Review: Made-in-India LG K7

With the Make in India initiative, the government has been imploring phone makers to set up manufacturing units in the country. While Samsung and Micromax have been manufacturing phones for some time, the likes of Xiaomi and Gionee joined them last year. The latest to join the growing list is the South Korean company LG. Priced at Rs.9,500, the K7 is their first made-in-India phone.

Compact and good-looking

The K7 is a budget smartphone but one can’t tell by merely looking at it. The phone’s pebble shaped design, shiny glass panel on the front and sleek metal strip around it makes it look a more expensive phone. The front reminds of the LG Nexus 4. The brushed plastic finish on the back panel lends it a good grip. It weighs 139g and is 8.6mm thick. Like most LG smartphones, there are no physical keys along the side panel. The keys are instead tucked away on the back panel right where the index finger rests when you are holding the phone. One has to apply a little pressure as the volume keys are a bit curved inwards.

An average looking display

This smartphone display make it feel like it has more glass than plastic, but the display is a bit dim once you switch it on. It has a 5-inch display screen which is perfect for users who are not particularly fond of big-screen phones. What is surprising is the 854x480p resolution, which is low even for a 5-inch screen phone. However, the viewing angles are good which makes web browsing, reading and watching YouTube videos enjoyable. Visibility under bright sunlight is a bit poor.

Runs old Android with a very customisable UI

For a brand that has made three nexus phones, LG lacks the same enthusiasm when it comes to its own phones. The K7 is no different. It runs Android 5.1 (Lollipop), a 2-year old OS with a custom UI of its own. The UI is dotted with shortcuts and customisation options and looks pretty bland in comparison to a Vibe UI or the MiUi. We couldn’t find any India-specific content or app. Some of the notable highlights of this interface are the option to adjust the grid size in the app drawer, and add up to five home touch buttons, including multi-tasking, back and home buttons. The phone has a secondary interface for first-time smartphone users. It has a simple layout and bigger icons.

Adequate for casual users

The phone runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 quad-core processor and is backed by 1.5GB RAM. This is a low power processor but supports all major 4G LTE networks that are available in India. The phone delivers a fairly consistent performance. Barring occasional lags, the phone handles most individual tasks, including games such as Smash Hit, smoothly and without any heating up. Switching between apps is also smooth and lag-free. However, it is a not a powerhouse by any means. It struggles with multi-tasking and graphic intensive games. It is good for a casual user but for someone who depends full time on their phone, this device is just not powerful enough. Even the internal storage is just 8GB, and almost half of it is already occupied by pre-installed apps and system files. You can expand it another 32GB with a microSD card.

Average camera

Click here for enlarge

Click here for enlarge

LG has packed in a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and auto focus. The picture quality is basic even when used in good light. Though colour looks accurate, getting a good picture out of it is not easy. One can see the noise clearly with the slightest of zoom in. The auto focus feature is restrictive as it doesn’t allow users to set focus. The good bit is that the camera supports voice commands, allowing users to take photos by saying cheese, smile or whisky.

Verdict

LG’s first made-in-India smartphone has some good points, but overall it fails to impress. Its closest rivals are the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Rs.9,999) and the Moto G 3rd gen (Rs.10,999), which offer better quality display, superior camera, more muscle power and more storage.

Abhijit Ahaskar

Topics: LG k7LG K7 reviewxiaomi redmi note 3moto g 3rd gensamsung