Review: LG Spectrum

In a world where we’d love to focus on (and only on) Android 4.0 ICS devices, the world is still bathed in a sea of Android 2.x Android phones. It’s a sad reality. But before we slip into a depressing talk about 2.x in a 4.x world, let’s carry on with what really matters here — the LG Spectrum hardware. It’s got a big, high resolution display, fast dual-core processor, and surprisingly good battery life. The best is yet to come. Hop on past for Gadgetsteria’s full review of the LG Spectrum.

Hardware & Display

The LG Spectrum is rather simple in design. There are volume buttons on your upper left, a headphone jack, power button and microUSB charging/syncing port on the top, and…that’s it. LG really took button count to a minimum as well as consolidated the physical interaction to just a few spots on the Spectrum.

The screen, is still one of the rarer finds: a 4.5″ 720p (1280 x 720P slab of glass that looks simply amazing. In our testing, colors popped and text was crisp and clear with the aforementioned resolution. Brightness was more than ample and viewing angles were wide enough in all directions that viewing content with the phone in normal positions won’t provide any discoloration or distortion.

The brain behind the beauty is a Qualcomm 1.5 GHz dual-core processor backed up by 1 GB of RAM. It’s pretty much the standard feature(s) for a modern smartphone for the next month or so, at least until quad-core hardware starts trickling out. But for now, the Spectrum is one of the few highest of the high-end Android phones.

Camera

The 8-megapixel camera on the Spectrum is on par with the rest of the other high-end, 720p Android devices currently on the market. That is, colors are generally spot on and colors rarely washed out. Though outdoorsy pictures still present a problem for Google and friends in regards to lifeless colors, specifically the brighter environments. At the same rate, what smartphone camera doesn’t have issues in lighting extremes?

Software

As far as software goes, there’s not much to discuss. It’s your typical Android 2.3.6 with LG’s custom skin layered on top. It does a well enough job of making LG’s handsets stand out from the myriad other Android devices on the market, though ultimately fails to impress us enough to justify having it completely replace stock Android. That said, we will note that in general day-to-day use, the LG Spectrum feels more snappy than competing phones from Samsung and HTC specifically.

One feature that does stand out and is actually rather cool is LG’s implementation of “tap to navigate” as well as several other methods in which the end user can control an action in correspondance with specific gestures or movements. For example, you can navigate left-right and right-left by tapping the left or right sides of the Spectrum. Similarly, the option to silence phone calls when flipping the phone over on its screen is minor in utility, but ultimately an awesome testament to LG getting “the little things”. All of the gesture/gyroscope based actions can be turned on or off at will — also a big deal in and of itself.

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With as much thought that went into LG’s unique tap-enabled and gyroscopic features for the Spectrum, we’d wish they’d spend just a little more time on UI design. We really don’t care for the sectional view of the app drawer on the Spectrum categorized by app type. While we get the functionality and utility LG was trying to provide, it simply comes across as chaotic and too busy for our tastes.

Battery Life

Over the last 6 months we’ve reviewed a growing number of Android phones that while mostly enjoyable to some degree have left us frustrated with poor battery life. The main culprit: LTE. Yes. It provides uber fast data speeds that make mobile web browsing, gaming, and downloading of apps super fast, it also makes the amount of time we can actually use our devices away from a power outlet dramatically shorter. Case in point: The Galaxy Nexus was the most highly sought after device in our eyes thanks in part to it being the first Android 4.0 device. Review week came and went and we were ultimately left disappointed to the nth degree. The main reason, of course, was becuase 3-5 hours was all we were getting with normal usage.

Whatever Samsung did (or didn’t) do is beyond us. But LG has managed to make a phone with much more usable runtime. In fact, we’d say the Spectrum is one of the better devices in terms of battery life. A normal day for us is 3 Gmail accounts with full push, three twitter accounts, Facebook x1, Google+ x1, and a couple of other misc. apps such as weather. We have routinely gotten a minimum of 8 hours, with one day even managing to stretch into the 21-hour mark before we had to connect to an outlet for more juice.

While the Spectrum might fall to the almighty Droid RAZR MAXX thanks to said phone’s gargantuan 3,300 mAh battery, we have to give the LG Spectrum props for offering both power and efficiency.

Call Quality & Data Speeds

In the U.S., Verizon is synonymous with good call quality. And with the Spectrum, the old stereotype still rings true. LTE, however, has changed the old perception that VZW was on the lower end of the list when it comes to network speeds. In our our smaller chunk of north-central Indiana within a few miles of an LTE tower we were average 25-32 Mbps connection speeds (down) and a solid ~15 Mbps up. There isn’t any competition (in our neck of the woods) yet. Though, AT&T will soon be knocking on the door of many of Verizon’s LTE markets once again giving LTE hopefuls a multi-carrier choice for high-speed cellular service.

Conclusion

At $299, the Spectrum tips the scales at your typical price point for a high-end Android device. Overall, the Spectrum is an awesome device that is only marred by its skin (if such things bother you). Skin preferences aside, we really don’t see a reason not to recommend the device. It is powerful, fast, and can easily get you through a busy work day. The built-in gesture/movement based navigational actions are a nice addition, too.

In the end we can easily find many people torn between the Spectrum and other devices like the Galaxy Nexus and HTC Rezound. The former features the latest and greatest Android 4.0 as well as guaranteed access to future Android updates as soon as humanly possible while the latter offers Beats Audio and Sense UI — a skin that still garners a loyal following on HTC devices. Seeing as how the Spectrum was just released, the promised update to Android 4.0 won’t happen next week. Though, we fully expect that when it drops in the next couple of months to more than make up for lost time. But therein lies the ultimate question — do you want to wait?