LG Optimus L5 II Dual review: a budget smartphone with a number of strange features

Personally, I always belonged to a budget smartphone from manufacturers of the first echelon with some caution. Yes, Sony is able to make a good device worth 30 thousand rubles, the Samsung Galaxy S4 has long occupied a place in my pocket and does not give serious reasons for complaints, and the LG Optimus 4X HD, I remember, turned out to be quite a pleasant device (if you close your eyes to a gluttonous nVidia Tegra 3 and, as a result, a small "autonomy"). With low-cost solutions, everything is more complicated: attempts to save on components sometimes turn out to be too furious, and at the same time, the “budget phones” of A-brands cannot compete with models sold in Russia under local brands.



Recently, I managed to test the smartphone LG Optimus L5 II Dual (E455), sales of which began a few months ago. The model is not that mega-fresh, but quite relevant. Today it is estimated at about 7,500 rubles, that is, this is the most budgetary option, and even a “two-symbol” in addition. It is worth noting that in nature there is also the LG Optimus L5 II (E450) model, which works with only one SIM-card and costs 7 thousand at the same time. According to the characteristics, except for the number of slots for "SIM cards", these devices are completely identical. But in terms of design, these are two completely different models: LG for some reason produces ordinary and “dual-SIM” smartphones of the L series in different cases, this was the case with the “couple” Optimus L5 and L5 Dual, this is the case with their heirs .


LG Optimus L5 II (left) and L5 II Dual

I want to warn you right away that the LG Optimus L5 II Dual made a mixed impression on me. The device has enough strengths, but there are a number of weaknesses, moreover, those that I did not expect to see in the smartphone of the A-brand, and even for 7.5 thousand rubles. Well, it would have cost 5 thousand and was released by some kind of Russian underbrand, but it costs 7.5!

So, the design of the LG Optimus L5 II can be appreciated by the word “pleasant”. The device is not too charismatic (if this word is generally applicable to smartphones), but also not faceless. I had a black version of the model in my hands, but there is also a white one on sale. If after reading this post you still decide to buy the LG Optimus L5 II Dual, then consider it is worth it: the white version looks more expensive and more beautiful (although this, of course, is very subjective).

On the front panel of the smartphone there is a screen above which there is a speaker grid and a proximity sensor. But for some reason there is no light sensor, that is, in automatic mode the brightness of the display cannot be adjusted. I’ll clarify that this component is now provided in many Android devices that are cheaper than the LG Optimus L5 II Dual. And in Korean smart there is no front camera. To be honest, I have met very few people who would regularly use it, and yet in some cases it is necessary. Let’s say, until recently, I never turned it on at all on my SGS4, but last weekend I went to visit my grandmother in a neighboring city. It turned out that the aunt living in the USA (her daughter) registered with Skype. Then everything is clear: they phoned and saw each other for the first time in 5 years. Hurrah. I do not mean that I’m eager to share the nuances of my personal life, and the fact that sometimes the front camera may be needed very unexpectedly. Let it be better. Well, again, I note that today the front sensor is present in almost all smarts. In addition to the Optimus L5 II Dual ...




Brightness is regulated only by handles ...

We go further. Under the screen are four touch control keys. Everything would be fine, but they ... do not have a backlight. Personally, my vision is not very good, and I need this illumination myself: at night I sometimes miss the buttons on the LG Optimus L5 II Dual, although they are marked with silver paint. (Needless to say, today, most ultra-budget devices have backlighting for the touch buttons?)

With the arrangement of the keys, everything is also strange. The "Back" button is on the left, and the "Call context menu" is on the right. (Usually the opposite is true.) That is, of course, it is not the rightmost one - the last key is responsible for choosing the main SIM card before making a call. In my opinion, the solution is quite convenient, no worse than software switches.




By pressing the rightmost button, the main SIM-card is

changed. The back of the smartphone is made of plastic with a surface under the “rough-ground metal”. It looks nice, but collects scratches and scuffs very quickly. Here I add that the back cover is removed easily, but it sits tight. In the hand, the housing of the LG Optimus L5 II Dual does not “walk” and does not make any extra sounds.


Here, in fact, are the first three serious schools: there is no light sensor, there is no front camera, and there are no backlights for the buttons. Little nothings of life? It depends. Personally, I believe that these are elementary (and inexpensive) components that can make the handset really convenient. What the developers of LG Optimus L5 II Dual were thinking about is an open question.

The set of side keys is not quite standard. On the right side there is a button to turn on the smartphone / screen, on the left there is a volume control swing and an additional key, which by default calls the proprietary QuickMemo function (about it below). Fortunately, in the settings for this button you can hang any of the applications that are in the smartphone. Including the camera, so in the Optimus L5 II Dual, in fact, there is a photograph key. It is located, however, not quite habitually, under the thumb of the left hand, but it is rather nitpicking.






With iron, the situation is very interesting. LG Optimus L5 II Dual is based on the 2011 MediaTek MT6575 chipset, which includes a single-core 40nm processor (ARM Cortex-A9) and PowerVR SGX531 graphics accelerator. The amount of RAM is 512 MB. Models of local Russian brands managed to “get sick” with this mammoth - MT6575 - back in the third or fourth quarter of last year, while LG somehow considered it appropriate in the first half of 2013. (Moreover, it’s appropriate for the device for 7.5 thousand rubles!) Not that it provides absolutely no performance at all, the Android interface works smartly, you can play Angry Birds, you can watch video in VGA resolution too. Many users don’t need more, but if, again, remember the price and level of LG (nevertheless, this is a Serious Korean Company with a World Name,


Screenshots of a couple of benchmarks. As you can see, the performance of the smartphone is not too high.




In general, of course, it is curious that LG SUDDENLY decided to use MediaTek chipsets in some of its models. This Taiwanese company is known primarily for its cooperation with small Chinese factories, plus a number of models (both smartphones and tablets) on its platforms are in the lines of Taiwanese and Chinese companies - Acer, ASUS, Lenovo. Korean and American vendors have not previously used MediaTek solutions in their models. (Except for a couple of Motorola devices, which are ODM-developed and sold only in China and Brazil.) By the way, some LG phones were also previously developed on the side - by Chinese contractors. The thought involuntarily creeps in that the Korean giant has charged them with the development of the Optimus L5 II Dual. And the contractors weren’t the best of their kind,


Motorola MOTOSMART Dual SIM smartphone on MediaTek chipset

Built-in memory is 4 GB, the user can use about 2. The microSD card slot (up to 32 GB maximum, the smartphone didn’t want to work with a 64 GB card) is such that you don’t have to remove the flash drive to change the flash drive the battery. When connected to a computer, there is no way to select the USB Mass Storage mode, since it is not available by default in Android 4.1. Some companies add it on their own, but at LG, alas, they did not concern themselves with this.


But what shows some “pedigree” LG Optimus L5 II Dual, so it is in its screen. After all, it happens like this: manufacturers love to scream that an IPS matrix is ​​installed in a particular smartphone. You look - and there is a faded picture and viewing angles are simply none. It turns out that we are either deceived or slipped under the guise of a good IPS some sort of rejection remaining in the supplier’s factories after fulfilling the orders of A-brands. So, the LG Optimus L5 II Dual has a really good 4-inch IPS screen with wide viewing angles, nice color rendering and a very high brightness level (30-40% is enough for most situations). Resolution is 480 x 800 pixels, that is, it is standard for screens with such a diagonal. The touch layer is responsive, multi-touch is supported. The number of simultaneous touches is not measured, most likely


In the photo it seems that the buttons under the screen are highlighted, but this is just such a photo. There is no backlight. The

second “thoroughbred” element is software. In general, most smartphones on MT6575 are running Android 2.3 or 4.0, while manufacturers with 4.1 firmware do not usually bother. (I'm not sure if MediaTek released a basic version of software with 4.1 for this chipset - correct it if I am mistaken.) However, the LG Optimus L5 II Dual is running Android 4.1.2, and even with the proprietary Optimus UI blotch.


This "blotch" includes a number of proprietary applications, redrawn icons, submenus, and so on. There are even four themes that automatically change the wallpaper, colors in the interface and individual icons.


In the main menu you can change the background, about 10 options are available, however, as I understand it, you can’t install your images. By the way, the function is for some reason called “Wallpaper Applications”.



There are five desktops. You can specify the main one.


I personally liked that Optimus UI allows you to change the location of the main menu call icon. By default, this icon is at the far right, but it can also be moved. Nothing can be moved in the Galaxy S4 with its latest TouchWiz, the menu icon can only be on the right, and sometimes it’s not very convenient for me to reach it.


The lock screen in the LG Optimus L5 II Dual is also its own, branded. Among other things, it displays four application icons for quick access, which can be changed in the settings. You can change the type of clock with a date.


There is an energy saving mode that can turn on automatically. And the battery level, by the way, can be displayed in the status bar as a percentage. Also a pleasant trifle.


The notification panel has quick access to adjust the brightness of the screen.



In the task manager there is a button for “nailing” all applications at once.


The QuickMemo option, which I already mentioned, is essentially an application for creating screenshots with tools for their subsequent editing and the ability to quickly send somewhere. In the promotion of its smartphones, LG for some reason makes a significant emphasis on this feature, although, as for me, it is not of particular interest. Now, if the models of the Optimus L series were equipped with a stylus for drawing - then yes ...


The music player is pretty, with a metal look. The sound quality in the headphones is nothing special, while the speaker in the LG Optimus L5 II Dual is quite vociferous.


In the "Settings" all the icons are redrawn. Compared to bare Android, they look very fresh.

There is a separate video player application, which is convenient, since in many inexpensive smartphones you need to search for videos among photos in the gallery and start playback from there.




In general, LG worked well with software, well. Compared to the stock versions of the Android platform, the software features of the Optimus L5 II Dual make a good impression. However, I fully admit the fact that for individual users all these "little things" seem superfluous. Indeed, with the “bare” version of the OS, it’s quite possible to do almost the same thing, if not better, you just need to go deeper into Google Play and pump all sorts of different things out of there.

There are a lot of pre-installed applications in the model; I don’t see any point in listing everything. There are some toys, customers of social networks. A client of the branded application catalog LG AppClub is also provided.



Another interesting thing is the Safety Care program, designed to take care of the user's safety.


The camera interface has also been redesigned, but for some reason you can’t take screenshots in the Camera application. There are enough options there, the most curious seemed the ability to customize the panel with icons for quick access to functions. That is, by default there are 5 positions, and 18 options. You can choose any 5 - that is, those that you refer to most often. The camera in the LG Optimus L5 II Dual 5-megapixel with autofocus and LED flash, there is a touch focus function and the ability to record clips with a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. The quality of the pictures is not bad and not good:








With Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G and dual SIM support, there are no surprises - all this is there, it works and does not cause any hassle. With the "autonomous" situation is not bad: LG Optimus L5 II Dual is equipped with a battery for 1,700 mAh, which is slightly more than average for smartphones of this class. As a result - almost two days of battery life with two installed SIM-cards, regular attacks on the Internet and a dozen or two more photos.


Summing up, I repeat that the LG Optimus L5 II Dual made an ambiguous impression on me. It seems that the developers worked hard on the software (including the relatively recent version of Android), put here a good battery and more than a decent screen. But in the little things, alas, they went wild. And the hardware in the device is outdated, which is a sin: the performance provided by MediaTek MT6575 is hardly sufficient today.

Take, for example, Highscreen Spark for 4 thousand rubles. The screen is not IPS, but normal TN, which translates into less wide viewing angles, in principle, other things being equal. The camera is noticeably better with LG, but the case is with Highscreen: the back cover is upholstered with soft-touch and is not prone to collecting scratches and quick wear. According to the software, the Optimus L5 II Dual is ahead, since it has Android 4.1 (versus 4.0). According to the software chips, the “Korean” also overtakes, although if you wish, you can also make a “candy” out of Spark. At the same time, the Highscreen brainchild has a front camera, button illumination and a light sensor. And he also has much more powerful hardware: a dual-core Qualcomm MSM8225 Snapdragon S4 Play, which gives out about 6 thousand points in the same AnTuTu (versus 4,800 in the case of LG). However, benchmarks are benchmarks, but also in practice - in games, in particular - Highscreen Spark is much faster.


Highscreen Spark and LG Optimus L5 II Dual

Why am I: budget A-brand smartphones are very seriously overestimated, while there are, unfortunately, enough obvious jambs in them. So the LG Optimus L5 II Dual turned out to be strange and far from ideal. Personally, I expected more from this model, because, contrary to popular belief, LG still knows how to make good smartphones - just remember the Nexus 4, which is very popular all over the world. And quite deservedly.

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