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Journalism of Courage
LG’s smartphone market share in India has been in trouble for sometime. While flagships like G4 have been well-received by critics, the company’s other offerings in the budget segment, especially in the Rs 10,000-Rs 15,000 price range, have not exactly set the market on fire.
Now LG has two new mid-budget smartphones as part of its K series: the K7 and K 10 LTE. LG says both are ‘Made in India’ smartphones.
LG K7 LTE is the cheaper smartphone of the two, priced at Rs 9,500. But does this budget 4G device live up to expectations? Here’s our review
Specs: 5-inch in-cell display | Qualcomm Snapdragon 1.1 Ghz quad-core processor | 1.5GB RAM + 8GB storage space | Five megapixel rear and front camera | 2,125 mAh battery| Android 5.1 Lollipop OS | dual-SIM with 4G, VoLTE support
Price: Rs 9500
So what’s good?
Honestly, the design of the LG K7 LTE is perhaps its biggest plus point. The LG K7 LTE looks pretty good for its price tag. The metal frame on the side and the 2.5D curved arc design means this fits easily in your hands, even though the glossy back is prone to smudges. LG K7 LTE’s volume rockers and power button are on the back, and the lower volume button can be used to take pictures when the camera app is on.
The back cover of the LG K7 is removable, as is the battery. Both SIM slots are in the back along with the micro-SD slot. The LG K7 LTE supports only nano-SIM so users will need to keep that in mind while buying this device. The microSD slot can be used along with the second SIM.
In terms of general performance, the K7 LTE is definitely not the fastest one in its price range, but it can handle multi-tasking without too much trouble. Games like Lara Croft run pretty decently, which is more than you can expect given the specs. Browsing the web should not be a problem on this device. However, don’t expect to play high-end graphics games on this one.
What’s not good?
The specs are underwhelming. The 5-inch full wide VGA resolution (480×854 pixels) display makes you wonder why this phone costs so much.
The five megapixel front and rear camera are not at all impressive, and there are options in this same price band that offer a much better camera. If this was a Rs 5000 smartphone it would have been okay, but the price makes these specs unacceptable.
The battery lasts around 8 hours, which is again below expectations. And yes with the device I faced connectivity issues. The phone never showed 3G, and remained on Edge forever even in places where I usually get 3G.
Plus the 8GB space of which around 4 GB is available for users when they start the smartphone is not enough.
Verdict
At this price, the LG K7 LTE is hard to recommend. We know that the Redmi Note 3, Le 1s, etc offer much better performance and cost around Rs 9,999 (2GB+16GB version) and Rs 10,999 (3GB RAM+ 32GB storage).
In contrast, the LG K7 feels doubly expensive for the kind of specs that it offers to users. Since most new phones are 4G ready in India, K7 can’t really claim that as its sole USP. For the LG K7 LTE, the specs just don’t cut it.
