LG K10 First Impression: For Offline Buyers With Basic Usage Requirements

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LG India today presented the K10 (2017) priced at Rs. 13,990. The new K-series phones isn’t a spec monster and, like other offline-centric phones, aims to distinguish itself by means of what can be aggregately termed as the first hands-on experience of consumers who come across it at their respective trusted offline outlets. We too experienced it within the confines of the press launch event and have summed up our first impression below.

LG K 10 2017 Price In India (6)

Let’s first get the specs out of our way.

LG K10 2017 Specifications:

Model LG K10 2017
Display 5.3-Inch, HD IPS LCD
Processor 1.5 GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6750 Processor
RAM 2GB
Internal Storage 16GB, expandable up to 2TB
Software Android 7.0 Nougat
Primary Camera 13MP rear camera
Secondary Camera 5MP selfie camera
Dimensions and Weight 148.7 x 75.3 x 7.9mm and 142g
Battery 2,800mAh
Others 4G VoLTE, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, 3.5mm audio jack
Price Rs. 13,990

The build is plasticky, but the design is pretty likable

This is a ‘Make in India’ phone and since the technology for assembling phones in India is in its nascent stages, we didn’t go into this hands-on review expecting much in terms of design or build. For instance, a metal-unibody construction, that’s all so prevalent in this budget, was out of the question here. To our surprise, however, we found the clever K10 design quite likable.

LG K 10 2017 Price In India (5)

Also Read: Best Smartphone Under 15,000 INR In India (February 2017)

LG isn’t using premium materials here. The phone is entirely made of plastic with thick, gaudy chrome lining running all along the edges. The back cover has a familiar brushed metal texture and can pop out. And, according to LG, it’s also ‘scratch resistant’. Underneath it, you will find the modest 2800mAh battery, dual SIM card, and SD card slots.

LG K 10 2017 Price In India (7)

On the plus side, LG has got the ergonomics right. The K10 2017 is quite compact with a 5.3-inch display and feels very comfortable to handle. The 2.5D glass layered on the front helps as well. We will also count the power button on the rear – that’s also a fingerprint sensor -as a plus point. The fingerprint sensor felt fast and you will get used to this unconventional arrangement in no time. Besides, the double tap to wake feature will ensure that you can conveniently unlock it even when the phone is lying on a table.

LG bundles an elegant flip cover in the box

LG K 10 2017 Price In India (2)

Also, LG will be bundling some hip ‘Indianized’ flip covers in the box worth 2,999 INR. These magnetic flip cases look great and also have a curved-glass-patched cutout to see through basic info like time, date, notification count, etc. Since the phone uses an IPS LCD panel, this ‘Always On’ display should definitely take a toll on the battery. Right? Well, not so much.  LG claims that when left on for 24 hours, it will consume only as much battery as is used while unlocking your phone thrice! Even if it consumes twice as much in practical usage, it still sounds like a good deal.

The display, in itself, felt perfectly decent. It also benefits from an eye-protection mode under display settings. But we would still like to reserve our verdict as, after all, we examined it under horrendous launch event lighting.

Also Read: Best Dual Camera Smartphones Under 20,000 INR

To sum it up, the design is quite interesting, and personally, we don’t mind the plastic build of the K10 one bit (the bundled case helps too). In all honesty, the LG K10 feels like a refreshing change of pace after going through a series of almost same and redundant metal-unibody or rather quasi metal-unibody phones. However, the hardware choices that LG has made are very difficult to look past.

It’s hard to expect much from the hardware

Even if we assume that the entry-grade 1.5GHz MediaTek MT6750 SoC can leverage a well-optimized Android 7.0 Nougat based UI to muster fast-enough performance, the limited 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage are bound to be problematic in the long run for anyone but the most basic of Android users.

A lot will also be riding on its camera performance which we will have to test later in our own space.

LG also highlighted the presence of SOS button that dials emergency number 112 as soon as you press the power button thrice. This, however, shouldn’t be a big deal as it works on all four phones from different manufacturers that lay on my desk as of now.

So, who is it for?

The new LG K10 (2017) hasn’t got the numbers to go against online adversaries like Redmi Note 4 or Honor 6x or maybe the upcoming Moto G5, but if you are a very basic user (say, all you need is some Whatsapp, Some FB and a few calls) and are strictly looking forward to picking something from a trusted offline retail shop the LG K10 might just feel adequate.

Deepak SinghDeepak Singh
Deepak has more than 8 years of experience in covering technology for several eminent publications in India. He currently leads an enthusiastic team of young writers at Smartprix and tries to uphold the highest quality standards.

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2 Comments
User
spankbang
Anonymous
4 years ago

Still, CES floor is an opportunity major players rarely pass on and LG acted accordingly. As a matter of fact, the manufacturer went as far as to making a second official announcement for the devices.

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User
Rajesh Punwani
Anonymous
7 years ago

LG is good brand I have used LG K10 2016 its good quality headache free usage no shocks of visit to service centre for some surprise faults cropping up in the phone only fault is the loud shutter noise which has no control to shut down you cannot switch off the ugly camera shutter sound in any way even in sober occasions I had to click without noise it made a loud ugly shutter noise embaracing me in front of people hope this lacuna has been corrected in 2017 model

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