 | |
Score: 8/10 Great
Pros:Fast processors, HD display, great cameras, wireless charging out of the box, incredible price. | Cons:Very poor design, runs Android 4.0 with no word of an upgrade to Jelly Bean, comes preinstalled with a ton of bloatware. |
While midrange smartphones allow consumers to get a full smartphone experience at a lower price, they usually lack fast processing power, HD displays, high quality cameras, etc. That is not the case though with the LG Spectrum 2. The Spectrum 2 packs in high-end specs at a very midrange price.
Design/Build Quality
The Spectrum 2's nav buttons light up blue
While the Spectrum 2 has great specs and a very attractive price, it's design is quite ugly. The phone is made entirely out of plastic, and while it keeps the device fairly lightweight at 5.22 oz. The Spectrum 2 is also 5.31 x 2.69 x 0.36 inches so, it is a bit bulky as well. My biggest gripe with the Spectrum 2 is it's design on the sides of the device. There is plastic chrome that wraps around both sides of the handset which make it look relatively thin. However, if you look closer you will see the second layer of black plastic that wraps around to the back of the device. This design causes the device to appear thinner than it really is and was a bit of an issue that I had with the handset. The Spectrum 2's navigational buttons also light up blue when they are in use. At first, I thought that this would be a really cool feature. At the end of my 2 weeks of testing the device though, they grew to be a very big annoyance and tended to distract from the actual display of the phone. Although the Spectrum 2 has an extremely dated and ugly design, it does feel good in the hand is a very sturdy phone.
Hardware
The LG Spectrum 2 is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm SnapDragon S4 Plus processor and has 1GB of RAM. All the games and apps that we tested on the device ran flawlessly and extremely smooth. Even graphically intensive games, such as Frontline Commando, ran without any lag at all and looked gorgeous on the Spectrum 2's True HD IPS display.
Colors are nice and vibrant and text is very crisp
The Spectrum 2 has a 4.7-inch True HD IPS display with a pixel resolution of 1280 x 720 and has 312 ppi (pixels-per-inch). While 1080p HD displays are quickly becoming the norm of smartphones, the 720p HD still looks fantastic. Colors are nice and vibrant and text is very crisp. The Spectrum 2 has one of the best screens we've seen on a handset in it's price range.
The Spectrum 2 has 16GB of internal storage but, also has an option to expand it via a micro SD card. It's becoming rarer and rarer that we see handsets with expandable memory, so it was a nice extra to have it on the Spectrum 2.
The Spectrum 2 has great cameras
On the back of the Spectrum 2 you will find an 8MP rear-facing camera and on the front you will find your 1.3MP front-facing shooter. Neither of the cameras will blow you away, but they both take really good looking images and videos.
The Spectrum 2's wireless charging pad
In terms of battery, the Spectrum 2 is home to a removeable 2,150 mAh battery. In our testing , we got out around 9 and 1/2 hours of usage with moderate app use, web surfing, music streaming, etc. This was also with a 3G connection, so if you live in an area where there is strong 4G LTE coverage, you may experience shorter battery life. The Spectrum 2's backside is also wireless charging capable. While it's wireless charging pad is not including with the purchase of the handset, our friends over at LG sent us one with the phone so we could test it out. The wireless charging worked flawlessly and we couldn't find anything negative to say about it.
Software
The LG Spectrum 2 is running on Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich and is layered with LG's Optimus 3.0 UI. LG has not been great about updating their handsets to new versions of the Android OS, so it's likely that it will be a long time before we see Jelly Bean on the Spectrum 2, if at all. Thankfully, LG's Optimus 3.0 UI allows for a ton of customization options that really add to the Android experience. The Optimus 3.0 UI brings quick settings to your notification bar, allows you to change your home screen swipe effect, and lets you access multiple apps directly from the lock screen, among other added features. Even with these added goodies, we couldn't help but miss the sweet taste of Jelly Bean.
One of the biggest downsides to the Spectrum 2's software is all of the preinstalled applications that it comes with. We like to call this bloatware. The Spectrum 2 has a ton of it. Just take a look below.
 |  |  |
While I personally found it convenient to already have apps such as Amazon and iMDb already installed on the Spectrum 2, none of the apps listed above can be deleted from the device. Although you can expand the memory of the handset, you only have 16GB of onboard storage out of the box. The only thing that useless apps such as Verizon Apps, Let's Golf 3, and Real Racing 2 do is take up your precious memory. Not good at all.
Final Verdict
If you're in the market for a new smartphone, but don't want to spend a ton of cash, the LG Spectrum 2 is definitely for you. Although it has a poor design, runs on an outdated version of Android (with no word on an update to Jelly Bean), and has a ton of bloatware on it, you are also getting fast processors, a True HD IPS display, great cameras, and more for only $49.99 on Amazon.
RSS Feed