Our Verdict
Another day , another 4 G handset on Verizon . TheLG Revolution($250 with a two - year contract with Verizon ; price as of 5/27/11 ) joins theHTC Thunderboltand the Samsung Droid Charge as the third LTE equipment on Big Red . How does it pile up to the other two ? While the Revolution is attractive and solidly built , the overlayer LG slap over Android is n’t the slickest . I wished LG would have kept the straight Android , like the T - Mobile G2x .
Sturdy, attractive design
I first caught a glimpse of the LG Revolution at Verizon ’s big4 G kickoff at CESand was eager to get my custody on it . Measuring 5.03 - by-2.63 - by-0.52 inches and weigh 6.06 ounce , the Revolution is slimly larger and heavier than the Thunderbolt . For my modest hand , it is n’t the most pleasurable thing to hold up to my capitulum for a long amount of time . The Revolution is solidly built with black plastic around its borders and a rubberdized matte black battery blanket with a silver landing strip prevail down the middle . Chrome stripes also line the left over and right spine of the telephone set . The charge card below the display has sort of a “ brush ” textured effect . It is a pernicious detail that makes the phone feel more high quality .
Four antiphonal skin senses buttons like beneath the presentation : Menu , Home Back and Search . A chrome - comprehend ( argh , not a fan of covered ports ) micro - USB embrasure is locate on the correct spinal column while a chrome - covered HDMI port ( argh , again ) and book rocker can be set up on the left acantha . The 3.5 - mm earpiece jak and mogul / lock chamber clit is settle at the top .
Like the HTC Thunderbolt and the Samsung Droid Charge , the Revolution has a 4.3 - inch TFT presentation . With an 800 - by-480 - pixel closure , the Revolution has the same resolving as the Thunderbolt and the Droid Charge . I did some side - by - side tests of images and video on the Thunderbolt and Revolution and surveyed fellowPCWorldeditors . Even though the phones have the same solution , the editor in chief nem con agreed that the Thunderbolt had better color and more clearness . The Revolution is fabulously difficult to see in bright sunlight , too . The screen gravel quite smudgy , which adds to the big outside visibility .
Clunky Android overlay
The Revolution runs Android 2.2 ( Froyo ) with a custom - progress LG overlay running on top of it . Mostly , the overlayer behaves as aboriginal Android does . Dots run across your homescreen assist you keep raceway of which homescreen you ’re on . Like HTC Sense , you may see thumbnail - sized rendering of your homescreens by pinching out on any screen . From there , you could jump between them . Four icons systematically lead below your homescreens : Phone , Contacts , Messaging and Apps .
For whatever reasonableness , LG made the decision to slap its own software system keyboard on the Revolution rather than the broth Android keyboard . Big mistake . The keyboard and autocorrect is unbelievably frustrative to use . I made way of life more error than I usually do on a Malcolm stock Android software system keyboard . The keys are too svelte and the autocorrect seemed to be more incorrect than correct !
The Revolution ’s App Drawer is , well , kind of a kettle of fish . Preinstalled app are organize by class : Communication , News & Search , Media , Tools , Applications ( which is empty ) and Downloads . You ca n’t regroup these apps either , which is plaguey . Say you download an app , like Tweetdeck , for your Twittering purposes . By LG ’s classification , this should fall under Communication , right-hand ? Well , too speculative , because it is going to get throw into the “ Downloads ” department ( right , not Applications . I do n’t get it either ) . You ca n’t have down and drag an icon to another section of your App Drawer either ( that will actually make the app into a crosscut on one of your homescreens ) . I tried reorganizing my apps via the Manage Applications menu in preferences , but you may only uninstall or forcefulness stoppage apps there .
I apprise LG seek to use some kind of app taxonomy here , but the user should have some kind of mastery over where the app drive organized . It bring in thing just more disorganised . It is almost as if Verizon and LG do n’t expect you to download your own applications .
talk of preloaded apps , the Revolution is yet another Verizon phone with Bing Maps and Bing Search preinstalled . Pardon me while I jabber for a arcsecond . I have nothing against Bing ; in fact , I think some of the Windows Phone 7 Bing features look really coolheaded . I just do n’t cerebrate it is fair to consumers who corrupt an Android telephone and wait a full Google experience . What does Google do well ? Search . What do you get when you try and search on the Revolution ? Bing Search . It is the same floor with VZ Navigator . Google Maps does not come preinstalled on the Revolution , queerly . you’re able to of course download these apps , but it is kind of annoying thatsomany apps come preinstalled , but not these Android staples .
Multimedia
YouTube video played back smoothly with no buffering , but again , the weaknesses of the Revolution ’s lower solution display were unmistakable . I did a side - by - side comparison of the Thunderbolt , Samsung Nexus S ( unfortunately , I had to return the Droid Charge ) and the Revolution playing a Shepard Fairey clip on YouTube . I surveyed a few editor in chief around the role who nem con decided that the Revolution ’s telecasting had less clarity and sharpness than the other two display . You really have to look closely , however , to see the difference between the displays , however .
One notable lineament about the Revolution is that it comes load with the brand name newfangled Netflix for Android app . I test Netflix over both Wi - Fi and 4G. While video go fairly smoothly over both , the video quality was fuzzy and colour looked washed out . Netflix isnotyet supported on the Thunderbolt so I compared it to the Nexus S , which can expend the Netflix app .
Camera and Gallery
The Revolution ’s 5 - megapixel took pretty decent pictures inside and out though it was n’t quite on par with other earphone cameras we ’ve test , like the LG G2x or the HTC Droid Incredible 2 ’s cracker . color were a moment lave out and contingent were more on the blurred end . The newsbreak is quite powerful , which is great for very low light surroundings .
Video jibe in 720p looked fairly good though it was n’t spectacular . The photographic camera plow motion well , but again , colours count a bit washed out .
The The Gallery is fairly much the same as the aboriginal Froyo gallery . Your photos are grouped by whether they ’re saved on the internal computer storage or your Mount Rushmore State card . If you have a Picasa account , your photos store there will mechanically be load into the news report .
Performance
While the LG - made T - Mobile G2X is powered by a dual - essence Nvidia Tegra 2 mainframe , the Revolution only has a single core Snapdragon MSM8655 processor . This is the same 2d - generation CPU you ’ll find in the HTC Thunderbolt . While we ’ve certainly been impressed with the Tegra 2 phones , the 1GHz Revolution handled games , browsing and multitasking utterly well .
I tested the LG Revolution ’s 4 G LTE datum speed using the FCC - approved Ookla Speed Test app in the South Park neighborhood of San Francisco . The Revolution got an fair download speed of 7.14 megabits per second ( mbps ) and an average upload swiftness of 3.46 mbps . The middling latency was 86 milliseconds .
Call quality was okay over Verizon ’s internet in San Francisco . Voices sound quite though crisp and clear with no static , hiss or other torture . Callers on the other close of the line were quite proud of with my voice on the Revolution ; they reported that my voice had an ample amount of book and a natural pure tone .
We have n’t had a prospect to formally test battery life , but the Revolution ’s 1,500 mAh stamp battery handled about five hours of heavy use on 4 G before it needed a explosive charge . It seems like the Revolution suffers from the same electric battery issues as the Thunderbolt and the mission . And of row , there ’s no preloaded widget to switch off 4 1000 ; you have to either go into setting or install a third - company widget . Once we do our formal examination , I ’ll update the review with the results .
Bottom line
If you ’re seem for a telephone to check movies , do some heavy browsing and drama games , you ’ll be slaked with the LG Revolution . But in terminal figure of how it ranks amongVerizon ’s 4 GiB phones , I ’d have to put it in third place . The Droid Charge , while more expensive ( $ 300 ) , has a more superior Super AMOLED Plus display . The Thunderbolt , the same price , has a sporting user port and seemingly better video display . The Revolution ’s interface is less polished , but its hardware is the most attractive of the three .
[ Ginny Mies is an associate editor for PCWorld . ]
