LG launched its LG K 2017 series of mid-range smartphones with four new phones at the CES 2017 event at the beginning of the year, and while the first two members of the series, the LG K3 and K4 (2017) are entry-level smartphones with similar specifications targeted at the budget end of the market, the third member of the series, LG K8 (2017) is a little higher than the K3 and K4.
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Design & Display
Let’s start with the phone’s design. The LG K8 has a design language that’s similar to that of the other devices in the LG K series, which includes a LG logo centered on the large bottom bezel, and the ambient light sensor and proximity sensor sandwiched between the phone’s earpiece and front camera on the top bezel.
Its volume rockers are on the left side of the phone, while its power buttons sits in solitude on the right side. Completing the design is a fingerprint sensor placed between the LED flash and LG Logo on the rear of the smartphone.
In terms of display, the K8 (2017) has a 5-inch In-cell Touch IPS display with an HD (1280 * 720) pixel resolution, a great improvement on the displays in the K3 and K4. The phone weighs 142 grammes and is a little above 8 millimetres thick. Like the K4, it has two horizontal speaker grills on the left bottom side of the polycarbonate back panel, and its body has an aluminium metal frame.
Memory & Performance
The LG K8 (2017) is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor with four processing cores and a clock speed of 1.4GHz, which is sufficient to handle modern applications with little lags and near-zero freezes. Pair that with its Adreno 308 GPU, and most of your day-to-day operations on the smartphone will be performed fluidly.
Multi-tasking is taken a notch higher with 1.5GB of RAM. The 16GB default storage may not be enough for everyone, hence the company’s decision to put a microSD card slot which is receptive to external microSD cards with a size of up to 32GB.
Camera
The LG K8 (2017) sports a 13MP camera at the rear, which is the industry’s standard as far as the mid-range category is concerned, if you ask me. A LED Flash is placed beneath the rear camera module to beam rays of light whenever things start getting dark.
A 5MP camera which served as the main photo-capturing component in the K3 and K4 is present at the front of the K8 for taking selfies. Almost perfect, except that it doesn’t come with a LED flash.
Battery, Connectivity & Software
The LG K8 (2017) packs a 2500mAh battery, sharing the same capacity as the LG K4. Don’t expect the battery life to be same on both smartphones, however, as the LG K8 runs on Android 7.0 (Nougat) out of the box, as opposed to the K4’s Marshmallow-based OS. The processor here is also faster, but a higher display resolution on the K8 means more battery would be consumed by the screen.
The K8 has 4G LTE and offers the same wireless connectivity options as the K4, plus NFC for fast mobile payments.
LG K8 (2017) Full Specifications
GENERAL INFORMATION:
- Announced: February 2017.
- Available: Yes.
- SIM: Dual SIM slots.
- Platform: Android Operating System (Android 7.0 Nougat).
- Price Range: $133.20.
- Fingerprint: Yes.
NETWORK:
- Technology: GSM / HSDPA / LTE
- 2G Bands: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
- 3G Bands: HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
- 4G Bands:
BODY & DISPLAY:
- Type: IPS In-cell Touch capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
- Size: 5.0 inches.
- Resolution: 1280 * 720 pixels (HD).
- Protection: n/a.
- Dimensions: 144.8 * 72.1 * 8.09 mm.
- Weight: 142g.
- Colours: Silver, Dark Blue, Gold & Titan.
HARDWARE:
- Chipset: 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor.
- CPU: Quad-core.
- GPU: Adreno 308.
CONNECTIVITY:
- WLAN: WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
- Bluetooth: v4.2.
- GPS: Yes, with A-GPS.
- USB: v2.0.
- NFC: Yes.
MEMORY:
- RAM: 1.5GB.
- Internal Storage: 16GB.
- External Storage: Yes, expandable up to 32GB via microSD.
CAMERA:
- Rear Camera: 13MP.
- Rear Flash: Yes, LED Flash.
- Features: n/a.
- Front Camera: 5MP.
- Front Flash: No.
BATTERY:
- Capacity: 2500mAh.
- Type: Removable Li-ion battery
- Features: n/a.
OTHERS:
- Sensors:
- Accelerometer.
- Ambient Light.
- Proximity.
- – MP4/DivX/XviD/H.265 player
– MP3/WAV/eAAC+/FLAC player
– Photo/video editor
– Document editor
LG K8 (2017) Price and Availability in Nigeria
The LG K8 (2017) is available in Nigeria and can be purchased both online and offline for around #50,000.
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