LG has quietly released two new low-cost smartphones in the Philippines that ship with an up-to-date version of Android (in this case, Lollipop) out of the box. Announced back in March, the LG Leon and Magna retail for P5,990 and P10,990, respectively, and represent the South Korean company’s latest attempt at winning the (price) war against domestic brands and Chinese tech startups.
Both devices are powered by a quad-core MediaTek processor backed by 1GB of RAM, though the cheaper Leon has fewer attractions, not to mention a smaller, 4.5-inch touch display with fewer pixels. By contrast, the Magna offers 5 inches of bended screen real estate at 720p resolution. And though the arch is not as pronounced as the LG G4’s, the screen is bent in a way that you’d notice. Viewed from the front, the Magna looks exactly as LG intended: a discount G4. (As it turns out, a curved phone doesn’t need to be expensive.)
As always with current LG smartphones, all physical buttons are located around the back, below the camera module, and screen-off gestures like double-tap to wake are baked into the custom user interface.
Specs of the LG Leon (Price in the Philippines: P5,990):
* 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6582
* 1GB RAM
* 8GB internal storage
* microSD card slot (up to 32GB)
* 4.5-inch IPS display (480 x 854 resolution)
* 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash
* VGA front camera
* 1,900mAh battery
* Android Lollipop 5.0
Specs of the LG Magna (Price in the Philippines: P10,990):
* Dual SIM
* 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6582
* 1GB RAM
* 8GB internal storage
* microSD card slot (up to 32GB)
* 5-inch IPS display (720 x 1,280 resolution)
* 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash
* 5-megapixel front camera
* 2,540mAh battery
* Android Lollipop 5.0
There aren’t many handsets from big-name manufacturers that can touch the Leon and Magna in their respective price brackets. That may be their biggest selling point.
RAMON LOPEZ’S TAKE: It’s hard not to like what LG has done with the Leon and especially the Magna. Both offer decent specs at reasonable prices, something I wish the Koreans did with more consistency last year. But that’s water under the bridge now. It seems that LG, like other industry veterans, is trying as hard as it can to bring the best Android experience to the masses. There aren’t many handsets from big-name manufacturers that can touch the Leon and Magna in their respective price brackets, and that may be their biggest selling point.
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