T-Mobile and subsidiary prepaid MVNO Metro by T-Mobile have now been spotted carrying the LG Stylo 5.
The budget-friendly device is the same that launched at Cricket back in June but comes with slightly different pricing. That means it’ll only be a slight update to the LG Stylo 4 launched last year. It’s also only being shown in one color, “Silvery White,” instead of the two colors available at the AT&T-owned MVNO. The color appears to be an exclusive for T-Mobile, offered instead of the standard Platinum Grey.
The internals and features found in T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile’s LG Stylo 5 are exactly identical to those found at Cricket. That follows a trend from LG and other OEMs to reduce or eliminate carrier-exclusive alternate versions. It also means users can expect the same experience regardless of which carrier they choose.
The LG Stylo 5
In the case of the LG Stylo 5, buyers are getting a respectable Snapdragon 450 SoC. That’s an octa-core chipset made expressly for entry models, clocked at 1.8GHz and backed by just 2GB of RAM. For storage, 32GB is included with compatibility for up to 2TB of microSD expandable storage.
The final internal component in LG’s Stylo 5 is the battery. LG has bolstered that from last year’s model to 3,50omAh. USB Type-C charging is another big difference here. That’s via an appropriate bottom-facing port placed next to the 3.5mm headphone jack, speaker, and garaged thin-tipped stylus. DTS:X 3D Surround Sound is supported with this gadget.
On the outside, the LG Stylo 5 delivers a modern 6.2-inch FHD+ (2160 x 1080p) display panel with a ratio of 18:9. The bezels surrounding that are slightly less modern and definitely noticeable when compared to other budget and mid-range smartphones.
Just above that, the company has embedded the same 5-megapixel selfie camera found on the previous Stylo-series handset. A 13-megapixel snapper 4 is included at the back, complete with phase-detection autofocus and an LED flash. That’s the same as on the previous LG Stylo 4 as well.
A fingerprint scanner is found at the back underneath the cameras.
Features and strange price variances
LG packs in Android 9 Pie and a ton of features on the software side. That includes facial recognition as a secondary biometric unlocking feature but also some that seem to be taken directly from the Samsung Note series book.
Draw chat allows for animated messages while Pop Lens works like Samsung’s Magnify, meaning that the pen can be used as a magnifying glass for whatever’s being shown on-screen. Screen-Off memo lets users take notes while the screen is not activated using the stylus.
All of that will undoubtedly make this one of the go-to devices in the entry range.
Pricing for the budget-friendly device is different than when the same gadget launched at Cricket in June – with the cost starting at around $10 more. That’s unsurprising since that’s almost always the case from carrier to carrier but there’s also a big jump between the two T-Mobile services.
For T-Mobile, the price comes in at a whopping $275.00, compared to the MVNO’s $239.99. Metro by T-Mobile is offering the gadget at no cost for those that switch while T-Mobile customers can have it for $11 per month on contract over a tw0-year period. The same cost is available to new T-Mobile customers with no money down for the new LG smartphone plus the $25 cost of a SIM kit.