LGs latest contender in the hotly contested sub PHP 10K range is the X Power. It highlights good specs paired with long battery life which cant be found on LG smartphones in this price segment before.
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| LG X Power review |
We had the handset for a month now after unboxing the device, so heres what we fully think about the interesting LG X Power.
For the review part 1: LG X Power Unboxing And First Impressions - A Lot Of Juice, But Slim And Light?
Display Quality
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| 10 point of touch |
Donning a not that common 5.3 inch HD screen, the LG X Power comes with reasonable display quality. The colors saturation is fine, though they slightly lacking in punch, contrast, and dynamic range. Details are okay and sharp enough at 277 pixels per inch.
Brightness levels arent also strong in this one as sunlight legibility suffers. Fortunately, it has accurate light sensor for auto adjustments and 10 points of touch for accurate typing and swiping. Overa ll, it is decent, but we wished it could be better.
Audio Quality
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| Single loudpeaker at the lower back |
The handset sports a single firing speaker below which is average in loudness level. Quality isnt that great, but it is listenable at least. Vocals and instruments are quite clear too, just dont crank the volume all the way up.
For headphones, it is good and well balanced. We enjoyed its bass reproduction with good speed, resolution, and depth. Vocal clarity in on point as well. Soundstage has average in your front presentation and wideness. However, it isnt that detailed or layered compared with real high-res powered devices.
Audio recording for videos and voice is peaky and noisy even if it has a dual micrphone setup. Using it in a quiet environment is a must. Call quality is fortunately good.
Battery Life
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| Battery test result |
As expected, the 4,100 mAh battery coming from this machine is long lasting and enjoyable at the same time. Based on our PC Mark Battery test benchmark, the handset registered 10 hours and 18 mins of battery life. In real life, it can last the whole day on a single charge. If youre not a heavy user, expect two days of battery life.
Long battery life, fast charging ti me!
Thats good especially for a slim handset. Theres a battery saver feature at 15% battery level and background app restriction to make your battery last even longer.
Charging time using its Quick Charge 2.0 can fill up its 4,100 mAh battery in less than less than 2 hours. 1 hour and 50 mins to from 0 to 100% to be exact. Thats fast!
Camera
The LG X Power boast a 13 MP f/2.2 lens at the back. However, the camera software is too plain. It only has point and shoot and panorama mode. Theres no HDR and filters. Fortunately, it has grids for rule of thirds.
Camera software is lacking
Focus speed on well lit conditions is speedy, though its slow on tap to focus for close-ups. Shutter and saving speed is good.
Checking the quality of its stills, its average on daylight or well lit scenes. Color and depth rendition is decent w/ slight hint of over saturation, though it blows out details on backgr ound at time. The missing HDR feature would have made those shots slightly better though.
In lowlight, expect grains and blurriness on your stills. The bright white flash can help you take better photos in the dark at times.
Rear Camera Samples
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| Random daylight shot |
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| Background blurs |
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| Sunset |
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| Lowlight struggles |
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| Sample snap at night |
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| Benchmark scores of LG X Power |
The LG X Power is loaded MediaTeks 1.3 GHz 64 bit MT6735 quad core processor paired with Mali T720 GPU and 2 GB of RAM, and 16 GB of expandable storage. It can provide average performance thats great enough for your daily social media use and casual gaming even if the storage capacity isnt that large.
Facebook / Instagram doesnt lag, multitasking is decent, gaming is respectable on Asphalt 8 medium settings, and NBA 2K17 is playable in low settings. We also liked the fact that it barely heats up even if WiFi hotspot and LTE is on at the same time.
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| The UI |
The UI on the other hand, reminds us more of the LG V20. Theres no app drawer by default anymore, so users can easily see the apps they need in a swipe. However, the look on its settings is still old school. It is fine, but the learning curve is a little longer than what we wanted.
On the software features, it has the LG Knock code to lock and unlock the phone by double tapping the screen, basic Android features, and font changer.
Connectivity and telephony is also good on this one. GSM signals are strong, LTE doesnt fail most of the tiem, Bluetooth 4.2 is fast, and OTG connectivity works. Its also loaded with accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, sound, and magnetic sensors. However, theres no gyro for VR and AR.
Pros - Long battery life, quick charge rocks, respectable specs for the price, OTG works, selfie is wide angle and has flashCons - Display isnt bright, camera software is too plain, build quality is far from premium, microphone quality needs improvementVerdict
The X Power is the respectable affordable LG handset weve been lookin g for. We liked that it has decent performance, long battery life, and fast charging ability that could make it good enough to be a daily driver. Camera quality is decent even if we find it too plain in our taste as well.
Overall, while there are several kinks in its armor, the LG X Power is a good one.
Build / Design - 3.5Display - 3.5Audio - 3.5Battery - 4.5Camera - 4Performance - 3.75Average - 3.8
