Opinion Piece Author: Kris Russo, NBC25 Account Executive
The Verizon Wireless LG Spectrum 2 is a phone great HD phone. This phone seems to be a tad on the larger size not quite the thin compact device that has been released in the recent past. Could this be the demise of this device?
Phone
The Verizon Wireless LG Spectrum 2 has all the same features of other smart phones. It has a very nice display that helps the device have crystal clear images.
The Verizon Wireless LG Spectrum 2 will link Facebook data (contact’s photo and profile info). There is also a favorites list that can be used as one of your five screens. Having it set up as a widget makes it quick one touch access to dial some of your favorite people!
The clarity of the phone is very good.
Design
The Verizon Wireless LG Spectrum 2 is powered by a 1.5GHz Dual-Core Snapdragon processor which is extremely fast and also helps with battery life, not to mention the 4G LTE network behind it. It does have 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory. It can handle up to 32GB of additional memory via the MicroSD card.
Looking at the device, screen on top, the power/sleep button on the right side at the top, the volume toggle is on the upper left side and charging port is on the lower left side of the phone. On the far left side at the top is a 3.5mm headphone jack. The SIM card and MicroSD slots are under the back cover above the battery.
The Verizon Wireless LG Spectrum 2 has 16GB of internal storage; however, what is actually formatted is going to be less.
Display
The Verizon Wireless LG Spectrum 2 screen is a 4.7” HD IPS Touch Screen that has 1280px720p resolutions covered in Gorilla Glass. The phone is great with all sort of viewing angles however falls short with any sort of sunlight around, makes it hard to see the screen, but in its defense, that is the case with most smart phones.
Camera
The Verizon Wireless LG Spectrum 2 camera is an 8 megapixel on the rear of the devise with a 1080p recording capabilities. The camera also includes Autofocus on the camera, LED flash, and various camera resolutions to make it taking high quality pictures a snap. The 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera it makes it simple to take pictures as well as video chat with your friends and also includes different resolutions to make it easier to send videos in different formats.
It took bright, vivid pictures in all sorts of situations. The camera has some really nice features like the say “cheese” shot and the camera will snap a photo when it hears the word “cheese”. That was fun to play with! The camera also features and Time Catch Shot for saving images and also an advanced editor that makes it super easy to crop, rotate, or adjust the image in some way.
Battery Life
Smart-phone users have concluded by now that no matter the phone in use it will have to charge every day. However, with each new phone release the batteries seem to get better and last longer.
The Verizon Wireless LG Spectrum 2 does run the Duel-Core processor so that does help in not draining the battery as fast as some other Android devices.
The Verizon Wireless LG Spectrum 2 has a 2,150 mAh removable battery. The battery life can depend on how much the phone is used, if running a lot of apps all at once or playing lots of games all day can also takes its toll on the life of the phones battery.
Interface
Verizon Wireless LG Spectrum 2 is running the latest version the Ice Cream Sandwich OS. It can run over 150,000 apps that are available on the Android market. Will it be getting the Jelly Bean update anytime soon? Let’s hope so!
The phone never slowed and scrolling between pages or up and down long lists happened without hesitation. The 4:3 display is great for reading books and magazines as well as writing.
The phone also has all the apps broken out into sections, which made for quick and easy access to find what is needed, this is a neat twist to the LG OS. Anything Google has its own section, anything to do with settings and phone management has its own area, downloaded apps have its own section, and so-on! That took some getting used to, but turned out to be a great feature for someone who would be just beginning in the world of Android.
The Verizon Wireless LG Spectrum 2 has a voice to text feature that works great when there is no background noise of any kind.
Web
Verizon Wireless LG Spectrum 2 has a pinch-zoom feature for web pages it allows for zooming in and out as much as needed. There is a nice screen shot of bookmarked pages, and they can all be viewed in landscape or vertical configurations. That makes it easy to jump to the favorite pages easily.
Conclusion
The Verizon Wireless LG Spectrum 2 is a nice device, but it is not for everyone. It would appeal to a beginner to the Android world. The Verizon Wireless LG Spectrum 2 twist on the OS makes it very user friendly! LG has some great features in this device but there are some that need some improvement to make it even better.
For more information please visit: http://www.verizonwireless.com/droid.shtml
Specs
Processor: 1.5GHz Snapdragon Dual-Core Processor
Storage: 1 GB RAM; 16GB On board Storage – Actual formatted is less.
Screen: 4.7-inch HD IPS Touchscreen
Camera: 8MP rear camera with 1080p HD recording and 1.3MP front facing camera
Audio: 3.5mm headset jack
Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS
Dimensions: 5.31” (H) x 2.69” (W) x 0.36” (D)
