The LG Nitro HD has just joined the ranks of LTE enabled devices, but it will have a tough time since it’s competing against phones like the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket or HTC Vivid. Its main advantage is the 720*1280 HD display while its main disadvantage is the $249.99 on contract price with AT&T.

LG Nitro HD specifications
 
The LG Nitro HD has an all-round plastic design that makes it lighter that its competitors. It measures 133.9 x 67.8 x 10.4 and weighs 127 grams. It has a patterned design on the back and an overall premium feel. The front of the device holds the great looking 4.5” 720 True HD IPS display. It has a 329 ppi density, vivid looking colors, good contrast, great viewing angles and no problems even in direct sunlight. The display produces some very sharp visuals even small browser text looks fine under zoom.

 Below the display we find the capacitive Android buttons:  the back key on the right, the home key in the middle and the search/options key in the left (long press for search short press for options) while above we find a 1.3 MPx camera with 1080p video recording, ambient and light sensors and the earpiece.

On the left side we see side holds the volume rocker while the right side is bare. On top we find the 3.5mm audio jack, a secondary microphone, the microUSB port and the power/lock key. On the back we find the 8MPx camera with LED flash and auto-focus. Removing the battery cover gives us access to the microSD slot, SIM card slot and the 1830 mAh that gives the LG Nitro HD 252 hours of stand-by and over 5 hours of talk time.

The LG Nitro HD is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 CPU with 1GB of RAM memory. Overall responsiveness is good, most actions are smooth but it sometimes it tends to lag a little when using kinetic scrolling. Apps are launched fast with minimal waiting time and it copes well with multi tasking.

The LG Nitro HD runs on Android 2.3.5 with Optimus UI 2.0 on top. The interface has 4 layouts/themes with prearranged layouts and it has a simple and functional feel. You get a total of 7 homescreen panes that you can customize any you want and can even change which one is the „homescreen” (the one that shows when you press the home key. It should also receive the ICS update sometime soon.

The Optimus UI 2.0 also brings motion gestures like tapping the side to move the cursor when typing or when browsing through the gallery. Motion gestures can also be used to stop the alarm clock or mute calls by flipping the phone face down.  They can also be turned on or off via the Settings menu.

The big 4.5” display means that there is plenty of space for a big on screen keyboard. The responsiveness is very good and the keys are well spaced and easy to use for anyone. And of course if you don’t like typing you can use the voice recognition service.
In terms of email you get the usual Gmail experience alongside the LG Email app.  Setting up accounts is easy. You only need to the email address and password in most cases.  Other apps include the pre-loaded set of apps from AT&T:  AT&T Code Scanner, AT&T FamilyMap, AT&T Navigator, Live TV, and myAT&T and a set of third party apps like: Amazon Kindle, MOG Music, Polaris Office, Qik Lite, Wi-Fi Share and YPmobile.

The 8MPx camera comes with the standard LG Optimus UI that is functional and very easy to use. It also has a huge number of options. The quality of the pictures is good, nice looking colors (but a bit on the cooler side), great contrast and a decent amount of detail. In low light the pictures are a bit grainy and noisy but the LED flash manages to overcome some of the problems. Overall the quality of the images is eye pleasing.

Video recording is done at 1080p resolution @ 29fps. The recording is smooth, audio recording is crisp and clear and details are decent. It also has the same cooler color reproduction and suffers from artifacting when panning very quickly.
 
In terms of multimedia you get the Optimus 2.0 UI media player that offers playlists, album art and sorting options. Unfortunately it lacks equalizer options with the internal speakers and the audio quality is above average at best. The gallery can be viewed in a 3D mode by flipping the phone in landscape mode. The 720p resolution display and the DivX 1920*1080p support means that the LG Nitro HD offers a great movie watching experience. Playback is smooth and without any lag or freeze. You also get 1.81 GB of internal space and microSD support (up to 32GB).

In terms of connectivity the LG Nitro HD offers quad band GSM, tri band 3G with HSPA+, 4G LTE, Wi-FI with DLNA, Wi-Fi direct and Wi-Fi hotspot, MHL port and Bluetooth 3.0. Web browsing is excellent mostly because of the great HD display and the good responsiveness. Also the browser does it job well.

Overall the LG Nitro HD brings that great HD display alongside LTE connectivity and a great pack of features.  It is a bit pricy, battery life is average and it runs a bit sluggish sometimes. Also with Android 4.0 being out it should get the update really soon to have a better chance of standing out in the crowd.