The LG X Power Review
by Brandon Chester on August 31, 2016 9:03 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- LG
- LG X Power
Final Words
LG's strategy with their low-end and mid-range smartphones has been to segment them into products that all focus on a single feature. You have the LG X Style, the LG X Screen, the LG X Mach, the LG X Max, and of course, the LG X Power. I suppose that the thinking behind this strategy is that consumers tend to value one thing in a smartphone more than all the others, and by providing different models that focus on one thing you can hopefully attract the attention of the consumers who care most about that feature.
Unfortunately, I think LG's strategy has really missed the mark. Consumers definitely do value some things more than others in smartphones, but just by looking at LG's smartphones you can see that they sacrifice the quality of other aspects to focus on a single feature. No consumer wants a phone that only does one thing well, they just have priorities about what a phone should do best. In that situation, a phone that tries to provide a good all-around experience is going to win every time, because a smartphone that only does one thing well and fails at everything else is just going to frustrate the user and drive them away from the device.
The LG X Power does live up to its name if you interpret its name as meaning it has a large battery. In our WiFi web test and PCMark's battery test it topped the charts. However, the victory wasn't always by a large margin. Xiaomi's Redmi Note 3 was very close, and it's a phone that does many things well, which contrasts with the LG X Power that really only focuses on providing long battery life. To me this really signifies the failure of LG's strategy. You can build a good all-around smartphone that isn't really much worse than the LG X Power as far as battery life goes, and better in every other respect.
When you set aside battery life, the LG X Power is mediocre at best, and often a lot worse. The camera isn't very good in daylight, although it's better than I expected when shooting in the dark. The display is not pleasing to look at, with a low brightness, dull colors, and a ghastly blue cast. I don't know why the display was even produced, but it never should have shipped on a modern smartphone.
As for performance, it's just completely unacceptable on the North American model. The UI is janky and slow, and the process of opening apps is painful because there's not enough RAM to keep even a modest group of apps resident in memory. It's the only device I've seen where the DiscoMark launch times were barely any faster when launching apps that could and should have been in RAM. General performance within apps is no better, with the jankiness remaining and the SoC being too slow to keep up with tasks like web browsing and general UI navigation. These issues may not be as pronounced on the international model, but the fact that LG is shipping two vastly different models is a huge problem in its own right.
I mentioned this once before, but I don't think the LG X Power even needs its large battery to provide long battery life. The phone's experience is bad enough that users will want to avoid using it, and by virtue of that it will last a long time by being constantly idle in a pocket or a drawer. In that sense, the phone is really a failure at its one key task, because the phone has a giant battery but nothing worth powering.
I never mean to be overly negative in reviews, but in the case of the LG X Power it's really just a case of there being very few positive things to point out. It's a phone that can last a long time, but the user experience is poor and the phone is slow enough that it isn't plesant to use. The display is basically not usable outdoors, and it has a lifeless feeling to it that I didn't think I'd see on a smartphone again. There are just so many better options than the LG X Power in the crowded sub-$200 market, and some of them like the 2015 Moto G are a year old by this point. You simply cannot make a good smartphone by focusing on a single feature, because good smartphones care about every feature.
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IUU - Friday, September 9, 2016 - link
For me, a mobile phone must have a good battery life. The longer , the better. And they have a long way to go so they seem acceptable to me. If they have a screen you can read from easily enough, just enough RAM so that they do not hung hopelessly, they are good. Mobility requires that you don't run out of cyber assistance when you need it the most and this means long periods between charges.Weight is no issue today, by any means. Those who complain about weight they adhere too much into needless details. It does have to be the prettiest. What do you need the looks for in a device that is mostly a tool ? It doesn't have to be the fastest. Technology advances at such a pace that the flagship of today rapidly becomes the baseline of tomorrow. Chances are that you will replace your device in some years at the most. So buying them for the premium quality "feel" is a moot point.
Conclusion is , battery life is quintessential, and it's about time manufacturers wake up from the fairy tale of fashionable and sleek devices.
fuelvolts - Monday, September 12, 2016 - link
Top notch review, thanks for reviewing a budget phone! I've been using this phone for a few days now, and I got to say, I really appreciate what you mention. This phone has 2014 budget phone specs in a 2016 world. However, I'll say this: using it daily (and not in a "review" sort of method), it's not horrible to use. The screen is decent for a 720p device (it's a much better screen than the Blu R1 HD, i.e. the Amazon phone) and Knock On is really useful. The performance is "alright" to me. I'm more of a purpose user. I unlock my phone to use 1 application, then I usually lock it and move on with my life.I'll say the worse app to open is GMail. That always takes forever to load for some reason. Everything else seems to work fine, even Chrome. It's a decent phone, and if you're a Cricket user, this phone is only $50 after MIR, so for a $50 phone, it's a fantastic deal. The battery life is astounding. I got 10.5 hrs SOT the first day I charged it up. I purposefully was trying to kill the battery, and when I finally went to bed, I still had about 16% battery left with that much SOT. Amazing; makes it almost worth the hassle.
This is a temporary/backup phone while I wait for the Nexus/Pixel phones.
FalconZ - Sunday, January 29, 2017 - link
So many variants under single name ? LG This is horrible, dont give them same names pls and specify the lte bands supported on the website.Sammisam - Monday, February 6, 2017 - link
It sucks bad I got stuck wit snapdragon. It's just my luck this would happen to me. Unfair both phones should`ve been the same. I feel like a elementary kid who got picked last for softball game type way. Lame LG!Sammisam - Monday, February 6, 2017 - link
Sucks I get stuck wit snapdragon. Just my luck. Both phones should've been the same. I feel like a elementary school girl that got picked last to be on the softball game type way. How can they get away with selling this phone two difference types.Seems like they would lose money over this. No one I know wouldve bought this phone if they knew this. If I knew it I would've just bought an iPhone 6 plus.Max.racer94 - Saturday, March 11, 2017 - link
Cheap quality screen. Haven't owned the phone for more then a week and the screen crack in numerous places from being in my tight jeans pocket.Did not hit it against nothing, didn't drop it, just had it in my pockets and was walking some stairs and craaack!
Very fragile screen!
Williepeck99 - Saturday, April 8, 2017 - link
Interestingly my LG X Power came with a mediatek MT6755 octacore that clocked at 1.81 GHz and comes with 2GB of RAM. It's fairly fast and quite responsive. mine was bought as a Virgin Mobile phone.c21secco - Thursday, August 10, 2017 - link
I own an lg xpower cellphone. I love the phone. I had a samsung s4 till feb 2017 lol at&t. I changed to boostmobile because unlimited data. The phone was part of the service, is awesome. Even though yes lots of its core is reduced. Still works great. The battery is super. My question here. I can't find info of the xpower connectivity to hdmi tv. Probably not available!!. Does anyone have Info on this xpower to hdmi tv connectivity?