LG Optimus L9

LG Optimus L9 review: Living large 

 LG Optimus L9 P769, 4G (T-Mobile)

Introduction

The Optimus L9 is the latest addition to the L-series and rightfully takes charge of a lineup that's known for attractive styling and wallet-friendly prices. It obviously made no sense to LG to start from scratch and the L9 is happily reusing bits and parts from nearly all of its fairly recent smartphone siblings. As far as we can tell, it does so rather well and the resulting mix looks like a great balance between price and features.

-->
LG Optimus L9 official pictures
The LG Optimus L9 has the screen size of the current LG flagship and the qHD resolution is quite reasonable. It's powered by the same chipset as the latest Prada phone while the design is strongly reminiscent of the LG Optimus 4X HD and the Optimus G.
Let's see what else might pop out of the bag.

LG Optimus L9 features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• Dual-band 3G with HSPA
• 4.7" 16M-color qHD IPS LCD (540 x 960 pixels) capacitive touchscreen
• Android OS v4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, LG Optimus UI 3.0
• TI OMAP 4430 chipset, dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 CPU, 1 GB RAM, PowerVR SGX540 GPU,
• 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash
• 1080p video recording @ 30fps with continuous autofocus and stereo sound
• VGA front-facing camera
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS
• 4GB of built-in storage expandable via a microSD slot
• microUSB port
• Bluetooth v3.0
• NFC
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Voice dialing
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic

Main disadvantages

• No Jelly Bean at launch
• Mediocre sunlight legibility
• Poor still camera and video recording quality
• Non-hot-swappable memory card slot

What we have here clearly isn't the best dual-core chipset on the market, but there's more than enough to keep Ice Cream Sandwich at cruising speed. Well yes, we would've loved to have Jelly Bean but even the flagship is still waiting. In terms of hardware though, the Optimus L9 has a number of advantages over some of its direct competitors.

LG Optimus L9 live pictures
Overall, the L9 is a package that has just about everything people look for in a modern smartphone and the right price tag should help users forgive the omissions. Quad-core CPUs and HD screens are well above the L9's price range and not everyone needs 8, 12 or 13 megapixel stills. It makes perfect sense for LG to try and fill a blank spot right below its premium line.

Final words

So, it turns out there's quite a lot to like about the LG Optimus L9. Its key selling point is the big screen, which is rather hard to come by in this price range. Retina levels of pixel density were out of the question - should we say, budget - but qHD doesn't look too bad.
The reasonably powerful hardware, nice looks, and excellent custom user interface are some more good reasons to choose the L9 if you are into big-screened smartphones.
The one thing that might turn a few users away is the disappointing camera performance, though imaging isn't necessarily everyone's top priority. What could be more problematic is LG's poor reputation when it comes to updates. The Optimus L9 delivers soundly out of the box, but it is yet to make (if ever) the Jelly Bean waiting list. After all, there are at least two devices ahead of it in the pecking order and we've barely heard anything constructive about them just yet.
However, the Optimus L9's rather competitive price may make users more forgiving. The Optimus L9 costs about €260 which, as we are about to see, compares quite favorably to most of the direct competitors. In terms of hierarchy, the L9 would've been expected to stand against the likes of the Galaxy Premier, but it's actually way cheaper than even a Galaxy S III mini.
What this means is the Optimus L9 will have a seemingly easier challenge in the face of the Samsung Galaxy S Advance. The two handsets feature similar hardware, the Galaxy making up for its smaller screen with AMOLED technology and more storage. The S Advance might be able to get to Jelly Bean before its LG rival, but unless compact size and portability are a top priority, we'd suggest you side with the L9 here.

Samsung I9070 Galaxy S Advance

Sony has a smartphone to put against the L9, too - the Xperia P. It has a much smaller screen but of the same resolution and costs a few bucks less than the Optimus L9. Its advantages are the premium finish, the dedicated HDMI port, the soon-to-be-released Jelly Bean update and the clearly superior 8MP camera. On the other hand, the LG offers better battery backup and a slightly more powerful chipset.

Sony Xperia P

If you are looking to try something other than Android at this price point - the HTC Windows Phone 8S is pretty much your only option. The phone is quite the looker and is built to a flagship standard. It runs Microsoft's latest Windows Phone 8 but, again, fails to match the L9 screen estate.

HTC Windows Phone 8S