LG's Optimus smartphone lines can be considered as the South Korean consumer electronic firm's saviour. The handsets are largely credited for nudging LG out of the red column, chalking up respectable profits after the global smartphone scrambling had ended for the September 2012 quarter.

If LG would stay on the same recovery course in time for reports to be divulge January next year remains to be seen. But mostly, the company's numbers depend on how Optimus phones would fare in the months of October through December, analysts said.

And headlining LG's Q4 thrust is the Optimus G, all set to tussle it out with the smartphone flavours of the current quarter such as Apple's iPhone 5, Nokia's Lumia 920, HTC's Droid DNA and the hottest-selling of them all in Q3 2012 - Samsung's Galaxy S3.

Is Optimus G up to the task? Myriam Joire of Engadget thinks it is. Experiencing how the gadget showed off its wares led Ms Joire to label this LG phone as a 'performance beast' while running on Android Ice Cream Sandwich.

It is only expected that more juice can be squeezed from the Optimum G the moment it updates to JellyBean, which LG said should become available by December.

Testing by BGR revealed that the hardware specs on Optimus G blended nicely with ICS, reviewer Zach Epstein impressed with the phone's "Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 chipset comprised of a quad-core Krait CPU clocked at 1.5GHz and an Adreno 320 GPU."

Pairing those with a 2GB RAM all the more made the Optimus G incredibly snappy, in which "apps open very quickly ... and animations and scrolling are remarkably fluid," Mr Epstein wrote.

With the way LG has engineered its display technology on the Optimus G, BGR noted that current smartphone leaders should now consider the phone as a chief rival.

"LG's IPS LCD panel packs 768 x 1280 resolution into a 4.7-inch display for a pixel density of 318 ppi. Contrast is exceptional and colour reproduction is outstanding," Mr Epstein said.

Also, Optimus G's camera shooter, offered in variations of 13MP and 8MP sensors depending on market configuration, "are capable of capturing top-notch photos and usable videos," according to Ms Joire.

But for all its upside, this LG phone has a glaring letdown as ICS appears disappointingly rendered on LG's UI 3.0 skin, which Mr Joire hopes would be corrected once the Optimus G receives the JellyBean update.

The 2100 mAh battery could prove problematic too as BGR reminded that moderate usage may see through the day without frenetic search for a power outlet but for those who virtually move every inch with their smartphone, the Optimus come as a challenge.

But on the looks-department, LG made sure to easily get its message across - the Optimus G is definitely a good buy.

"It is rock solid with no creaks or wobbles to be found. The weight is fantastic at 5.19 ounces and the back of the device is a smooth glass pane with a nice pattern that adds some differentiation," Mr Epstein wrote.

For ArsTechnica, the phone is both brains and beauty and "is worth picking up ... and what all Android handsets should strive to be."

"It feels solid and good in your hand, its build quality is excellent, the screen is vibrant and clear, and it doesn't feel sluggish when it launches applications and switches between windows," wrote ArsTechnica's Florence Ion.

CNET, however, if far from totally blown away by the power packed by LG with the Optimus G, calling the handset a "quad-core powerhouse that falls just short."

Chief of CNET's complaints are the camera and battery that came with the handset, which are below par for a smartphone of its class, concluding that "the Optimus G won't blow all other flagship phones out of the water."