Verizon Launches LG Lancet Windows Phone
by Brett Howse on May 14, 2015 6:20 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Verizon
- LG
Today Verizon announced a new smartphone coming to their network, and it is the LG Lancet. LG originally did produce Windows Phone 7 devices, but left the market before Windows Phone 8 shipped. They are back, with a budget device for the Verizon network.
The LG Lancet is not very exciting hardware, but it does have a couple of things worth mentioning. The phone ships with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 SoC, which is a quad-core 1.2 GHz chip based on the Cortex A53 64 bit CPU. The 410 shows a modest performance gain over the outgoing Snapdragon 400, but as Brandon saw in the Moto E review, it seems to be fairly competitive in the power consumption department.
| LG Lancet | |
| SoC | MSM8916 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 410 |
| RAM/NAND | unknown RAM, 8 GB NAND + microSD |
| Display | 4.5” 854x480 IPS LCD |
| Network | CDMA LTE (Verizon) |
| Dimensions | 129.8 x 64.8 x 10.7 (mm) |
| Weight | 143 grams |
| Camera | 8MP rear camera with Flash, VGA FFC |
| Battery | 2100 mAh |
| OS | Windows Phone 8.1 |
| Price | $19.99 on 2 year, $5/month, or $120 outright |
Some specifications courtesy of Windows Central
The rest of the device continues with the budget nature for a North American smartphone experience. It is just a 4.5 inch display (although lots of people will prefer that) but with just an 854x480 resolution. The extra 54 pixels on the vertical will be for the onscreen buttons for this phone, so unlike some other devices with onscreen buttons you won’t have to worry about them blocking the standard display real estate. The RAM is not listed, and the storage is only 8 GB with 4 GB available to the end user. It does support micro SD expansion though so you can add more space if necessary.
The rear camera is an 8 MP version and the front facing camera is only VGA, so imaging is not going to be a highlight of this device unless that rear camera is really something.
The only other thing to note is that this will be the first Windows Phone on Verizon to support HD Voice. HD Voice is a wonderful thing that really improves the call quality, but it suffers from a lack of compatibility and generally only works with two devices on the same carrier. Still, Verizon is the largest carrier in the USA so that’s a big market.
The Lancet is available now on Verizon for $5 per month on Verizon Edge, or you can purchase it outright for $120. For those that prefer to purchase on the two year contract, it is current available for $19.99 on contract.
Source: Verizon
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testbug00 - Saturday, May 16, 2015 - link
blocky/clunky, yes. Sharp? 0.0*looks at 520, 920, 1020, 1520*
Not sure where you're getting sharp from.
Alexvrb - Thursday, May 14, 2015 - link
Contracts sometimes make sense but not for such an inexpensive device. Plop down the $120 or pay $5/month (which works out to $120). That way you get the discounted Edge plan.The only time I'd buy on contract anymore is if it's a very expensive phone and it works out about the same over those two years, or if you're using a carrier that doesn't offer any benefits for buying off-contract AND you plan on sticking with them for the foreseeable future.
hughlle - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
I agree. Generally i see little sense in a contract for a cheap phone. Most people should be able to ut find a couple hundred and then get a really nice and cheap sim only rolling contract. But for flagships, it's not always easy to find £500, and as such i've generally found that carriers tend to offer a far more competitive contract to encourage you to pick up the expensive phone. My M7 ended up being about £300 cheaper over 2 years by going with a contract instead of buying the handset and the corresponding sim card plan. Not the case for cheap phones. Plus if i'm going to be locked in for 2 years i might as well be locked in on a great phone.arnd - Sunday, May 17, 2015 - link
The specs look almost identical to the LG Leon LTE, except for the weight, so the development cost was probably minimal. This is similar how all the other recent non-Lumia Windows phones were "designed" recently. Presumably, MS just provide a Windows port for the Qualcomm reference phone design and make a deal with phone manufacturers to take the final step and p4ovide an extraGunbuster - Sunday, May 17, 2015 - link
Except it shares none of the LG design language. Doing a port of an existing phone would have made sense. But they straight up bought this generic handset from a Chinese ODM factory and slapped an LG logo on it.Zizy - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
WP requires 854x480 if onscreen buttons are used. 800x480 minimum is only if you have capacitive buttons.Gunbuster - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
This screams ODM phone. I bet the totality of LG's contribution was emailing the LG logo to the Chinese ODM factory for some rejects that BLU passed on.I have no doubt this is made solely to reduce or eliminate android patent payments to Microsoft on the G4.
mortimerr - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
So will we never see another flagship with a screen that's less than 5.5 inches? I know the iPhone 6 has a 4.7in display, but the chassis is kind of large.Maybe the Z4 compact if it makes it out of the Japanese market?
arayoflight - Sunday, May 17, 2015 - link
There is the galaxy S6, HTC one m9 and as you said, iPhone 6. IPhone 6 chassis is larger than what it should have been but it's still way smaller than 5.5" phones.SirKronan - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
Seems reasonably priced for a non-contract LTE phone on Verizon - which has exceedingly limited options off contract in this price range. Honestly Windows Phone needed this released a while ago to compete with the likes of the cheap Motorola Android offerings. They have to have more availability in different market segments if they want to get a bigger share and attract more developers. I don't think for the price that this phone is a dollar short, but it is definitely a day late.Agree with mortimerr on the Z4 compact. I hope the U.S. gets it, but I'm not going to hold my breath. My wife has the Z3 on Verizon, and it's excellent, but her one complaint is that it's just too big. Otherwise she loves it. The wireless charging works great.