In April 2016, LG Electronics announced the release of a new model on the Russian market. Everything that was promised by the manufacturer was embodied in the new LG K8 LTE. Reviews about him are different, and therefore I want to dot all the i and figure out the advantages and disadvantages of the new flagship.
False bounty
There are questions to the configuration of the smartphone. The fact is that the manufacturer may change it without warning. Therefore, it will be difficult to predict what will turn out to be concrete in a particular box. What it is connected with is not clear. Some users received headphones, some were left without a headset. The only thing that can be said with confidence: there is definitely a manual and a charger in the LG K8 LTE.
External signs
The opinion about the design of the smartphone is twofold. The front of the device is indistinguishable from earlier models. If you also remove the company logo, you can confuse it with the long-released Nexus 4. These models have plastic with chrome trim on each side. The back of the phone is similar to the LG K10.
The lid was made of the same plastic. A small pattern is visible on it, which creates the illusion that the smartphone on the back is fabric. By the way, about such a design decision lg k8 lte k350e reviews are only positive. Many owners bought this phone for the back cover. It looks stylish and unusual, and therefore attracts a lot of attention. The texture of the back panel makes the smartphone more "tenacious", so it can easily be put on a dashboard in a car without fear that the device will fall when moving.
Three colors are available for buyers: white, gold and blue.
Items
A protective glass was placed on the front panel. If it suddenly cracked, the smartphone will still work and display everything correctly on the display. Above the screen, as usual, is the front camera, proximity sensors and a speaker. Under it there is nothing but a company logo.
On the texture rear panel is a camera and flash on top. Under the lens, hardware keys: volume rocker and lock on / off. The multimedia speaker is located in the lower left corner of the lg k8 lte k350e. Reviews about him are negative, since the developers did not think through the moment that the sound of a call or music becomes muffled if the device is on the back.
At the top there is nothing but an additional microphone, and at the bottom there is a headphone jack, charging and the main micro-connector. Since the hardware control buttons are unusually located on the rear panel, the sides of the smartphone are free.
Now take a look under the back cover. There is a battery and three slots as standard. Two of them are for SIM cards, the third is for a memory card. Regarding the assembly of the LG K8 LTE (K350E) Dual Sim, the reviews of the owners do not contain any complaints. This is due to the fact that the developers have worked hard and solid. The case turned out to be strong and tough.
Usability
The weight of the phone is acceptable, but the dimensions are a bit large. There is a lot of extra space on the top and bottom of the screen, and the side frames in the model are not the thinnest. Despite the medium-sized screen, at present, the smartphone in the hands seems large. But this does not interfere with the convenience of its use.
Some discomfort may occur when the device is placed on a flat surface, and due to the presence of buttons on the rear panel, it sways slightly. Therefore, when using the phone, it is better to put it in your hand, there it is much more comfortable for him. By the way, you get used to the hardware buttons in the first weeks, so you should not be scared of their movement from the usual place.
There is something to strive for
With the display, things are mixed with the LG K8 LTE. Reviews, by the way, are also controversial. Those who are well versed in the screens will immediately notice the flaws, while others will be pleased with the bright and colorful picture. Despite the presence of IPS-matrix, the display is quite "juicy." Its dimensions are 5 inches with a resolution of 1280x720. At the same time, the pixel density is mediocre for the current time - only 293 ppi.
As mentioned earlier, the display protects the mineral glass Gorilla Glass 3. This is a high-quality protection with an oleophobic coating and anti-reflective layer. But the air gap deprived the display. On the one hand, it seems to be brighter on a sunny day, but in case of an incident, screen repair will be very expensive.
The image detailing is normal, the colors are also calm, although experts will be able to discern their shift to cold tones. You won’t be able to change this, since the display settings were not invented for the phone. The contrast level is acceptable, and saturation drops only at maximum viewing angles.
But what the developers spoiled with is the brightness of the LG K8 LTE. Reviews about this are not laudatory. The thing is that now all smartphones in 2016 have automatic brightness control, which, of course, is very convenient for many users. But for some reason, this model did not receive such an option, so you need to adjust the brightness manually. The lack of a light sensor puzzled the company's fans a little. Perhaps in the following models there will be no such oversight.
From the positive: the screen turned out to be responsive. Testing has shown that it supports up to ten clicks. In addition, the sensor executes commands promptly, without any delay. But the owners still found a couple of spoons of tar in the LG K8 LTE (K350E) Black Blue. Reviews mostly related to double tap. The fact is that this function is available in the device, but, it turns out, it was underdeveloped. The phone does not always instantly respond to double tap or does it on the second attempt.
Smartphone Exterior
Smartphone LG K8 LTE appeared on the market under the command of the operating system Android 6.0 Marshmallow. This is the latest version of the OS. In addition, it is complemented by a proprietary add-on LG UX 4.0. Thanks to it, the interface can easily be adjusted, changed user settings and get rid of unnecessary software.
In general, the built-in launcher appeared earlier in the famous LG G4, so the owners of this “giant” are already familiar with the positive qualities of the add-on. The curtain has changed its appearance, has become more concise. We also redesigned system icons and radically changed the main control keys. Changed their appearance and added the ability to edit them. Now you can add to them other shortcuts of those softwares that you often use.
The smartphone menu has remained standard. It is made in bright colors and clearly explains all the existing parameters. In addition, any changes and adjustments, communication capabilities, screen settings, etc. are available to owners.
There is no point in talking about Android 6.0 Marshmallow. This system has long been declared as stable, fast and functional. Paired with this device, it works adequately, without any bugs and hitches.
Budget performance
How powerful was the LG K8 LTE? An overview of the technical characteristics of a smartphone should begin with its processor. The developers installed the mediocre MediaTek MT6735 chipset , which is used in many budget models. The processor runs on four cores with a power of 1.3 GHz. The ARM Mali-T720 graphics adapter supports many useful features.
But with the memory, everything is bad with the LG K8 LTE Indigo. The reviews do not concern the built-in, since here it is 16 GB, support for an external drive is also possible. But this amount of RAM in 2016 is already sorely lacking. 1GB does not allow you to use your smartphone in a big way. At the slightest overload, the device begins to "lag."
Life experience
In principle, the technical equipment of the model is acceptable. The smartphone is not designed to perform a huge number of tasks. But he can easily cope with standard customer requests. Calls, office programs, surfing the Internet, music and video - everything works correctly.
The phone also copes with games normally. On minimal settings, it launches WoT Blitz and even Mortal Kombat X. Asphalt 8: Airborne generally works fine with good graphics. In general, although the smartphone is not for gamers, it can stretch out popular toys.
If the device is systemically overloaded with either multitasking or continuous operation, overheating of the case is barely noticeable, unlike, for example, Lenovo K900, which at the slightest activity starts to “fry” the hand.
In touch
With wireless networks, everything is stable with the LG K8 LTE. The reviews are largely related to 4G support. Since the mention of the presence of this frequency appeared in the name, it means that the demand for a smartphone has grown. The radio module in the device is one on two SIM cards. Mobile networks work without interruption.
The call quality is good, unless, of course, you are brought into the forest. Not bad things are with the sound itself in the speakers and microphone. The interlocutor is heard perfectly, without noise, in the same way as the user himself.
They did not deprive the phone of standard Bluetooth 4.1 and Wi-Fi communication modules. Navigation works correctly.
Problem spot
But what really matters is bad, is autonomy. Smartphone lg k8 lte k350e battery reviews received sharply negative. As practice shows, if a smartphone lasted one business day - this is already a holiday. In fact, at present, the battery capacity of 2045 mAh is extremely small.
In addition, not all users after the acquisition can correctly "swing" the battery, because of which its volume becomes even smaller. Of course, there is a variant of chance. Sometimes it happens that the assembly plays a role, because of which an initially weak battery gets into the kit.
In any case, reviews are sometimes frightening. Some have called this phone landline because of the constant need for charging. The owners complained that, being in their pocket, the smart managed to lose as much as 30% of the charge per hour.
There were, of course, more positive cases when, with moderately active use, the device was able to withstand the entire working day.
Nevertheless, testing has shown that you can watch video continuously without interruption for almost 7.5 hours. Play - only 2.5 hours. Battery life in practice should take a day. The programs showed other figures: 5-6 hours.
Unfulfilled promises
The announcement about the camera said a lot of good. But in reality, the LG K8 LTE received an average lens of the main camera. The developers made 8 MP and 5 MP lenses for the front. If you take into account the reviews, then there are much more dissatisfied. Therefore, we can safely say that the quality of images is below average. Moreover, this characteristic can be attributed to images taken in the daytime. Talking about night photos is generally not worth it.
Super selfies do not work, and the claimed “flash” mode also did not pay off in practice. In general, even if this is not the main function of the phone, it may have been worth paying more attention to it.
Summary
Despite the rather presentable and unusual appearance, the phone is not worth the money. His project went to the "C grade". Of the good things here - only the presence of a fresh operating system and attractive appearance, which, incidentally, is not to everyone's liking.
But you can talk about the cons for a long time. Of the main flaws: a catastrophic little RAM, an extremely weak battery and a poor camera. Of course, you can say something about performance, but if the smartphone was endowed with two gigabytes of RAM, then the technical equipment would behave differently.
As a result, it seems that LG consider themselves a monopolist in the smartphone market. Everything would not be so bad, but the price of the device is too high. The Chinese have released a huge number of devices with better features, but with lower cost.