LG’s mobile division has had a hard time figuring out where they fit in the current smartphone market.
Samsung and iPhone have been dominating the high-end market and Huawei’s becoming the go-to for a reasonably priced lower to mid-range smartphone. LG is currently in a space where they can have a huge consumer base in the mid-range sector.
Enter the LG X Cam. The latest addition to LG’s mobile family brings a wide-angle lens to their midrange LG X Cam.
Design
The LG X Cam features a normal touchscreen design with rounded edges and a curve at the top and bottom of the phone. This makes the phone easy to grip, and I found zero strain from typing on it for long periods of time.
The front has a 5.2 inch IPS LCD touchscreen with 3.5 mm audio jack at the bottom and the power button on the right and the volume buttons on the left.
The one annoying thing is that to insert your nano sim and microSD, the X Cam uses the pinout system. I loathe this feature because if you lose the pin, you basically can’t change your sim/memory card.
The screen does have a beautiful display and colours on the X Cam appear vibrant.
Unfortunately, the X Cam has a unibody which seems to be the norm and something I just need to accept at this point.
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Camera
The main drawcard regarding the X Cam is the build in wide-angle dual lens 13MP + 5MP camera.
Now, I have rolled eyes many times with regards to LG and gimmicks over the years. This feature is not one of them. The wide-angle lens makes a huge difference to your photography experience.
Since all of us yearn for an unending stream of likes on Instagram, the LG X Cam adds extra depth of field that will turn even the most mundane photos into something eye-catching.
LG has also added cool features to enhance your experience with the wide-angle lens. Among them the Mode function which has a Popout feature.
The Popout mode features a Instagram Boomerang-like capability, which is a fun addition. Here different shape pop up where you can utilise a fish-eye lens, B&W, vignette & lens blur filters.
A video posted by IOL LIFESTYLE (@iol_lifestyle) on Jul 26, 2016 at 4:30am PDT
The front facing 8MP camera is also no slouch, plus the live beauty filter makes any selfie flawless.
Verdict
★★★ ½
The LG X Cam as an upper-midrange smartphone is a great fit for people who don’t want to spend an arm and a leg on a iPhone6s/Samsung Galaxy S7 but also don’t want to be on the bottom end of the smartphone spectrum.
The LG X Cam is fast and is a great midrange phone with inspiring extra features.