LG Spectrum review

LG Spectrum how to fix

It's not easy being a Verizon Wireless phone. I mean, there's some serious competition at the high end with the Motorola Droid RAZR and RAZR MAXX, Samsung Galaxy Nexus and HTC Rezound. On paper, the LG Spectrum should fit right in with its 4.5" 720p IPS display, 1.5GHz dual core CPU and promised upgrade to Android OS 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich by mid-2012. The phone has a front video chat camera, a rear 8 megapixel shooter that can capture 1080p video, and very good multimedia performance. It has a stable LTE 4G radio that hangs onto a signal as well as the very good HTC Rezound. So what's not to like? The LG Spectrum is the Verizon version of the LG Nitro HD on AT&T, a phone we liked quite well other than its weak battery life. The spectrum gets a casing makeover with gloss plastics and a CDMA radio for voice and 3G, but otherwise the internals are mostly the same. But the Spectrum lags where the Nitro moved along decently, and that really gets in the way of enjoying what should be a fast, high end Android smartphone. We've also found it a bit less stable, and in the week we've had it, it's spontaneously rebooted a few times (not a common occurrence with other recent Android phones). We get the feeling there's a lot of promise here, but LG needs to work out the software kinks to bring better performance and stability. The smartphone runs on a 1.5GHz dual core Snapdragon CPU like the HTC Rezound and several recent AT&T LTE phones. Qualcomm's radio and CPU chipset integration are excellent when it comes to LTE performance. We see none of the waffling between 3G and 4G in weaker LTE coverage areas that plague us with the RAZR line and Galaxy Nexus. Now, if you're in a good LTE coverage area, or conversely have none at all and disable LTE on the phone, this won't matter to you. But if you are in marginal coverage areas, the Spectrum and Rezound are your best bet. The display is lovely. It's an IPS panel with good brightness and much more natural and accurate colors than Super AMOLED. You won't see Super AMOLED's hyper-vivid hues and amazing blacks, but will see plenty of sharp detail, crisp colors and good contrast. The 1280 x 720 panel makes for a relatively tall but narrow phone, and that means it's easier to hold in a narrow palm, but it will likely stick out the top of all but deep pockets. There are times when the display doesn't seem to respond to a tap, but it's hard to judge if it's a display issue or lag (I suspect it's lag). The phone has a high gloss plastic back with a fine silvery checkerboard pattern that looks lovely until you handle it: it gets noxiously gummy. The 5 ounce phone feels weighty and looks like a decent quality piece, and we like the contrasting home button that's easy to see in the dark. The phone has 3 rather than the usual 4 capacitive buttons because LG combines the menu and search buttons into one on the left, and that's fine by us. There's an option to turn off capacitive button backlighting when the display is turned on, and we turned that option off immediately because it's difficult to see the menu/search and back buttons with no backlighting. The micro USB port is located up top under a door: I find the location inconvenient when trying to both charge and talk at the same time, and the door is fiddly. The headphone jack is up top, as is the power button. The volume controls are on the right and the microSD card slot is under the back cover. Verizon includes a 16 gig card since the phone has only 4 gigs of internal storage with approximately 1.45 gigs available. The rear door is easy to remove and snap on, and the 1830 mAh battery, LTE SIM card slot and microSD card slot are under the door. There's no word whether the Spectrum has NFC.

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LG Spectrum Video Review

Calling and Data Voice quality is good but not among the best Verizon Wireless phones (we give the Droid RAZR, RAZR MAXX and Bionic a nod for their excellent voice). Volume through the earpiece is good and voice on both ends is clearly intelligible but not crisp or very clear. The speakerphone isn't terribly loud for calls or multimedia. It doesn't help that the speaker is located on the back towards the bottom where one tends to grip the phone. The LG Spectrum has 3G EV-DO and 4G LTE on Verizon's network. Data speeds are very good and the Spectrum matched Verizon's other top LTE phones. As noted, the phone really manages to hold onto a weak LTE signal and on my desk where the RAZR MAXX spends most of its time on 3G the Spectrum stays on LTE. Performance and Horsepower In terms of performance, this Android OS 2.3.5 Gingerbread phone gets middle marks for a dual core on synthetic benchmarks, and it falls behind better performing Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket running on the same CPU. We spoke of UI lag, and we wonder how much of this has to do with LG's custom UI. The LG Nitro runs nearly the same UI and feels snappier however. If you haven't seen LG's UI, do watch our video review to see it in action. It reminds us a bit of older versions of TouchWiz, and LG adds some nice touches like sectional dividers for the app drawer (you can create groups for different kinds of apps) and a lovely media quick-access widget. Benchmarks Quadrant AnTuTu Linpack multi-thread Sunspider JavaScript Test LG Spectrum 2480 5838 65 2432 LG Nitro HD 2400 6398 75 2869 Droid RAZR 2550 6180 75.7 2102 HTC Rezound 2421 N/A 63 2998 Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket 3346 5367 83.8 2878 Multimedia LG makes good cameras, and the Spectrum takes pleasing shots with good colors and reasonable exposure though it's prone to some whiteout in high contrast outdoor settings. Indoors it does surprisingly well with dim settings even with the flash off. The camera can shoot 1080p video at 30 fps, and again, other than a bit of whiteout for sunny day settings, it did a good job. The phone easily handles video playback, be it streaming YouTube and Netflix or locally stored MPEG4 content up to 1080p resolution (even high profile plays well). The speaker won't win any awards but the phone has good sound via Bluetooth and wired stereo headphones. The high resolution IPS display really shines for video playback and we found watching movies thoroughly enjoyable. The Spectrum has WiFi for streaming without eating into your data bucket, and it supports WiFi Direct. Bluetooth stereo speakers and headphones work via the Bluetooth 3.0 radio. Battery Life Verizon LTE phones aren't Energizer bunnies when running on LTE. The two cellular radios for CDMA and LTE take their toll, and today's fast CPUs and large displays don't help. That said, the 1830 mAh Lithium Ion battery fared decently compared to other Verizon LTE phones, and we managed 6.5 hours of talk time (LG claims up to 8.3 hours of use time). There's an optional 3040 mAh battery available and a wireless charging back that works with the wireless charging mat sold in Verizon Wireless stores. Conclusion There's a lot to like about the LG Spectrum. It has LTE with strong 4G reception, a really lovely 4.5" IPS 720p display and a fast Qualcomm S3 dual core CPU. It's promised an upgrade to Android 4.0 and handles video playback like a champ. Not bad for $199 with contract. But we're put off by the occasional stutters and lags, and the phone isn't as stable as we'd like. A firmware update might remedy these issues, but we're not sure if the phone will get much tweaking before OS 4.0 ICS comes out by mid-year. Price: $199 with a 2 year contract.

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LG Lucid review

LG Lucid how to fix

Editor's Note, April 2013: read our review of the LG Lucid 2 that replaces this model. Verizon Wireless' top Android LTE smartphones sell for $199 to $299, so you figure there's a catch when a phone costs on $79 on contract. In the case of the capable and very attractive LG Lucid, you actually get a very nice smartphone with serious style. The Lucid has a 4" IPS display that's very colorful, sharp and bright. It has a 1.2GHz dual core Snapdragon CPU that's plenty fast and 4G LTE. So what's the catch? There's no HD resolution here, the phone runs at 800 x 480 resolution, there's a front camera and 5MP back camera (no 8 or 12MP here) and that's about it. The phone runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread with a promised upgrade to Android 4.0 ICS (no timetable though). The Lucid is slim and has a serious amount of good looks, which is rare for less expensive phones. Voice quality and 4G LTE speeds are good. It's hard not to like this phone. It run the LG UI, which we actually find mostly useful despite the slightly cartoony icons. We like the controls except the faux button on the upper left side that provides visual symmetry to the power button on the upper right.

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LG Lucid Video Review Price: $79 with 2 year contract

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LG Viper 4G LTE (video review)

LG Viper 4G LTE how to fix

The LG Viper 4G LTE is Sprint's first LTE smartphone, and the Galaxy Nexus and HTC EVO 4G LTEsoon followed to round up the high end. The one thing missing for now is a Sprint LTE network, but Sprint says they'll light up their first 6 cities in mid-2012 and cover over 100 million folks by year's end. In the meantime, you've got good old 3G EV-DO Rev. A and WiFi for your data needs. The LG Viper is the most affordable in the pack, and it sells for $99 with contract. In addition you get free Dropbox cloud storage and a Google Wallet credit in your account. As you'd guess, the Viper is a mid-tier phone, but it has a few nice perks like NFC with Google Wallet and a 700 nit brightness IPS display that looks very sharp and colorful. The 4", 800 x 480 display isn't very high resolution, but it's a good match for the screen size. The phone runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread-- sorry, no ICS here. The LG runs on a 1.2GHz dual core Qualcomm S3 CPU with a gig of RAM and just a smidgen of internal storage (1.4 gigs). Sprint includes a 4 gig microSD card. The phone has WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and a GPS that works with Google Maps, Sprint Navigation and other solutions. It has a front VGA camera and a rear 5MP camera that's actually pretty decent and it can shoot 1080p video. The phone is a silver plastic chunky monkey. LG can make an attractive phone, but this isn't one of them. It looks somewhat dated thanks to the silver plastics and thickness. The phone has a 1700 mAh battery and we managed a not very impressive 4.3 hours of talk time on 1x/3G (LTE is turned off by default and we left it that way for our battery tests). Benchmarks Quadrant GLBenchmark 2.1Egypt Offscreen AnTuTu Sunspider JavaScript Test LG Viper 2839 N/A 5400 3317 HTC EVO 4G LTE 5086 56 fps 7001 1650 HTC One X 5001 56 fps 7074 1617 Samsung Galaxy Nexus 2753 28 fps 5985 1869

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LG Viper 4G LTE Video Review Price: $99 with contract, $399 without contract extension.

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LG Optimus G (AT&T and Sprint) review 

LG Optimus G (AT&T and Sprint) how to fix

The LG Optimus G; it's hard not to be smitten even if you're not an LG fan. This high end Android smartphone is the first to ship with Qualcomm's new Snapdragon S4 Pro quad core 1.5GHz CPU with Adreno 320 graphics. It's fast, yes it is. The S4 dual core matched NVidia's Tegra 3 CPU on benchmarks, so we're excited to see what two more cores can do. In fact, it scored 7235 on the Quadrant benchmark, which is a new record for a stock Android phone (5,000 is the norm for the fastest phones and tablets). In this review we look at both the AT&T (LG-E970) and Sprint (LG-LS970) versions of the Optimus G, which sells for $199 with contract. The AT&T version will be available on Nov. 2 while the Sprint version will be available on Nov. 11. The AT&T LG Optimus G. The LG Optimus G has a front 1.3MP camera, dual band WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, a GPS, NFC and a 2100 mAh Lithium Ion battery that's sealed inside. Both models have 2 gigs of RAM. Though LG's track record for Android OS updates hasn't been impressive, we have hope for the Optimus G since LG is rumored to release the next Nexus phone (with similar specs to the Optimus G), and that should put them on a faster track for OS updates. The Sprint LG Optimus G. Design and Ergonomics The smartphone has a gloss patterned "Crystal Material Finish" glass back that loves fingerprints. LG strove to marry the best of the iconic LG Chocolate and Prada phones with the minimalist, square black design. It's thin and squared-off, and the Sprint version re-introduces some of those chrome accents AT&T suppresses with their clean design. Honestly, both look quite nice but not as strikingly chic as the HTC One X, Nokia Lumia 900 or iPhone 5. Both the Sprint and AT&T versions are very similar, with the same Optimus UI enhancements on top of Android OS 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich (4.1 Jelly Bean will follow with no set date). How do they differ? The Sprint version has that slim chrome ring around the sides and no SIM card or microSD card slot. The Sprint version has 32 gigs of internal storage vs. 16 gigs on the AT&T model. Sprint sticks with the 13MP rear camera while AT&T moves down to a still very capable 8MP camera. AT&T adds a microSD card slot (yes!) and includes a 16 gig card. The Sprint and international versions have no SD card slot. The Sprint version of the Optimus G is a hair taller and narrower. Honestly, they're extremely close in dimensions. Both phones feel fairly wide among today's big phones in the hand thanks to the slightly wider than normal display, though in terms of dimensions they're similar to other big phones. If you have small hands, neither will be comfortable. I have large hands, so the G is manageable though perhaps not optimal for one-handed use. While Samsung and HTC taper the corners and sides of their big phones to make them look and feel smaller, LG's unabashed rectilinear design does nothing to fool the mind or hand into thinking you've got a smaller phone. If the iPhone 5 and Motorola Droid RAZR M with their 4" displays are your idea of ergonomic perfection, the LG Optimus G will feel unwieldy. Both the Sprint and AT&T versions have controls and ports in the same location. The power button is at the upper right edge and the volume controls are on the upper left, similar to Samsung Android phones. The AT&T version has a tri-color LED ring around the power button rather than the front face, which I prefer. The micro USB port is on the bottom on both models, and the 3.5mm stereo audio jack is up top. The camera module on the Sprint version protrudes a bit while the AT&T model's is flush with the casing. Both have a loudspeaker that fires from the lower right rear of the phone, where your hand might cover it.

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LG Optimus G Video Review Camera As noted, the Sprint Optimus G sticks with the impressive 13 megapixel rear camera that we first saw in the overseas version. Though some reviewers have reported hazy photos with the Sprint model, ours have been nothing but sharp with plenty of detail. The AT&T model has an 8 megapixel camera that's quite capable, though we noted the 13MP camera captured more fine detail and did a better job focusing and creating sharper images for low light indoor shots (see guitar photo below). It's a close race, but I'd give the Samsung Galaxy S III and the HTC One X (not to mention that photographic monster the Sony Xperia Ion) the edge for photo and video quality. Both models can shoot 1080p video up to 30fps and have HDR, panorama mode and an intuitive camera app with myriad features and settings. AT&T LG Optimus G Sprint LG Optimus G Click on a sample photo to see a larger version of the photo. Pool photo is cropped at 100% zoom.

720p IPS Display The LG Optimus G features a 4.7" True HD IPS Plus display running at 1280 x 768. That's a little higher than the usual high end 1280 x 720 resolution, and that equals an impressive 320 dpi. LG makes excellent IPS displays and the Optimus G's is very sharp and colorful with neutral color balance and very clear text. Viewing angles are wide since it's IPS and the display is bright, though glare is still an issue outdoors as with all smartphones thanks to the glossy glass. The display is fused directly to the glass, so you don't feel like there's a window pane between you and what's on screen. The Optimus G has Gorilla Glass for durability. I'd give the HTC One X's excellent Super LCD display an edge for viewing angles and glare-reduction, as well as a more "close to the surface" look where text and images seem painted on the screen. Likewise, the iPhone Retina display looks sharper and more immediate, but the Optimus G easily beats out the Samsung Galaxy S III display. Performance and Horsepower OK, geeks, this is where the LG Optimus G currently beats every other Android smartphone on the planet. The quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro 1.5GHz CPU has more spare CPU cycles than you can imagine. Seriously, it's too bad there's no way to donate some processing power to Project SETI@home. LG incorporates quite a few visual effects and frivolous but entertaining features like the ability to play a video on top of any app, with adjustable transparency, and the phone still doesn't skip a beat. The Optimus G scores a new record high on the Quadrant benchmark and it does extremely well on most other benchmarks. More important than synthetic tests, it feels fast and doesn't bog down quickly when several apps are running in the background. Today's most demanding 3D gaming titles play fluently (watch our video review to see them in action), and 1080p video plays smoothly. That said, the screen is 720p, so there's no point to playing 1080p video unless you want to take advantage of the Optimus G's MHL video out to an HDMI 1080p TV or monitor. Benchmarks Quadrant GLBenchmark 2.1Egypt Offscreen AnTuTu Sunspider JavaScript Test LG Optimus G 7235 59 pfs (v.2.5 used) 11,087 1289 Sony Xperia Ion 3126 34 fps 6391 2410 HTC EVO 4G LTE 5086 56 fps 7001 1650 Motorola Atrix HD 4627 55 fps 6123 1314 HTC One X 5001 56 fps 7074 1617 Samsung Galaxy S III 5102 51 fps 7011 1825 The Otpimus G on AT&T and Sprint benchmark nearly identically, so we haven't listed separate benchmarks for each model. The phone scored 94,921 on Browsermark. Software LG has gone to town with software features that make use of the Qualcomm Krait's processing and graphics power. QSlide lets you play a movie over any other app and you can set the transparency level (fade out to read a text message, then fade back in to your video). You can zoom when playing videos (in fact you can pinch zoom everywhere) and there are several spiffy transition options for page turns in the homescreen UI. QuickMemo lets you take notes anywhere at any time, and you can even mark up a web page or Word document and save it as an image (screen shot). There are a few features that remind us of Samsung's, like Wise Eye that checks to see if you're looking at the screen so it won't turn off and the water sound effect in the lock screen. Smart Shutter lets you take a photo using your voice (say "cheese", "kimchi" or other trigger words). You get the idea: there's a lot going on here. Phone and Data Both versions have clear incoming and outgoing voice that's above average, though not quite as crystal clear and full as the Samsung Galaxy S III, HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE. We had absolutely no trouble engaging in conversations with call recipients and ambient noise rejection was effective with minimal digitization. Though we're in a supposed Sprint LTE coverage area, none of our Sprint phones have picked up an LTE signal, leaving us with meager 3G coverage for data. The Sprint version averaged 600 kbps for download speeds, which is very low compared to the big three national carriers but par for the course on Sprint. With the AT&T model, we saw speeds that are slightly below typical for 4G LTE on AT&T (16Mpbs down and 14Mpbs up according to Ookla's Speedtest.net app). Reception on both models in decibels was the same as other top Android phones on their respective carriers. Battery Life The Optimus G has a 2100 mAh Lithium Ion battery that's sealed inside. That's the same battery capacity you'll find on other high end competing phones, but the LG lagged behind by 30 minutes in actual use tests. Standby on the other hand was excellent. We had no trouble making it through the day with light to moderate use. In fact with light use we managed 2.5 to 3 days on a charge. But with heavy use that included a few GPS navigation sessions, 45 minutes of streaming video, several phone calls, an hour of music playback with the screen off and an hour of locally stored video playback, the phone went from 7am to 7pm before it drained to a 10% charge. Conclusion LG's finally cracked the high end market with the Optimus G. While other LG Android smartphones have looked good on paper, the Optimus G actually delivers a captivating experience with enjoyable software additions and superlative performance. The 4.7" IPS display is among the best and the phone is good looking too. One caveat, this is a big phone with none of the curvy tricks others employ to make it look and feel smaller. Price: $199 with contract

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LG Viper 4G LTE (video review)

The LG Viper 4G LTE is Sprint's first LTE smartphone, and the Galaxy Nexus and HTC EVO 4G LTEsoon followed to round up the high end. The one thing missing for now is a Sprint LTE network, but Sprint says they'll light up their first 6 cities in mid-2012 and cover over 100 million folks by year's end. In the meantime, you've got good old 3G EV-DO Rev. A and WiFi for your data needs. The LG Viper is the most affordable in the pack, and it sells for $99 with contract. In addition you get free Dropbox cloud storage and a Google Wallet credit in your account. As you'd guess, the Viper is a mid-tier phone, but it has a few nice perks like NFC with Google Wallet and a 700 nit brightness IPS display that looks very sharp and colorful. The 4", 800 x 480 display isn't very high resolution, but it's a good match for the screen size. The phone runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread-- sorry, no ICS here. The LG runs on a 1.2GHz dual core Qualcomm S3 CPU with a gig of RAM and just a smidgen of internal storage (1.4 gigs). Sprint includes a 4 gig microSD card. The phone has WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and a GPS that works with Google Maps, Sprint Navigation and other solutions. It has a front VGA camera and a rear 5MP camera that's actually pretty decent and it can shoot 1080p video. The phone is a silver plastic chunky monkey. LG can make an attractive phone, but this isn't one of them. It looks somewhat dated thanks to the silver plastics and thickness. The phone has a 1700 mAh battery and we managed a not very impressive 4.3 hours of talk time on 1x/3G (LTE is turned off by default and we left it that way for our battery tests). Benchmarks Quadrant GLBenchmark 2.1Egypt Offscreen AnTuTu Sunspider JavaScript Test LG Viper 2839 N/A 5400 3317 HTC EVO 4G LTE 5086 56 fps 7001 1650 HTC One X 5001 56 fps 7074 1617 Samsung Galaxy Nexus 2753 28 fps 5985 1869

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LG Viper 4G LTE Video Review Price: $99 with contract, $399 without contract extension.

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he Google Nexus 4 Android smartphone hardly needs and introduction. It's Google's latest and greatest contract-free, pure Google experience phone, and it's very reasonably priced at $299 for the 8 gig and $349 for the 16 gig. For that price you get a cutting edge Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad core CPU running at 1.5GHz, 2 gigs of RAM and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean (both OS 4.1 and 4.2 are called Jelly Bean, but you won't find 4.2 on anything other than a Google Nexus just yet). The Nexus 4 is made by LG and shares much of its internals with the excellent LG Optimus G. The Nexus 4 is a good looking phone with curves that make it more hand-friendly. It has the usual glass front and a glass back with a subtle pattern than you'll see when you waggle it back and forth in the light. The sides are a dense plastic that should absorb bumps, but as we've learned from theiPhone 4, it's a good idea to protect a phone that wears glass front and back. This is a GSM world phone and that means it works on T-Mobile and AT&T here in the US. It will not work on Sprint or Verizon. It's quad band GSM and pentaband 3G HSPA+ (our US carriers market this as 4G but it's really a very fast form of 3G). That means you'll get 3G on both AT&T and T-Mobile. It lacks LTE, which isn't a big deal globally since many countries don't yet have serious LTE deployments, but here in the US and Canada where LTE is mature it is a serious drawback. It's simply hard to go back to HSPA+ where data speeds are sometimes pretty good at 12Mbps but more often drop to 4 or 5 MBps down, vs. LTE's 25 Mbps. But that does make it a good phone for T-Mobile, since that carrier currently lacks a 4G LTE network. In fact, T-Mobile is offering the phone with contract ($199 for the 16 gig), but that contract price is only saving you $150 on the phone itself over the course of 2 years. The phone has an excellent 4.7" bonded Gorilla Glass 2 curved display running at 1280 x 768. This is an IPS display with natural colors and an impressive 320 ppi pixel density (just a few ppi behind theNokia Lumia 920 and iPhone 5, but ahead of most other smartphones by a wider margin). Text looks painted on as it does with the HTC One X and iPhone 5: lovely! We expected the Nexus 4 to be the fastest Android smartphone yet since it runs on the S4 Pro processor (only the Optimus G and HTC Droid DNA run on that new quad core CPU) and it has a pure version of Android 4.2 with no overlays to slow it down. But on synthetic benchmarks, it was bested by the other two smartphones. It still feels very much like a fast phone, and we have a feeling that as Google refines OS 4.2 (which also feels a little less zippy on our Nexus 7 tablet compared to 4.1.1) it will really fly. The Nexus 4, Samsung Galaxy S III and Samsung Galaxy Note II.

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Nexus 4 Video Review Google Nexus 4 Conclusion If you're looking for a budget friendly Android smartphone with high end features, the Google Nexus 4 certainly is it. It's fast, has an excellent IPS display and is sold unlocked for use with any GSM carrier. The only drawback in the US? No LTE 4G. The Nexus 4's other problem is availability; it's been out of stock since introduction. Price: $299 for 8 gig and $349 for 16 gig

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LG Spectrum 2 (Video Review)

The LG Spectrum 2 takes high end specs down to a mid-level price. At $99 with contract, it has many of the same specs and features as $199 Android smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S III. The OS version is the only true disappointment for Android enthusiasts since it runs 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich rather than 4.1 Jelly Bean and LG's track record for timely OS updates hasn't been stellar. The smartphone has a lovely 4.7" IPS display running at 1280 x 720 that's protected by Gorilla Glass. That's the same resolution as other current high end Android smartphone on the market except the full 1080p HTC Droid DNA. It runs on the usual 1.5GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus CPU with a gig of RAM and 16 gigs of internal storage with ~11.6 gigs available for your use. Yes, there's an SDHC microSD card slot under the back cover and the 2150 mAh Lithium Ion battery is removable. The Spectrum 2 has gotten dinged for it's bland looks, and it's not the most exciting looking phone. The front is a basic rectangle and the rubbery plastic back cover doesn't really fit the rest of the phone's design. Still, we've seen worse and at 0.36", it's not all that thick. The phone has a capable 8MP rear camera with LED flash and a fron 1.3MP video chat camera. It has 4G LTE on Verizon's network, 3G EV-DO Rev. A and GSM roaming capabilities. Dual band WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, NFC and Qi wireless charging round out this capable phone's features. LG adds extra video playback support and the smartphone can handle WMV and DivX playback out of the box. Call quality and reception are above average and the phone pulled in very impressive upload and download speeds on Verizon Wireless' 4G LTE network in our area.

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LG Spectrum 2 Video Review Conclusion We often suggest buying the best phone you can with your contract since the phone's price is small compared to the cost of a 2 year contract. In the case of the Spectrum 2, you're not giving up much by going with this $99 smartphone vs. $199 smartphones. Beyond looks, which are admittedly subjective, our only caveat is that it ships with Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich rather than 4.1 Jelly Bean, and LG's track record for upgrades hasn't been good. Price: $99 with 2 year contract, $499 without contract extension

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LG Lucid 2

It's hard to beat free, and the LG Lucid 2 is free on contract with Verizon Wireless. For your money (so to speak) you get a smartphone running Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean on a 1.2GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus CPU with a gig of RAM and 8 gigs of internal storage. The phone has a sharp 4.3" IPS qHD display, a microSD card slot and a removable battery. As you'd expect from a Verizon smartphone it has 4G LTE, dual band WiFi, Bluetooth and a GPS. There's a front video chat camera and a rear 5 megapixel camera with HDR. Not too shabby if you're looking for no cash outlay or you're starting out with your first smartphone. Design and Ergonomics In a sea of huge Android phones, the 4.3" LG Lucid 2 is downright pocket-friendly and easy to hold. The tapered sides look good and feel good in hand and the back is grippy textured plastic. The back isn't exactly chic, but it is removable and it grants access to the battery, microSD card slot and micro SIM card slot. It's not a bad looking phone, though it won't beat the HTC One or even the Samsung Galaxy S4 in a beauty competition. The 4.5 ounce phone is 0.39 inches thick. As with most smartphones, the micro USB port for charging and syncing is at the bottom, the headset jack is up top and the speaker is on the back. The volume rocker is on the left side and the power button is at the upper right side. The 4.3" display dominates the front and there are 4 rather than the usual 3 Android capacitive buttons below the display. If you've used other Android phones, the extra button might throw you, and because button backlighting doesn't come on until you touch a button, it's hard to guess which one you should go for in the dark. Display The LG Lucid 2 has a 960 x 540 IPS display that's sharp and fairly bright. LG makes nice displays and we have no complaints even though the phone won't win any Retina competitions for extremely high resolution. At 4.3", it really does need a crazy high resolution to look good to the naked eye. Viewing angles on IPS displays are typically the best in the industry, verging on 180 degrees. The seemingly thick glass creates glare and light refraction here that diminish viewing angles a bit, but it's not bad by any means. Outdoor visibility is decent, but not as good as the original LG Lucid with its wildly bright 600 nit display. Calling and Data First the bad part: voice quality is just passable. We noted somewhat digitized and warbling speech for incoming and outgoing voice. Conversation wasn't hindered, but we had to work a little harder to understand what was said at times. The good news is that data speeds on Verizon's LTE network were solid and the phone averaged 17Mbps down and 4Mbps up according to Ookla's Speedtest.net app. The Lucid 2 has the usual Mobile Hotspot feature so you can use the phone as a high speed wireless modem for your laptop or tablet. This is a CDMA smartphone with 3G EV-DO Rev. A and 4G LTE on Verizon's network. It is not a world phone with GSM roaming capabilities.

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LG Lucid 2 Video Review

Performance and Horsepower Last year, a dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus was state of the art, but now the specs-obsessed world has moved on to quad core CPUs. Does that mean that the LG Lucid 2's 1.2GHz dual core S4 Plus CPU with Adreno 225 graphics is slow? Quite the opposite: for average users this is a peppy phone that can handle web browsing, email, streaming video and gaming like a champ. Will it keep up with the top smartphones a year from now if you're playing the latest killer 3D game? Probably not, but this is an entry level free phone. And a year from now it will still handle web browsing and most games perfectly well; it just won't be the fastest. In terms of synthetic benchmarks it does better than most Android smartphones running on the same CPU and it's comparable to the Verizon Wireless Samsung Galaxy S III running on the same CPU (in fact, it does better on some benchmarks). Benchmarks Quadrant GLBenchmark Egypt HD Offscreen AnTuTu Sunspider JavaScript Test LG Lucid 2 5733 12 fps (GLBench 2.7 used, so results are lower) 11,443 1806 Samsung Galaxy S III 5102 51 fps (v. 2.1 used) 7011 1825 HTC Droid DNA 7823 78 fps (v.2.5 used) 14,578 1146 Samsung Galaxy Note II 6001 66 pfs (v.2.5 used) 14,056 1052 LG Optimus G 7235 59 pfs (v.2.5 used) 11,087 1289 Motorola Droid RAZR HD 5055 51 fps (v. 2.1 used) 6760 1862 Software The phone runs Android OS 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, which isn't quite the newest 4.2 available on phones like the Nexus 4 and upcoming Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4, but it's close enough that we won't complain. Currently, most phones other than those two are shipping with the same OS version. The Lucid 2 has LG's Optimus 3.0 UI enhancements, and these are toned down from previous versions (that's a good thing). The UI isn't overbearing and the quick access to settings and LG's handy memo app are good stuff. Still, the icons are a little cartoony and we get the feeling LG is copying Samsung's TouchWiz here and there. The phone supports gestures like flipping the phone to silence incoming calls or pause video playback and it has a notification LED above the display. There's a "Starter Mode" simplified UI option for newbies. Camera Budget phones don't often have good cameras, but LG makes solid camera phones and even the Lucid 2 manages images and 1080p video that are pleasing. For the price, we're pleased to see full HD video recording and HDR photo mode, and in fact the phone takes pleasing photos and video. No, it won't compete with the 13MP Samsung Galaxy S4, but I suspect entry level buyers will be very happy with the properly exposed photos and fairly smooth video captured by the LG Lucid 2. Just don't expect low noise, detailed nightclub shots or blur-free video of sporting events. Battery Life The 2460 mAh Lithium Ion offers more capacity than many competing smartphones, and given the dual core CPU and relatively small display that equals solid battery life. We had no trouble making it through the day on Verizon's LTE network in a mix of web browsing, calling, email, 30 minutes of YouTube video streaming and an hour of music playback with the screen off. The battery is removable so you can swap in a spare if needed. LG offers an optional desktop dock that can charge both the phone and a second battery. Conclusion If you're in the market for an Android smartphone on Verizon but don't want to spend much money for the phone itself, the LG Lucid 2 is easy to recommend. That doesn't mean the Lucid 2 lacks solid competition if you're open to other platforms: from the older iPhone 4, to the relatively new Nokia Lumia 822 running Windows Phone 8 for $50 or less. If you're willing to spend $99, the brand new Pantech Perception offers a higher resolution display, but it's larger at 4.8" (which could be a good or bad thing depending on your tastes). Price: Free on contract, $349 without contract

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