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LG Lucid 2

Editor's rating (1-5):

Carrier: Verizon
Manufacturer: LG
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What's Hot: Free on contract, manageable size, sharp display, removable battery.

What's Not: Voice quality for calls is so-so.

Reviewed April 26, 2013 by Lisa Gade, Editor in Chief (twitter: @lisagade)

It's hard to beat free, and the LG Lucid 2 is free on contract with Verizon Wireless. For your money (so to speak) you get a smartphone running Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean on a 1.2GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus CPU with a gig of RAM and 8 gigs of internal storage. The phone has a sharp 4.3" IPS qHD display, a microSD card slot and a removable battery. As you'd expect from a Verizon smartphone it has 4G LTE, dual band WiFi, Bluetooth and a GPS. There's a front video chat camera and a rear 5 megapixel camera with HDR. Not too shabby if you're looking for no cash outlay or you're starting out with your first smartphone.

LG Lucid 2

Design and Ergonomics

In a sea of huge Android phones, the 4.3" LG Lucid 2 is downright pocket-friendly and easy to hold. The tapered sides look good and feel good in hand and the back is grippy textured plastic. The back isn't exactly chic, but it is removable and it grants access to the battery, microSD card slot and micro SIM card slot. It's not a bad looking phone, though it won't beat the HTC One or even the Samsung Galaxy S4 in a beauty competition. The 4.5 ounce phone is 0.39 inches thick.

LG Lucid 2

As with most smartphones, the micro USB port for charging and syncing is at the bottom, the headset jack is up top and the speaker is on the back. The volume rocker is on the left side and the power button is at the upper right side. The 4.3" display dominates the front and there are 4 rather than the usual 3 Android capacitive buttons below the display. If you've used other Android phones, the extra button might throw you, and because button backlighting doesn't come on until you touch a button, it's hard to guess which one you should go for in the dark.

Display

The LG Lucid 2 has a 960 x 540 IPS display that's sharp and fairly bright. LG makes nice displays and we have no complaints even though the phone won't win any Retina competitions for extremely high resolution. At 4.3", it really does need a crazy high resolution to look good to the naked eye. Viewing angles on IPS displays are typically the best in the industry, verging on 180 degrees. The seemingly thick glass creates glare and light refraction here that diminish viewing angles a bit, but it's not bad by any means. Outdoor visibility is decent, but not as good as the original LG Lucid with its wildly bright 600 nit display.

LG Lucid 2

Calling and Data

First the bad part: voice quality is just passable. We noted somewhat digitized and warbling speech for incoming and outgoing voice. Conversation wasn't hindered, but we had to work a little harder to understand what was said at times. The good news is that data speeds on Verizon's LTE network were solid and the phone averaged 17Mbps down and 4Mbps up according to Ookla's Speedtest.net app.

The Lucid 2 has the usual Mobile Hotspot feature so you can use the phone as a high speed wireless modem for your laptop or tablet. This is a CDMA smartphone with 3G EV-DO Rev. A and 4G LTE on Verizon's network. It is not a world phone with GSM roaming capabilities.

Deals and Shopping:

LG Lucid 2 Video Review

Performance and Horsepower

Last year, a dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus was state of the art, but now the specs-obsessed world has moved on to quad core CPUs. Does that mean that the LG Lucid 2's 1.2GHz dual core S4 Plus CPU with Adreno 225 graphics is slow? Quite the opposite: for average users this is a peppy phone that can handle web browsing, email, streaming video and gaming like a champ. Will it keep up with the top smartphones a year from now if you're playing the latest killer 3D game? Probably not, but this is an entry level free phone. And a year from now it will still handle web browsing and most games perfectly well; it just won't be the fastest. In terms of synthetic benchmarks it does better than most Android smartphones running on the same CPU and it's comparable to the Verizon Wireless Samsung Galaxy S III running on the same CPU (in fact, it does better on some benchmarks).

Benchmarks

	Quadrant	GLBenchmark Egypt HD Offscreen	AnTuTu	Sunspider JavaScript Test
LG Lucid 2	5733	12 fps (GLBench 2.7 used, so results are lower)	11,443	1806
Samsung Galaxy S III	5102	51 fps (v. 2.1 used)	7011	1825
HTC Droid DNA	7823	78 fps (v.2.5 used)	14,578	1146
Samsung Galaxy Note II	6001	66 pfs (v.2.5 used)	14,056	1052
LG Optimus G	7235	59 pfs (v.2.5 used)	11,087	1289
Motorola Droid RAZR HD	5055	51 fps (v. 2.1 used)	6760	1862

Software

The phone runs Android OS 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, which isn't quite the newest 4.2 available on phones like the Nexus 4 and upcoming Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4, but it's close enough that we won't complain. Currently, most phones other than those two are shipping with the same OS version. The Lucid 2 has LG's Optimus 3.0 UI enhancements, and these are toned down from previous versions (that's a good thing). The UI isn't overbearing and the quick access to settings and LG's handy memo app are good stuff. Still, the icons are a little cartoony and we get the feeling LG is copying Samsung's TouchWiz here and there. The phone supports gestures like flipping the phone to silence incoming calls or pause video playback and it has a notification LED above the display. There's a "Starter Mode" simplified UI option for newbies.

Camera

Budget phones don't often have good cameras, but LG makes solid camera phones and even the Lucid 2 manages images and 1080p video that are pleasing. For the price, we're pleased to see full HD video recording and HDR photo mode, and in fact the phone takes pleasing photos and video. No, it won't compete with the 13MP Samsung Galaxy S4, but I suspect entry level buyers will be very happy with the properly exposed photos and fairly smooth video captured by the LG Lucid 2. Just don't expect low noise, detailed nightclub shots or blur-free video of sporting events.

Battery Life

The 2460 mAh Lithium Ion offers more capacity than many competing smartphones, and given the dual core CPU and relatively small display that equals solid battery life. We had no trouble making it through the day on Verizon's LTE network in a mix of web browsing, calling, email, 30 minutes of YouTube video streaming and an hour of music playback with the screen off. The battery is removable so you can swap in a spare if needed. LG offers an optional desktop dock that can charge both the phone and a second battery.

Conclusion

If you're in the market for an Android smartphone on Verizon but don't want to spend much money for the phone itself, the LG Lucid 2 is easy to recommend. That doesn't mean the Lucid 2 lacks solid competition if you're open to other platforms: from the older iPhone 4, to the relatively new Nokia Lumia 822 running Windows Phone 8 for $50 or less. If you're willing to spend $99, the brand new Pantech Perception offers a higher resolution display, but it's larger at 4.8" (which could be a good or bad thing depending on your tastes).

Price: Free on contract, $349 without contract

Websites: www.verizonwireless.com, www.lg.com/us/

LG Lucid 2