LG Optimus L9 T-Mobile

As of the writing of this, I've owned, used, and abused the phone for two and a half years. I've moved on to the LG V10 so it's time to share my experience with the LG L9 (from T-mobile).

I'm writing this from the perspective of someone that was looking for a functional in the $200-$250 category, since this phone was $240 ($0 down at $12 a month for 2 years). This review is mostly going to be about how functional the phone is, but so much how well it performs those functions.

This phone is basically a wreck. I've had to use it because it was all i had and for that reason i'm trying to give it the highest score possible. At first this phone keeps up with the usual tasks that any smart phone would go through but after a bit it became an aggravating mess. The design of the phone isn't half bad and looks decent. The display isn't to bad even for it's low specs. It is also pretty durable and the LCD hasn't cracked. It'll uphold scratches but it's important to get a screen protector. It takes a good amount of physical stress and holds up nicely but as takes a turn for the worse as you actually try and use it for any purpose. While at the home screen it seems to transition well while any apps aren't running. Sometimes it'll open apps rather quickly but if the running apps aren't monitored closely it'll soon act laggy and irregular. As the phone is used longer and longer these issues show up even more until even trying a simple text message can turn into a 5 minute problem. No matter how much i took care of this phone it just seems to degrade so quickly over time. Now i've gone through 3 of these phones (because i had a warranty) and it hasn't been from improper use either. I take good careful care with all devices but it seems like this phone has been made horribly. Having to often restart this device is annoying and even more annoying since it'll refuse to use it's 4G data and sometimes not receive text messages. It's sad when phones from a year before and cost less run better than this one. I'm anticipating the day i get a new phone and finally get to leave this one. This review has been more of a rant but i don't find the point in pointing out the pros when their are so many deal breaking problems with the phone.

It was pretty good at first, It ran with decent performance, It could have been faster, but it was good enough. Lately, the OS horrible designs are starting to catch up, Apps need more RAM then they did then. the OS has lots of ongoing stuff in the background, causes the OS to perform worse to even Older less capable devices running CM11. This would normally be fixable but the Locked bootloader makes this impossible, and something you have to put up with until you pony up cash for a whole new system.