LG K10 and LG K7 First Impression – Leveraging Ergonomic Design

LG’s LTE enabled K series handsets have arrived in India. The better of the two, LG K10, will be available for 13,500 INR, while the base LG K7 shall retail for 9,500 INR. A cursory glance at hardware spec table below will tell you that the price isn’t aggressively competitive, but is there more to these “Pebble design” handsets? Let’s discuss.

Key Specifications and features LG K7 and K10:

LG K10 looks stunning, LG K7 feels cheap

The USP of LG K10 has to be its design. The slim profile, 2.5D arc glass overlaid on the sharp HD Display, thin metallic side rim, absence of buttons on the side edges, and the weaving pattern on the removable back shell – all add up to make this a premium looking handset. The design will surely find takers in the offline realm.

On the other hand, LG K7 feels like most other entry-level handsets. Lack of pixels is painfully discernible on the 5-inch display, and the rigged plastic back cover attracts finger grease rather easily.

However, both LG K10 and K7 are ergonomically appealing. The fit very naturally in our hands and had a solid grip. Volume rocker and power button have been packages in the rear key, which is placed exactly where your index finger naturally rests. This makes it very addictive.

Both of the two are well-crafted handsets, but it’s the LG K10 which truly impresses.

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Performance expectations and software

The LG K10 and LG K5 are powered by quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC’s (Snapdragon 410 and Snapdragon 210, respectively) aided by conventional 2GB and 1.5GB RAM, which isn’t all that convincing if you are anything but a basic users.

The last LG handset I used for LG G4, and the UI on K10 and K7 looked about the same. Software is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop and is loaded with numerous customization options, many of which actually make sense. This however isn’t a light Android skin and thus, it will be interesting to test how well the modest hardware will handle it over a period of time.

Camera performance expectations

The LG K10 includes a 13MP rear and 5MP front camera, while the K7 includes 5MP shooters on each side. In low lighting, colors on K10 looked accurate on the handset screens but details were lacking in clicked images. The LG K7, on the other hand, gives very average performance in low lighting. Of course, the lighting was far from ideal and unfit for any sorts of conclusions.

LG also talked about its gesture shot feature. You can make a fist at the selfie camera to click self-portraits or repeat the gesture twice for 4 consecutive clicks. To make fists at selfie camera is already weird (more so if you have a female subject in the frame), moreover the feature does’t work very efficiently. We don’t think you would be using this on a regular basis.

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LG K10 and LG K7 Photo Gallery

Conclusion

To sum it up, LG K10 and LG K7 are well designed phones, but compromises involved overshadow the positives to a large extent. Like always, these LG handsets will primarily target offline audience, but a little lower price would have made, at least LG K10, a worthy option capable of holding its own in the cut-throat online world.