LG Lucid Review

Introduction:

Just a little bit over a couple of months ago, LG finally matched its competitors over on Verizon’s lineup by bringing to market the Spectrum – a device that brought some exciting features at $200 on-contract. For those on a tight budget and prefer something more form fitting in the hand, the LG Lucid seems to be all the things you find yourself dreaming about during those sleepy nights. At $79.99 with a 2-year contract, it’s more than half the price of its fully equipped sibling in the Spectrum, but fortunately for it, the Lucid retains much of the same hardware specs while flaunting a smaller shell. Literally a bundle of joy, let’s hope that it stays like that.

Design:

Departing from the usual design characteristics akin to the Optimus line, we’re especially relived to find the LG Lucid sporting a different design. At first, it bears some kind of conventional design, but after taking a peek at its sides, we’re instantly fond the entire package. Yes, it’s constructed out of glossy plastic, which tends to easily smudge, but we like the cool sparkly red pattern it’s flaunting in the rear. In addition, we like its solid construction, accompanying weight, angular cutouts, and comfortable feel in the hand – and it’s pretty compact for a device packing a 4-inch display!



You can compare the LG Lucid with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Somewhat prone to some accidental presses, its set of Android capacitive buttons are scrunched tightly next to one another and positioned very close to the bottom edge of the display. On the opposite side, we find its front-facing VGA (640 x 480) camera and tiny looking earpiece.

Complementing its chic appearance, we like how the circular sized dedicated power button is placed snuggly in the top right corner of the smartphone. Besides that, we also find its 3.5mm headset, noise cancellation microphone, volume control, microUSB port, and standard mic around its sides. Interestingly, there’s another circular button on the opposite side of the power one, but it does nothing and is simply there for aesthetic purposes.

Around the rear, the handset continues to impress us because it’s packing a 5-megapixel auto-focus snapper with an LED flash, and the ability to shoot 1080p videos. Prying off the rear cover, we’re granted access to its 1,700 mAh battery, microSIM slot, and spring loaded microSD card slot.


Display:

Instead of boasting a 720p display like the Spectrum, the Lucid tones it down by simply offering a reasonable 4” WVGA (480 x 800) IPS LCD touchscreen. Honestly, it’s still one sharp looking thing thanks to its 233 ppi pixel density, decent viewing angles, high contrast, and iridescent color production. Sometimes, we can get lost in the hype surrounding 720p and above displays, but seriously, we’re still enticed by the one on this smartphone.