LG Spectrum Reviewed

[tonyyag]

Thanks for all the review info. The LG Spectrum (which I bought a week ago after after trading off with the Rezound) only lets my Mac access the SD card via USB as mass storage. It worked once the first time I tried it, but not since. My incredible allows access to both internal and SD memory. Is there any way to do that with the Spectrum? I tried unmounting the SD card, but it still can't see the internal storage. I am considering returning the LG for a Rezound: Better cameras, more internal memory, HDMI port, more like my Incredible, etc.

 

[bL33d]

hmm i know the usb doubles as hdmi out aswell just need the adapter and im not sure about internel memory sorry.

 

[tonyyag]

Thanks for all the review info. Coming from an Incredible, here are my impressions after a week with the LG Spectrum:

LIKE: Screen, Battery life, Application folders (allow you to set up custom folders (e.g. Clocks, Games, Audio, players, etc.) folders without filling up the 7 screens) , Thinner, light, still has removeable battery (nixed the RAZR for me) and removeable SD Card (Nixed the Galaxy for me), has Gesture features. e.g that help move the cursor by tapping on the sides..helps mitigate loss of trackball.

DISLIKE: Only 4G (<2G useable) internal memory that I can't access (see earlier post), Average cameras, no HDMI port, no trackball, no charging LED, no FM Radio, few accessories like batteries yet, no root solution yet.

QUESTIONS: Will the ICS upgrade cut into the useable (2G) internal memory?
Outlook for ICS Upgrade (It has just 3 buttons in anticipation)?
Have other LG phones eventually been rooted?

DILEMMA: Keep it or trade for a Rezound?

 

[bL33d]

Ya I hear ya. Have till tomorrow to trade in for different phone. Phone but I really like the screen and form factor. I'm using adw launcher ex which is very smooth. So I'll prob keep it but lg better get Ics out soon.

 

[YourMobileGuru]

Thanks for all the review info. Coming from an Incredible, here are my impressions after a week with the LG Spectrum:

LIKE: Screen, Battery life, Application folders (allow you to set up custom folders (e.g. Clocks, Games, Audio, players, etc.) folders without filling up the 7 screens) , Thinner, light, still has removeable battery (nixed the RAZR for me) and removeable SD Card (Nixed the Galaxy for me), has Gesture features. e.g that help move the cursor by tapping on the sides..helps mitigate loss of trackball.

DISLIKE: Only 4G (<2G useable) internal memory that I can't access (see earlier post), Average cameras, no HDMI port, no trackball, no charging LED, no FM Radio, few accessories like batteries yet, no root solution yet.

QUESTIONS: Will the ICS upgrade cut into the useable (2G) internal memory?
Outlook for ICS Upgrade (It has just 3 buttons in anticipation)?
Have other LG phones eventually been rooted?

DILEMMA: Keep it or trade for a Rezound?

ICS will probably reduce the on-board memory yes, but hopefully by not much.

An MHL adapter will take care of the lack of an HDMI out (converts USB to HDMI out)

Lots more accessories with the Rezound, no problem there.

I havent compared the cameras on the devices but the Rezound one is one of the better ones I have seen.

If you are hoping for a quicker update to ICS the Rezound is a better way to go (at least two leaked builds so far so work is well underway and we have no idea when it will come to the Spectrum. 3 buttons or no LG has a terrible update track record, especially on US devices.

It's really your choice but IMHO the Rezound is a better phone. If I were you I would go spend some serious time with the demo model at the VZW store.

 

[tonyyag]

TNX. I really like the LG Spectrum's Application folders (allow you to set up custom folders (e.g. Clocks, Games, Audio, players, etc.) folders without filling up the 7 screens). Is there any way to do that on the Rezound?

 

[tonyyag]

Would ADW Launcher provide folders similar to those on the LG Spectrum...you can create as many as u want, name them, and put up to 16 shortcut icons in each, while they appear among normal icons in each of the 7 screens?

 

[YourMobileGuru]

You dont need a third party launcher to create folders

Long press (from home screen) > Folders > New Folder

Edit the name of the folder and drag what you want into it.

Any lancer can do this (except ICS which copies iPhone and creates a folder when you drag one icon on top of another).

 

[socialmuse]

Picked my Spectrum up a week ago.
Like:
First thing is first. The screen is gorgeous. Easily the best screen on any phone right now. not as high ppi as the *phone but it is really close and a heck of a lot bigger. It is bright, colors are wonderful. The glass is highly reflective and is difficult to see when a light is bouncing right into your cornea.
Phone is fast. loads everything quickly. no lag on anything.
Camera is quick. maybe half second shutter lag. Pictures look great. One thing i dont like about the camera is when looking at pictures that the phone has taken the picture does NOT fill up the whole screen. I cant find any setting that can fix this.
The 4G is extremely fast. (Salt Lake City) I have no network issues or dropped calls.


Dislike:
The worst part of this phone is battery. Best i got so far was about 9 hours. i have turned off the 4G and dimmed the screen to stretch every minute out of the battery. I would consider myself a heavy user also. constantly turning my phone on to check for messages. Emails push to my phone all day. I am on twitter all day long (@socialmuse) and text a lot.
I dont like the stock skin. the Dialer looks like it was designed for children.
Physical size of the phone is a bit bigger than i like but it comes with that beautiful screen so i can deal with that. and is very smooth which makes it slippery. Cases should fix that part.

Other stuff:
Speaker works fine. It is loud and crisp. Microphone is also great. people on the other end hear every word i say.
I have been told there is a NFC chip in this thing but i have yet to figure that part out.
Lack of notification LED kinda sucks but i'm already used to it and dont even care or notice that it is missing.

I am running GoPro Launcher, Go Text App and SwiftkeyX

My wife just got the HTC Rezound. THat thing has awesome sound. and screen is great. battery lasts her all day. light user. I like my phone better in everyway except size. Rezound feels so much better in hand.

 

[bL33d]

change screensize in camera settings to widescreen.

 

[Zekk98]

I am not sure if this really matters or not, but I had an opportunity to try out the HTC Rezound and the LG Spectrum for abiut four days. I had both devices side by side and honestly the Lg was just a better phone to me. I am usually impressed and always kinda wanting what HTC has to offer but not in this case. I mean I am having trouble understanding just why the ui is so bad to people, I do prefer the look of HTC sense and the feel, but the Lg ui is not bad and I have had it for at least a solid week and I have tried to do everything on it possible lol, except use a custom rom which no one has down yet due to lack of a bootloader. Honestly the lg ui doesnt even really lag or slow down, if anything its just as fluid as the htc sense on the rezound. I mean having four days of the two phones side by side I honestly just felt like the rezound was lacking, the only plus to it versus the spectrum is the beats audio headphones that you get.I mean honestly both back facing cameras are pretty similar, even wife pointed out and said the lg pictures looked better. I mean there is a blue cast on the lg and a yeelowish cast on the rezound. This is purely from my experience of each device and having them side by side and just testing.things. I also ran two benchmarks, one was quadrant standard and antutu or something like that and my lg did better on both of them and honestly the screen on the lg just blows the rezound away. The speaker on the back of the lg is signifigantly louder on the lg vs the rezound and even with the beats audio I still felt like the dolby digital sound on my lg was better and provided more enhancements which also helps in different apps. As far as call quality I didnt have any static or echoing on my lg, or hissing according to my wife, but the rezound did have slight hissing. The battery life on the rezound was poor at best very similar to my wife's thnderbolt, but still better. The lg can give me 12 or so hours of use on txting, using gps heavily, calling people, and playing games and using the web. but if I watch hd video and stuff I honestly get around 4-6 on my battery. at first my lg had bad battery life but now after a fww cycles of charging and.discharging it is way better. I still say the HTC Rezound is a great phone, just for me it wasnt as great as everyone is making it out to be or atleast in my opinion. I mean it had trouble keeping my gps location locked on several times in a single day and my spectrum does it only if I lose signal. I mean I felt knda dissapointed when messing with the rezound, I just found myself wanting to play with the lg... I can answer any questions as far as both phones go, as I did everything you would except custom roms and.such. Now my wife did prefer the htc rezound based on shape and design and pink capactive buttons, lol that are suppose to be red but look pink when they light up. I just think the lg spectrum is outstanding and fast and I live in texas and my job requires me to drive all over texas and there has been only one occasion with th spectrum where I lost signal, but got it back immediately. thats outstanding. the rezound was decent but signal was still not as great as the spectrum.

 

[hollywoodS14]

Have had my Spectrum for just under a month now. I love it. I am more of a basic user really, ohone use is the main and most used function of this device. I do not play a lot of games. Other than calls and texting, i use the phone for sending a lot of pictures to customer at work. The camera on this phone is great IMO, and more than sufficient. If you want 12MP+ pics, buy a good camera. The calls are great, clear and crisp, although the earpiece does take some fine tuning when positioning to your ear. the screen and display are fantastic. The UI is easy to use, and moves quickly. i like how the app drawer is laid out, makes it easier to find what your looking for.

My only complaints are the battery life and email app. Battery life isnt too big of a deal either. the device probably spend more time at idle, then being used. So all day one a single charge is easy. Also if you the power option widget to turn off the 3g/4g signal when idle, battery life gets even better. The email app just plain sucks, and from what i can tell is specific to this phone. My work email is pop3 and and requires matching in and out password that vary from email and login info. The app doesn have the proper fields for this information, so i had to dowload K-9 which, IMO, doesnt seem to flow as nicely as the stock app does with my hotmail, or the gmail app does. YES i have 3 diff email accounts using 2 diff apps.

All in all, i love it. I passed up iphone, razr, and resound for the Spectrum and thus far have no regrets.

 

[lamashat]

lol with a root it would be perfect for me

 

[liteon163]

I'm glad the OP is honest about why he returned the phone.

I've had my LG Spectrum for almost a month and it keeps getting better and better. The battery is really not an issue, as it lasts me 10 hours under hard usage and can last over 24 with light usage. I just rooted yesterday and will be de-bloating it today, so it should get even better.

I bought mine off ebay because I didn't want to use my upgrade, knowing Qualcomm will be releasing the S4 soon. Turns out I was right to get the Spectrum now, since it will still be awhile before the S4 comes out.

Still, this phone is a huge improvement over my AMOLED Droid Incredible. And eventually getting ICS should improve the Spectrum even more.

I'm really looking forward to spending the next year or so tweaking this phone.