LG W30 smartphone - advantages and disadvantages

Today, most people do not care about the origin of electronics and even the brand under which it is produced - the main thing is an acceptable price and decent characteristics. Proof of this is the colossal popularity of Chinese goods from a wide variety of companies. However, this review will look at the South Korean manufacturer, whose name is known all over the world, despite some setbacks. It will be about the LG W30 smartphone - the advantages and disadvantages, which are very interesting to consider against the backdrop of the success of younger popular brands.

It should be said right away that the new smartphone turned out to be really interesting and can be considered a purchase. Despite a long series of failures, the company finally found the right path and released a new W-series of Android phones, which managed to stir up public interest.

First successes

While Europe is discussing the cameras of the notorious Asus ZenFone 6 with might and main, an event occurred in India that could change the fate of the whole company. As you know, at the end of June, the Koreans were scheduled to officially present the LG W line of smartphones in India. So, contrary to many skeptical statements, this event has become a landmark - the entire starting batch of brand new smartphones sold out in just twelve minutes. It is also noteworthy that LG India has already named the W-series the best-selling devices of the year in the country.

On the network, such a statement caused only laughter - after all, in comparison with the sales of Redmi and Huawei, this victory looks insignificant. However, we must admit that the brand is gaining popularity again and, with skillful management, will be able to achieve good sales and, as a result, gain a foothold in the smartphone market (now, thanks to the Internet and public interest, there is every chance for this), even if not in the most honorable places.

Device summary table:

New design

Official sales on Amazon.in started on July 3, and a huge number of real photos of the model were leaked to the network. As expected, the company tried to design in line with current trends while adding a bit of brand identity.

The screen of the smartphone has a diagonal of 6.26 inches and is made in the style of bezelless displays. However, the frames are clearly visible, and in all colors. At the same time, the "chin" and "eyebrow" look much better and are quite consistent with the prevailing standards.

The body itself looks stylish, the device is pleasant to hold in your hands. The front camera on the front panel is located in the middle in the teardrop notch, above it is the microphone.

The rear panel is brighter due to the triple camera in the upper left corner.It should be said that the red rim around the third sensor from the top looks original and to the point. A flash is located just below, and to the right of it is a fingerprint scanner - whether this arrangement is convenient or not, everyone decides for himself. Going down from the scanner, we have a company logo that looks pretty good. Only one moment spoils the picture a little - the WEEE badge. Many people did not like the crossed-out urn, but since it is present on many smartphones, this cannot be called a minus.

All buttons for the novelty are located on the right side. Above are the volume rockers, below the power button. Also on the top there is a 3.5 mm jack, which is also not very fashionable and modern, but convenient at the same time.

I would also like to say a few words about the colors of the phones. There will be three options available: Thunder Blue, Platinum Gray and Aurora Green. All of them look really good, but the main plus is that you can really choose a model to your taste from classic black to rich green and blue.

As a result, we can state that LG has done something interesting and original in the setting of mobile devices for the first time in a long time.

Camera features

Finally, the time has come when absolutely any user, buying a smartphone, can not be afraid for the quality of the camera. Yes, of course, time dictates its own rules, and everyone wants to have a sensor that allows you to shoot in 4K, but we have to admit that all modern smartphones, including budget ones, shoot very well.

With the W30, there was no sensation in this regard. No revolutionary or extraordinary solutions - everything is simple and practical. So, the device has a main triple sensor of 13, 12 and 2 megapixels. Now more specifically about each:

• The first 13MP module is a wide-angle camera;
• The second 12MP module is the main one and uses the popular phase-detection autofocus (PDAF) technology. This solution allows you to quickly adjust the focus and allows you to track moving objects;
• A third 2MP module is optional and features a depth sensor function.

Other features include support for LED flash, panorama, HDR and 1080p (30fps) video recording. Nothing outstanding, however, is enough for a budget smartphone. The first tests show that the smartphone can shoot well during daylight hours. How he shoots at night is another question, the answer to which is obvious - much worse than during the day. You can take a photo if you try to get it even good, but in everyday life the insufficient level of the camera will be noticeable.

With the front-facing camera, things are better. It has a 16 megapixel sensor, which allows you to take high-quality selfies and communicate via video communication without any problems.

Conclusion - the new LG copes quite well with basic photo tasks, but you should be prepared for minor problems and shortcomings, like all state employees in 30 has weaknesses regarding night photography.

Internal compromise

Remembering the distant times, it can be argued that the Koreans used to be excellent at finding a balance between the characteristics and cost of their new products. In recent years, this has not been observed anymore, but 2019 was able to return long-forgotten talents to the company's engineers and experts. From a technical point of view, LG W30 looks quite interesting, because it combines good power, efficiency and has a democratic price tag of 130-150 euros.

Performance

Today, every smartphone owner, regardless of the purpose of buying a new gadget, wants to have powerful and productive hardware. Everyone wants to have a modern processor, good graphics and enough RAM, because the speed of work and the quality of the picture in games and movies directly depend on this. Also, do not forget about device optimization - excellent performance on paper can show a completely unexpected result in benchmarks and, as a result, disappoint if the smartphone was bought for active games. I am glad that LG specialists understood all these key user requirements and equipped the model with suitable components.

The device is equipped with a 12-nanometer eight-core Mediatek MT6762 Helio P22 chipset. The model is quite popular and is famous for its energy efficiency and power due to high-performance Cortex-A53 cores with a frequency of up to 2.0 GHz. It is also worth noting that, despite the good performance, the chip has an attractive price tag. A rather old PowerVR GE8320 with a speed of 650 MHz was chosen as a graphics processor. Despite this, it still supports modern standards such as OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.1, OpenCL 1.2, Android NN HAL API Support. The following results are observed in games: Shadow Fight 3 averaged 50-53 fps at medium settings; in PUBG Mobile it will be possible to play only at minimum speeds of 25 fps (at high speeds, the device will not be able to launch the game).

The performance of the smartphone is at a decent level due to 3 GB of RAM, which makes it possible for the new product to quickly cope with copying, archiving and moving operations. However, you should immediately take into account that today 3 GB of RAM is the minimum that you should pay attention to if you need a productive phone (at the same time, it naturally will not have a solid power reserve).

Summarizing the data, it can be argued that the new product is great as a budget gaming smartphone. However, you shouldn't count on high fps in modern games - the maximum of this device is average graphics settings in new, not too demanding games.

Vault

There are obvious problems with the built-in memory of the smartphone, because in 2019, 32 GB of ROM is quite rare (it is worth considering that the user will have access to about 22 GB of memory, because the operating system takes up a certain amount of disk space). The only good news is that LG engineers clearly foresaw customer dissatisfaction and equipped the device with support for external microSD memory cards. The maximum amount of external ROM should not exceed 256 GB, which is the standard for modern low-end mobile devices.

There is no information about versions with different amounts of RAM and ROM, so the new product will be presented in one form.

operating system

Despite all the budget of the smartphone and a certain backwardness of the company in the mobile segment, the W 30 will be equipped with the current version of Android 9.0 Pie OS. And this is an absolute plus given that Android 9.0 comes out of the box, because it is not known how long users would have to wait for an update.

There is no information about any proprietary manufacturer's shells, which means that buyers will get a phone with a clean ninth android.

Display

The screen decides everything today, and manufacturers, realizing this, take the most desperate steps, trying to increase the usable area or add proprietary technology. And in the new LG device, everything is not as clear as it seems at first glance. On the one hand, the currently popular form factor and display size of 6.26 inches is chosen, on the other hand, there is a rather strange choice of a screen resolution of 720 × 1520, which is certainly not enough for this size, and a smaller percentage of usable area compared to competitors (76.3% ). This also includes the low 269 ppi, which is responsible for detail and shows the number of dots per inch.

However, in the end, the picture still turns out to be quite colorful and lively due to the IPS LCD matrix, naturally inferior to more expensive counterparts.

When buying a phone to watch videos and movies, you should immediately understand that a smartphone is not capable of producing a really high-quality picture by the standards of 2019. However, it is quite suitable for active everyday use by unpretentious users who like to listen to music and play games.

Autonomy

This section almost always writes another minus in the piggy bank of new smartphones. But this will not happen with the W30, because it is equipped with a good Li-Po 4000 mAh battery and energy efficient hardware. This combination allows users to use their phone to the maximum and not worry too much about the battery level - it should definitely be enough for one working day, even with active use.

Unfortunately, this model does not provide fast charging capabilities, but for this price the device can be placed in the rating of high-quality smartphones with good autonomy.

Technologies, communication standards, dimensions

When choosing a budget phone, you should always pay attention to this section, because, as a rule, manufacturers like to save on these characteristics, underestimating or even removing some sensors and functions.

• Wireless technologies: Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n, Bluetooth v4.2 (LE, A2DP functions);
• Network and Internet: GSM, HSPA, HSDPA, LTE (LTE-A);
• Navigation: A-GPS, GLONASS;
• Sensors: Fingerprint (back), accelerometer, proximity, lighting, gyroscope;
• Dimensions: 7 x 78.8 x 8.5 mm;
• Additionally: microUSB 2.0, USB On-The-Go, Jack 3.5.

In general, all indicators are normal, and the only surprise is the outdated version of Bluetooth v4.2. It is also worth noting that this device does not have NFC, which means that contactless payments using a smartphone will not work.

Summing up

LG has not heard loud new products for a long time, and many began to attribute the brand's imminent demise and exit from the mobile market. However, 2019 became very successful for many companies (Lenovo Motorola and Nokia had interesting models after a long period of calm), and the South Korean brand was no exception. The new series of W-devices has already been able to interest the public and, although it is too early to talk about success, a certain groundwork for this has already been created.

As for the W 30, this is definitely a youth budget smartphone aimed at young people who want to get a good screen, a good camera and the ability to play modern games for little money. And as practice has shown, the public met this line with great interest. The review of the novelty showed that LG has created a rather controversial product, but in such moments as design, performance, autonomy and price the engineers hit the top ten, knocking out a real surge in sales for the company, given the deplorable state of this niche over the past few years.

• Affordable price;
• Stylish design;
• Economical but powerful processor;
• Good selfie camera;
• Support for external flash memory;
• Excellent autonomy;
• The current version of Android.
• The presence of a mini-jack 3.5 mm.

• Wide enough scope;
• Screen detail;
• ROM 32 GB;
• No NFC module;
• Bluetooth v4.2.

Analyzing the list of advantages and disadvantages, we can conclude that if the W 30 has some serious shortcomings, then this is only the amount of ROM and screen detail. For the rest, the disadvantages of the device directly depend on its cost and, for example, it simply does not make sense to seriously scold the company for the lack of NFC.

Summing up, it is worth saying that the smartphone has every chance of becoming popular among young people, aiming to buy a reliable smartphone at a low cost.