Does what it says, but lacks a few important features

Jun 5, 2014 13:19 GMT  ·  By

LG is well known for its rather awful support for its smartphones, especially when it comes to software updates, but the South Korean company remains in the top 5 of preferred Android handsets.

One of the reasons may be the fact that LG has started to innovate even though it’s one of the few handset makers that does not seem to copy Apple, Samsung or any other player in the market.

There are exceptions of course, but LG has managed to keep away from patent lawsuits in general and has focused exclusively on getting out original products as much as possible.

Even though some of these products are atrociously ugly, in the smartphone market, LG has done wonders. Let’s not forget that LG is the first company that made a curved smartphone available worldwide, the G Flex, which is a great device. You can check out our full LG G Flex review for more details.

The latest high-end smartphones launched by LG are really memorable: LG G2, LG G Pro 2 and LG G Flex. But the company is also interested in the mid-range segment of the smartphone market and for that, it launched the L Series III back in February.

One of the mid-range smartphones included in the L Series III family is the LG L70, which is available in two versions: single SIM and dual SIM. With the exception of the number of SIMs that one can use, both versions are similar when it comes to specs.

We’ve been given the chance to take the dual-SIM variant for a spin and test its capabilities. We will share our findings with you in this in-depth review of the LG L70 dual.

First of all, LG L70 dual is not available in all regions. Depending on the country, you might be able to purchase one or the other, but in some cases, you can get both.

As mentioned earlier, the smartphone was announced back in February and has been released on the market only recently. It can be purchased for around $220 (€160), but prices might vary depending on the country.

Design

LG L70 dual is a good-looking phone, no doubt about it. Even though the smartphone is made of plastic, it does not clank and seems to be sturdy enough to withstand drops, but we haven’t really tested that part. The back cover is made of a stylish plastic featuring a perforated pattern, which improves user’s grip over the phone even when their hands are sweaty.

The front side of the L70 dual is almost entirely seized by the large 4.5-inch display and the four touch sensitive buttons at the base of the screen. Yes, you read that right, the LG L70 dual comes with four touch sensitive keys instead of three, which is now standard for Android smartphones.

From left to right, the L70 dual features the following buttons: Back, Home, Contextual and SIM. The latter is specific to LG’s new dual-SIM smartphones and brings up a menu where users can manage both SIMs on the fly.

The bad news is that none of these touch sensitive keys have LEDs underneath, which means that you won’t be able to distinguish them while in low-light environments. You can’t even see them when the display is lit up, which makes operating the smartphone during night tedious and annoying at times.

This downside might not apply to the single-SIM version, which comes with only three touch sensitive keys, so it might be easier to spot the correct one when you need it.

Above the display, there’s a secondary VGA camera for video calls and selfies, as well as some sensors like the proximity sensor. I was surprised to notice that the LG L70 dual does not feature an ambient light sensor, so there’s no way you can set the brightness of the smartphone on auto.

Another negative would be the lack of a notification LED. This means that every time you receive a message/mail/call and you’re not aware, you will not notice it unless you wake up the phone.

Luckily, LG has made it so that you can wake up the L70 dual by double tapping on the display. That’s all it takes for one to disable the phone’s sleep mode.

The left side of the smartphone features a dual-volume key, while on the right side, there’s a small power on/off button. On the bottom, there’s a microUSB port, while on top, LG placed the 3.5mm audio jack.

Obviously, the LG L70 dual comes with a removable battery cover, so pulling it out will reveal a generous 2100 mAh battery, a microSD card slot and a dual-SIM slot.

In fact, there are two SIM slots placed on top of each other. Using the one on top will enable access to 3G data speeds, while the one underneath is only compatible with EDGE.

The 5-megapixel camera on the back features LED flash. There’s also a loudspeaker on the back side of the phone, so if you want to listen to music, you will have to keep your phone with the screen upside down, otherwise the sound will be muffled.

Anyway, for the price you pay, LG L70 dual is more than a decent alternative to other high-end phones, especially when it comes to looks. One last thing I would like to mention is the fact that the L70 dual is available in both black and white versions, but the latter looks much better.

Display and Camera

LG L70 dual comes with a 4.5-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display, which might seem large for a mid-range smartphone. There’s a downside though, as the device only supports WVGA (800 x 480 pixels) resolution.

On a more positive note, it does come with Corning Gorilla Glass 2 coating, which offers more protection against scratches or accidental drops (in some cases).

The display’s sunlight eligibility depends very much on the angles you’re looking at, so there are times when you won’t be able to see anything on the screen. But aside from that, the large display is well above average in terms of contrast and brightness.

I have already mentioned that due to the fact that it lacks an ambient light sensor, the display’s brightness can’t be set to Auto, so you will need to juggle with the settings yourself until you find a good balance.

I did not have too many expectations from the 5-megapixel camera on the back, which is probably one of the reasons that I was pleasantly surprised to notice that it shoots pretty decent pictures. The maximum resolution at which you can capture photos is 2592 х 1944 pixels, while videos can be recorded at 800 x 480 pixels resolution.
The phone does not have a dedicated camera button, but you can either set one or choose the touch shutter on the screen. The camera UI is pretty straightforward and easy to navigate, with plenty of features and settings that you can play with.

There are different ISO settings, as well as various options for White balance, Color effect and Focus features. Some of these are also available for the video recorder.

As you can see from the samples below, the pictures aren’t bad at all for a mid-range smartphone, but video recording could have been slightly better.
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Menu and Software

The L70 dual comes with Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system out of the box, which is a major advantage over other smartphones in the same price range that are powered by older versions of the platform.

On top of KitKat, LG implemented its own UI, which might seem familiar to fans of the brand, but totally new to those who have never owned an LG smartphone.

The L70 dual is packed with LG UI version 3.0, which is the latest UI for mid-range smartphones launched by the South Korean company. The high-end handsets come with similar UIs, but they have been tweaked to look better, so don’t expect the same level of elegancy in the L70 dual.

Nevertheless, the LG UI is quite user-friendly, so I expect newcomers to the brand to find it easy to navigate. Every major handset maker has its own UI included in their smartphones, which is why LG has decided to put its own into all Android devices.

But LG’s UI goes beyond nice visuals, as the company has included some tweaks that make the smartphone more user-friendly in comparison with other brands. For example, thanks to the KnockCode feature, users will now be able to double tap to wake the screen.

The KnockCode is an evolution of the KnockOn feature that was included initially in the G2 and is now part of all LG smartphones launched in the last couple of months.

The upgraded feature also allows users to bypass the lock screen using certain tap patterns that can be predefined. LG has turned the already useful “double tap to wake the screen” feature into an even more useful capability by adding some security abilities.

I was pleased to find that most of LG’s innovative features, including QSlide and Quick Memo, have been included in the L70 dual as well. The former allows users to resize a running app in order to work with another one in full screen. Only certain apps are compatible with QSlide, but it’s a very useful feature.

Just like many of the Android smartphones these days, the LG L70 dual’s notification area can be customized to contain exactly what you need.

It is also worth mentioning that the LG L70 dual comes with a dedicated button for the SIM manager. You will be able to customize ringtones and other personalization options by accessing the SIM manager with only the touch of a button.

Overall, the LG L70 dual UI is pretty straightforward when it comes to layout and decent when it comes to visuals. Thanks to its unique productive features, the smartphone is certain to become a competitive rival for other popular mid-range smartphones.

Communication

LG L70 dual comes with all the standard connectivity options that Android smartphones are packed with these days. It offers both HSDPA (21Mbps) and HSUPA (5.76), along with Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-FI Hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP support and microUSB 2.0.

Unfortunately, the stock Android browser that comes pre-installed on the L70 dual is kind of a mess, so I suggest using another browser for a smoother Internet browsing experience.

Given its mid-range target, the L70 dual does not feature NFC (Near Field Communication) support or IR blaster, but I would have expected that anyway.

As expected, the device comes preloaded with Google’s suite of apps and services, including Gmail, Maps and Hangouts. The built-in GPS offers a streamlined experience, so you won’t have any issues while using it.

While I did not have any problems with the GSM signal reception, the in-call sound is a bit of a letdown. However, you shouldn’t have too many issues during conversations even in rather noisy areas.

Processor and Memory

The mid-range L70 dual is quite snappy while browsing through its UI, but it might be in trouble if you load one of the latest racing car games available on Google Play Store.

Surprisingly, the reason is not the low amount of memory, but the not-that-great dual-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz. Even though it’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 CPU, it’s no match for some of the most demanding Android games.

The synthetic benchmarks show unusual high results, but that's due to the display's low resolution. The good news is that the L70 dual is equipped with a rather decent Adreno 302 graphics processing unit and 1GB of RAM.
In terms of storage, the L70 dual is far from being impressive and unless you purchase a microSD card, you won’t be able to store too many photos, music or apps/games on the phone. The LG L70 dual comes with only 4GB of internal memory, but you can expand storage up to 32GB.

The microSD card slot is placed on the right side of the smartphone, so you won’t need to remove the battery in order to pull it out/in.

Multimedia

Those who purchase the LG L70 dual for its multimedia capabilities should think again about their investment. This smartphone is clearly inferior when it comes to multimedia and I’m talking about both headphones and the loudspeaker.

Listening to the music via the phone’s loudspeaker is a terrible experience that I would not recommend to anyone. Things didn’t turn out to be much better even after using my own headphones.

LG L70 dual’s integrated music player does not feature any additional settings or an equalizer, so what you hear can’t be changed in any way. The good news is that the FM Radio function works flawlessly and the video player included does its job admirably for a mid-range smartphone.

The phone comes with YouTube application pre-installed, so those addicted will find it extremely useful. One last thing I would like to mention is that you will only be able to run videos in the following formats: XviD, MP4, H.264 and H.263.

Battery

The LG L70 dual is powered by a high-capacity 2100 mAh battery, which is unusual for such a cheap mid-range smartphone. In fact, I wish more and more affordable smartphones packed 2000+ mAh batteries in order to offer even more autonomy.

Anyway, the L70’s battery is clearly one of its strongest points. If you are not using the phone heavily for Internet browsing, the battery can last up to 4-5 days with only one charge, even more if you’re light on talking on the phone as well.

Sales Package

LG L70 dual handset Compact charger MicroUSB cable Stereo earphones


The Good

The first thing that one will notice is the design. Even though it’s a $200 smartphone, the L70 dual certainly looks much more expensive than that.

Design aside, the overall build of the device is much better in comparison with previous mid-range smartphones lunched by LG.

Another positive aspect that I would like to highlight is the fact that the L70 dual comes with Android 4.4.2 KitKat platform onboard. There are few smartphones at this price that offer the latest version of Android out of the box.

Some of the unique features mentioned earlier are another plus for the L70. The long-lasting battery is definitely another selling point and that should be all.

The Bad

There aren’t too many negatives, considering the phone’s price tag. However, even if the smartphone is so cheap, there’s no reason why LG would not improve its multimedia features.

The absence of an ambient light sensor is another downside, along with the inferior video camera. Of all the downsides of the L70 dual, the most annoying is the fact that the touch sensitive keys lack LED lights, which makes them impossible to spot in dark environments.

Hopefully, I have managed to find all the bad things that LG L70 dual might have been “blessed” with, but if you can find more, please share the details with us in the comments section.

Conclusion

I think that LG L70 dual is a nice surprise for Android fans. It appears that the South Korean company has decided to improve its mid-range lineup of smartphones and bring it on par with the high-end series in terms of build quality.

LG has also worked on overall stability and performance of its smartphones, but has yet to get it right when it comes to other aspects, such as multimedia.

The L70 dual is a good-looking, well-built device that definitely gives you bang for the buck. The only question is how long it will take it to be hit with major issues, as mid-range LG smartphones usually do.

Still, given its low price, I believe it’s worth the risk. Besides, LG is certainly worth another chance, considering its 2014 lineup of smartphones.

Our Rating

looks 4
build 3
speed 3
battery 4
calls 2
camera 2
video 1
apps 3
screen 2
signal3

final rating 3

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LG L70 Dual
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