It’s arrived in Australia a little later than expected, but the LG Optimus G has finally landed on our shores and is on sale now from Telstra. With competitors like the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4 fast approaching, and its cousin the Nexus 4 attracting plenty of attention, how does LG’s latest Australian flagship superphone fare? Read on for our full review!

‘Phone? Tablet? You won’t need either with the Galaxy Note II’

The Galaxy Note II is the first device that convinced me to drop my tablet. Seriously, I have really struggled to pick up a tablet over the last two weeks, no matter how badly I need to be reviewing that Telstra Tablet 4G. The Galaxy Note II so easily fills the void between phone and tablet, while rendering the two other form factors useless. If you can get used to the size as having this for your daily driver then I would really have no problem recommending it.

Disclaimer: The Galaxy Note II 4G was supplied to us by MobiCity, not Samsung. You can buy the Samsung Galaxy Note …

Update: Tonight is the night, ladies and gentlemen! Celebrate the New Year in style. Also available on Apple’s App Store.

If you’re planning to celebrate Sydney New Year’s Eve, this is the app to have.

City of Sydney and Telstra have teamed up to bring us the official app to celebrate this New Year’s Eve. Recommended for Sydneysiders and tourists holding Android phones. It contains all the information you need. Get the app free from the Play Store starting today.

Main features of the app:

• Vantage points for viewing the 9pm and midnight Fireworks
• Preload 50 free SMS to be sent at midnight
• Live message feed for ‘Message The Bridge’

The Vantage Point feature is extremely well thought out and …

Disclaimer: I was supplied with several review unit devices from Liquipel to test their product. I was first given two Samsung Galaxy S III devices, one was treated and the other left as it is out of the box. After testing both of these devices I was left with two lovely SGS3s that would not turn on. After some discussion with Liquipel I was told that they must have mistakenly put the wrong battery in each phone (i.e. the Liquipel treated in the non-Liquipel treated phone and vice versa). How true this was – I don’t know. I must admit that when I did the first testing I left the battery and back case on the phone for much longer …

I dislike cases, I really really do. Why take an elegant, thin phone, and wrap it in cheap plastic that simultaneously makes your phone, uglier, heavier and thicker? I dislike them so much that for my old HTC Desire I bought a new housing, ripped the guts of the phone out of the old, scratched housing and transplanted the phone into a new housing rather than use a case to stop it being scratched in the first place.

Have you got some information on your device that you don’t want anyone else to see? How about some emails, texts and other important messages? Or, are your friends the kind to delve into your Facebook, Twitter and Google+ accounts to ‘frape’ you back into the stone age? Or maybe you often pass your phone to younger children, siblings, cousins or relatives and you just can’t have them looking at your gallery.

To be able to protect your precious apps you’d usually have to make yourself a lock screen. That would involve unlocking your Android device every single time you’d like to use it and is a hassle to turn off. You’ll need to go into the settings and sift …

‘Big things do come in small packages’

Telstra’s 4G range of Android phones has expanded with the introduction of the Motorola RAZR M, the little brother of the flagship RAZR HD. However, “little brother” doesn’t mean “rubbish phone” – this is a well-made phone that matches the flagship devices of today and proves once and for all that small phones don’t need to have big compromises. Read on for more details!

In my continuing side-quest of offering reviews and How-Tos relevant to the travelling Android user I present to you an app that I thoroughly recommend to anyone travelling…. except with several, large, provisions.

The app is called Word Lens. Here’s how it works. Turning on the app you see what looks rather a lot like another camera app. There’s the big picture in the middle, showing what your camera sees, and around the edge of the screen are the various settings and whatnot. Here’s what you see:

THE POSITIVES

The difference with this app is that as you swing the camera around, it identifies words and reads them. It then translates those words, instantly, and replaces the word on …

‘A Superphone that ticks all the big boxes’

The second half of 2011 wasn’t a great time for HTC. Far too many phones were released, confusing consumers, and some phones were just plain bad. That’s not to say that HTC didn’t release some excellent phones (Sensation, I’m looking at you) but it wasn’t enough to stop a disappointing drop in profits, particularly against some very stiff competition from the likes of the Galaxy S II, the standout Android phone of 2011. The One X sits at the top of HTC’s lineup as the hero phone it hopes will return it to glory. Competing against the likes of the Galaxy S III, the Motorola RAZR line, and the …

‘Never run out of juice again, if your pockets are big enough’

One of the biggest claims against the viability of an Android phone is the battery life issue. While phones have definitely been getting better over recent times, there’s no doubt that this is something we’re all after. This is especially the case if you’re a user of the incredibly power hungry 4G LTE networks that are popping up in major cities around Australia now.

That’s what I was finding while using the HTC One XL. While it’s a great phone, I was afraid to leave the house if I knew I’d be without charger for more than 6 hours. The end result? A dead battery – sometimes …

Ever just wanted to kill everyone? I mean, everyone. Completely wipe out the entire human race so that Earth is nothing but a wasteland – void of any life whatsoever. I’m talking I Am Legend-sorta destruction here. Now what if I told you I could make this a reality? What if I could transform all of your demented desires and dreams into something real? Before you call ASIO or the Federal Police, let me explain.

I’m talking of course about Plague Inc., probably the best thing to happen to Android ever (I’m just kidding Josh (Not really)). My love for it shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of you that follow me on Twitter, with my …

With summer around the corner, I’m sure many of you are planning some trips away. Whether you are road-tripping or jet-setting, you are likely to be spending money, and perhaps splitting a few bills along the way. Settle Up claims to be the solution to the dreaded “I think it’s your turn to pay”, and is most definitely ‘the best way to organise group expenses’.

In all, this app is pretty simple. First, you create a group; add all the people who will be involved, and ensure you have their email addresses to allow the app to sync with the other users’ phones.

Second, you add each new payment as it occurs – I found it useful …