Design
LG L90 belongs to the budget line of touchscreen smartphones. The phone's design is ordinary and unpretentious. The company has finally departed from the peculiar and slightly rough design that the previous devices of the LG L line had. Now almost all phones from Korean manufacturers look similar, but differ mainly in size.
As for the proportions of the phone, they are still optimal: the phone fits perfectly in the hand and does not create any inconvenience during use. The phone weighs little and is securely held in the hand, since the body is completely plastic. The smartphone has completely removed glossy surfaces, all materials are matte and rough, and the back cover is completely textured. There are no handprints on the back cover. The phone is equally suitable for both women and men.
The phone is completely made of plastic, there are no metal inserts, and the silver strip that adorns the entire side perimeter of the smartphone is also painted plastic. In advertising the phone, the developers especially highlight this decorative element and call it "an exquisite finish, stylized like metal", but in practice, this decor does not look like metal.
The back cover of the phone is fixed with plastic clips as standard and can be easily removed. Under the cover there are two slots for SIM-cards of the usual format, as well as a slot for a microSD memory card. There is also a battery with an impressive capacity of 2540 mAh. The battery is removable so you can use an extra battery if needed.
The back of the phone houses the camera and flash. The camera lens is decorated with a matte silver ring. The bottom of the phone has cutouts for the speaker. Despite the fact that the loudspeaker grill protrudes a little, the sound of the loudspeaker is very muffled if the phone is on the back cover.
The entire front side of the LG L90 smartphone is protected by a material resembling glass. The cover is not darkened and when the screen is off, the gray edges of the display itself are visible underneath. Above the display are the front camera and earpiece.
There are four touch-sensitive buttons under the display, not three as we are used to seeing on LG smartphones. The fourth additional button is built-in to quickly switch between SIM-cards. The icons of these keys are painted and not backlit. This is an obvious drawback, since in low light you have to press the buttons by touch. No one can find an explanation why LG continues to release smartphones without key backlighting, because previous models of devices have already been criticized for this more than once.
All other controls are in their usual places. On the right side of the smartphone there is a device lock button, and on the left there is a volume control key. The keys are compact, embossed and practically do not rise above the body, so you need to get used to them in order to quickly find them blindly. The keys are pressed distinctly, but rather tight. The lock button is on the side rather than the top, which is pretty handy. To unlock, and vice versa, to lock the smartphone, you can use the KnockOn function. It consists in the fact that when you tap on the screen, the phone is locked, or falls asleep.
The LG L90 smartphone is available in two colors - black and white (LG L90 White).
Screen
The LG L90 phone has an IPS sensor matrix, which the company manufactures itself. The display is bright enough to read the information normally in sunny weather. The screen diagonal is 4.7 inches, the resolution is 960x540 pixels, and the pixel density per inch is 234 ppi.
The brightness of the screen can only be adjusted manually. The phone lacks a light sensor, but the proximity sensor works well, it blocks the display when the phone is near your ear.Thanks to multi-touch technology, the display can handle up to eight simultaneous touches. The distance from the edge of the display to the edge of the phone is only 4 mm. But what is used to protect the display cannot be immediately determined, at first glance it is glass, but given that the L90 is a budget touchscreen device, I can assume that it is plastic. The developers do not mention this anywhere.
The front of the screen is smooth and resistant to minor scratches. Taking into account the reflections of objects on the screen, an anti-reflective coating is used, which reduces the brightness of reflections. The screen in the smartphone is covered with a special oleophobic coating, so handprints can be removed quickly and easily.
The brightness of the screen is manually adjustable and has a maximum brightness of 350 cd / m ^ 2, and a minimum of 5 cd / m ^ 2. The maximum brightness of the screen is not very high, and given the average anti-reflective properties and the matte surface, the picture looks faded in daylight. In dark light, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level, there is no automatic brightness control. Backlight modulation is minimal at all brightness levels, so there is no flicker on the screen.
The screen has good uniform brightness and white color tone. The color rendition is good, all colors remain saturated even at an angle of 45 degrees.
Display quality is average. Low maximum brightness, a slightly matte surface of the screen and average anti-reflective properties cause some inconvenience when using in bright sunlight. The advantage of the screen is the absence of flickering and a good color gamut almost equal to sRGB. The overall screen specs are average, but this is not surprising given the LG L90 belongs to the budget line of smartphones.
Sound
The sound of the LG L90 speakers is good, the sound is loud and clear throughout the entire volume range. Some sound effects can be improved using the settings, but these settings are only available when headphones are connected. The phone has a standard dictaphone that allows you to record audio notes, but you cannot record a telephone conversation from the line. The smartphone has an FM receiver that allows you to listen to the radio, and the radio recording function is also available.
Camera
The LG L90 smartphone has two digital camera modules. The front camera is equipped with a 1.3-megapixel module, it photographs and shoots video with a maximum resolution of 640x480 pixels. The shooting quality on the front camera is poor.
The main camera with an 8-megapixel module allows you to take pictures with a maximum resolution of 3264x2448 pixels, and when shooting in a wide aspect ratio - 3264x1836 pixels. The maximum video resolution is 1920 x 1080 pixels at 30 frames per second.
In the camera settings, you can choose: panoramic shooting, burst shooting or sports mode. The camera menu is convenient, placed all over the display, well-drawn, all the necessary settings can be easily changed. The camera is equipped with multi-point autofocus that adjusts the depth of field.
The sound control key is also used for working with the camera. If you hold down the volume down key and hold it for a few seconds, the camera will turn on even when the phone is locked, and pressing the volume key again takes a picture.
The smartphone's camera is not outstanding, but good enough. It is not suitable for all shooting scenes, and in low light it handles noise quite a lot. But, the camera shoots with good sharpness across the entire field of the image, almost on all plans. In good light, the 8MP camera shoots well. The camera is good at macro photography, photos with text are of high quality.
Telephone part and communications
The phone supports all standard 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks, the fourth generation LTE is not supported. Data rates are limited by HSPA + mode to 21 Mbps. The smartphone does not support: 5 GHz WiFi range, NFC technology, connection of any devices to the USB port.It is possible to implement a wireless hotspot using WiFi or Bluetooth as standard. The built-in navigation module can work with both GPS and Glonass. The manufacturers claim that the new WTR2605 transceiver uses 40% less power and its size has been reduced by 60%.
I have been using the LG L90 smartphone for several days, and during this time there were no reboots or freezes.
The rendering of the entire menu and the virtual keyboard is clear and of high quality. The keyboard layout and key layout are standard. The dialing language is changed by the corresponding button with the image of the globe, there is no top row with numbers, so each time, if necessary, you need to switch to the layout with numbers. The phone supports the Smart Dial function, which searches for the first letters in contacts when dialing a phone number. It is convenient to operate the smartphone with one hand, for this you need to slide the keyboard to one of the edges of the display.
LG L90 supports Dual SIM Dual Standby. Dual SIM operation is standard, except for an additional button on the phone to select a priority SIM card. There is only one radio module installed in the phone, therefore only one SIM-card is active during a call, while the second becomes unavailable. For each of the SIM cards, the following is customizable: color theme, interface design, priorities and other settings. The SIM-card change key is not backlit in the dark, like the rest of the keys under the screen. In the dark, if you accidentally press the SIM-card change button, the priority will change without any warning and the call will go from the wrong number from which the user planned. In the dark you need to be careful, as this button is located in the place where the "Back" button is usually located.
The smartphone runs on Google Android operating system 4.4.2. The phone uses its own interface, which is significantly different and complements the standard one. Anyone who is familiar with the previous Optimus UI shell will find the interface familiar: the layout of the controls, the drawing of icons, the pre-installed applications - all this has not changed. The smartphone has such an interesting feature as Guest Mode. You can give the phone to someone and not be afraid for personal information, since all sections with the user's personal files will be password protected. The built-in infrared port can be used as a remote control. The hardware button that programmed quick access to any function has disappeared, since it was not popular with users.
Like the more expensive LG models, the L90 has a knock-on function to lock and unlock your phone. The company considers this feature very promising, so it is constantly working to improve it. New LG models have an extended version of KnockOn technology called Knock Code. With the Knock Code function, you can set a picture password based on the selection of the touch point of the display. The developers of the company claim that thanks to such protection, it is almost impossible to crack the password. The bottom line is that when you enter a graphic code, its construction is visible on the screen, and in the case of Knock Code, while entering a graphic combination, no construction lines and points are displayed on the screen, which protects your phone even more reliably. It's not entirely clear to me why LG is positioning Knock Code as something new and innovative, if in the Android settings for working with a graphic password, it has long been possible to disable the "highlight the input graphic key" function.
Performance
The phone was equipped with a 4-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU with a frequency of 1.2 GHz. The smartphone has 1 GB of RAM. Of the 8 GB of nominal phone memory, less than 4 GB is available to the user. LG L90 supports microSD memory cards with a maximum capacity of 32 GB, but you cannot use an external flash drive via an OTG adapter, the phone does not support this function.
Battery life
The lithium-ion battery capacity of the LG L90 is an impressive 2540 mAh. The smartphone has demonstrated a record battery life for its class. Battery life: reading mode - more than 15 hours, watching HD videos from YouTube - 10 hours, and in 3D games mode - almost 5 hours. Such indicators became possible not only due to the capacious battery, but also due to the average screen resolution and good optimization of power consumption.
conclusions
The LG L90 test results show that the model has improved over its predecessor. The main changes were made to the hardware of the smartphone, the filling became more powerful, and the performance increased. Even the most budgetary LG smartphones use Qualcomm as a platform, which is an undoubted advantage. The appearance of the LG L90 is faceless and simple, nothing remains of the individual style, which was called L-Style. Sharp corners, metal inserts and straight edges have been replaced by a new unremarkable design with rounded edges. Even the bezel painted to match the metal color does not give the smartphone a zest.
In general, there are no complaints about the LG L90 smartphone, the phone has good performance for its level, well-built, pleasant and practical to the touch, equipped with a large screen and a good camera. The smartphone has an infrared port that can be used to control home appliances - a rather interesting and promising function. The smartphone shows a record battery life.
LG L90 is an advanced and productive smartphone that stands out from its competitors (Samsung I9060 Galaxy Grand Neo Duos, Lenovo S650 Vibe X mini) not in appearance, but in functionality.
