Review of LG G2 mini and its main characteristics. Review of LG G2 Mini: modern and durable Mobile phone lg g2 mini d618

Set a trend. ahead of time

Features and review of LG G2 mini:

Unique control button on the cover of the smartphone;
Operating system Android 4.4 KitKat;
4-core processor;
Bright widescreen IPS screen;
Supports two SIM cards;
8 MP camera and the latest technologies in the field of mobile photography;
Saving screenshots of web pages;
Intelligent clipboard that allows you to copy several elements at a time;
Powerful 2440 mAh battery that provides 22 hours battery life in conversation mode.

Unique control button

The camera and volume control button is located on the lid of the smartphone - this is a truly natural and convenient way to control the device.

Personal information is securely protected

LG G2 mini supports KNOCK Code technology, which allows you to set a combination of touches on the screen known only to you. The combination can consist of 2 to 8 touches and can be easily entered in any part of the display, even with one hand.

Camera 8 MP

Take incredible photos and shoot FullHD videos.

The quality is ensured by an 8 megapixel camera with optical image stabilization and many useful settings.

Everything will be in focus!

Turn on the camera and adjust the depth of field to your liking. Get great portrait, landscape and group photos with the LG G2 mini's 9-point autofocus. And the photo of moving objects generally deserves special praise.

Instant Hints

PLUG & POP technology automatically shows compatible applications with the device you have connected to LG G2 mini. Connect a stereo headset or USB cable to your smartphone and immediately select the desired action.

Guest mode

Create a separate profile for third-party users using the Guest Mode feature. Now children or friends will have access only to those functions, files and applications that you choose for them.

Mini - outside only

Inside this elegant smartphone, LG developers have hidden modern mobile hardware.

4-core processor, 1 GB random access memory, a 2440 mAh battery will be opened for you maximum performance and long battery life.

4.7 inch TRUE IPS display

The LG G2 Mini delivers great design and performance, but what makes it stand out is the impressive picture quality on its innovative 4.7-inch IPS display.

Dual SIM support

With two SIM cards you get the perfect work-life balance, especially with the ability to set different ringtones for each SIM card :)

Main characteristics of LG G2 mini:

Operating system: Android 4.4 KitKat;
Display: 4.7" IPS, Multi-Touch, 960 x 540;
Processor: 4-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (1.2 GHz);
RAM: 1 GB;
Built-in memory: 8 GB + support microSD cards up to 32 GB;
Main camera: 8 MP with BSI technology (back-illuminated camera sensor);
Front camera: 1.3 MP;
Autonomy: 2440 mAh battery (797 hours standby time, 22 hours talk time);
Wireless technologies: Wi-Fi / Bluetooth 4.0 / GPS / DLNA;
Dimensions: 129.6 x 66 x 9.99 mm;
Weight: 121 g.

Detailed testing of a smaller version of the Korean company's flagship smartphone

We managed to get acquainted with the compact version of the flagship smartphone LG G2 during the MWC 2014 exhibition, held in Barcelona in February. During the exhibition, a smaller smartphone with a flagship design, called LG G2 mini, was presented to the general public along with the updated LG L3 series of budget smartphones, the most interesting of which, the LG L90, we have already tested. Now it's time to talk about the LG G2 mini model, which belongs to a more expensive segment. “The new product was developed as a smaller version of the award-winning LG G2 and is ready to delight new users with premium functionality,” the official press release says. In reality, however, it turned out that this model, like most modern smaller modifications of top-end devices on the market, is far from a real flagship in terms of technical characteristics, although it can offer quite a wide range of functionality. In terms of hardware, the new product is closer to the mentioned LG L90 model from the budget series than to the flagships, especially to the top-end LG G2 device, so we believe it is more appropriate to compare the review hero with the L90, and not with the flagship, compared to which LG G2 mini looks too simplified.

Main characteristics of LG G2 mini (model LG D618)

	LG G2 mini	Samsung S4 mini (GT-I9195)	LG L90	Motorola Moto G	Asus Padfone mini
Screen	4.7″, IPS	4.3″, S-AMOLED	4.7″, IPS	4.5″, IPS	4.3″, IPS
Permission	960×540, 234 ppi	960×540, 256 ppi	960×540, 234 ppi	1280×720, 326 ppi	960×540, 256 ppi
SoC		Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (2 Krait 300 cores) @1.7 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (4 cores ARM Cortex-A7) @1.2 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (4 cores ARM Cortex-A7) @1.2 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (4 cores ARM Cortex-A7) @1.4 GHz
GPU	Adreno 305	Adreno 305	Adreno 305	Adreno 305	Adreno 305
RAM	1 GB	1.5 GB	1 GB	1 GB	1 GB
Flash memory	8 GB	8 GB	8 GB	8/16 GB	16 GB
Memory card support	microSD	microSD	microSD	No	microSD
operating system	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.2	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.3
Battery	removable, 2440 mAh	removable, 1900 mAh	removable, 2540 mAh	non-removable, 2070 mAh	removable, 1500 mAh
Cameras		rear (8 MP; video 1080p), front (1.9 MP)	rear (8 MP; video 1080p), front (1.3 MP)	rear (5 MP; video 720p), front (1.3 MP)	rear (8 MP; video 1080p), front (2 MP)
Dimensions	130×66×9.9 mm, 121 g	125×61×8.9 mm, 107 g	132×66×9.6 mm, 124 g	130×66×11.6 mm, 143 g	129×66×8.7 mm, 105 g
Average price (Ya.Market)	T-10752410	T-10404626	T-10712907	T-10580925	T-10612758
Offers LG G2 mini (Ya.Market)	L-10752410-10

SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (MSM8226), 1.2 GHz, 4 ARM Cortex-A7 cores
GPU Adreno 305
Operating system Android 4.4.2
Sensory IPS display, 4.7″, 960×540, 234 ppi
Random access memory (RAM) 1 GB, inner memory 8 GB
Supports microSD memory cards up to 32 GB
GSM communication GPRS/EDGE 900, 1800 MHz
Communication 3G UMTS/HSPA+ 900, 2100 MHz
HSPA+ data transfer speed up to 21 Mbps
Dual SIM cards (2×Micro-SIM)
USB 2.0, Bluetooth 4.0, infrared port
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, dot Wi-Fi access,DLNA
GPS/Glonass
8 MP camera, multi-point autofocus, LED flash
Camera 1.3 MP (front)
Battery 2440 mAh
Dimensions 129.6×66×9.9 mm
Weight 121 g

Contents of delivery

Unfortunately, LG tends to send test copies of its mobile devices without packaging and, accordingly, a complete set of accessories, but in principle it is known that the LG G2 mini smartphone only includes a charger and a connecting cord - there are not even headphones there, so tell nothing special to talk about anyway.

Appearance and ease of use

In appearance, the LG G2 mini retains common features with the flagship smartphone of the line - the powerful top-end device LG G2. Actually, it is the appearance that is the little that unites these two devices. Unfortunately, as in most cases, LG released its mini version of the flagship, not only reducing the dimensions of the device, but also greatly weakening it in terms of technical characteristics. As a result, in most technical parameters, the LG G2 mini model has nothing in common with the original LG G2.

But even in terms of design, differences can still be found. The sloping, streamlined rear back, rounded on all sides, is not glossy, but textured and rough, which generally has a positive effect on ergonomics, but the device, of course, has lost its glamor and gloss. Due to the rough back wall, smaller dimensions and light weight, the smartphone has become even more comfortable to hold in the hand, and there are practically no fingerprints left on the back surface - the back of the LG G2 mini smartphone turned out to be completely non-marking and more pleasant to the touch than the glossy and slippery back wall its flagship brother.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the front side: the protective glass covering the front panel of the device has rather weakly expressed grease-repellent properties, which is why the display quickly becomes covered with dirt and grease, and at the same time it is also difficult to wipe off - it is difficult to clean it with a dry cloth without a special liquid.

The body of the smartphone is entirely made of plastic - there is no metal here. The plastic, of course, is of high quality and probably durable (LG has no problems with this), but the smartphone does not look expensive - the materials here seem simpler than those of the flagship. On the LG G2, under a layer of varnish on the back cover, some complex pattern was visible, the colors played, shimmered - there is nothing like that here. Along the side perimeter there is a silver strip, textured to look like rough sanded metal; exactly the same strip was present on the side edges of the LG L90. However, this is just a coating on the plastic body, and not real metal.

As you can see in the photographs, there are no buttons placed on the sides of the device - they are all assembled into a single block on the back surface of the device. The basic functions of these buttons are standard: the central key turns on and locks the smartphone, and the other two, top and bottom, are responsible for adjusting the volume. Expanded capabilities of the block of hardware buttons provide additional functionality in control: holding the top button for a long time launches the Qmemo application, and the bottom button calls the camera from sleep mode. The central key is protected from accidental pressing by two protrusions on the sides. This innovative approach to the placement of controls was first demonstrated in the flagship LG G2, and it is quite expected that it is retained in its smaller version, the LG G2 mini.

However, even this block of keys here is not made exactly the same as that of the flagship device: unlike the LG G2, the central key of the review hero is not backlit, and therefore does not implement the functionality of the notification indicator. As a result, the indicator light was not embedded here in any top part above the screen (as usual), nor in the back button (like the flagship), and the LG G2 mini was left without any indicator at all.

On the back surface of the smartphone, in addition to the block of buttons, there is traditionally a camera window framed by a metallized ring and a peephole for a single-section LED flash (there is no pre-installed software for using the flash as a flashlight).

The front panel is completely covered with protective glass, the frames around the screen are quite narrow, especially on the sides (less than 4 mm), which allowed the smartphone to have such compact dimensions for this screen size. And they didn’t leave any extra space underneath the screen either: the block of hardware control buttons has been removed, and instead there is a customizable strip of virtual buttons on the display, so that the frame under the screen is simply symmetrical to the frame above.

The back cover here is a removable element; it comes off quite easily from the body and is traditionally secured with several plastic latches. Under the hood, everything is arranged conveniently and thoughtfully - the developers can only be praised for this. All card slots (there are three of them) are located so that nothing obstructs access to them, and there is no need to remove the battery. However, hot swapping of SIM cards is still not supported - the card will not be recognized until you reboot the device.

One SIM card slot is embedded on the left, the other on the right, and above it there is also a slot for microSD memory cards. Both SIM cards here are used in a reduced Micro-SIM format, the slots are numbered, although there is no physical difference in their functioning - the cards can be safely inserted in any order, everything else can be configured through the menu. Officially, memory cards are supported up to 32 GB, but experiments prove that 64 GB will be recognized - there are no problems with this.

At the top and bottom ends, everything is arranged conveniently and familiarly: at the top, in addition to the audio output for headphones (3.5 mm), you can also see the peephole of the infrared transmitter. It serves to emulate the remote control of various equipment - for this purpose, the corresponding software is already preinstalled in the smartphone.

At the bottom, in addition to the universal Micro-USB connector, the developers placed two grilles on the sides for sound output from the ringing speaker, so the sound of a smartphone lying on the table does not overlap. But the Micro-USB connector itself only supports USB 2.0 speed mode and cannot work with connected external devices - USB-host (OTG) mode, unfortunately, does not appear among its capabilities.

As for the color modifications of the LG G2 mini model, it is known that the smartphone will be available for sale in four colors: titanium black, lunar white, red and gold. In addition, the device will be available in different versions: with support for one or two SIM cards, as well as with the ability to use in 3G/4G networks. In our case, we were dealing with the LG D618 model with support for two SIM cards, but without support for LTE (4G) networks - it was with this version that sales of this device began in our country.

Screen

The LG G2 mini smartphone is equipped with an IPS touch matrix of average quality. The physical dimensions of the display are 59x104 mm, diagonal - 4.7 inches. The screen resolution in pixels is 960x540 (qHD), the dots per inch density reaches 234 ppi.

The display brightness can only be manually adjusted. There is a proximity sensor that locks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. Multi-touch technology allows you to process 8 simultaneous touches.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections, Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, there is an anti-glare filter, which in terms of reducing the brightness of the reflection is slightly worse than that of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photograph in which a white surface is reflected in the switched off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - LG G2 mini, then they can be distinguished by size):

Due to the difference in size, screen surface color tone, and frame color, it is difficult to visually accurately determine which screen is actually darker, but statistics from graphic editor shows that the LG G2 mini's screen is still slightly brighter (photo brightness 118) than the Nexus 7 screen (brightness 94). The reflection in the screen noticeably triples, which suggests the presence of an air gap between the surface of the matrix and the outer glass. There appears to be a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating on the outer surface of the screen (much worse than that of the Nexus 7), so fresh fingerprints are removed a little easier and appear at a slightly slower rate than with regular glass.

When manually controlling the brightness and displaying the white field in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 365 cd/m², the minimum was 4 cd/m². The maximum value is not very high, however, the screen has anti-glare properties, so in bright daylight the image on the screen should be visible. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level. There is no automatic brightness adjustment. At any brightness level, there is virtually no backlight modulation, so there is no screen flickering.

IN this smartphone matrix is used IPS type. The microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without a significant color shift even with large deviations of the view from perpendicular to the screen and without inverting (the very darkest shades when the view is deviated to the right). For comparison, here are photographs in which the same images are displayed on the LG G2 mini and Nexus 7 screens, with the screen brightness initially set to approximately 200 cd/m². There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field (when photographing, the color balance in the camera is forced to 6500 K). And a test picture:

Color reproduction is good, colors are saturated on both screens, there are differences in color balance. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors did not change much on both screens, but the contrast at an angle in the case of the LG G2 mini decreased due to the increase in black levels. And a white field:

The brightness at an angle of the screens has decreased (at least 4 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but in the case of the LG G2 mini the drop in brightness is less than that of the Nexus 7. The black field when deviated diagonally brightens strongly and acquires a purple tint or remains almost neutral gray. A photo from the Nexus 7 shows this for comparison (the brightness of the white areas in the perpendicular direction of the screens is the same!):

And from another angle:

When viewed from a perpendicular perspective, the black field uniformity is good, but along the edge there are areas with slightly increased black brightness:

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is average - about 680:1. The black-white-black response time is 23 ms (13 ms on + 10 ms off). The transition between halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 35 ms. The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The index of the approximating power function is 2.17, which is slightly lower than the standard value of 2.2, while the real gamma curve practically does not deviate from the power dependence:

Color gamut is close to sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components with each other:

As a result, visually the colors have a natural saturation. The balance of shades on the gray scale is far from ideal, since the color temperature is higher than the standard 6500 K, the deviation from the spectrum of an absolutely black body (ΔE) for most shades is small, however, both ΔE and color temperature vary significantly from shade to shade - this has a negative effect even on a visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since there is no color balance of great importance, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

The screen quality is not the highest. The maximum brightness is borderline - however, taking into account the good anti-glare properties of the screen, it should be enough for comfortable work on a clear day outside. The advantages of the screen include the absence of flicker and a color gamut almost equal to sRGB. The main yet unnoted shortcomings are a very weak oleophobic coating, strong highlighting of the black field when the gaze deviates from perpendicular to the screen, and mediocre color balance. In addition, the manufacturer saved on automatically adjusting the brightness to the external light level.

Sound

The sound of the LG G2 mini is average: quite loud, clear, but with a predominance of predominantly high frequencies. The voice of a familiar interlocutor, timbre and intonation remain recognizable, the conversation is quite comfortable. The sound output grille here is embedded in the bottom end, and not in back wall, like the LG L90, so the sound is not muffled when the device is lying on the table. In the settings, you can programmatically enhance some audio effects, but this can only be done when you connect headphones. The smartphone comes pre-installed with a standard voice recorder, which is used only for creating audio notes - record using standard means telephone conversations He can't do it on the line. There is also an FM radio in the smartphone; it is possible to record broadcast programs.

The main, rear 8-megapixel camera shoots with a maximum resolution of 3264×2448. This camera can shoot video with a maximum resolution of 1920×1080 (30 fps). The quality of video recording can be judged by the test video below (video: MPEG4 Video (H.264) 1920×1080 30 fps 17 Mbps, audio: AAC 48 kHz stereo 155 Kbps).

Video No. 1 (78 MB, 1920×1080)

In the camera interface settings, it is possible to use shooting modes other than the usual one: panorama, continuous, sports. The settings menu is conveniently placed across the entire screen in the form of a visual and intuitive matrix of interactive squares. The camera is equipped with multi-point autofocus for better depth of field adjustment. The hardware volume control key is also used here to work with the camera: if you hold the volume down key longer, the camera will be activated even when the screen is off, and pressing it again will allow you to take a picture.

	Good sharpness in all plans.
	For distant plans, sharpness practically does not drop.
	The sharpening on the branches is almost invisible, and at the same time they are worked out well.
	Good sharpness across the entire frame.
	The spruce trees on the left side of the frame merge. In the shadows the noise reduction work is noticeable, but very moderate.
	Noise in the shadows is handled well.
	You can notice small ripples on the contours of objects - the result of sharpening.
	The camera chooses the exposure well, but sometimes overexposes it a little. Good sharpness across the entire frame and in all plans.
	The camera does macro quite well if you focus on the desired object.
	The text is worked out well, although it is slightly processed by sharpening and noise reduction.

For an 8 megapixel camera, the images are very clean and good. Of course, noticeable sharpening can be found in the pictures, and the work of the noise reduction is visible, but in general the pictures look very decent thanks to good and uniform sharpness. In general, the sharpness of the optics is a fairly important parameter in a smartphone camera. If the natural sharpness is good, you can save on processing, which usually ruins the image. Therefore, a camera with good optics has a greater chance of success. And if the sensor is not very noisy, then it can turn out very good.

The optics in this module are decent, and the sharpness is good in all plans and across the entire field of the frame. Thanks to this, the camera does not abuse sharpening. But the noise reduction let us down. Its algorithm looks a bit old; in some places it works clumsily and spoils small details and fine lines. At the same time, it copes well with noise in the shadows without turning textures into mush. Otherwise, there are no complaints about the camera. It turned out to be quite decent and is well suited for artistic and, especially, documentary photography.

Telephone and communications

The smartphone works as standard in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks; There is no support for fourth generation networks (LTE) in the modification supplied to our market. Data transfer speed is limited to HSPA+ mode to 21 Mbps. The communication capabilities of the device are implemented modestly: neither the 5 GHz Wi-Fi band, nor NFC technology, nor connection are supported here. external devices To USB port(USB Host, OTG). Can be organized as standard wireless point access via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels. The navigation module can work with both GPS and the domestic Glonass system.

There were no spontaneous reboots/shutdowns observed during testing, as well as system slowdowns or freezes. Unfortunately, the smartphone did not provide an LED sensor for notification of charging status and incoming events.

The layout and arrangement of buttons on the preinstalled keyboard are standard: switching languages is done by pressing a special button with a globe image. It’s convenient that there is a dedicated top row of number buttons - you don’t need to switch the layout from letters to numbers and back every time. The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing telephone number A search is also carried out immediately using the first letters in contacts. For ease of operation with one hand, the keyboard can be moved to one of the edges of the screen. This feature, obviously, was inherited by the LG G2 mini from top-end smartphones with larger screens - for a 4.7-inch screen, this functionality is perhaps redundant.

The smartphone supports two SIM cards using the Dual standard SIM Dual Standby. Apart from a special button for quickly changing the priority SIM card, the implementation of working with two SIM cards is generally standard for this platform. There is only one radio module, so there can only be one active conversation. In terms of capabilities, the slots for SIM cards are equivalent, but only one of them can work in 3G mode at a time. It is worth noting separately that, unlike the LG L90, whose hardware buttons under the screen were not backlit, which could result in a rather unpleasant confusion with “blindly” pressing a button to quickly change the priority SIM card, here these buttons are virtual. So in this matter, the LG G2 mini has a clear advantage over the LG L90 model. By the way, a number of virtual control buttons here, like those of the flagship LG G2, can be reconfigured to suit your taste, and you can not only change the order of the buttons, but also select the background background.

OS and software

LG G2 mini works in this moment on the Google Android software platform latest version 4.4.2. On top of the OS interface, the company has installed its own user interface called Optimus UI. The shell gives the user much broader functionality than the proprietary Android OS interface; a lot of additional convenient features that were first implemented in the firmware of the flagship LG G2 are retained here. For example, there are also Plug & Pop tooltips and Guest Mode, and QSlide multi-window mode allows you to simultaneously run up to two applications in smaller windows on the same screen. Infrared port is complemented special program for remote control of equipment. The smartphone also contains the rudiments of gesture control capabilities - there are not as many of them as in top-end smartphones, but it reacts to turning the case over, and can even recognize the owner’s face.

The Knock Code functionality, based on tapping on the screen, is also implemented here. In addition to activating and turning off the screen, you can now also set a password, which will be based on the choice of the point where you touch the screen. When unlocking, the user can enter a combination of presses anywhere on the screen and in any corner of the display. Also, the distance between the pressing points can be greater or less - the smartphone will still recognize the combination.

Performance

The LG G2 mini hardware platform is based on a single-chip system (SoC) Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (MSM8226). The central processor here has 4 ARM Cortex-A7 cores operating at 1.2 GHz (CPU-Z shows 1.19 GHz). The device has 1 GB of RAM, and the storage available to the user for uploading their own files is less than 4 GB of the nominal 8 GB. The memory can be expanded using microSD cards up to 32 GB (in our case, 64 GB worked), but connecting a flash drive via an OTG adapter will not work here - the device this mode do not support.

For comparison, let's take a dual-core modification of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC, the configuration of which includes two Krait 300 cores (1.7 GHz) - for example, it works on such a platform samsung smartphone Galaxy S4 mini (GT-I9195). The LG G2 mini smartphone is based on the MSM8226 SoC, which is also called Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, but it has CPU has 4 ARM Cortex-A7 cores with a frequency of 1.2 GHz. As for other competitors, the configuration of the MSM8226 platform turns out to be largely similar to the configuration of the quad-core platform of the Taiwanese MediaTek - MT6589. They have similar CPUs (4 ARM Cortex-A7 cores), but the GPUs are different: Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 includes Adreno 305, while MediaTek MT6589 uses PowerVR SGX 544MP.

To get an idea of the performance of the platform of the smartphone under test, we will conduct a standard set of tests.

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed their “obstacle courses” on previous versions of test programs.

Here's what we can say based on the testing results. The performance of the new product was not very high. If you compare the mini-flagship LG G2 mini with the “real” flagship LG G2, the difference will seem noticeable (about two times according to AnTuTu results). The top-end LG G2 smartphone has moved away from its miniature follower as much as the Samsung flagship has moved away from its mini brother. Samsung Galaxy S4 mini. Compared to modern market leaders, the LG G2 mini smartphone can only reach the title of average - its performance is enough to equal, for example, the Motorola Moto G. By the way, the test results of the LG G2 mini are almost the same as those of its relative mentioned above, the model LG L90, which is logical: after all, these smartphones are built on the same platform. However, the L90 is noticeably cheaper.

Regarding the comparison of two different platforms with the same name, we can state that the two Krait 300 cores (1.7 GHz) of the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini outperformed the 4 ARM Cortex-A7 cores (1.2 GHz) of the LG G2 mini smartphone in all tests. So, it turns out that Snapdragon 400 is different, and you still need to carefully look at the more detailed specifications to make the right choice.

As for the competing MediaTek MT6589, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 system turned out to be approximately equal with it, especially if we take the more common version MT6589T with more high frequency cores (1.5 GHz vs. 1.2 GHz). However, in terms of graphics, Adreno 305 is clearly ahead of the PowerVR SGX 544MP video subsystem in all tests, albeit not by much.

Test results in MobileXPRT, as well as the latest versions of AnTuTu 4.x and GeekBench 3:

When testing the graphics subsystem in the cross-platform 3DMark test for the most powerful smartphones, it is now possible to run 3DMark in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

Results of testing the graphics subsystem in the Epic Citadel gaming test, as well as Basemark X and Bonsai Benchmark:

	LG G2 mini	LG L90 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, 4 cores ARM [email protected] GHz)	Motorola Moto G (Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, 4 cores ARM [email protected] GHz)	Samsung S4 mini (GT-I9195) (Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, 2 cores Krait [email protected] GHz)	Alcatel OT Idol X (MediaTek MT6589T, 4 cores ARM [email protected] GHz)
Epic Citadel, High Performance (fps, more is better)	58.3 fps	58.6 fps	58.6 fps	59.4 fps	46.6 fps
Epic Citadel, High Quality	57.1 fps	57.4 fps	57.5 fps	59.2 fps	43.1 fps
Epic Citadel Ultra High Quality	48.7 fps	43.3 fps	35.0 fps	50.6 fps	14.7 fps
Bonsai Benchmark	31.3 fps/2197	29.2 fps/2050	25.1 fps/1759	32.8 fps/2302	—
Basemark X, Medium Quality	4323	4313	4423	5225	—
Basemark X, High Quality	794	790	839	1547	—

Playing video

To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.

LG once again pleasantly surprises with the presence of full support for all necessary decoders in its smartphones. Unlike most of the reviewed devices from other companies, the capabilities of the built-in video player of the LG G2 mini were enough for trouble-free playback of all our standard test videos. At the same time, no problems were observed with the sound, and in the third-party MX player you don’t even have to switch to hardware playback in Hardware+. That is, to put it simply, the LG G2 mini will play any video downloaded from the network without any problems (at least with a resolution of up to 1080p).

Format	Container, video, sound	MX Video Player	Standard video player
DVDRip	AVI, XviD 720×400 2200 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL SD	AVI, XviD 720×400 1400 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL HD	MKV, H.264 1280×720 3000 Kbps, AC3	plays normally	plays normally
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280×720 4000 Kbps, AC3	plays normally	plays normally
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920×1080 8000 Kbps, AC3	plays normally	plays normally

To test the output of video files on the screen of the device itself, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Method for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 frames/ With). In the tests, we used the MX Player video player in the “Hardware+” mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

720/30p Fine No 720/25p Fine No 720/24p Fine No

Note: If in both columns Uniformity And Passes Green ratings are given, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems related to the playback of the corresponding files.

In general, the intervals between frames (or groups of frames) alternate a little unevenly and in the case of 1080p files at 60 fps, some frames are always skipped. When playing 720p and 1080p video files, the image of the actual video file is displayed exactly along the edge of the screen. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - all gradations of shades are displayed in shadows and highlights. However, dark scenes may not look very good, as the darkest shades are inverted when tilted to the right (that is, when tilted up or down when watching a movie) and have a noticeable difference in color tone.

Battery life

The capacity of the lithium-ion battery installed in the LG G2 mini is slightly smaller than that of the LG L90, but still amounts to 2440 mAh, which is considerable for a smartphone. The difference between these two batteries is so insignificant that no deterioration was noticed in the battery life tests: the new test subject also demonstrated excellent battery life, even a record for its class. Of course, this became possible not only because of the capacious battery, but also due to the fact that LG has learned to optimize the performance of its batteries well (its own subsidiary, LG Chem, helps make batteries for the company’s smartphones).

	Battery capacity	Reading mode	Video mode	3D Game Mode
LG G2 mini	2440 mAh	16:00	10:00 am	5:00 a.m.
LG L90	2540 mAh	15:20	10:00 am	4 hours 50 minutes
Motorola Moto G	2070 mAh	15:20	8:00 am	4 hours 20 minutes
ZTE nubia Z5 mini	2300 mAh	11:05 am	8:00 am	3 hours 50 minutes
Alcatel OT Idol X	2000 mAh	10:00 am	6 hours 40 minutes	4:00 am
Fly Luminor IQ453	2000 mAh	10:00 am	7:00 am	4 hours 10 minutes
Oppo Mirror R819	2000 mAh	10:20 am	8 a.m. 20 p.m.	5:00 a.m.
Meizu MX3	2400 mAh	13:20	8:00 am	4 hours 25 minutes

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) lasted more than 16 hours until the battery was completely discharged. When continuously watching YouTube videos in high quality (HQ) with the same brightness level through your home Wi-Fi network The device lasted 10 hours, and in 3D gaming mode - about 5 hours.

Bottom line

As a result, we have, in principle, a good device from a well-known manufacturer, which generally meets all the necessary requirements in order to rightfully be called a middle-class smartphone, but it is clearly not up to the task of reaching the flagship level. The smartphone has a nice, neat design inherited from its older brother, good body ergonomics, a good camera, and a very wide range of functionality branded shell. And of course, it is worth praising the record autonomy that has been achieved recently by most LG smartphones.

At the same time, the smartphone differs from the company's flagship in many ways: a mediocre quality screen with an almost complete absence of oleophobic coating, lack of automatic brightness level adjustment, notification indicator, support for OTG mode, inexpressive sound, modest performance of the hardware platform in general and the graphics subsystem in particular. . In terms of most characteristics, the LG G2 mini smartphone has nothing in common with the flagship LG G2 - do not be fooled by the big name, which makes you think that this is the same top-end smartphone, only reduced in size. In fact, the LG G2 mini model is closer and is almost a complete analogue of its brother from the budget line - LG L90. As for the cost, the L90 itself, with its price of 10 thousand rubles, looks slightly overpriced, and for the LG G2 mini they ask for another two thousand more - 12 thousand rubles. This price does not quite correspond to the status of the device and its capabilities; the smartphone is clearly overpriced. It is clear that there is a markup here both for the brand and for the external resemblance to a real flagship, but still, now there is a wide variety of mid-level models on the market, where the competition is much higher than in the top segment, so expect high sales of the LG G2 mini model at such an inflated price it is quite difficult.

Contents of delivery:

Telephone
Battery
Charger
USB cable
Instructions

Introduction

Recently, it has become fashionable to release mini versions of flagship smartphones. The meaning of the marketing trick is very simple: a potential buyer sees a top-end device at a high price on the store counter, and next to it is a slightly smaller device with the prefix “mini” in the name. Especially without delving into the technical specifications, a person buys a smaller copy, thinking that he is getting a cool device, only slightly reduced in size.

And now I’ll tell you why I wrote the word “practically” in the announcement. The fact is that the LG G2 mini is not a smaller copy of the LG G2, but a completely different phone, although in appearance it seems to be similar to a flagship. The G2 mini has different body materials, a completely different chipset, a different amount of memory, a different camera, and so on. The same story happens with other vendors: for example, Samsung also has the Galaxy S4 mini, Asus has the PadFone mini, HTC has the One mini, and so on. The only device that, it seems to me, can rightfully be called “mini” is Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, since its technical characteristics are the same as those Xperia specifications Z1, only the screen resolution is lower (this is logical, since with a 4.3-inch diagonal there is no point in using a higher PPI).

However, the LG G2 mini deserves attention and should be tested.

Design, dimensions, control elements

It was already said a little higher that the LG G2 mini is slightly different in appearance from its predecessor, the LG G2. Firstly, the dimensions of the mini are slightly more compact - 129.6 x 66 x 9.8 mm versus 138.5 x 70.9 x 8.9 mm for the LG G2. Frankly speaking, it is not so “mini” according to LG. The younger model weighs 121 grams, and the older one – 143.

At the moment, there are two versions of the mini color: white and black. In the first case, the facial and back panels white, in the second – black. You can diversify with interchangeable branded QuickWindow book covers in almost all the colors of the rainbow.

The design of the front panel is the same, only the location of the sensors and front cameras is different. But the most unexpected thing for me was that the G2 mini does not have an oleophobic coating. Fingerprints cover the entire display area, forming a white coating. In addition, unlike the G2, in the G2 mini the finger glides across the surface of the screen very poorly, I would say extremely poorly. Sometimes I couldn’t even answer the call (swipe on the receive button), as the screen was covered with a thin coating. And it's not a matter of dirty hands. Spots appear immediately as soon as you remove the factory film.

Both models use second-generation Gorilla Glass. However, after several months of active use of the LG G2, its screen remained undamaged, and small scratches appeared on the screen of the LG G2 mini within a couple of weeks.

The bodies of both devices are made of plastic: the edging and back cover of the G2 are glossy, while those of the G2 mini are semi-gloss. Even in the G2 mini, the panel is embossed (a fine mesh of diamonds), but the phone is still quite slippery and is generally comparable in this parameter to the G2.

It fits in the hand, which is naturally better than the mini, as it is more compact: small width and height, sloping shape of the rear panel.

The assembly did not cause any complaints, despite the fact that the back cover is replaceable: the device does not creak or crunch when compressed, the rear panel does not bend towards the battery and does not play. The device feels assembled monolithically.

On top of the front panel there is a speaker covered with a thin white metal mesh. A little higher is a decorative chrome-plated plastic insert. The speaker has high volume, excellent intelligibility and a pleasant timbre. They can hear you well too. There is no echo or other third-party sounds. On maximum volume The speaker does not rattle.

To the right of the speaker is a proximity sensor (there is no light sensor in the device!), next to it is front-camera.

At the bottom right there is a speaker speakerphone, on the right is not a second speaker, but a microphone. Between them is a typical micro-USB connector.

An IR transmitter, a second microphone and a standard 3.5 mm audio output for headphones are located at the top end.

A proprietary “joke” in the form of two volume buttons and a power button is on the back of the device. Unfortunately, I personally could not get used to this arrangement of elements, although I used the LG G2 for about three months. Every time I pressed the “on” button, the device tried to slip out of my hands. Therefore, before pressing, I had to grasp it tightly. Partially saved by the KnockOn function - double “tap” on the screen, either you had to activate the display backlight, or lock the screen.

In the LG G2 mini, the volume buttons are more convex and are more convenient to use. Long press “Up” – launch Qmemo, long press “Down” – launch the camera.

There is no missed call indicator in the device, although in the LG G2 it was located both on the front panel and in the power button on the rear panel (to be more precise, in the bezel).

The back cover can be removed by lifting it by the recess near the micro-USB. On the top left there is a slot for micro-SIM2, on the right - for a memory card and micro-SIM1. Note that this uses two micro-SIM cards.

Comparative sizes:

LG G2 mini (right) and Samsung Galaxy S4

LG G2 mini (left) and iPhone 5

Display

LG apparently has its own ideas about “mini” versions of smartphones, so they decided that 4.7 inches would be quite enough. A strange decision, considering that the LG G2 has a 5.2-inch screen. It seems that they have reduced it by 0.5 inches, but the device is still perceived as far from small.

The physical screen size of the LG G2 mini is 60x106 mm, and the LG G2 is 67x117 mm. The mini display frames are quite narrow: 10 mm at the top, 14 mm at the bottom, and only 3.6 mm on the right and left! Only the LG G2 is thinner – 2.6 mm.

The resolution was also reduced from FullHD to qHD, alas, not even HD. The matrix is TFT-IPS with good viewing angles. It is different from the matrix in the LG G2. In the latter, under certain inclinations, the colors fade into violet and yellow shades. Below is a comparison of LG G2 and LG G2 mini (right):

It seemed to me that the LG G2 mini's screen lacked a little more color saturation, at least definitely not enough green. For example, the standard “green flowers” screensaver on the mini looks almost black and white.

White color

Black color

The brightness of the screen matrix backlight can only be set manually, since the LG G2 mini does not have a light sensor. An inexplicable phenomenon.

I won’t go into detail about the screen settings, since they are the same as in the LG G2. You can find his review.

Battery

The device uses a removable lithium-ion (Li-Ion) battery with a capacity of 2440 mAh, 9.3 Wh. Model – BL-59UH. The battery size is small, I think if the manufacturer removed the buttons from the back, it would be possible to fit a 3000 mAh battery here.

According to official data, the phone will work for 797 hours in standby mode, and up to 22 hours in talk mode.

During the test I got the following indicators:

HD video playback (720p, H.264) at maximum brightness and volume with audio output to headphones: just over 5 hours
Playing music on headphones at maximum volume: just over 35 hours
Gaming only (high brightness and volume): up to 3 hours
Wi-Fi surfing only (high backlight brightness): about 12 hours

On average, the device worked for about 15 hours (brightness - 30 - 100): 15-20 minutes of calls per day, sending 20 text messages, 5-7 hours of Internet surfing (3G connection).

Probably, even more could be squeezed out of the device, but the chipset is too power-hungry.

Antutu Tester results are not record-breaking, but very good:

Communication capabilities

Very briefly: two SIM cards, two separate antennas for 3G, USB 2.0, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-F hotspot, SmartShare Beam, IR transmitter. There is no NFC chip, unlike the LG G2.

Memory and memory card

The LG G2 mini uses 1 GB of RAM. On average, about a little over 300 MB free. Not the best result.

The built-in Flash memory is 8 GB. At the same time, 3.87 GB is available for installing applications and storing data. There is a slot for a microSD memory card. Maximum volume 32 GB.

Camera

As always in such devices, the mini has two cameras: the first is the main one with 8 MP, and the second is the front one with 1.3 MP. There is a flash, when shooting video it shines at a distance of up to 2 meters, when shooting photos – up to 3 meters.

The main camera has a lens with an aperture of F2.4, the minimum ISO value is 100, the maximum is 3200, the minimum shutter speed is about 1/30000 sec, the maximum is 1/14 sec. The viewing angle is not wide, approximately 30-33 mm. Unlike the LG G2, there is no optical stabilization, there is only digital stabilization. By the way, it works very well, especially noticeable when shooting video.

I liked the quality of the photos: natural colors, wide dynamic range, good sharpness, a little noise in low lighting conditions. In addition, exposure selection is carried out by “tapping” on the screen, focusing is accurate and fast.

Below is a comparison of frames taken on the LG G2 and LG G2 mini (right). In some photographs it is noticeable that the mini did a better job (photo with a bear or magnets on the refrigerator): the picture is a little sharper and the colors are more saturated. But the LG G2 takes better pictures at night.

We should also praise the work of HDR. Usually in smartphones it functions somehow: sometimes it overextends the frames, sometimes artifacts appear, sometimes this function is of no use. In mini it works more than correctly: you get natural colors, while dark areas do not become too light, and bright areas do not become dark. An analogy can be made with HDR in the Samsung Galaxy S5.

The mini version of the smartphone was deprived of many functions of the older model. The photo mode has only a live effect, while the LG G2: VR panorama, dual camera, smart auto mode, “Shot and Clear”. But the LG G2 mini left manual focus, the camera is activated by pressing the volume down button, FullHD video recording at 30 fps. There is no double recording and “Tracking zoom” in video mode.

As I said, the G2 mini records FullHD video at 30 frames per second, regardless of lighting conditions. And this is good. The picture quality is excellent during the day, but at night blurry artifacts appear, but the image remains of high quality. I think many more expensive devices should be jealous. Interestingly, the exposure is adjusted automatically even with digital zoom. There is autofocus, and it works poorly: if you focus once on a near object, then you will have to forget about the distant one for 5-7 seconds. The sound is clear, mono.

Video file characteristics (main camera):

File Format: MP4
Video codec: AVC, 17 Mbit/s
Resolution: 1920x1080, 30 fps
Audio codec: AAC, 156 Kbps
Channels: 1 channel, 48 kHz

Example photo taken with the main camera:

Example photo with front camera:

Examples of panoramas:

Performance and operating system

The LG G2 mini uses a chipset from Qualcomm – Snapdragon 400 MSM8226. Inside 4 cores, 1.2 GHz, 28 nm, ARMv7. Adreno 305 is responsible for graphics. Almost all games work, although complex ones still slow down. The problem is solved by reducing the graphics quality. Generally speaking, the device is fast, everything flies, there are no brakes or microlags. All this thanks to the proprietary shell and an adequate chipset.

Brief information and performance tests (Quadrant, Antutu):

Stability test:

Operating system – Google Android versions 4.4.2 – fresh! I won’t talk about the shell; all this is in the LG G2 review.

But it’s worth saying that the device was equipped with proprietary features, such as KnockOn - activation of the backlight by two taps on the screen, and a similar action leads to blocking the device; KnockCode – set a lock screen password by selecting a tap zone on the screen. The last function was devoted a lot of time at the presentation of the LG LIII line. In my opinion, it’s an interesting, but inconvenient thing: not only do you have to remember the “tapping” zone, but also the number of these same “taps”.

Multimedia

Music player . Player presented standard application from LG. There is an equalizer from 30 Hz to 16 kHz, Pure surround effect and other presets.

The sound volume in the headphones is quite high. Of course, I would like it to be a little louder in the subway, but overall it’s not bad. It’s difficult to judge the quality of music, since for me personally, almost all smartphones are “the same,” except that the devices costing 2,000–3,000 rubles differ. The LG G2 mini has pleasant bass and clear highs.

The volume of the ringing speaker is average. If you close the speaker hole, the volume level will decrease by about 20%, that is, it will still be clearly audible. Its quality is ordinary.

FM radio. Operates in the FM range: 87.5 – 108 MHz. The screen displays: frequency scale, settings, 6 cells for saving the most interesting stations, switching the sound to the speaker and turning it off. The volume in the headphones is slightly above average, the receiver sensitivity is good.

Video. There is a separate Video Player application. A list of all video files appears.

When playing, the following are available: volume, zoom, SmartShare, screen lock and video playback in a separate window. In the settings you can adjust subtitles, crop video, and select brightness.

The smartphone plays videos of almost all formats and codecs (formats: 3GP, MKV, AVI, MPG, FLV, WMV; codecs: Mpeg4, H263, H264, DivX, XViD), except MPG. There is an AC-3 audio codec. Maximum resolution – 1080p. If any of the videos do not play, install any media player, for example, MX Video Player.

Conclusion

LG followed fashion and called its new device with the prefix mini. I think it became clear from the review that very little remains of the flagship model here: a similar appearance, some controls and a proprietary shell. On the other hand, at the moment the device costs 12,000 rubles. For this money, of course, it does not have to be a mini-copy, for example, unlike the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact. It costs about 22,000 rubles, and what the “cast” was made from is about 24,000 rubles.

In general, it doesn’t matter what they called it, what matters is what happened in the end. And it turned out quite well. I liked the ergonomic design, the quality of the screen, camera, and sound. The autonomy did not disappoint either. A smartphone can easily “live” for 2-3 days in a less active mode. The only thing that surprised and greatly disappointed was the absence of an oleophobic layer: the screen quickly becomes covered with a layer of fingerprints and other traces, so the finger glides with great difficulty, and sometimes even prevents normal operation"touchscreen".

I also think that the price could be slightly adjusted downward; after all, for 12,000 rubles there are many competitors with more interesting technical parameters. I think as soon as the LG G2 mini goes on sale in more than just one retailer, everything will change for the better. In my opinion, the adequate cost of the device is about 9,000 - 10,000 rubles.

Characteristics:

Class: smartphone
Case materials: plastic and glass
Operating system: Google Android 4.4.2
Processor: quad-core, 1.2 GHz, Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 MSM8226
RAM: 1 GB
Storage Memory: 8 GB (4 available)
Interfaces: Wi-Fi (b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0, 3.5 mm headset
Screen: capacitive, True HD-IPS-LCD with a resolution of 540x960 pixels
Camera: 8 MP (main), 1.3 MP (front)
Additionally: accelerometer, light and proximity sensors
Battery: removable, lithium-ion (Li-Ion) capacity 2440 mAh
Dimensions: 129x66x9.8 mm
Weight: 121 g
Price: from 12,000 rubles (Q2)

Dimensions - 4.4

Despite the mini prefix, the LG G2 mini D618 is not small at all and its diagonal - 4.7 inches - is quite similar to a full-size smartphone. The design and appearance of the device comes from the LG G2, there are also differences - the mini version, for example, to our surprise, does not have a light indicator for the status of the smartphone and a light sensor (no auto brightness for you).

The dimensions of the smartphone are 129.6 mm in length and 66 mm in width, it fits well in one hand. The thickness of the device reaches 10.28 mm, despite the fact that it should be “miniature” than its older brother, but it has only become thicker. Among the advantages are the narrow side frames, which benefits the dimensions of the smartphone.

It must be said that the front panel of the device easily gets dirty from fingers, the removable back cover is slippery and looks a little cheap (perhaps due to the color scheme, we received a white smartphone for testing). The case material is plastic, the build quality is good, nothing is loose or crunchy, but the removable lid and the slightly dull sound when you knock on it are a little alarming. In general, the LG G2 mini D618 leaves a pleasant impression of its appearance, dimensions and assembly.

The LG G2 mini D618 smartphone can be purchased in white, black, red and gold colors.

Screen - 3.6

The LG G2 mini D618 has a 4.7-inch display, screen resolution - 960x540 pixels, matrix type - IPS, the screen is covered with protective glass Gorilla Glass 2, PPI value - 234. The resolution is half as high horizontally and vertically as for LG G2, we accordingly get a modest PPI at the level of budget devices. The smartphone display is quite bright, even with a reserve, viewing angles are good, but when viewed at an angle, the display colors “float” and deviate from how they look at the right angle. However, if you don’t “deviate”, then media content and texts look good on this screen. It is worth noting one interesting feature of the smartphone - you can turn it on by double tapping the screen. True, as already mentioned, the lack of a light sensor and auto brightness is disappointing, only manual setting brightness To sum it up, we were not at all impressed with the LG G2 mini D618's display.

Camera

The main camera has “lost” several megapixels, now the LG G2 mini D618 is content with only 8 MP, and it has also lost optical image stabilization. Overall, the camera takes good photos on the go, with the ability to take panoramas, face detection, HDR (high dynamic range) mode, burst shooting and a bunch of typical settings. The front camera has also become a little lighter, now it has 1.3 MP and the ability to shoot video in HD resolution.

As for video, the maximum resolution for video recording is 1920×1080 pixels, at a frequency of 30 fps, with tracking autofocus and audio recording in stereo mode. There is also the ability to shoot in HDR mode.

Working with text - 3.0

The LG G2 mini D618 uses a fairly convenient built-in keyboard. The marking of additional characters is present in the Latin alphabet, but when switching to the Cyrillic alphabet it disappears somewhere. But there is a separate number row, quick switching between languages at the touch of a button and a one-handed control function, which boils down to the fact that the keyboard can be moved left or right.

Internet - 3.0

The LG G2 mini D618 comes pre-installed with a standard Android browser called “Browser” and Google Chrome, both of them are about the same in terms of usability, but the latter supports syncing tabs with desktop version Chrome. Both do not support multiple page scaling or a separate reading mode, however, in the settings you can manually set the font size for single scaling, and at any time, double-clicking on the page will adjust all the text to the size you select. You can adjust this setting once and not have problems with text that is too small or too large on the screen. The standard “Browser” has the Capture plus function - taking a screenshot of the entire web page.

Interfaces

LG G2 mini D618 works with two Micro-SIM cards and supports all common wireless interfaces: Wi-Fi (b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0, DLNA, A-GPS with GLONASS support. There is no NFC chip, but there is an IR port for amateurs. True, you may be confused by the presence of three versions of the LG G2 mini at once; if we tested the 3G version, the other two support LTE frequencies and differ from each other in processors.

Multimedia - 5.0

The manufacturer took care of supporting various audio and video formats. The LG G2 mini D618 video player supports many common formats and codecs; in our tests, only .MOV video format did not open. The smartphone plays videos well in high quality, up to 1080p. The video player also supports subtitles, both external and internal. The audio player plays popular formats like MP3 and uncompressed audio in FLAC format, as well as WAV, WMA, AAC, etc.

Battery - 3.2

The smartphone has a lithium-polymer battery with a capacity of 2440 mAh, the battery is removable. During testing, the device demonstrated good battery life; for most users, its charge will last for a day. The smartphone plays HD video at maximum brightness for 7.5 hours. When listening to music with the screen off, the device discharges in about 46 hours.

Performance - 2.3

The device uses the Qualcomm MSM8226 Snapdragon 400 platform with a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, Adreno 305 graphics subsystem and 1 GB of RAM. This ratio of memory and processor is enough for normal everyday use. LG G2 mini D618 works quickly and without lag. The Qualcomm 400 chipset is a relatively new mid-range solution, and Adreno 305 is enough to run most games and applications smoothly. By the way, the smartphone received 17076 points in the AnTuTu benchmark and 4498 in the Ice Storm Unlimited test from the 3D Mark benchmark.

Memory - 5.0

The total amount of internal memory in the LG G2 mini D618 is limited to 8 GB, about 4 GB is available to the user. There is also a slot for a memory card, hot-swappable - you just need to remove the back cover and replace the card without turning off the smartphone.

Where can I buy

Peculiarities

The smartphone runs Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) and a proprietary shell from LG. It includes a launcher, keyboard, browser, dialer, SMS client and most other built-in applications. Of course, main feature the fact that the power and volume buttons are located on the back of the device. At first this may seem unusual, but not for long - they are located conveniently, approximately at finger level while talking on a smartphone. As already mentioned, we were surprised by the absence of a light sensor, because almost any budget smartphone. Instead of auto-brightness, the LG G2 mini D618 offers brightness adjustment based on the time of day - a kind of budget alternative to a missing function. We also note the ability to turn on the screen with a double click, mute signals from incoming calls, or stop video playback by turning the phone over. There is also a “smart display” that recognizes your face in order to stay on when you look at the display, or pause the video when the smartphone does not find your face.

Samsung Galaxy S4 mini has the same display resolution and higher PPI due to its smaller diagonal. It is equipped with an NFC chip; in all other respects, the models are approximately equal, but the S4 mini is somewhat overpriced by the manufacturer and costs almost 3 thousand rubles more than the LG G2 mini D618. On the Nokia Lumia 920 side – a little more high resolution and PPI, battery life in audio player mode, ability to work with gloves. At the same time, it is thicker, heavier, without a slot for a memory card, and about one and a half times more expensive.

Recently, some smartphone manufacturers have started releasing smaller versions of their flagship devices with the “mini” prefix. And if at first glance you might think that this is just a smaller copy of a “top-end” smartphone, then looking at the technical characteristics, you can find many differences, sometimes quite significant. LG also took this path and released a smaller version of the “top” model LG G2, which we have already tested, leaving a lot of positive impressions.

Note that the LG G2 mini was presented back in February at the Mobile World Congress (MWC 2014). The smartphone is available in three modifications. Two of them are equipped with a very similar processor, namely the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 in the MSM8226 or MSM8926 modification, carrying four cores and Adreno 305 graphics. In addition, the latter has support for the fourth generation of LTE mobile networks with data transfer rates of up to 150 Mbit/s. The third modification received a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 4i processor and a graphics chip with 72 streaming cores, and also boasts LTE support. It should be noted that the Snapdragon-based versions have an 8-megapixel main camera, while the Tegra version has a 13-megapixel sensor.

We are testing a version that is relevant for our market, built on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 MSM8226 processor. We suggest starting the review of the new product with technical characteristics:

Manufacturer

Type, form factor	Smartphone, monoblock
Communication standards			900 / 1800 MHz
			900 / 2100 MHz

High speed data transfer	GPRS (32-48 Kbps), EDGE (236 Kbps), HSDPA+ (up to 21.6 Mbps), HSUPA (up to 5.76 Mbps)
SIM card type
CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 MSM8226: 4 cores ARM Cortex-A7, up to 1.2 GHz, 1 MB L2 cache
Graphics adapter	Qualcomm Adreno 305, up to 450 MHz
	IPS, 4.7", 960 x 540 pixels (234 ppi), touch, capacitive, multi-touch up to 8 touches, protective glass Corning Gorilla Glass 2
RAM

Card reader	microSD (up to 32 GB)
Interfaces	1 x 3.5mm mini-jack audio jack
Multimedia	Acoustics
	Audio processing
	Microphone

	Main	8 MP, back-illuminated matrix, autofocus, face detection, LED flash, video recording in 1080p (30 FPS)
	Frontal	1.3 MP, video recording at 720p
Communication capabilities		802.11b/g/n (Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Hotspot)





	Proximity sensor
Battery	Li-ion: 2440 mAh
Charger	Input: 100~240V AC eg at 50/60 Hz Output: 5 VDC e.g. 1 A

	129.6 x 66 x 9.99 mm


operating system	Android 4.4.2 Kitkat
User interface	LG Optimus UI 3.0
Official guarantee	12 months
Products webpage

All prices for LG+G2+mini+DualSim

Delivery and configuration

We received the LG G2 mini for testing without packaging or any delivery kit. Therefore, the configuration of the retail version of the new product can only be judged from the official website. In addition to the smartphone itself, the kit will include the following accessories:

Charger;
micro-USB cable;
user instructions.

Appearance, arrangement of elements

LG G2 mini is a classic representative of an all-in-one design with touch screen. The younger model clearly recognizes the features inherent in the powerful “top-end” LG G2 smartphone: rounded corners and beveled edges. Most of the front side is occupied by the display, which has fairly thin side frames - only 3.6 mm. At the top there is a speaker grid with a metal insert above it, which quickly collects dust and requires proper care. Nearby is a proximity sensor (there are no lighting or notification sensors) and a front camera. There are no any at the bottom of the display function keys because they are virtual. The only thing that attracts attention is the chrome LG logo. The front panel uses glossy plastic with its inherent advantages and disadvantages.

The sides are devoid of any controls, but attract attention with a thin chrome strip that imitates metal. It's just plastic, but this design move adds solidity to the smartphone.

The back side of the LG G2 mini, unlike the LG G2, is not made of glossy plastic and is collapsible. The plastic is matte and has a texture that actively resists fingerprints and scratches, and also fits well in the hand.

At the very top is the main camera lens, framed in a metal ring. Below is the proprietary control unit, well known from the flagship model - the Rear Key. It combines the power/lock keys and volume rocker. But with the missing notification sensor that was in the LG G2. The keys are protected from accidental pressing by small protrusions that rise above the body. In addition, this solution provides fewer contacts protective glass cameras with surfaces and this prevents the appearance of scratches. Next to the camera there is a single-section LED flash (there is no flashlight software).

The rocker has several additional functions. So, by long pressing the volume up key, the Quick Memo program is called up, which allows you to create quick handwritten notes. Holding the volume down key launches the camera, in which the same keys can be used to take pictures or zoom (the operating mode is changed in the application itself). But you cannot assign any other function.

You get used to this arrangement of controls after just a few hours of use. The keys feel good to the touch and have a clear stroke. As an alternative, the smartphone provides a faster and more convenient unlocking method - KnockON - double tap anywhere on the screen to unlock and double tap on an empty space on the desktop or on the message panel to lock it back.

The back cover can be removed by prying the micro-USB hole, which is quite convenient. It holds tightly, there are no backlashes or crunches. Under the cover there are two slots for Micro-SIM. Moreover, one of them is located directly under the microSD connector, which complicates the removal of the SIM card and requires additional tools. Although the battery does not interfere with the replacement of SIM cards, “hot” replacement is not expected: the cards are not recognized until the device is rebooted.

At the top end there are: an IR transmitter, a noise-canceling microphone and a standard 3.5 mm mini-jack audio jack. The bottom edge contains: a micro-USB 2.0 connector and two perforated grilles, under which, it would seem, stereo speakers should be located. However, there is only one speaker, and it is hidden under the right grille, while the main microphone is located under the left one.

With its relatively small dimensions and low thickness (129.6 x 66 x 9.99 mm), the smartphone fits well in the average palm. It is very comfortable and pleasant to hold, also thanks to its relatively small weight of 121 grams. Thanks to this, the smartphone can be controlled quite well with one hand, although in order to reach the opposite edge of the display you will have to change its position in your hand. In these parameters, it is similar to Huawei Ascend P6.

In general, the LG G2 mini is assembled very well: without any gaps or backlash. The rigidity of the case is good: it is very monolithic, does not bend or change its geometry under moderate torsion, the glass does not press through, and there are no streaks on the screen.

The display in the LG G2 mini has a diagonal of 4.7 inches, although traditionally “mini” is installed at 4.3 inches. Moreover, its matrix is made according to IPS technology and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 2. Not only has the diagonal decreased (compared to the LG G2), but the resolution is no longer Full HD (1920 x 1080), but only 960 x 540, that is, qHD. At the same time, the pixel density is 234 ppi, that is, if you really want to, you can see individual points, but in real conditions of using a smartphone they are almost invisible.

In any case, the display is pleasant: bright, very contrasty, with excellent viewing angles and correct color reproduction. The maximum brightness of the backlight is more than enough for working on a bright sunny day, and the minimum brightness for comfortable reading in a completely dark environment.

The main inconvenience is the absence of a light sensor. Instead, the proprietary OS firmware uses a special mode that automatically reduces the brightness to a user-specified level, but only during the allotted time (from 00:00 to 06:00). At other times, you have to change the brightness in manual mode, which creates some discomfort.

The touch substrate has good sensitivity (although it is not possible to work with gloves) and responds flawlessly to touch, including gestures. The number of simultaneous touches looks non-standard - 8, instead of the usual 5 or 10. Sliding along the glass with a finger is good, but due to the lack of oleophobic (grease-repellent) standing, it quickly becomes covered with fingerprints, which will be removed with a certain effort.

In general, according to subjective impressions, the display of the LG G2 mini is quite good. Despite the low (by modern standards) resolution, you can get a relatively detailed picture with natural colors.

Sound

As already mentioned, the smartphone is equipped with only one speaker, which is located at the bottom end. Thanks to this placement, the sound is not muffled if the gadget lies on a horizontal surface. We also note the absence of the progressive Wolfson WM5110 audio chip, which is one of the main advantages of the LG G2 model.

The overall music listening experience is quite good. The speaker is moderately loud, but does not stand out as anything special. Depending on the style of the composition, you can hear the presence of low frequencies and quite acceptable highs. The middle ones cannot boast of much detail. Although for games, videos and speakerphone such a speaker should be more than enough.

The standard audio player has advanced settings for additional effects. But to listen to them you need to have good headphones. The smartphone has a built-in radio module that allows you to listen to and record FM radio stations operating in frequency range from 87.5 to 108 MHz. Traditionally, to turn on the radio, you must connect a headset, which is used as an antenna.

The earpiece did not show any shortcomings during testing: speech transmission is clear, moderately loud and quite detailed. The new product has a standard voice recorder, which is useful when creating audio notes, but it is not capable of recording telephone conversations.

LG G2 mini is traditionally equipped with two digital cameras. The front module has a 1.3 megapixel sensor and is capable of taking photos and videos with a resolution of 1280 × 960 and 1280 × 720 (24 FPS), respectively. The camera does not stand out in anything special, but its capabilities are quite sufficient for video communications and self-portraits. The image detail is quite good. The viewing angle is not very large, but quite sufficient and does not cause complaints.

The main camera has an 8-megapixel matrix and an F2.4 lens. Available ISO values in manual mode range from 100 to 800, while in automatic mode you can get significantly higher numbers. There is an LED flash, which is useful in low light conditions. Photos have a resolution of 3264 × 2448. Videos are shot at 1920 × 1080 (30 FPS) and are in MPEG4 format. Video quality is quite pleasant: focusing is fast and details are at an average level. Mono sound.

The BSI sensor of the main camera is quite good and allows you to get fairly high-quality images, especially under favorable conditions. Photos come out especially well in HDR mode (“Dynamic mode”), which allows you to combine several frames with different exposures and thereby obtain a balanced image without overexposure or darkening.

Like the older model, the new product has a wide range of settings (white balance, color effects, etc.), which have intuitive icons. It is possible to take a series of pictures, activate sports and panorama modes. The function of changing exposure and focusing type (manual, automatic or face tracking) is also available. Separately, it should be noted 9-point autofocus, which is useful for group photos (quite fast, but in low light it can blur the image). The module's light sensitivity is good level: You can shoot in the evening, but expect high ISO settings, which in turn increases image noise.

In general, the camera is worthy of praise, as for the middle class. With its help, you can get photos with good sharpness, natural color reproduction and sufficient detail throughout the frame. It is useful for capturing everyday photos that you are not ashamed to post on social networks.

Examples of photography

Video examples

LG G2 Mini - daytime shooting in normal mode

Example of daytime shooting from an LG G2 mini smartphone at 1080p resolution with basic settings

LG G2 Mini - evening shooting in normal mode

An example of evening shooting from an LG G2 mini smartphone at 1080p resolution with basic settings

User interface

LG G2 mini works under the guidance of the current operating system Android 4.4.2 Kitkat. The proprietary Optimus UI 3.0 shell is used as the user interface, which provides significantly greater opportunities for customizing a wide range of functions that we also encountered in the flagship (LG G2). We will dwell only on the most interesting features, and for everyone who wants to receive more comprehensive information, we provide a link to the previous review.

It implements a multi-window feature called QSlide and allows you to run multiple applications in smaller windows on one screen. Thanks to the presence of an infrared port and the necessary software, the possibility of a remote control for equipment (TVs, Blu-ray and DVD players) has been implemented, which is very convenient.

Worthy of attention is the proprietary KnockCode technology, which allows you to set a locking password by selecting where you touch the screen in several zones. The thing is very interesting, but you should be careful when setting a password so as not to forget it.

The device can track the user’s face (“Smart Screen” and “Smart Video”). The screen remains on when the phone recognizes your face, and the video pauses when you are away.

You should also remember about the flexible configuration options for SIM cards. They both can work with 3G, but not at the same time (the priority card is set in the settings). You can customize the color of SIM cards and call tones, and turn them on and off.

The on-screen keyboard, which has a top line of numbers, also looks very convenient, thereby eliminating the need to switch to digital block. When you dial a number, you immediately search the phone book. This technology is called Smart Dial.

Many users should like the ability to change the location touch buttons and the style of their background, as well as the display of additional ones for quick access to the QuickMemo program and opening the message curtain without having to reach for it.

In general, the interface works quickly and quite smoothly, but sometimes there may be hitches and twitches. This is especially noticeable when there is a lot of open applications using system resources.

Hardware platform and performance

The smartphone is powered by a mid-performance quad-core processor - Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (MSM8226) with integrated Qualcomm Adreno 305 graphics. It is based on the ARM Cortex-A7 microarchitecture using a 28 nm LP process technology. Maximum clock frequency processor speed is 1.2 GHz, and graphics adapter- 450 MHz. The latter supports API Direct3D 9.0, OpenGL ES 3.0 and OpenCL CL 1.2.

The amount of installed RAM is 1 GB. When turned on, a little more than 400 MB is available, which is quite enough to support the operation of the OS and different applications. To store user data, 3.87 GB of internal storage is provided out of 8 GB installed. You can expand this space using a microSD card up to 32 GB. This platform does not support OTG mode, so you won’t be able to connect an external USB drive.

This configuration is very similar to the widespread platform of the Taiwanese giant MediaTek - SoC MT6589. The only difference is the weaker PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU, which is inferior in computing capabilities to the Qualcomm Adreno 305.

Overall, the performance is sufficient for almost all everyday tasks. At the same time, everything works quickly and quite smoothly. The only exceptions are games, the most demanding of which may slow down, in particular Dead Trigger 2 at high graphics settings or Real Racing 3, but only in some places. More simple games, including Asphalt 8, play without problems.

Communications

The smartphone works in modern mobile networks GSM, WCDMA / HSPA+ (this modification does not have LTE). Work with two SIM cards is implemented according to the Dual SIM Dual Standby standard. There is only one radio module, so when talking from one SIM card, the second one will be temporarily unavailable. Call quality is at a high level: there are no interruptions or self-drops, and voice transmission is clear, but depends on the user’s location.

Kit communication capabilities presented only with IrLED, Bluetooth V4.0 and Wi-Fi modules. The latter has support for 802.11b/g/n protocols and Wi-Fi Direct and Wi-Fi Hotspot functions, but is only capable of operating in the 2.4 GHz band. There is also DLNA support. Operation of modules wireless networks There are no complaints: everything connects quickly and holds the connection well, although the speed is at an average level. In particular, the data transfer rate in home network was recorded at 18 Mbit/s when receiving and 23 Mbit/s when sending information (with a common wire line of 100 Mbit/s).

Navigation systems are represented by GPS and GLONASS modules. The GPS module in an open area quickly identifies about 20 satellites, or even more. Connecting to them takes a little longer, but the connection is stable with half of them. Connection is possible even in residential buildings, but only to 3-4 satellites.

The LG G2 mini smartphone is powered by a replaceable lithium ion battery BL-59UH. The battery capacity is 2440 mAh (9.3 Wh) - not a record, but quite capacious, especially considering the mid-segment platform used.

As a result, watching HD video at 50% display brightness and Wi-Fi and GPS modules turned on drained the battery in almost 8.5 hours. A gaming simulation using the Epic Citadel application (Guided Tour mode) with 100% display brightness and Wi-Fi and GPS modules turned on was repeated for almost 4 hours until the battery charge was exhausted. The estimated operating time of the smartphone according to the GFXBench benchmark is 217 minutes, that is, about 3.5 hours.

A full battery charge is enough for one day active work or two less busy days. Technically, the LG G2 mini can easily work for three days if you use its functions to a minimum.

The charging time of the battery from the supplied power supply is unknown (since our test unit arrived without the delivery kit). Charging from USB port with a base current of 1 A is about 3-4 hours.

turned out to be a classic representative of the middle segment, which meets most modern market requirements. It combines a very interesting and ergonomic design, which was inherited from the older model, a good camera, a powerful processor that is enough for most everyday tasks, current version operating system with the functional shell LG Optimus UI 3.0. It is equally important to remember that the smartphone has fairly good battery life, which under average load can work for up to two days without recharging. And also about the infrared port inherent in more expensive models with the ability to control household appliances.

But, unfortunately, there were a few moments that slightly blurred the overall positive impression of the new product. We are talking about the absence of an oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating and lighting and warning sensors. Such flaws can be forgiven for representatives of the budget line, but not for a smaller version of the flagship.

In general, if you want to get reliable smartphone with support for two SIM cards from a first-tier manufacturer that has its own charisma and charm, then the LG G2 mini will be a good candidate for purchase. In addition, it will help to emphasize your own style, thanks to several color variations: titanium black, moon white, red and gold.

Advantages:

interesting and ergonomic design;
two SIM cards;
implementation of a block of rear keys and the KnockON function (unlock with double tap);
good photographic capabilities of both cameras;

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Review of LG G2 mini and its main characteristics. Review of LG G2 Mini: modern and durable Mobile phone lg g2 mini d618

Features and review of LG G2 mini:

Main characteristics of LG G2 mini:

Main characteristics of LG G2 mini (model LG D618)

Contents of delivery

Appearance and ease of use

Screen

Sound

Telephone and communications

OS and software

Performance

Playing video

Battery life

Bottom line

Contents of delivery:

Introduction

Design, dimensions, control elements

Display

Battery

Communication capabilities

Memory and memory card

Camera

Performance and operating system

Multimedia

Conclusion

Characteristics:

Related links

Dimensions - 4.4

Screen - 3.6

Camera

Working with text - 3.0

Internet - 3.0

Interfaces

Multimedia - 5.0

Battery - 3.2

Performance - 2.3

Memory - 5.0

Peculiarities

We are in social networks

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