K7 Review: Just a new budget phone from LG

LG has surely cracked the feel-good in your hand factor with the K7. However, that’s everything desirable about the smartphone

LG has surely cracked the feel-good in your hand factor with the K7. However, that’s everything desirable about the smartphone

It's a bit difficult being blunt to someone when they fall short of your expectations, especially if you've spent money on it. Bought an activity tracker for ₹10,000 that does what even a Sub-₹1,000 one can? In that case, there ain't much hope from being saved from ridicule. That's how the K7 makes you feel. It costs ₹9,500 but delivers worth much less even compared to phones available for ₹7,000 or less.

Just comparing it on the basis of price is unfair, but the stark reality of the hour. LG has surely cracked the feel-good in your hand factor with the K7. However, that's everything desirable about the smartphone. The curved glass on the side reminds you about the latest trend of 2.5D glass on the screen. The matte-finish back holds the volume rocker and lock button. That's where LG had to shift them to achieve the nicely curved edges.

The images from the 5-megapixel rear camera seem a bit washed out but the 5-megapixel (yes, same resolution) front camera takes acceptable images. But the camera app is very decluttered like the rest of the phone. The home screen, lock screen and phone apps like camera are clean, but the lack of backing from hardware make it a but slow. Even running basic apps like Chrome, isn't a blazing fast experience.

The K7 sports a 5-inch screen that's far from sharp, processor that's mediocre and under 2 GB of RAM. But that's not it, it only has 8 GB internal storage that can be expanded with a microSD card, but that's no excuse for a ₹10,000 phone in 2016. It runs the not-so-recent Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and barely offers anything to push us in favour of recommending it.

For ₹500 more, you can get yourself a Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 that has a much faster processor and 2GB of RAM that work great with the MIUI 7 and have passed the reviews with flying colours. Also, it sports a full HD 5.5-inch sunlight display for better visibility in outdoors. Both the cameras on Redmi Note 3 are capable of capturing better videos and pictures. And the biggest disadvantage the LG K7 has, is the battery. While the Redmi Note 3 has a 4,000 mAh battery, the K7 can at most last half the time with a 2,000 mAh one. Overall, the K7 could have offered great competition to phone at this price in 2014, but not at this point of time.

If you plan on spending ₹10,000 on a smartphone, do yourself a favour and avoid being ridiculed, go buy a Redmi Note 3, LG K4 Note or LeEco Le 1s. They all sport a better screen, fingerprint unlock and snappy performance due to great hardware specifications.