NoteBook, and LG Tag +. They also made sure you had applications that took advantage of reading and viewing presentations, those being Amazon Kindle and Polaris Office. They are giving you the tools pre-loaded on the device to make your life easier. The issue that most people will find is that the device is very large, but if you willing to take a phone this big and don’t mind the not-so-good camera and the other few issues, you will enjoy your time with Verizon Wireless Intuition by LG. It will certainly help you become more productive, streaming video will be easier, and it is a good way to start reading your next book. Also, if you don’t want to go out and buy both a tablet and phone the Intuition is a great compromise. The Verizon Wireless LG Intuition is currently available for $199.99 with a 2-year contract or $599.99 off contract. For More Information On The Verizon Wireless Intuition by LG, Please Click Here. We would like to thank LG Mobile USA for providing us with a copy of the “Verizon Wireless Intuition by LG”.
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