LG Optimus Hub – In The Goldilocks Zone

Introduction and Physique

Sittin' In The Middle

Facing some pretty stiff competition from the likes of Samsung's Galaxy S II and HTC's Sensation XE, LG has admittedly struggled to find a solid foothold in the high-end Android smartphone market with its Optimus 3D. However, the Korean electronics giant can certainly hold its own in the midrange level, as we saw with the touch-and-type Optimus Pro C660. Moving just a notch up on the line is the all-touch Optimus Hub.

With its screen size at 3.5 inches, LG describes the Optimus Hub's dimensions as "just right." We found this to be quite an apt description, as the phone was not too big or too small in our hands. It isn't very thin at 11.9mm deep, but its curved edges made it very comfortable to handle. We liked the fact that the phone's fascia is made of a single piece of Corning Gorilla Glass, making it sleek and incredibly sturdy at the same time. Embedded at the bottom are a set of three touch-sensitive navigation buttons which light up when pressed. The handset's sides are pretty standard, with a volume rocker, microUSB at the bottom for charging, and a 3.5mm headphone jack next to the lock button up top. One thing that we did notice was the lack of a dedicated camera button. 

The rear shell of the Optimus Hub has a black faux carbon-fiber design on it that was unfortunately too glossy and smudge-prone for our taste. The display was the hardware bit that we really enjoyed the most, rendering rich color, high contrast, and sharp detail, despite its standard 320 x 480 resolution. Even with auto-brightness switched on, it did not appear to lose any brightness at all. Unfortunately, the resolution means it cannot play HD video. Internally, the Optimus Hub has 150MB of internal storage for applications, supported by a microSD memory card slot that accepts capacities up to 32GB.