LG Viper 4G LTE Review

Introduction:

Saddling in and strapped for the bumpy ride, third place carrier Sprint is about to embark on a new endeavor as it is ready to bring to market its first 4G LTE smartphones. Readying itself for the timely occasion, the LG Viper 4G LTE not only blazes through the air waves with 4G LTE connectivity, but eco-conscious individuals will surely partake in the fact that it’s one green friendly device on its own – even more when it’s launching on Earth Day! Backed by a modest $99.99 on-contract price, it’s not going to chomp down on your funds that much, which is nice, considering that it’s also boasting some admirable specs.

Design:

Seriously, we’ve never come across an eco-friendly device that captured our imagination with its design, and the same thing can be said about the LG Viper 4G LTE. Certainly, it’s fine and dandy that its casing is constructed out of 50 percent recycled plastics, but either way, it still turns out to be cheap in feel and construction. Furthermore, it attempts to emulate the look of a metallic finish with its rear cover, but alas, a quick feel ensures that slippery plastic feel. All in all, the design is as barbones and conventional as it can get – so yeah, we’re not particularly attracted to it.



You can compare the LG Viper 4G LTE with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Squished and placed very close to the bottom edge of the display, we find ourselves accidentally pressing its usual four set of capacitive Android buttons. On the opposite site, a cutout toward the top edge outlines it earpiece – while a front-facing VGA camera sits nearby.

With its dedicated power button and volume control, we like that they’re raised slightly to offer some distinguishability with our thumbs – plus, their responses are adequate as well. Taking a peek around its sides, we also find a noise cancellation microphone, 3.5mm headset jack, microUSB port for charging/data, and the regular mic.

In the rear, a 5-megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash sits prominently towards the top edge, while on the opposite, a slit is found tucking away its internal speaker. Call it an extra step, but you need to remove the rear cover to gain access to its spring loaded microSD card slot, which is positioned on the right side. Additionally, we gain access to its 1,700 mAh battery as well.


Display:

Interestingly enough, LG specifically mentions that the display in the LG Viper isn’t necessarily deemed as a NOVA screen. Rather, it’s a 4” WVGA (480 x 800) IPS panel, which by today’s standards is decent enough for most things. Detail wise, we’re able to discern most things without much strain, and backed by its 700 nit brightness, it’s more the readable even when the sun is beating down upon it outdoors. Complementing things, its color reproduction is on the natural side – thus, coming off as being extremely accurate. Needless to say, we’re not entirely blown away by it, but nevertheless, it doesn’t hurt that it’s pleasant looking and easy on the eyes.

Interface and Functionality:

Surely, we’ve been pleased by the recent set of devices sporting Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box, like HTC’s One smartphones, but with the LG Viper, we revert back to agonize over the Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread experience. As much as we’re bummed by it all, it’s mentioned to get in with ICS thanks to a future software upgrade – albeit, no exact date has been determined as of right now. Similar to most of Sprint’s devices, the Viper appears to be a mostly vanilla experience, but it offers Sprint’s ID packs to further personalize its look and fee.


For its screen size and all, we’re mostly content with the layout we’re given with its on-screen keyboards. However, due to its tiny sized buttons, we’re a bit cautious of what we press. Of course, we’re able to casually type away thanks to its responsiveness, but those small buttons hinder us from increasing our rate of input.


Right on the dot, the email experience is predictable like all Android smartphones in general. It might not be blessed with a massive display, which would reduce the amount of scrolling, but at least the core features and functionality are intact. Moreover, setup is a simple 1-2-3 process of providing our email address and password.


When compared to other Android devices, there isn’t as much bloatware found preloaded with the LG Viper – but still, we find a few. Obviously, Sprint’s presence is in full force with apps like Sprint Nascar, Sprint Music Plus, Sprint NBA  Mobile, Sprint TV & Movies, and SprintZone. As for the rest, they include SmartShare and TeleNav GPS Navigator.

Processor and Memory:

At first thought, especially for an eco-friendly smartphone, one wouldn’t expect something powerful running the show. Yet, it’s humming away thanks to a dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 processor with 1GB of RAM. Thankfully, it doesn’t sweat much with various tasks or operations, as it’s able to maintain a high level of responsiveness. Therefore, whether its navigating across the homescreen with a graphically intensive live wallpaper or opening apps, it does everything with minimal instances of delay. Normally, we wouldn’t see something so comprehensive on a green-friendly device, so we’re a bit taken by surprise. Below, you can see the results of its benchmark tests.

	Quadrant Standard	AnTuTu	NenaMark 2
LG Viper 4G LTE	3002	5528	55,9
Samsung Galaxy S II	3113	6076	51
HTC One S	4867	7012	60,7
Samsung Galaxy Nexus	2000	5503	24

There’s no kidding we’re glad to see a powerful CPU on board with the Viper, but we’re saddened to find it boasting only 3.63GB of free storage out of the box – with another 1.5GB reserved for apps. Then again, it can be supplemented thanks to its microSD slot.

Internet and Connectivity:

So here’s the deal. The LG Viper 4G LTE has the notoriety of being one of the first devices on Sprint’s lineup to offer LTE speeds, but sadly enough, the network has yet to launch commercially. Meaning, it’s stuck right now surfing the web at good old 3G speeds. Making matters worse, we’re extremely disappointed by its performance in perusing complex sites like ours. Specifically, it’s marred by some noticeable evidence of choppiness, however, we’re consoled a little bit because it doesn’t come to a crawl when dealing with heavy Flash content. Knowing what’s running under the hood, we were expecting more from it – like a better overall response.


As we’ve clearly detailed, this mid-range device will have access to Sprint’s up and coming LTE network, but in the meantime, it’s going to be good old 3G speeds for now. In terms of other connectivity options, it consists of aGPS, Bluetooth 3.0, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, mobile hotspot functionality, and NFC.

Camera:

Throughout our time taking photos with the handset’s 5-megapixel auto-focus camera, one thing is prevalent – and it’s that it exhibits an extremely distinguishable cooler color production. In fact, whether it’s indoors or out, images come out on the bluish side. Otherwise, it captures some decent shots under good lighting conditions, though, noise and bland colors are rampant with low lighting shots. Honestly, it could’ve been much worse, but hey, we’re grateful that its results are still usable.


Unless you have super stiff hands, there’s no way whatsoever from escaping the jerkiness that comes along with its 1080p video recording. Unfortunately, we can’t recommend using it because the quality is diminished tremendously by its pervasive evidence of artifacting, soft details, and inaccurate colors. On a bright note, however, audio recording it pretty natural – though, it’s not enough to dissuade our thoughts about its overall poor quality.

LG Viper 4G LTE Sample Video:



Multimedia:

Surprise people! We’re treated to the stock Gingerbread music player with the LG Viper 4G LTE, which is hardly a benchmark thing in terms of visual appeal. Nevertheless, it’s functional in what it does, but its audio quality is average at best – though, it exhibits a tiny bit of sharpness with its output.


Far from being the most ideal thing for watching videos, it’s at least decent enough to enjoy a long movie on the road. Using our test video that’s encoded in Xvid 1920 x 1080, it manages to play it entirely with zero issues.

Relying on the preloaded SmartShare app, the LG Viper 4G LTE is capable of sharing multimedia content wirelessly with compatible devices. Unfortunately, there’s no wired option, so the SmartShare app is the only way to go.

Performance:

Extremely audible to the ear thanks to the strong output through its earpiece, the only gripe we have with calling quality is the crackle it produces. Luckily, our callers have it easier as they’re presented with neutral voices on their end. Switching to the speakerphone, its volume is average, however, it’s marred by the same crackly voices.

Signal strength with the handset seems to be on par with other Sprint smartphones on us, as it’s able to get 3 of 5 bars in our test area – though, its signal strength is normally at the -100 dBm mark.

Naturally, we would’ve loved to use the LG Viper 4G LTE as it was intended – meaning, under a live LTE network. Instead, we had to rely on 3G speeds, which we find producing an average battery life. In fact, we’re able to get by a single day of normal usage from a full charge.

Conclusion:

Talk about a smartphone that’s named after one of the most poisonous snakes out there, that’s because the LG Viper 4G LTE is missing a vital component that makes up a good chunk of its entirety – a live and robust LTE network! No doubt, we dig its $100 on-contract price point, especially when it’s modest with its hardware specs nowadays, however, it simply lacks the prestige and allure that should accompany a device built to show off a carrier’s new high speed data network. Of course, some will appreciate the eco-friendly initiatives found with it, but in the greater scheme of things, the LG Viper 4G LTE lacks the bite to turn over its prey. Unless money is a concern, you’re better off picking up that other LTE smartphone – the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

Software version of the reviewed unit:
Android Version: 2.3.7
Kernel Version: 2.6.35.11-perf
Build Number: ZVC.GWK74

LG Viper 4G LTE Review: