LG Bello II Smartphone Review
For the original German review, see here.
Users who like the rear-sided controls of LG's phones can actually stop reading here. They have been omitted in LG's Bello II - perhaps for cost reasons. The smartphone is even cheaper than the former LG L Bello. It still has a low-resolution 5-inch panel and 8 GB of internal storage. The casing, cameras, weight and operating system, which is now Android 5.0, have been modified. At first glance, no real progress is obvious, and we will thus now take a detailed look at how LG's Bello II fares.
Case
Unlike the predecessor that followed the design of the upper-range LG G3 S, LG's Bello II has received an individual design. LG's L Bello and LG's Bello II hardly have a family resemblance now. The review sample's casing looks a bit more angular, the color option of our black model with silver design elements is richer in contrast. Gold and white are further color options.
More differences are found on the rear. The surface is no longer brushed but features a subtle pattern and is roughened, the camera is now circular, and the rear-sided controls have been axed. It is again possible to remove the back, making the battery easy to replace.
The casing makes an overall high-quality impression and is plain, yet with a classy design. The stiffness could be higher; the screen can be dented clearly particularly in the center, and the chassis can be warped evidently.
Connectivity
The SoC is the same as in the predecessor, and the storage capacity has not been modified, either: 8 GB of internal storage and a micro-SD slot that accepts cards of up to 32 GB. LTE support is not installed. Again, a micro-USB 2.0 port and a 3.5 mm jack for headsets are present as physical interfaces.
Software
Android 5.0 is preloaded on LG's Bello II. It is not the latest version of Google's operating system - version 6.0 has been launched. Apart from the usual Google apps and a file manager, no superfluous apps are pre-loaded, giving the user more capacity for personal programs.
Communication & GPS
As previously said, LG's Bello, unfortunately, does not feature LTE. However, it supports four frequencies in the GSM network and UMTS network. That should make it possible to find a network fairly reliably at least when travelling in Europe.
Wi-Fi standards 802.11 b/g/n are supported. A signal of three-quarters is received even at a distance of ten meters from the router and through three walls, and pages are opened quite fast.
The GPS module is in fact a small highlight of LG's Bello II. Although localization is not possible indoors, a good signal is available within seconds outdoors. We were tracked with an accuracy of 7 meters.
Telephone & Call Quality
LG relies on Google's stock phone app software. That is alright because Google's phone app is quite self-explanatory and is not very puzzling.
The clear reproduction is compelling, but the microphone is very noisy and also produces side noises. Consequently, our contact does not perceive a good sound quality while we are quite satisfied.
Cameras and Multimedia
The cameras in the Bello II make it obvious that LG has recognized an important trend: selfies! Thus, the front-facing camera has been furnished with 2 megapixels, which is a considerably higher resolution than that of LG's L Bello. The rear-facing camera has been reduced from 8 to 5 megapixels.
The rear-facing camera reproduces colors decently, although the colors are slightly oversaturated. However, blurred color transitions and minor image noise becomes evident even when zoomed lightly, and they are also very visible in good light conditions. The image sharpness is not satisfactory in some situations and bright surfaces quickly look overexposed.
The front-facing camera is now more suitable for snapshots than its predecessor. The color reproduction and image quality are acceptable, but the photos should not be blown up too strongly.
Input Devices & Handling
The rear-sided buttons of LG's L Bello are a matter of taste and are not always an advantage when, for example, taking photos. LG has opted for a more conventional design in its Bello II and positions the standby button on the right and volume control on the left. The buttons do not have a first-rate feel, but the pressure point is fairly clear. The user will often be looking for the buttons at first since they barely jut out of the casing, making them difficult to feel.
Inputting via touchscreen and onscreen keyboard functions quite reliably. However, the screen sometimes has too much resistance for the finger. Google's stock keyboard that is clearly arranged and quick to type on is installed.
Display
The resolution has not been increased compared with the predecessor, and thus the 5-inch screen still has a resolution of a low 854x480 pixels. The reproduction is decent, but looks more blurry than on Full HD panels. Other smartphones in this price range have at least a 720p resolution, resulting in a minus point for LG's Bello II.
The average brightness of 333.2 cd/m² is also lower than among the competition. However, the illumination of 90% is relatively homogeneous, and larger colored areas look consistent.
|
Brightness Distribution: 90 %
Center on Battery: 333 cd/m²
Contrast: 1448:1 (Black: 0.23 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 9.41 | 0.5-29.43 Ø5
ΔE Greyscale 11.15 | 0.57-98 Ø5.3
Gamma: 2.17
LG Bello II Mali-400 MP2, MT6582, 8 GB eMMC Flash | LG L Bello Mali-400 MP, MT6582, 8 GB SSD | Microsoft Lumia 640 Adreno 305, 400 MSM8226, 8 GB eMMC Flash | Wiko Rainbow Up Mali-400 MP2, MT6582, 8 GB eMMC Flash | Honor Holly Mali-400 MP2, MT6582, 16 GB eMMC Flash | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Screen | -4% | 5% | -2% | -26% | |
Brightness middle | 333 | 421 26% | 433 30% | 525 58% | 472 42% |
Brightness | 333 | 411 23% | 429 29% | 500 50% | 455 37% |
Brightness Distribution | 90 | 94 4% | 95 6% | 90 0% | 87 -3% |
Black Level * | 0.23 | 0.5 -117% | 0.52 -126% | 0.53 -130% | 0.77 -235% |
Contrast | 1448 | 842 -42% | 833 -42% | 991 -32% | 613 -58% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 9.41 | 6.75 28% | 3.42 64% | 8.11 14% | 8.23 13% |
Greyscale dE 2000 * | 11.15 | 5.63 50% | 3.03 73% | 8.58 23% | 8.84 21% |
Gamma | 2.17 101% | 2.12 104% | 2.16 102% | 2.09 105% | 2.12 104% |
CCT | 12959 50% | 7472 87% | 7081 92% | 8530 76% | 6819 95% |
Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 93.8099 |
* ... smaller is better
LG's Bello II defeats its rivals in black value and can even outperform some more expensive devices with its 0.23 cd/m². That leads to a good contrast ratio of 1448:1, which could have naturally been higher in conjunction with a better brightness. Besides that, the contrast fluctuations due to unstable viewing angles prevent a consistent reproduction of actually pleasantly dark areas.
Our measurements using the CalMAN tool and spectrophotometer record high shifts to the reference color space in both grayscale levels and colors. Furthermore, a strong bluish tint is visible.
The low maximum brightness and glossy surface is noticed unfavorably outdoors. The smartphone can be used in the open quite comfortably on cloudy days, though.
Although the manufacturer states that an IPS panel is installed, it does not have a positive impact on the viewing angles. The contrast fluctuates strongly depending on the angle the screen is viewed from.
Performance
At least LG's Bello II sports a quad-core SoC: The Mediatek MT6582 that clocks at a maximum of 1.3 GHz. It was installed in the predecessor and does its job sufficiently fast in total. Occasional stutters during use and when starting apps cannot be completely avoided, though. LG's Bello II does not present a stable impression in the benchmarks. It is sometimes much faster than the comparison devices and sometimes slower. Overall, the devices will likely be roughly on the same performance level, particularly since almost all are based on the same SoC.
The graphics card is an ARM Mali-400 MP and clocks at 500 MHz. It is also installed in almost all comparison devices, and thus the results are similar here.
LG's Bello II cannot quite keep up with its rivals in terms of internal storage. They are usually a bit faster in reading and writing data. It is at least much faster than its predecessor.
LG's Bello II is in fact a bit faster in Internet browsing than the other smartphones we use for comparison. However, the differences will unlikely be noticed for the most part in use.
Geekbench 3 | |
32 Bit Single-Core Score (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
LG L Bello | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly | |
32 Bit Multi-Core Score (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
LG L Bello | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly |
3DMark | |
1280x720 Ice Storm Standard Score (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
LG L Bello | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly | |
1280x720 Ice Storm Standard Graphics (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
LG L Bello | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly | |
1280x720 Ice Storm Standard Physics (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
LG L Bello | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly | |
1920x1080 Ice Storm Extreme Score (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
1920x1080 Ice Storm Extreme Graphics (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
1920x1080 Ice Storm Extreme Physics (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Score (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
LG L Bello | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Graphics Score (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
LG L Bello | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
1280x720 offscreen Ice Storm Unlimited Physics (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
LG L Bello | |
Wiko Rainbow Up |
Smartbench 2012 | |
Productivity Index (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly | |
Gaming Index (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly |
BaseMark OS II | |
Overall (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
Microsoft Lumia 640 | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly | |
System (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly | |
Memory (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly | |
Graphics (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly | |
Web (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly |
AnTuTu v6 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II |
GFXBench (DX / GLBenchmark) 2.7 | |
T-Rex Onscreen (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
LG L Bello | |
Microsoft Lumia 640 | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly | |
1920x1080 T-Rex Offscreen (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
LG L Bello | |
Microsoft Lumia 640 | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly |
AndroBench 3-5 | |
Sequential Read 256KB (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
LG L Bello | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly | |
Sequential Write 256KB (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
LG L Bello | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly | |
Random Read 4KB (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
LG L Bello | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly | |
Random Write 4KB (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
LG L Bello | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly |
Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
LG L Bello | |
Microsoft Lumia 640 | |
Honor Holly |
Sunspider - 1.0 Total Score (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
LG L Bello | |
Microsoft Lumia 640 | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly |
Octane V2 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
LG Bello II | |
LG L Bello | |
Microsoft Lumia 640 | |
Wiko Rainbow Up | |
Honor Holly |
* ... smaller is better
Games
It was quite possible to play games on the predecessor, and LG's Bello II also does a fairly good job. The low resolution in demanding games like Asphalt 8: Airborne usually leads to smooth rendering even using high details. Casual games with less demanding graphics, such as Angry Birds, do not cause problems anyway.
Navigating via position sensor and touchscreen also functions well, but the touchscreen's high resistance is sometimes an issue here as well.
Emissions
Temperature
LG does an almost perfect job in temperature management. The maximum load temperature is 36.8 °C, which is palpable but not yet unpleasant. Thus, LG's Bello II can be held comfortably in the hand in every situation. The maximum idle temperature of 31.7 °C is even much lower.
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 36.7 °C / 98 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 36.8 °C / 98 F, compared to the average of 33.8 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 29.8 °C / 86 F, compared to the device average of 32.7 °C / 91 F.
Speaker
Like in the predecessor, the speaker in LG's Bello II is situated in the casing's lower left. The positioning is not ideal, and especially right-handed users might muffle the speaker's sound unintentionally. The sound is not really compelling even when it is not muffled; basses are non-existent, and the sound is similar to that of a bathroom radio. The volume is not particularly high, but at least nothing overdrives.
Energy Management
Power Consumption
Unfortunately, we cannot make comparisons with the power consumption of LG's L Bello since no plausible consumption rates could be determined from the predecessor. Compared with the other comparison devices, LG's Bello II is a real energy-saving champion. Although the Lumia 640 does a marginally better job with a minimum consumption of 0.5 watts, the average idle consumption of 1.1 watts of LG's Bello II is at least much lower than other smartphones from this price range.
The maximum load consumption of just 2.5 watts is even 4 watts lower than that of Wiko's Rainbow Up.
Off / Standby | 0 / 0.1 Watt |
Idle | 0.6 / 1.1 / 1.3 Watt |
Load |
2.1 / 2.5 Watt |
Battery Runtime
LG's Bello II might not have the highest capacity battery in the comparison field with 9.7 watt hours, but it manages second place with the equally sized battery in the predecessor. That alongside the very low consumption rates translates into very good battery runtimes. The user can browse on the Internet via Wi-Fi for over 13 hours without depleting the battery. The precursor also delivered good rates here, but they were outperformed. LG's Bello II is also an endurance runner with over 5 hours under load.
LG Bello II Mali-400 MP2, MT6582, 8 GB eMMC Flash | LG L Bello Mali-400 MP, MT6582, 8 GB SSD | Wiko Rainbow Up Mali-400 MP2, MT6582, 8 GB eMMC Flash | Microsoft Lumia 640 Adreno 305, 400 MSM8226, 8 GB eMMC Flash | Honor Holly Mali-400 MP2, MT6582, 16 GB eMMC Flash | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Battery Runtime | -8% | -20% | -41% | -30% | |
WiFi v1.3 | 797 | 634 -20% | 502 -37% | ||
Load | 301 | 276 -8% | 240 -20% | 166 -45% | 211 -30% |
WiFi | 522 | 363 | |||
H.264 | 625 | 543 |
Pros
Cons
Verdict
It is very visible to just what extent the smartphone market changes within one year: The price pressure has once again increased clearly, and thus LG was forced to make cutbacks in its Bello entry-level smartphone. The rear-sided controls and high-resolution rear camera have been axed.
LG's Bello II also feels inferior in other aspects: For example, the screen has considerably inferior viewing angles. However, nothing has been modified in most places: The storage is still just as big, LTE is not available, and the screen's low resolution is still a shortcoming.
In return, the buyer still gets a relatively high-quality chassis for this price range; temperature management and power consumption have even been optimized. That is also the reason why LG's Bello II can play its biggest trump card in the battery life tests. The low power consumption leads to first-rate battery runtimes, and the more modern Android 5.0 might also be a decisive purchase factor.
Compared with the predecessor, there are both pros and cons, and the buyer can ponder on whether the high-resolution rear camera or longer battery life is more important. Those are the biggest differences.
Buyers looking for an HD screen will be disappointed by LG's Bello lineup from the outset and should look around at the competition. Otherwise, LG's Bello II is once again a solid entry-level smartphone that openly displays the price pressure in late 2015.
LG Bello II
-
12/15/2015 v4(old)
Florian Wimmer