I started writing this review a few weeks ago but as I started to write about this device, the less I felt like I’d spent an adequate amount of time with it to really understand its capacity. As such, I decided to make a real run with it to see how it would do as a daily driver phone and during the course of that time, I gained a whole lot of perspective that I had missed during my original trial period with the phone. Combining elements of a standard android phone with a bigger screen and tablet functionality, the LG Intuition tries to offer something unique (though not exclusive to LG) in the smartphone field: It tries be both a phone, and a tablet. The result? A bittersweet symphony of form, functionality, and a series of edges jabbing you uncomfortably in the leg.
Because that intro might sound bad, let me reassure you: The phone isn’t bad – but it definitely suffers from a severe lack of identity. I applaud LG for trying to marry the smartphone to the tablet space, in turn trying to save their customers a ton of money by offering them a fairly low cost device that can effectively take the place of both the phone and the tablet. The problem with that? It doesn’t really do a great job at being either device.
As a tablet, the screen is very easy on the eyes. It’s good sized and it’s got a remarkable little rubber tipped stylus that comes with it. The stylus makes the screen response much more accurate and it’s really a joy to use. Unfortunately, one of the worst problems about it is there’s no place on the device to store this excellent stylus, leaving you with two options: Either carry it around in your pocket or bag and hope to God you don’t lose it, or leave it at home and deal with a considerably less accurate finger input. There’s even a button on the top that throws you into note mode which will allow you to jot down something or snag a screenshot quickly if you’re in a hurry and don’t have a piece of paper and a pen. As a phone, it’s — well, a phone. It’s got all the same features you’d expect in any Android smartphone running Ice Cream Sandwich, but at the core it’s really just a small tablet with the ability to make phone calls.
That’s not quite so bad, considering this product is seemingly aimed at the consumer who stays hands free and often carries a purse or a briefcase. Paired with a bluetooth headset (or on Speakerphone) are really the only ways to use this thing as a phone, because of its size the earpiece sits directly in the center of the phone making it extremely hard to keep your ear centered over the earpiece. The Intuition is fairly light weight and easy to throw in a bag, but it’s obnoxiously large to carry in your pocket. I often had to throw it in my back pocket just to trek it around because it wouldn’t fit in my side pockets.
I think this phablet (Dubbed as such because it’s a phone AND a tablet! Oh marketing..) is ideal for busy professionals who need that extra screen space or for people (mainly women) who often carry some type of bag with them at all times. However, what really holds this device back is that it’s not particularly good at being either a phone or a tablet. I often ran into issues where the “note” function would come up just trying to turn the phone on, or it’d often be in note mode when I took the phone out of my pocket. While the note thing proved to be more of a hassle for me than being helpful, the thing that really hurt this device was its performance. I often encountered glitches, freezing, and delay on button presses. Add that to its suboptimal gaming experience (games like Shadowgun were often screwed up because the phone has a problem trying to decide which resolution is appropriate for the media you’re viewing) and you’re looking at a device that really offers nothing that a phone like the iPhone 5 or the Samsung Galaxy S III (or even another phablet, like the Galaxy Note 2) could do 50 times better.
While trying to blur the lines between phone and tablet, the LG Intuition only further shows why there’s still a need to carry standalone devices (in your pocket or in your bag). Sorry LG, but you’ll need to use that intuition to go back to the drawing board if you want to create a device that’s going to truly fit that niche. It’s a good phone and a decent tablet, but it’s only slightly better than average.
The LG Intuition is available for $149.99 with a two-year agreement, and was provided for review by Verizon Wireless.
Screen is large. The included stylus is nice and works very well.
No place to store the stylus on the device. Note button can get extremely annoying. Performance is subpar.
