Camera
UI camera here will be familiar to anyone
who has owned the LG smartphone. The controls is on the left of the viewfinder,
and you can adjust the size of the images, the scene modes, the ISO settings, the
white balance preset, timer, the geo-tagging settings, color effect and
shooting sound. You can choose between auto focus and face tracking, where the
camera will try to focus what it thinks may be a face. We especially like the panorama
mode, and continuous shooting is also good if you try to take a photo of a
moving object. The rear camera can record HD 1,080p, though the front webcam record
at VGA of it max. We realize that 1,080p video is pretty sharp and satisfy with
its auto focus, though it’s not quite good at processing lowlight and shadow.
UI
camera here will be familiar to anyone who has owned the LG smartphone.
We’d like to be honest: if you want a phone
with flagship camera, L9 is not for you. The 5MP sensor works well with simple
shots, but users who want something that may change the point-and-shoot camera
will definitely laughing the amateur image quality presented here. Most of the
image samples show leaden, washed-out color and have the amount of noise even
in shots in proper light. The lowlight effect is so-so – for example, the dusk
scene looks pretty fine but grain and blur continues to be a problem there. Touch-to-focus
works pretty well, but don’t expect the shallow depth field in your macro
images. As you can expect, camera works the best under sunlight, but the color
is somewhat lackluster.
Conclusion
Optimus L9 is not completely weak. We
highly appreciate the chubby yet luxurious design and the sharp colorful
screen. While the performance doesn’t impress us, it’s quite capable of doing
the daily tasks such as browsing web, checking email and gaming sometimes.
We’re also in to the addition of the Wi-Fi calling feature of T-Mobile. But its
commonplace camera reminds us of the normal status, preeminent software of the
carrier is a disappointment and UI 3.0 of LG, despite having nothing to
reprimand, belongs to the pass. Short battery life is also a real-life problem
that users should know before signing the contract.
We
highly appreciate the chubby yet luxurious design and the sharp colorful
screen.
May be its biggest life-saving point is
this: it has the price of only 80 USD with a 2-year T-Mobile contract. Those
who have just know Android may think that 80 USD buy a convenient phone, but
more learning users will be disappointed. If you have a tight budget, we’d like
to recommend HTC One S, which is available for free with the T-Mobile contract.
20 USD more can buy you a more eminent HTC One X if you’re ready to follow AT&T.
Or, you may want to consider saving your money to buy Nexus 4, especially when
the 2-year contract is not suitable for you.
HTC
One S
HTC
One X
Price
·
$79.99 according to the contract
Advantages
·
Fine screen
·
Wi-Fi calls
·
Cheap
Disadvantages
·
Short battery life
·
Commonplace camera
·
No ambient light sensor
·
The preeminent software of the carrier
Key point
·
With 80 bucks, LG Optimus L9 is the pretty good
cheap-priced Android phone, but there are a lot of better options.
|
LG Optimus L9 technical
specs
·
Dimension: 5.03x2.63x0.36 inch
(127.6x66.9x9.1mm)
·
Weight: 4.2 ounce (119g)
·
Screen size: 4.5 inch (114mm)
·
Screen resolution: 960x540 pixel (245ppi)
·
Screen type: TFT-LCD screen
·
Battery: 2,150mAh
·
Internal storage: 4GB (2.7GB available)
·
External storage: microSD, not included
·
Rear camera: 5MP, AF, LED flash
·
Front camera: VGA
·
Video recording: 1,080p HD
·
NFC: No
·
Radio: 4-badwidth GSM/GPRS/EDGE; 4-bandwidth
4G UMTS/HSPA+ (2,100/1,900/1,700 (AWS)/850)
·
Network speed: HSPA+ 21Mbps
·
Bluetooth: v3.0
·
CPU: 1GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4430
·
GPU: PowerVR SGX 540
·
RAM: 1GB
·
MHL: No
·
Wi-Fi: 802.11b/g/n/a
·
OS: Android 4.0.4
·
Supported multimedia formats: MP3, AMR, AAC,
AAC+, WAV, AC3, MPEG-4, H.263, H.264, DivX, Xvid
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