LG Optimus L3 II Review

Introduction:

The LG Optimus L3 II is an extremely affordable and basic Android smartphone with a tiny 3.2-inch display. It also happens to be the successor to last year’s Optimus L3 and just like it, the new phone is made for budget-conscious buyers.

For them, the Optimus L3 II offers a compact form factor, perfectly usable with a single hand, a contemporary version of Android, 4.1 Jelly Bean and fairly long battery life. But will those make up for the trade-offs of a small low-res display and does the processor hamper down performance? Ultimately, is it worth buying? Read on to find out the answers to these questions.

Design:

Plastic and compact are two words that best describe the LG Optimus L3 II. It feels decidedly cheap but at the same time it has no moving parts and is put together solidly. L3 II is a chubby little thing with thickness of 0.47 inches (11.9mm). The compact dimensions make this less of a deal than it would have been on a larger device. The phone is very lightweight too at 3.88oz or 110g. It fits nicely in the hand and no effort is required in operating it single handedly.



There is a single physical home key right in the center and it is surrounded with an LED light that shines red when charging, green when the battery is full and in various colors when the alarm sounds off. Around the home key, there is a back and menu key. The lock key is on top and the volume rocker on the left hand side, and both are comfortable to press, with a nice reassuring click.


Display:

LG Optimus L3 II features a 3.2-inch IPS display with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. That is a low resolution screen making icons look fuzzy and text hard to read unless you zoom in. In technical terms, the pixel density comes at 125ppi.

On a positive note, colors on the screen definitely look punchy and viewing angles are fairly good.

We wish there was a light sensor that would allow the screen brightness to adjust automatically but alas LG has not included one. Luckily, the brightness slider is integrated in the notification dropdown so it’s fairly easy to manually tune it.