LG Lucid (Verizon Wireless): Full Review
The LG Lucid for Verizon Wireless targets first-time smartphone users looking for speed. Not customarily does this $79 Android phone bond to Verizon‘s 4G discerning LTE network, it also provides discerning entrance to a camera and other apps right from a close screen. The Lucid also sports a splendid 4-inch arrangement and dual-core processor. Read on to find out if this handset measures adult to a value-priced competition.
Design
Click to EnlargeWhile a LG Lucid is coated in silken plastic, it doesn’t demeanour or feel cheap. Plus, this phone is lighter and some-more compress than likewise labelled Android phones.
Gorilla Glass protects a Lucid’s 4-inch display, ensuring that it can take some abuse. A chrome LG trademark sits along a tip of a phone, opposite from a front-facing 0.3 megapixel camera in a right palm corner. A Verizon escutcheon rests during a bottom subsequent to 4 capacitive hold buttons (Menu, Home, Back and Search).
Click to EnlargeA slim splinter rope runs along a sides of a phone that bulges rather during a top. Although it’s an engaging pattern note, a series of people asked us if a Lucid was an superannuated flip phone. A tiny splinter timber sits on a tip left side of a phone, mirroring a energy symbol on a right. Yes, it’s a good accent, though we predict many users regularly dire a mistake symbol awaiting something to happen. A silken black volume rocker and a microUSB container also lay on a left side.
The black-and-magenta striped behind row is a Lucid’s many eye-catching feature. A 5-megapixel camera and a LED sits along a tip of a row with a slim prolonged orator during a top.
At 4.7 x 2.5 x 0.45-inches, a 5-ounce Lucid is smaller and lighter than a 5 x 2.6 x 0.4-inch, 5.6-ounce Motorola Droid Bionic. The 5 x 2.6 x 0.5-inch HTC Rezound outweighs both inclination during 6 ounces.
Display and Audio
Click to EnlargeAt 610 lux, a Lucid’s 800 x 480 NOVA arrangement is one of a brightest we’ve seen. It cracked a 304 lux difficulty normal for Android smartphones. We pitted a Lucid opposite a Samsung Galaxy S II (ATT) 213 lux display, and immediately beheld a Lucid’s brighter design and deeper, richer colors.
During a YouTube trailer of “Mirror Mirror,” a Lucid delivered low blacks with bold, palatable reds, blues and golds. However, Snow White’s customarily transparent mettle was injured with unsightly pixels, as was her sky-blue dress. While a Rezound’s 4.3-inch arrangement was only 278 lux, it has a most aloft fortitude of 1280 x 720.
Audio left something to be desired. We listened to a accumulation of tracks, including Selena Gomez’s “Love You Like a Love Song,” Ludacris’ “How Low Can You Go” and Guns N’ Roses “November Rain.” Vocals sounded rather muted, while drum lines and synthesized instrumentals were distorted. Slash’s guitar solo on “November Rain” was tinny and rather grating.
Keyboard
Click to EnlargeBoth a LG and a Swype keyboard on a Lucid yield light haptic feedback, though Swype snippet record let us send texts faster. However, when we had to do some-more counsel typing, we elite a LG keyboard due to a vast keys and inexhaustible spacing.
Software and User Interface
The LG Lucid ships with Android 2.3.6 (Honeycomb) with a guarantee of an Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) refurbish someday in a future. Similar to a LG Spectrum, LG heavily skins Google’s OS on this device, though there are some flattering nifty features.
Click to EnlargeFirst, a Lucid has 4 shortcuts on a close shade that lets we launch directly into a camera, phone, messaging or voicemail with a downward swipe. We appreciated this convenience, though wished we could customize this screen.
The Lucid also integrates a series of gestures to in try to make regulating a phone some-more discerning and includes a couple to watch educational videos. Like HTC phones, we can flip a handset over to tongue-tied incoming calls, though we can also use it to snooze your alarm. And if we daub a sides of a phone, we can navigate by photos though carrying to hold a screen. You can also pierce a cursor behind or brazen by drumming a sides of a device. These gestures worked good so prolonged as we used poignant force.
Widgets for Yahoo! Weather, Google Search and Dialer are preloaded. Icons for Phone, Contacts, Messaging and Apps lay during a bottom of a arrangement in an ubiquitous transparent panel. Mini-notifications for email, updates, vigilance strength, battery life and a time lay in a tip complement bar. Swiping down form a tip of a arrangement reveals a Notification Bar, that gives a full inventory of new activities and discerning entrance to settings for Vibrate, Bluetooth, GPS, Airplane and Wi-Fi.
Click to EnlargeApplications on a Apps page are distant into 7 categories (Communication, Verizon Wireless, Media, News Search, Tools, Applications and Downloads), that should apeal to smartphone novices. You can rearrange, undo or mislay categories to make acid for apps a tiny easier.
Apps
The LG Lucid comes preloaded with apps from LG, Verizon, Google and Yahoo. Many of a apps, such as Google+, My Verizon Mobile, SmartShare and Yahoo! Finance can’t be uninstalled.
LG‘s Video Producer was a splendid mark among a app flotsam. Using images and video taken with a phone’s camera, we stitched together a possess video creations. In addition, we could select from 6 opposite backgrounds and supplement content overlays and a song lane to make a film slicker. Video Producer is fun and rarely accessible.
Click to EnlargeCasual gaming favorites “Plants Vs Zombies” and “Let’s Golf 3” helped kill some time. Third-party apps embody Netflix, YouTube, Polaris Office, Richnote and Amazon Kindle.
Performance
Powered by a dual-core 1.2-GHz Qualcomm processor with 1GB of RAM, a Lucid can hang with some of a higher-end phones on a market. It scored 2,067 on Benchmark CPU, 304 points above a Android phone difficulty average. Still, a Motorola Droid Bionic and a TI OMAP 4430 CPU scored 2,995 while a HTC Rezound and a 1.5-GHz Qualcomm MDM9600 notched a blazing 3,120.
When we tested graphical performance, a Lucid delivered an considerable 7,396 on An3DBench. That’s good above a 5,933 difficulty average. It was also adequate to lift forward of a Rezound and a Droid Bionic, that scored 7,331 and 6,990 respectively.
Despite carrying 4 open Web browsers, we were assaulted by zombies during a plain shave on “Plants Vs Zombies.” Applications also non-stop swiftly, and a camera prisoner images during comparatively discerning shave for a phone during this price.
The LG Lucid comes with 8GB of inner memory that can be stretched to 32GB around a microSD slot.
Web Browser and 4G LTE
Click to EnlargeWhen we were surfing a Web, a LG Lucid delivered a consistently discerning speeds we’ve come to design from Verizon‘s 4G LTE network. The phone averaged speeds of 2.9, 4.2 and 5.4 seconds loading mobile sites such as NYTimes.com, CNN.com and ESPN.com. The desktop chronicle of Laptopmag.com took rather longer during 9.7 seconds. On Speedtest.net, a handset averaged download speeds of 12.9 Mbps. Upload speeds were only as discerning during 7.8 Mbps.
Camera and Camcorder
Click to EnlargeSnapping shots regulating a rear-facing 5 megapixel camera was sincerely quick, holding approximately a second in between shots. The infancy of a exam images of flowers in outward a area deli were sincerely sharp. We were unequivocally tender with a tone accuracy: Deep crimsons and ochres popped.
The transparent tone and sharpness continued in a 1080p video. Our exam footage of NYC trade yielded low yellows and reds, and was pointy adequate for us to review a ads on a taxis whizzing past. The camera quickly practiced for light fluctuations when we panned skyward and behind down to travel level.
Images taken around a front-facing VGA camera lacked a sharpness of a rear-facing camera, though still managed to broach considerable colors. During a Skype chat, a tourist reported a rather grainy image, though with tiny latency and transparent audio. Video was hairy on a finish and we saw about 1 second of loiter when a tourist moved. Audio was good and loud.
Battery Life
During a LAPTOP Battery Test (continuous Web surfing over 4G LTE), a Lucid lasted 5 hours and 4 minutes. That’s 43 mins next a 5:47 difficulty normal though improved than many smartphones with LTE radios, many of that final underneath 4.5 hours. The Rezound lasted 5:02.
Read:The 10 Longest-Lasting Smartphones
Call Quality
During exam calls to New Jersey and New York on landlines and cellphones, we listened loud, comfortable voices entrance by a LG Lucid. Speakerphone peculiarity was a churned bag, delivering conspicuous echoes during calls. A few of a callers complained that a voice forsaken out during certain points, though especially reported loud, transparent audio.
Verdict
Click to EnlargeThe LG Lucid packs a lot of good things into a tiny frame. For an affordable $79, consumers get a device with a splendid and transparent display, plain 4G LTE speeds and facilities that make Android some-more receptive and fun for smartphone newbies. However, a HTC Rezound offers Beats-enhanced audio and a crook 720p arrangement for $49, creation it a best understanding right now on Verizon. Nevertheless, those who cite something reduction massive will find copiousness to like in a LG Lucid.
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