Big screen android phones are the in thing in asian markets and India is no different. Samsung, earlier with Galaxy Grand and more recently with Galaxy Mega has been busy capturing this market since launch. With the launch of LG G Pro Lite Dual, LG has made in-roads to this section and for good. Belonging the 5″ inch screen group, the device has a lot to offer and at competitive price. This being said, let’s get on with LG G Pro Lite Dual review.
Ergonomics – Design Language
A device carrying mammoth display measuring 5.5″ inch, you can’t be expecting ultra portability or single handed use. LG G Pro Lite is no exception. It isn’t the most comfortable device to hold in your hand and you’ll find yourself using both the hands on numerous occasions, a downside which large screen devices inherit.
The positive aspect is the use of Narrow Bezel Display using which LG has minimized wastage of space around display and stacked in 5.5″ inch of screen real estate. Capacitive buttons, for example, placed at the bottom of the screen, have a close proximity to the screen and bottom of device. No space has been wasted.
LG G Pro Lite posses rounded edges and has capacitive buttons which means you actually get to use entire 5.5″ inch of screen. The back of the device is all shiny plastic with texture finish. Place it under light and you’ll see the back cover sparkle (to some extent).
One thing in particular I liked about G Pro Lite was the noticeable bend LG has give to back cover at the back, around the edges. This is well complimented by similar design at the bottom and top of device in terms of chrome finish. Not a huge design highlight but I appreciate how LG has tweaked the design to give the device an overall appeal. It looks really good indeed.
Display
This is the best part about the phone for me! Why you ask? Well, no brainer. Larger the display equals more screen real estate (let’s not get into ppi discussion). LG G Pro Lite has a 5.5″ inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen measuring 540 x 960 pixels ( roughly 200 ppi pixel density), in technical terms a qHD display.
Its the actual usage you’ll be more concerned about rather than what numbers have to say and rightly so. I have been using devices with 4.2″ to 4.7″ inch screen size. This was the first time when I used a 5.5″ inch screen for considerable amount of time. At first I thought It would be difficult for me to carry it around but it wasn’t the case. I was very comfortable using the device after a day or so. I am used to singled handed operation but with G Pro Lite, this habit quickly changed, reaching the corners of the screen is really difficult with just a thumb.
Performance
LG G Pro Lite comes with 8 GB internal storage, 1 GB RAM, Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A9 processor, PowerVR SGX531 graphics processor, 8 MP rear camera, 1.3 MP front camera and runs Android version 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. For a mid-range phone these specifications are pretty solid and the same is reflected in day to day usage. Never did I face any sort of lag while using the device. Multi-tasking was quick not butter smooth but very quick and phone handled every application I ran without any hitch.
I had no problem playing 1080p videos. As a matter of fact I even tried to play a 4K video just to push the limits and to my surprise it did play the video! Yes the video playback wasn’t smooth but I was happy that GPU did manage to render it albeit not perfectly.
Being a huge screen phone, I had to play games to see how immersive the experience is. Lesser resource hungry games like Temple Run, Angry Bird, Subway Surfer, etc ran effortlessly and a treat to play. Some of the more resource intensive games like Asphalt, GTA lagged occasionally. But for the most part, I was able to enjoy the game play without facing any heating issue or major lag plus large screen meant I felt even more involved whilst playing them!
I must say even if you are not planning to buy this phone, just visit a nearby showroom and play game of your choice. The large screen display and vivid colors will deliver an good gaming experience.
Other Software Inclusions
LG has thrown in its own set of multi-tasking applications like Quick Memo, QSlide, Quick Translator, QRemote, Guest Mode and Quick Button. Amongst these, first four are self explanatory so I’ll leave these out of this discussion. Beginning with Guest Mode, it vaguely replicates Samsung KNOX in the sense that enabling the guest mode creates a security layer. With guest mode enabled, any person other than you will get access to a very limited number of applications on the device. All the information stored in the phone is hidden from guest user. A very very useful feature considering how eager people are to explore your messages, images, etc. Sigh.
The other nifty inclusion is the Quick Button. It is a physical button located on the left sideline of the device. The underlying use of it is pretty simple, you can configure it to open any application the moment Quick Button is pressed. It might sound very simple at first but believe me you, it can make you do things quicker.
Apart from these, from some reason LG has also included an Embedded Stylus Pen tucked in-to the body of phone. I am not sure as to why LG included this stylus. To me it was more of an flashy accessory. I barely used it except for while trying out Quick Memo. Nevertheless even though its barely of any use, you can still show it off. No harm doing that 😉
Battery
Large display means more battery drain means need for bigger battery. Simple logic. LG understood this and has rightly included an equally large battery. G Pro Lite comes with a removable 3140 mAh Li-Ion battery. Since 3G is still an expensive affair in India, I decided to test the battery on 2G network with WiFi turned on. Facebook, WhatsApp, Hangouts, Gmail (4 accounts), Viber, Twitter, Yahoo Messenger, LinkedIn had background sync enabled. With all these applications, I did 20 minutes of calling, fews minutes of gaming, an hour and a half of music playback streaming via bluetooth and 110 minutes of video playback (combination of 720p and 1080p videos).
With all this I was able to get roughly 26 hours of battery time. A more judicious use would certainly result even better battery stats. Though stats speak for themselves but still I’d say battery power is more than enough. No qualms in this department. Moreover it beats its competitors hands down.
Concluding Words
In plain simple terms, LG G Pro Lite (dual sim) is a must have device. It is available for Rs. 19,500 (price may vary from region to region) and at this price level neither Samsung Galaxy Grand nor Galaxy Mega come close. LG G Pro Lite is a complete package, the specifications aren’t much to boast about but considering the price point, I believe it’s a steal.
LG G Pro Lite Dual In Images
