The Optimus L5 is the middle child in that range, with a 4” display, and the same single-core Qualcomm processor that is in the L3 and L7.
Does it stand a chance against the other affordable handsets which ship with dual-core processors and better screen pixel densities nowadays? Read on the review to find out...
Design:
Middle kids usually have it the worst, but the LG Optimus L5 doesn't seem to suffer from that syndrome. It is a very good size to fit well in the hand, and be easily operated with one hand, while the Optimus L3 was a little too small with its 3.2” display, and the Optimus L7 is a solid 4.3” slab.
You can compare the LG Optimus L5 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.
The handset is not extremely thin, but still sub-10mm, so it is comfortable to hold, and the tapered back cover has LG's typical “snake skin” pattern, thus involuntary slippage is out of the question. The design is actually pretty good for such an affordable handset, and certainly more interesting than what Samsung manages to produce in the category. The faux metal siding and the rim around the 5MP camera and LED flash on the back add a touch of pizzazz to the styling.
The power/lock key up top plus the volume rocker on the left are easy to feel and press, as is the large home key underneath the 4” display. Unfortunately there is no front-facing camera, so if you are in the whole video chat scene, it will be a bummer.
Display:
The L series have pretty abysmal pixel densities, and the L5 is no exception. Its 320x480 pixels on a 4” display make the images appear much coarser than what you are used to with even the cheapest Sony or Samsung Android phones these days, for example, and is another evidence that LG has cut a bunch of corners to achieve that price point.
The display is sufficiently bright for operation outside on a sunny day, but the viewing angles are weak, especially the vertical ones, where the slightest tilt washes out color and contrast, as if the image is drawn with a water paint and rain is pouring on it.
Interface and functionality:
Android Ice Cream Sandwich is a blessing, of course, considering that most competitors in this price range still ship with Gingerbread onboard, and LG has spiced it up with a few tricks of its own. The QuickMemo toggle is handily placed in the pull-down notification bar for doodling directly on the current screen if you have to jot a thing or two quickly, and there is a number of handy widgets to place on your home screens.
Other than that, LG has provided its own Optimus UX overlay, which skins the stock ICS dock and icons, but that's about it, a coat of paint over Android 4.0. The biggest change over stock is the keyboard, which adds a helpful comma in the default layout, and makes the keys bigger and with more space between them, helping one-handed texting.
LG provides a few apps of its own with this interface, which you can certainly go by without, like LG SmartWorld, but also the file and document viewer Polaris Office, and handy apps for managing NFC and DLNA, like LGTag+ and SmartShare.
Processor and memory:
The Qualcomm MSM7225A is underclocked compared to the one ticking in the Optimus L7, down to 800MHz, but we have more RAM than in Optimus L3, to the tune of 512MB. See what LG did here to set the L series members apart?
We can't say that the interface and apps fly with such a silicon, which is the least we would expect from a modern Android phone, but it does the job with some waiting in-between apps.
Quadrant Standard
AnTuTu
NenaMark 2
LG Optimus L5
1470
2665
14,2
Samsung Galaxy Ace 2
1953
4095
32,4
Sony Xperia sola
2294
5415
27,7
Out of the 4GB internal memory, the user-available storage is 2.65GB, but there is an additional microSD card slot for storage expansion, which supports cards up to 32GB.
Internet and Connectivity:
The stock Android ICS browser certainly behaves better on a dual-core handset, than on the LG Optimus L5, since you don't have to wait as much for page loading and rendering. There are no extra hiccups and freezing, it is just slow to load and render – once that's done, scrolling, panning and zooming are decently fluid.
On top of that the lousy screen pixel density makes it impossible to discern anything when zoomed out, and text looks grainy when zoomed in, so it's unlikely you'll spend much time reading articles on your L5, unless you have to. At least the processor is capable of supporting Adobe Flash, so that's a comfort.
The handset offers 7.2Mbps HSDPA downloads, the bare minimum nowadays, and also has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, A-GPS, FM, DLNA and NFC radios. NFC is managed by the LGTag+ app, which allows you to scan a Sleep, Office or Car tag, and the phone will enter the respective mode.
Camera:
We have a 5MP shooter on the back of the LG Optimus L5, with an LED flash for added illumination. The camera interface sports the features brought on by ICS, like Panorama and Continuous shots, but also plenty of LG additions, like an abundance of scene modes and some color effects.
Focusing and taking a picture takes 3-4 seconds inside and 2-3 seconds when there is plenty of light, which is a bit on the slow side. The images themselves are quite usable, with good color representation, accurate white balance, and the amount of detail we'd expect from a 5MP module. Indoors photos are only good when there is enough light, as you might have easily guessedm, with quite a lot of noise creeping up afterwards, while the flash does an only passable job at illuminating the scene from about five feet.
The drawback is video capture, where the camera unit and the slow processor only muster 30fps VGA video, which in this day and age won't cut it anywhere but on your phone's screen.
LG Optimus L5 Sample Video:
Multimedia:
Video playback
The Optimus L5 has an almost stock music player, treated to a white background, which supports song categorization by tunes, artists, albums, playlists and even folders. It also sports a couple of audio effects when the headset is plugged in, and that's about it. The loudspeaker is pretty average, neither loud enough, nor as deep sounding as we'd like, but it is fairly clean, without much audible distortion even at the highest level.
The phone is able to play DivX/Xvid video files right out of the box, which is good, up to 720x480 pixels of resolution, and you don't need much more on this 320x480 screen anyway.
Call quality and battery:
Voices in the earpiece sound pretty hollow, and the volume is not nearly enough to hold a decent conversation in a noisy environment. The microphone situation is better, yet the other party said we sounded a bit flat and artificial. There is no second mic for noise cancellation, so all of the surrounding noises can be heard.
The 1540mAh battery pack is rated for almost 10 hours of talk time in 3G mode, which is pretty impressive, and the phone has a frugal standby mode too. This juicer, powering a relatively slow processor that feeds a low resolution screen makes for above average battery life, so you should be able to gouge about 2 days out of the handset with average usage.
Conclusion:
LG has cut quite a bit of corners as far as components are concerned with the L-style series, and the Optimus L5 is no exception to that rule. With a fairly slow single-core processor and a below average screen pixel density, it certainly won't appeal to the geeky crowd, but the design they are wrapped in makes it pretty comfortable to hold and nice to look at. Moreover, the phone has a good build quality, above average battery life, and also takes decent pictures, which make it a good everyday handset.
Unfortunately voice quality is not that good, plus the phone only records VGA video, and those, coupled with the lack of a front-facing camera, place it at a disadvantage amongst the competition in that crowded price range.
The Sony Xperia sola comes to mind, which is about 20% more expensive, but offers way better display, a 1GHz dual-core processor and records HD video, not to mention the cool “floating touch” screen tech. A good deal for 20% more is the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2, too, with better screen pixel density and faster dual-core processor.
These two are with slightly smaller screens, though, so if you want something with a larger display, but more compact size than the Optimus L5, you can check out last year's Sony Ericsson Xperia arc S, which has a 1.4GHz single-core processor, better looks, pixel density and camera than the L5, yet still costs about the same.
Venturing outside of the Android universe, the Nokia Lumia 710 offers better screen and camera, plus a selection of cool colors and free offline voice-guided navigation worldwide for slightly more money than the L5 again.
Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena since 2010, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.
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