The LG has in its arsenal a number of top rating phones (hello there G3 and G4). The LG Leon is the company’s contender in the tough low-end segment of the smartphone industry. Despite the competition from both local and foreign brands, it has a lot going for it.
LG Leon Key Specs:
- 4.5 inch IPS LCD display (854 x 480; 218 ppi)
- 1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm MSM8916 Snapdragon 410
- Adreno 306
- 1 GB RAM
- 8 GB storage (+microSD up to 32 GB)
- 8 MP Main camera, autofocus, LED flash, 1080p@30fps video
- 5 MP front camera
- LTE, HSPA, GSM
- Wi-Fi b/g/n; Bluetooth 4.1; GPS; FM Radio
- Dimensions: 5.11 x 2.56 x 0.43 in; 140 g
- 1,900 mAh removable battery
- Android 5.0 Lollipop
- PHP 5,990
Inside the Box
Like most handsets today, the LG Leon’s box is just about the size of the handset. Inside, you’ll find the smartphone, a travel charger, a USB cable, a quick start guide and the warranty card.
Design
As soon as you hold the Leon, you’ll notice straight away the build quality. Considering that this is a low-end contender, you’ll be surprised at how well it’s built. The polycarbonate body feels good in the hand, and its pretty solid.
Like most of LG’s handsets nowadays, the Leon’s design has similarities with its award-winning brothers, the G3 and G4. It has the same clean lines and general shape.
Like current LG handsets, the Leon’s physical buttons are located at the back. The power button and volume controls are placed underneath the camera. And although it takes some getting used to, the buttons are very accessible and surprisingly easy to use.
Display and Performance
The Leon features a 4.5 inch IPS FWVGA screen. Even though it translates to just 854 x 480 resolution and 218 ppi, it looks okay for the size. The display is reasonably bright, with colors looking a notch above average.
Powered by a quad-core 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 410 processor and Android 5.1 Lollipop, the Leon hummed along nicely. LG’s UX UI still looks good and keeps everything smooth. It has its limitations, but as long as you sparingly use heavy apps and graphics heavy games, you’ll be fine.
Benchmarks
The Leon got a reasonable score of 18,276 on AnTuTu Benchmark. It ranked just below the ASUS ZenFone 5. On Geekbench 3, it scored 361 on the single core test, and 1,152 on the multi-core test.
Camera
In good bright light, the 8 MP camera does a good job. I find the colors are okay and well saturated. It did struggle in low light with grainy results, but overall photos are good for social media. Here are some test shots. I resized them for web in Photoshop, with quality set at 70.
Conclusion
The LG Leon is what it is – a budget phone for the low-end market. For PHP 5,990, you get a good looking handset that doesn’t excel at any single feature, but makes up for it by being good at most. It’s a good start, especially if you’re after the beautiful UX UI and the G3/G4 looks.
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