LG Optimus L7II Review

NEW DELHI: After failing to make headway in the Indian smartphone market, which is dominated by Samsung, arch rival LG has rolled out its latest line-up in the country soon after the global unveiling. Among the handsets it has launched in India is Optimus L7 II Dual, a dual-sim mid-ranger that aims to break the grip of phones like Galaxy S Advance and Galaxy S Duos.

With a decent spec sheet and the one of the best versions of Android to boot, this phone seems to have potential. Read our review of LG Optimus L7II Dual to see if it knocks the rivals out of the park or fails to shine like its older siblings.

Hardware and design
LG Optimus L7 II Dual is an all-plastic phone, sans the metal body that we love so much, though you get a chrome strip running along the side. The device has a 4.3-inch IPS screen with 800x480p resolution and 217ppi pixel density. It packs a 1GHz dual-core processor, coupled with 768MB RAM, under the hood. You get 4GB internal storage and support for microSD cards up to 32GB. Connectivity features are also quite standard, namely 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0 and microUSB 2.0. While these mid-range specs may not impress you much, the phone's 2,460mAh battery is likely to catch the eye.

Coming to the design part, you get a rather plain looking device with curved edges. Below the display are four haptic keys - Home, Back, Recent apps and sim switcher - which are not backlit. The device is made using plastic, but does not look cheap. However, older phones like Samsung Galaxy S Advance and Motorola Atrix 2 feel better in the hand.

On the right is the Lock/Power key, while the volume rocker and a Quick Access button. With the Quick Access key, you can access any commonly used app (which can be selected in Settings) with a single tap. The earphone jack is on top, microUSB port is at the bottom, an 8MP camera with LED flash on the back and the secondary shooter as well as the standard sensors on the front.

Software
The new LG OptimusL7 II Dual runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), with devices running on Android 4.3 already spotted online. Therefore, users can be assured that their handset will be upgraded to the next two versions of the OS in the future.

Android 4.1 has been topped with LG's proprietary Optimus UI in this phone. We previously encountered this interface in LG Optimus G and not much has changed since then. The unique thing about this UI is that it is only Android skin that supports landscape as well as portrait mode in home screens.

This software's customizations are apparent from the lock screen itself, which gives you access to four apps, clock as well as calendar. As you move to the home screen, you will see different animations while switching from one screen to another. The UI, just like a custom launcher, gives you the option to choose the transition effect. You also get themes in this interface, namedOptimus, Biz, Cozywall and Marshmallow. Not only do these themes change the look and feel of the interface, they even alter the design of the icons. Overall, the UI seems to be quite peppy and a very big change from the standard Android interface we are used to.

LG's Q Apps too are available in OptimusL7 II. QMemo allows user to make a notepad right out of the home screen, while QTranslator is a translation apps that uses the phone's camera to scan and translate text. QSlide app is used for multitasking in this handset and is quite effective.

Camera
The 8MPautofocus camera on the back of the phone takes photos that are better than we expected. The photos have sufficient detail, but faraway objects seem a little too grainy. Coloursare natural and you get good photos even under lowlight. If you are among the Facebook-focused types, you will find the phone's camera to be quite good for social media uploads.

Performance
The 1GHz dual-core processor of LG OptimusL7 II is certainly not the fastest around. It secured an average of score in the range of 6300 on the Antutu benchmark test, much below the 9000 notched up by older rival Motorola Atrix 2. The reason behind this is that the LG OptimusL7 II chipset is based on the Cortex A5 architecture, which is quite old considering that A9 designs are used in rival smartphones.

However, what we observed during the review is that the UI is quite light and with Project Butter optimizations, you get a powerful user experience which is largely lag-free, even without the best CPU under the hood.

For dual-sim buyers, this phone's sim switcher haptic button below the screen comes to be quite useful. We used it quite a bit and found that it makes the overall user experience fluid.

The rather capacious 2,460mAh battery of LG OptimusL7 II is certainly a highlighting feature. It lasted over a day on standard usage comprising couple of hours of web browsing and music playback, an hour or so of video playback and e-books and approximately half an hour of gaming over a course of three days, making it better than the rivals in the battery front.

Rivals
The mid-range segment, which LG OptimusL7 II Dual is targeting, is filled with several good options. Samsung itself has three contenders in this segment, while Nokia and HTC have their own challengers.

Samsung Galaxy S Advance, Galaxy Grand Quattro and Galaxy Core are three phones to watch out for. Among these, Galaxy Grand Quattro and Galaxy Core are dual-sim smartphones and are priced slightly above Rs 15,000. Both the phones are powered by Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), have slightly more RAM and share most specs with LG OptimusL7 II Dual. However, Galaxy Core has a dual-core processor with clock speed of 1.2GHz, 8GB internal storage, giving it a slight edge over the LG rival. But OptimusL7 II Dual evens the footing with a more powerful battery and slightly better camera (8MP in LG phone vs 5MP in Samsung counterpart).

Galaxy Grand Quattro is the cheapest quad-core smartphone in Samsung's stables. It has a bigger screen and more capable processor as its advantage, but loses to the LG challenger due to a5MP camera and smaller 2,000mAh battery. Of course, the software tweaks by the two South Korean rivals make a lot of difference in the overall user experience. Samsung's TouchWiz UI, though heavy, is quite smooth to use even on older versions of Android, but we feel that the light and peppy LG Optimus UI brings out the best of the OptimusL7 II smartphone despite the rather slow processor.

Nokia Lumia 620 is a decent choice for those who seek something other than an Android phone. The phone is extremely smooth to use, comes with access to free music by Nokia and has a user experience vastly different from Android. While Windows Phone 8 OS is quite good, it has its rough edges too, an example being no support for FM radio and no true multitasking.

HTC Desire XC has the same specs as LG OptimusL7 II, except for a smaller battery, older Android (4.0) version and 5MP camera. The phone has arrived in the market just a week ago and we can evaluate how well it performs only after a hands-on test. However, we are inclined to suggest the LG phone as we are impressed by the software optimizations and slightly better spec sheet.

Verdict
The mid-range segment is a tough battle in India if you are not Samsung and LG OptimusL7 II Dual has its task cut out. The phone is, of course, aided by a full arsenal that can take on rival Samsung phones, as well as big screen challengers by Micromax, Spice and Lava. Even with anunderwhelming processor, the phone delivers a good user experience due to excellent software optimizations.

We are quite impressed as the phone has delivered on most counts, though we would have preferred some other material than plastic, which really does not feel good in the hand. If you are in the market for a droid and want something other than Samsung, then LG OptimusL7 II is a good option.