Gadgetory

taking a quick break from the high-end devices it's refreshing looking at a super cheap smartphone we've seen powerful technology slide into the mid-range tier so if similar improvements made their way to entry-level prices the LG Phoenix 2 retails for around 70 bucks as an 18 t go phone and for those curious you can pause here to get a rundown on the specs the Phoenix returns LG to a simpler time recalling phones like the g2 though even with a smaller screen and battery it's still larger than the Eldar LG flagship it's a nice feel in the hand grippy back in those fake chrome edges which were popular years ago and will likely scratch up a couple of weeks after you take it out of the box still we're looking at a phone with a Qualcomm 210 chipset and 1.5 gigabytes of RAM powering a 720p display on paper this is a nice step up from where we were in the days of Lumia 500-series phones that said I don't know that I've ever been so happy to see 16 gigabytes of built-in storage and the ability to add a memory card this tira phone used to be notorious for very meager storage options running Android 6.0 however this Hardware struggles to maintain a fluid framerate it's easy to see framedrops sliding through the UI or pulling the notification shade using a pattern unlock occasionally you can swipe the pattern faster than the path can be displayed on your screen using the phone it handles single tasks rather well punching out an email replying to a text message sending out some tweets tackling the basics the phone is nicely responsive when you give it one thing at a time to focus on when the phone has multiple services running however you will encounter those situations where the keyboard can't keep up with your typing the 8 megapixel camera is surprisingly competent in good light and even indoor lighting situations we can achieve functional images the video is capped at 720p but again in a pinch this is better than expected and certainly better than nothing the display resolution is more than adequate for getting work done though obviously this won't be an outdoor sunlight busting champ and ditto the headphone jack functional if far from satisfying and the speaker is about the minimum we would want for ringtones alerts and playing some videos I mean this thing can't even play Marvel future fight now I'm just messing around the Phoenix is absolutely fine for casual gaming the weakest link here is the 21 hundred million power battery low resolution and low-power hardware helps but this isn't a run time champ 30 minutes of HD video over Wi-Fi at 190 Lux which is almost the phone's maximum brightness drained 11% of the battery if you're using this phone in more than short bursts you will struggle to make it to dinnertime so let's wrap this up how does Android perform on a $70 phone the Phoenix is a cute little device for someone who understands the performance limitations it's a cheap way to cover the basics and - will serve as a decent backup phone for those times you don't want to mess up a nicer phone well rate this is a poor solution for grandparents though is there are enough little performance stutters that you probably won't want to explain to a frustrated family member we're very happy to see better screen and camera specs start filtering into the sub $100 tier but we're still hoping to someday see an ultra cheap Android slide through home screens as fluidly as old cheap windows phones used to still it's pretty tough to complain about what you get here for a $70 smart phone as always thanks so much for watching be sure to subscribe to this channel for more reviews like these and help us out with some sharing on your favorite social networks for PocketNow i'm juan carlos back now some gadget guy on twitter and instagram and i will catch you all on the next review you