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Hands-on: AT&T LG Thrill 4G (Optimus 3D) at CTIA 2011

By: , IntoMobile
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011 at 3:53 PM
lg-thrill-4g

AT&T announced the LG Thrill 4G (better known as the Optimus 3D) shortly before CTIA, and they let us check it out at an event here. Their build of the software was still undergoing testing, so they were iffy about giving us the full walk-through, but the golf game and 3D media browser worked just fine. Even the hardware was in pretty early stages, considering the unit on demo didn’t have any branding.

The LG Thrill 4G runs on AT&T’s HSPA+ network, and supports glasses-less 3D in a few select apps. It also comes with twin 5 megapixel cameras so you can shoot your own 3D still pictures and video. It boasts a dual-core 1 GHz processor, 4.3-inch WVGA display, and the usual fare like Wi-Fi, GPS, and 3G. there’s 8 GB of internal storage on there plus microSD, and 512 MB of RAM. The Thrill is currently running Android 2.2, but who knows what’ll be crammed in there come launch time.

I had played with the Optimus 3D a little bit at Mobile World Congress, and not much had changed since the device found its way to North America. The glasses-less 3D display indeed works, but I still find it gimmicky, and of questionable interest to third-party app developers. End-users who have already invested in a 3D TV may love to have a stereoscopic camera on their phone, as well as be able to shunt out their created media to the big screen over DLNA. I’m glad someone’s making the first step to get 3D displays and technology onto smartphones, and it may very well become a feature we take for granted in a few years, but for now the success of the Thrill 4G will rely entirely on eager early adopters.

Anyway, here’s a quick demo, and a couple of snapshots of AT&T’s 3D Android wonder.

About The Author

Simon Sage

Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.

  • Movi3king

    Somehow i doubt all that 3D stuff is good for your eyes…

    • http://twitter.com/josephggubbels Joseph Gubbels

      You know that you see everything in 3D right?
      This would be no worse for your eyes than a regular screen (though if the effect isn’t spot on, it can cause headaches).

  • http://twitter.com/josephggubbels Joseph Gubbels

    OMG, that UI is terrible! All those cheesy, moving icons when you scroll around, this seems to be to mobile 3D what those early (well, early for this cycle of 3D in theaters) 3D movies where stuff would fly out of the screen at you were to 3D in theaters, cheesy and just meant to show off the effect. It also doesn’t look polished at all, all the text is crap and those stupid boxes, and you can only use it in landscape?!
    Reeaaallllyyyyy hope this UI is just for CTIA demos and the device will have a real Android UI when at launch.