LG Revolution Review, Hands-On

Home Screen

It’s not the latest, and it’s not the greatest, but it sure does hold its own!  This is the LG Revolution on Verizon’s LTE network.  The Revolution is the first of many test phones we’re now getting from Verizon.  First, I’d like to give a special Thanks to James Winkler and Kyle Niederpruem of Kyle Communications, and Michelle Gibson of Verizon PR for helping us get set up on Verizon’s tech review program.  We’re really looking forward to testing out a lot of future Verizon devices.

The Hardware:

The LG Revolution was released back on May 26th, and while it doesn’t measure up to the dual core greatness of the Bionic, the Revolution does hold its own and is a much more affordable option at this point than the Bionic is.  When unboxed you’ll find the standard wall adapter and USB cable that we’ve come to know and love, along with a small guide book.  Let’s run through the specs:

• Single Core 1GHz Snapdragon Processor
• 4G LTE connection
• Android 2.2 Froyo
• Rear 5MP camera and Front-facing 1.3MP camera
• 720HD video recording
• 4.3″ TFT Display
• Weight: 6.06 oz
• Battery life: about 7 hours of moderate to high use
• Storage: 16GB internal storage

Side View with HDMI Out

Side View with USB

Top View

Software and Performance:

When unlocked you’re greeted with the giant weather widget.

Home Screen

One of the first things that caught my eye was the inclusion of Bing as the default search, rather than Google.  Change it if you want to, but you’ll have to actually go to the market and download the Google widget yourself.  For some reason there’s no other in-built option for search, other than Bing.  The Revolution comes with Android 2.2 Froyo, and has not received a Gingerbread update yet.  LG, though, is not known for its timely updates, so don’t get your hopes up too much.  Such a great device running an older version of Android is a disappointment to say the least.  At the time it was released, Gingerbread had been around for about 7 months.  It’s now over a year since its release.  There’s also a custom skin in place over Froyo, which is also unfortunate, but at least it’s not too invasive, and it doesn’t really slow things down.

Keyboard

You’re given two options for a default keyboard.  One is a standard keyboard that you see above, while the other option is Swype.  The default keyboard is very quick, no lag, and has great auto-correction features.  However, the lack of commonly used symbols is a black mark against it, as is the lack of long-press numbers.

Something else I noted with the interface was the change in the long-press menu on the home screen.  When the menu appears it’s more like an app drawer, with options for widgets, wallpapers, etc.  The Notification bar is also slightly tweaked, offering shortcuts to toggle things like wifi, bluetooth, vibration, GPS, and airplane mode.

Notification Bar

The custom skin is quite apparent in the app drawer, which has been broken up into categories.  I’m not personally a fan, but it doesn’t hurt anything.  I’d rather download a custom app drawer myself if I wanted to categorize my apps.  The Revolution comes with no small amount of bloatware, too.  There’s tons of Verizon apps and other garbage, but a couple of useful ones too such as Netflix.  Take a look below to see all of the preloaded apps.

App Drawer

App Drawer

App Drawer

App Drawer

App Drawer

App Drawer

You may have noticed that the revolution now comes with Verizon’s app store, which doesn’t really offer anything of consequence.  If you like more carrier-made apps, it’s a good choice though.

Back with Camera

The camera is actually pretty good for a 5MP shooter.  While megapixels aren’t everything, the higher the better in my opinion.  Still, the camera takes very detailed shots and is a worthy companion.  It’s not going to replace your digital SLR, though.  Below are some sample shots from the camera both outside and indoors using the default settings.

Outdoors

Outdoors

Outdoors

Nom Nom

Woof

When it came time to perform the Revolution didn’t disappoint.  It wont’ blow you away, either.  On average I was seeing about 7 hours of moderate to heavy use.  That’s doing everyday tasks like browsing, games, messaging, calls, and a couple hours of Netflix streaming.  Part of that is due to the power-hungry LTE radio, which offers great speeds, but takes a toll on the battery.  In fact, one of the things that impressed me most about the device was Verizon’s network speed.  I’m a T-Mobile user on a daily basis, and while the coverage is good, speeds are up and down between 3G and HSPA+.  Verizon LTE, by comparison, was great everywhere.  I used it on the outskirts of town, and I used it in town.  Speeds were pretty comparable no matter where I went.  In most areas I was seeing download speeds of more than 20 Mbps, sometimes as high as 33 Mbps.  The lowest speed I encountered was around 10 Mbps, which is still pretty awesome!

Speed Test Results

As for benchmark tests, the Revolution isn’t top-of-the pack, but it’s not bad.  Using quadrant I scored it at about 1237.  Better than some, worse than others.  That’s to be expected though.  It’s a single core phone with 1/2 a gig of memory.  New offerings are standard dual core with at least 1GB, so this isn’t all that surprising.

Benchmark Test

Pros:

• Verizon LTE is amazingly fast!  So much so that it’s tempting to switch after my contract runs out.
• Affordable price when compared to the Droid Bionic.  $199.99 at the time of this writing.  With all the dual core goodness coming down the road, it’s about time to see this price come down a little bit.
• Solid device with Netflix pre-installed.
• Solid build, doesn’t feel cheap and isn’t slippery.
• Comparable in performance to some other dual core device’s I’ve used.
• Calls are very crisp and clear, and I never experience a dropped call.