LG announces the Optimus 3D Max, its second 3D smart phone

LG has announced its latest Android smart phone with 3D capability. The Optimus 3D Max, which will debut at the 2012 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona later this week, has the same 3D technology found in the high-scoring LG Thrill (available from AT&T) in our Ratings.

The Optimus 3D Max has a larger, 4.3-inch WVGA display and a faster, dual-core processor, and it adds support for NFC (near-field communication) technology, which enables the phone to act as a payment device at a small but slowly growing number of store registers.

The phone will launch in Korea in March, then roll out in Europe and "other markets." No U.S. carrier was mentioned in the release. It will run Android 2.3 out of the box, but LG says an upgrade to Android 4.0 will be available later on.

As with the Thrill, the Optimus 3D Max's 3D effects come via two side-by-side 5-megapixel cameras that, like two eyes, capture stills and videos from slightly different perspectives. These images are shown simultaneously on the phone's display, but a filter in the screen called a Parallax barrier makes sure your right eye sees only what was recorded with the right-side camera, and your left eye sees what was recorded with the left-side camera.

In our tests of the Thrill (available to subscribers), we found the camera produced fair 2D pictures when photos were taken under well-lighted conditions. But the 3D effect required us to hold the screen at a specific distance and angle, and only one person at a time could view it properly. When we moved the screen an inch or so, the cool 3D image looked like blurry 2D. Eyestrain was also an issue.

Other Optimus 3D Max features include 8GB of internal storage and 1GB of memory, support for HSPA+ 21Mbps data networks, an HDMI connection, a 2D/3D TV/monitor up to 1080p via MHL, and wireless streaming to TVs and PCs via DLNA.

—Mike Gikas