Review: LG Optimus L7 Smartphone

By Mike Wheeler

By Mike Wheeler

LG will never be sued by Apple of the design of its smartphones. The company is one of the few that seems to keep the same design tenets for all its handsets, and the L7 is no exception. Even if the handset wasn’t stamped with the LG logo, I would know it was one of theirs due to the uniform square shape of the device. So, aesthetically not much has changed.

But what about the functionality? Well, it does what it’s supposed to do without being too flash, but that is of no surprise as this is an entry-level smartphone. It has a 4.3-inch touchscreen, which is nice and big, and simple to use. This last aspect might seem a strange thing to say, but we’ve had a couple of instances over the past few months whereby touchscreens – on both smartphones and tablets – have been less than smooth when trying to scroll from screen to screen.

Navigation is simple. There are four permanent apps at the bottom of the screen, while the top four can be changed out with a sweep of the finger. We found some of the apps a little slow to react and start-up, which we put down to the 1GHz processor not being in the same league as other phones – but we knew this was not a top-end phone anyway so that was expected.

There is one quirky feature that left us scratching our head a little. If you scroll down the homepage (flick your index finger from the top to the bottom and a new front page will appear), a few widgets will appear at the top of the new screen. One of them takes a screenshot and allows you to draw on the screenshot. It setting is called “Quick Memo” and I guess that you are supposed to write reminders on the screen. However, other than being of gimmick value, we didn’t see the point of it.

If you’re one of those people who do a lot of texting and talking, then this is the ideal phone, and has the pricing to match. If you looking for something that allows you to watch YouTube clips, upload and download content or surf the net, then you’re better off getting one of LG’s high-end handsets or another vendor such as Samsung or Apple.

It may not be the biggest kid on the block, but for what it is, and at the price point it retails at, it will certainly find a niche amongst those who want a reasonably nice looking phone but without the bells and whistles.

Pros: Nice for what it is; good price
Cons: A bit slow when scrolling; feature light

4  Shacks Out Of 5

RRP
$269