Immediately following the release of the G2, LG’s new flagship smartphone, they have announced a viable android option for budget users: the LG L1 II. For the unbelievably low price, the L1 boasts some decent specs. It has a 3-inch 320 x 240 pixel display, a 2 megapixel rear facing shooter, 512MB of RAM, and an original Snapdragon S1 clocked at 1GHz. In addition to semi-impressive hardware for such a wallet-friendly device, it also comes with Android 4.1 Jellybean.
While the G2 shows off LG’s prowess at making high-end smartphones, they’re one of the few manufacturers that make genuinely good budget devices. Whether you’re a media person, a power user, or even a 12 year-old getting their very first smartphone, LG has some sort of offering for everyone. As the third largest smartphone manufacturer worldwide, LG needed to put a device in every price category and now they have. The L1 is the budget phone, the Optimus G and G Pro are in the mid-range price area – after dropping in price – with the G2 has the top spot price and hardware wise.
The L1’s low price point may encourage many more consumers to go the smartphone route with their mobile phones, and furthermore, go the Android route. When I’ve been in carrier stores lately, I’ve seen tons of people teetering on the line between feature phone and smartphone. Perhaps for some of these people, the price of the actual handset is the main factor and adding a somewhat budget friendly phone to the lineup may push some people into picking up their first smartphone.
This device sounds like it’ll be interesting to play with. You don’t see many devices these days that come with anything under 1GB of RAM, so I’m looking forward to seeing how well the L1 handles Jellybean. This phone will definitely stand out to the money conscious buyer, but will they get what they paid for and have a poor Android experience? Or will the phone be a solid edition to their Android lineup?