When you look for the affordable smartphone but with the latest Android platform, then you may need to obtain the LG Optimus L7. This is actually the low-priced handset of the L-series which has the price range of around $313 - 413 (off-contract). The company intends this device to compete with other mid-range Android phones which is absolutely less powerful but more affordable.
The overall style of LG Optimus L7 is identical with its close brothers namely L5 and L3. This phone measures 125.5 mm in height, 67 mm in width and 8.8 mm in thickness. Having this dimension, the handset is apparently bulkier but slimmer than HTC One V. The phone also comes with the heavier body-weight of about 122 grams. The display measures 4.3 inches with IPS-LCD NOVA technology, 480x800p and 217 ppi of pixel density that will allow for a brighter display, vivid colors, great viewing angles and good outdoor visibility. However, you may experience that the display is often unresponsive and it also lacks ambient light sensor which can be very useful for automatically adjusting the brightness.
To back up the overall performance, this smartphone has been equipped with the single-core 1 GHz Cortex-A5 (Snapdragon) combined with the Adreno 200 GPU and 512 MB. With this version of Cortex processor, the phone can be sluggish in performing several heavy apps and also 3D games. For the operating system, the device comes packed with the latest Android OS 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich) along with the LG Optimus UI (user interface). For storing documents or media files, there will be the 4 GB internal storage which can be expanded with microSD card up to 32 GB.
In terms of camera system, the phone has been added with the mediocre camera of 5 megapixels which can capture the photo with the maximum resolution of 2592x1944 pixels and record videos (VGA @30fps). This camera has also been equipped with the auto-focus, single-LED flash, geo-tagging and touch focus features. At the front side, there’s a VGA secondary camera for video calling needs. For the budget-friendly phone, this camera specs can be considered as rather acceptable.
The phone supports for GPRS and EDGE Class 12, HSDPA (21 Mbps) and HSUPA (5.76 Mbps) in order to gain access to the online world. For wireless networking and local connections, the phone has been included with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot, DLNA, Bluetooth 3.0 (A2DP), Near Field Communication (NFC) and the high-speed microUSB v.2.0. The web browser supports for HTML5 and Adobe flash feature so it can provide the desktop-like web browsing.
As my final thought, the LG Optimus L7 is actually one of the worth-buying Android mid-range smartphones in the market. With the reasonable price, people can get several advantages like the big and bright display, slim design, enough camera spec and the latest Android OS. Unfortunately, the phone may perform sluggish mainly due to its low processor and RAM. [IS]
