LG L Bello Smartphone Review
For the original German review, see here.
LG's L Bello is a smartphone for newcomers who nevertheless want a 5-inch screen alongside a few premium class features. Though it does not have LTE, it can offer gesture control and buttons on its back. LG does not make big differences in design: The L Bello looks like the G3 S with minor modifications.
LG's L Bello competes against other low-cost smartphones, such as the HTC Desire 510, Nokia Lumia 630, Alcatel One Touch Pop C7, Huawei Ascend G610, Acer Liquid E700 Trio and Motorola Moto G.
Case
The casing of LG's L Bello is plastic with a quite high-quality feel. However, a quiet cracking noise can be heard when picking up the phone. That seems to come from the screen's protective pane. In fact, this part proves to be the weak point in terms of stiffness. It allows pressing the screen down to the liquid crystals, which leads to image distortions. The casing is otherwise pleasingly solid.
LG copied the design of its G3 S premium range model. Our white LG L Bello was difficult to discern from the higher-quality model. The back features a silky shimmer and brushed look that makes a very elegant impression. The phone is also available in black and gold.
With a weight of 137 grams, LG's L Bello belongs to the lighter entry-level smartphones of this size. Both the Alcatel One Touch Pop C7 and Huawei Ascend G610 are considerably heavier. However, it is not slim with a height of 10.7 millimeters. Some devices in the comparison field do not quite reach 10 millimeters.
Connectivity
One of the performance-relevant components used is a MediaTek MT6582. It is quite popular in the entry-level sector and should provide enough power for routine applications. The 8 GB of flash storage positions LG's L Bello in first place with the other comparison devices. There are plenty of comparable devices with only 4 GB of storage. The 1 GB working memory is also quite generous but cannot match the 2 GB in Acer's Liquid E700 Trio.
The connectivity does not go beyond standard: a combo audio jack on the upper edge and a USB 2.0 port on the lower edge will have to suffice.
Software
The latest Android 4.4.2 operating system is preloaded. LG has modified the system quite a bit. For example, the smartphone can optionally be unlocked via "Knock Code," which is a customized tap pattern that is entered over four points - no matter what size or where even on a turned off screen.
LG organizes the settings in four different categories for a better overview. A guest mode enables locking specific functions and apps when lending the phone. The software also recognizes apps that have not been used for a longer time and suggests deleting them. Overall, the selection of features is impressive. More details about LG's user interface can be found in the review of the LG G3.
LG does not include any really extraordinary apps, but unwanted, preloaded apps can be deleted quickly in return.
Communication & GPS
LG's L Bello does not feature high-speed LTE mobile standard, which is not yet standard in this price range. Only HTC's Desire 510 can offer LTE among the comparison devices. Thus, the user will have to be satisfied with HSPA+. This standard allows speeds of up to 21 Mbit per second. We usually had a good signal in the test in an urban area using the rather moderately developed German E-Plus net. The full signal was not consistently available.
The fastest Wi-Fi connections that LG's L Bello is capable of are achieved in the 802.11 n standard. We had a decent reception of three-quarters of the signal 10 meters away from the router and through three walls. The smartphone displayed half the signal strength another two meters away from the router and another wall. However, that did not seem to have an effect on the website opening speed.
Localization can be performed using A-GPS and Glonass. The phone very quickly found enough satellites outdoors and tracked our position accurately with a deviation of only a few meters.
Telephony & Voice Quality
At first glance, the phone app seems to have been modified slightly. It is, however, more of a graphical frame that surrounds Google's stock app. All known features, such as Favorites and Groups, are available, and it is also possible to take over a dialed number directly into the notification app. The phone app can be placed as a floating window over other menus so that it can always be accessed quickly.
Making calls is quite intuitive, and the voice quality is decent. The contact understood us clearly, and we also heard our contact well. However, the audio is not as clear as in many high-end smartphones and background noise is not always completely cancelled. The sound is more acceptable via the speaker; it is, however, sufficient for short conferencing with several participants.
Cameras & Multimedia
The rear-facing camera in LG's L Bello has a resolution of 8 megapixels and features auto-focus and an LED flash. The 1 MP front-facing camera should preferably only be used for quick snapshots rather than serious photography. Although there is no dedicated camera button, the "volume down key" on the casing's back can be set to take over this function. This worked quite well in portrait mode, but the screen button, voice control or gestures should be used when holding the phone in landscape mode because the key is positioned a bit unfavorably for that purpose.
The photos of the rear-facing camera are very decent in bright light and only display a slightly blotchy picture in details. However, a strong color noise is seen in the picture as soon as the light wanes, and brightening without flash is not one of the strengths of LG's L Bello. All in all, the pictures are slightly lower-quality than those of the iPhone 6, but the camera does an overall good job.
Input Devices & Controls
Using the capacitive touchscreen works quite smoothly. The accuracy is high up into the corners. Multi-touch gestures, such as zoom, are also identified reliably. The feature of waking up the phone via a customized pattern is a nice thing.
Like in LG's G2 and G3, the physical keys are on the phone's back. A big standby button is in the center, and the keys for volume control are above and below it. The latter are also quick-start buttons that activate either the camera or note function.
The keyboard looks a bit small at first glance, but it can be extensively configured. For example, buttons can be added to or deleted from the bottom row. The keyboard's size can also be modified vertically. One-handed use can be set up for smaller hands by placing elements on the sides.
Display
The screen in LG's L Bello has a resolution of 854x480 pixels, which is identical with most of the comparison devices. However, there are now some positive outsiders, such as Acer's Liquid E700 Trio or Motorola's Moto G. In fact, the picture really benefits from a somewhat higher resolution particularly on a 5-inch screen. The image on LG's L Bello always looks a bit blurry and muddy.
However, the brightness of up to 426 cd/m² and homogeneity of 94% are on a very high standard in the category comparison.
|
Brightness Distribution: 94 %
Center on Battery: 421 cd/m²
Contrast: 842:1 (Black: 0.5 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 6.75 | 0.5-29.43 Ø5
ΔE Greyscale 5.63 | 0.57-98 Ø5.3
Gamma: 2.12
LG L Bello Mali-400 MP, MT6582, 8 GB SSD | Alcatel One Touch Pop C7 Mali-400 MP2, MT6582M, 4 GB Flash | Nokia Lumia 630 Adreno 305, 400 MSM8226, 8 GB eMMC Flash | Huawei Ascend G610 SGX544, MT6589, 4 GB Flash | HTC Desire 510 Adreno 306, 410 MSM8916, 8 GB SSD | Acer Liquid E700 Trio Mali-400 MP2, MT6582, 16 GB eMMC Flash | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Screen | -21% | -18% | -9% | -35% | -14% | |
Brightness middle | 421 | 351 -17% | 355 -16% | 301 -29% | 355 -16% | 433 3% |
Brightness | 411 | 329 -20% | 350 -15% | 299 -27% | 371 -10% | 411 0% |
Brightness Distribution | 94 | 88 -6% | 91 -3% | 88 -6% | 80 -15% | 89 -5% |
Black Level * | 0.5 | 0.44 12% | 0.73 -46% | 0.47 6% | 0.37 26% | 0.5 -0% |
Contrast | 842 | 798 -5% | 486 -42% | 640 -24% | 959 14% | 866 3% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 6.75 | 9.86 -46% | 7.19 -7% | 4.61 32% | 12.13 -80% | 10.02 -48% |
Greyscale dE 2000 * | 5.63 | 9.33 -66% | 5.63 -0% | 6.4 -14% | 14.77 -162% | 8.55 -52% |
Gamma | 2.12 104% | 2.19 100% | 1.97 112% | 2.56 86% | 2.42 91% | 2.46 89% |
CCT | 7472 87% | 10114 64% | 6293 103% | 6923 94% | 17097 38% | 8805 74% |
* ... smaller is better
The displayed colors look good but slightly pale. Black surfaces look rich and dark owing to the decent black level of 0.5 cd/m². The resulting contrast of 846:1 is also good.
We ascertained a light bluish cast in the screen in a detailed analysis using CalMAN software and a special measuring device. This cast lets colors look somewhat cooler. However, the color reproduction is fairly accurate compared with the sRGB reference color space, though the highest shift from the ideal rate is found in orange tones.
The glossy screen is a drawback outdoors - but then all smartphones have that in common. The relatively high luminosity of LG's L Bello, however, makes it quite possible to use the smartphone even in brighter surroundings. The reflections are too intense to recognize anything in direct sunlight though.
The screen can be viewed well from all sides owing to the underlying IPS technology. However, the left and right viewing angles in portrait mode are better than from above and below. The screen dims clearly when the phone is tilted in these directions.
Performance
The MediaTek MT6582 SoC has four Cortex A7 cores that clock with 1.3 GHz. Experience shows that it is thus fast enough for routine tasks. Stutters in navigation should only be a rare thing. They occur in LG's L Bello: The user will sometimes have to wait, especially when a new menu is opened. LG's L Bello only achieved class average in Geekbench that assesses the processor's performance; HTC's Desire 510 has a clear lead here.
The Mali-400 MP graphics solution is installed and should be quite enough for undemanding games. Most comparison devices were almost on a par in the synthetic benchmarks, and only HTC's Desire 510 again had a clear lead.
It is difficult to determine a favorite in the browser benchmarks. LG's L Bello is also in the midfield of the comparison devices here. We could browse quite adequately with the device in practice but encountered occasional, short waiting times when zooming in on a page. Sophisticated effects on sites could lead to stutters, but the Internet browsing experience is overall swift.
The 8 GB of working memory is generally accessed quickly, but LG's L Bello is again only in the midfield of the compared devices in total. Particularly, the swift storage in Acer's Liquid E700 Trio has to be highlighted here.
Geekbench 3 | |
32 Bit Single-Core Score (sort by value) | |
LG L Bello | |
Alcatel One Touch Pop C7 | |
Huawei Ascend G610 | |
HTC Desire 510 | |
Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
32 Bit Multi-Core Score (sort by value) | |
LG L Bello | |
Alcatel One Touch Pop C7 | |
Huawei Ascend G610 | |
HTC Desire 510 | |
Acer Liquid E700 Trio |
GFXBench (DX / GLBenchmark) 2.7 | |
T-Rex Onscreen (sort by value) | |
LG L Bello | |
Huawei Ascend G610 | |
Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
1920x1080 T-Rex Offscreen (sort by value) | |
LG L Bello | |
Huawei Ascend G610 | |
Acer Liquid E700 Trio |
3DMark | |
1280x720 Ice Storm Standard Score (sort by value) | |
LG L Bello | |
Alcatel One Touch Pop C7 | |
Huawei Ascend G610 | |
HTC Desire 510 | |
Acer Liquid E700 Trio | |
1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Score (sort by value) | |
LG L Bello | |
Huawei Ascend G610 | |
HTC Desire 510 | |
Acer Liquid E700 Trio |
Sunspider - 1.0 Total Score (sort by value) | |
LG L Bello | |
Nokia Lumia 630 | |
Huawei Ascend G610 | |
HTC Desire 510 | |
Acer Liquid E700 Trio |
Octane V2 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
LG L Bello | |
Alcatel One Touch Pop C7 | |
Nokia Lumia 630 | |
Huawei Ascend G610 | |
HTC Desire 510 | |
Acer Liquid E700 Trio |
Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total (sort by value) | |
LG L Bello | |
Alcatel One Touch Pop C7 | |
Nokia Lumia 630 | |
HTC Desire 510 | |
Acer Liquid E700 Trio |
* ... smaller is better
Games
The graphics solution did not really have problems with any of the games. That is likely because the screen's resolution is relatively low, and that it is possible to simply switch to low or medium setting in many demanding games in order to extract a few extra frames.
Less demanding games, such as Angry Birds: Star Wars 2, are no problem for LG's L Bello. Even moderately demanding games like Iron Man 3 do not overload it. We simply turned down the details a bit in Asphalt 8 and experienced a smooth gameplay. The controls via the touchscreen and position sensor are also very accurate.
Emissions
Temperature
The higher temperature during a longer period of full load is quite palpable but not distracting or even dangerous. The smartphone can reach a maximum of 37.7 °C on the back when it runs for a longer time. The back and front both heat up fairly proportionately.
A temperature increase is usually not noticed in idle mode. The warmest spot is in the lower center area of the front in portrait mode. We measured 33 °C here.
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 37.7 °C / 100 F, compared to the average of 35 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 56 °C for the class Smartphone.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 37.7 °C / 100 F, compared to the average of 33.8 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 31.5 °C / 89 F, compared to the device average of 32.7 °C / 91 F.
Speakers
The sound that comes from the rear-sided speaker is not exactly tremendously powerful. It makes a muffled impression and almost completely lacks deep ranges. Listening to music or epic movie sound effects is not really entertaining. However, the sound does not distort, and the mids and trebles are balanced quite well.
The combo audio jack provides a considerably clearer sound via a headset or external speakers.
Battery Life
With 2540 mAh or 9.7 watt hours, the battery in LG's L Bello is bigger than those in most comparison devices. Only Acer's Liquid E700 Trio sports an even much bigger 3500 mAh battery.
The battery life in our practical Wi-Fi test is decent, yet not outstanding and sometimes even a bit shorter than that of the comparison devices. 8:42 hours is a useful time so that the smartphone could certainly last a workday in mixed use. The longer battery life is clearly noticed during full load; LG's L Bello achieves second place among the comparison devices with a runtime of 4:36 hours.
LG L Bello Mali-400 MP, MT6582, 8 GB SSD | Alcatel One Touch Pop C7 Mali-400 MP2, MT6582M, 4 GB Flash | Nokia Lumia 630 Adreno 305, 400 MSM8226, 8 GB eMMC Flash | Huawei Ascend G610 SGX544, MT6589, 4 GB Flash | HTC Desire 510 Adreno 306, 410 MSM8916, 8 GB SSD | Acer Liquid E700 Trio Mali-400 MP2, MT6582, 16 GB eMMC Flash | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Battery Runtime | -5% | 18% | -7% | 2% | 8% | |
WiFi | 522 | 566 8% | 874 67% | 512 -2% | 570 9% | 510 -2% |
Load | 276 | 228 -17% | 187 -32% | 244 -12% | 262 -5% | 327 18% |
Verdict
The Italian singer Gianna Nannini found her "bello" impossible in the sense of "awesome" in her 1986 hit song "Bello e Impossibile." We would not call LG's L Bello awesome, but rather "good." It is simply a rock-solid entry smartphone, a bread and butter device for the manufacturer with many features that are likable. For example, the bright screen that offers good viewing angles as well as a decent color reproduction owing to the underlying IPS technology. It features extensively configurable software that provides plenty of setting options. The touchscreen is accurate, the performance is fitting, and the rear-facing camera shoots decent pictures. The device is light, elegantly designed, and it always stays cool in use.
However, the screen's resolution is quite low, which frequently leads to a faded-looking image. The speaker is at most middling, and connecting the device to a PC is quite awkward despite the many possibilities. The casing's stiffness is not perfect, and the "volume down" button is adversely positioned for use as the camera's shutter release in landscape mode. The battery life is also only average.
However, there is no real reason that could thwart giving LG's L Bello a purchase recommendation seen in total. Users who rarely use the smartphone's speaker and do not expect extremely long runtimes from their device will be happy with LG's L Bello.