LG G Pro Lite

LG seems to be targeting the price-conscious Indian market with a vengeance. The South Korean handset maker has been aggressive lately in terms of releasing smartphones across various price segments, something Samsung has been doing for years.
Hot on the heels of the power-packed LG G2 comes the relatively low-powered, but also more pocket-friendly, LG G Pro Lite. The 5.5-inch phablet is a variant of the Optimus G Pro launched earlier this year.
The G Pro Lite is an affordable Android device when compared to a flagship, targeted at those who want to experience the best in terms of design, software and hardware without spending a bomb. Will G Pro Lite be able to revive the mid-range segment which is already losing steam? That still remains to be seen.
Design/ Build
When a phone is released in the market and tagged as being the sequel/ successor or a variant of an earlier device, it is fair chance that it will bear more than just a passing resemblance to its predecessor. This is the case with the new LG G Pro Lite which is a spitting image of its predecessor the Optimus G Pro, except that the former does not come with a physical button on the front panel. The G Pro Lite phablet has a lot of design similarities with its predecessor. The G Pro Lite is made of plastic, but it doesn't feel cheap and actually feels really well built.
The LG Optimus G Pro features a physical button for home on the front panel accompanied by back and menu buttons, while the G Pro Lite comes with four touch keys for back, home, settings and a dedicated hot key for SIM switch. The front of the LG G Pro Lite, made of glass, is mainly dominated by its 5.5-inch qHD display. The bezel on the sides of the screen is narrow, though when noticed closely is surrounded by a small black border.The 1.3-megapixel front facing camera and the sensor array sit above the display along with an earpiece grill. There is also LG branding on the front panel, between the display and earpiece grill.
The power button on the G Pro Lite is located on the right panel of the phone, while a customisable 'QuickButton' and the volume control buttons are placed on the left panel.
We were disappointed to see the power button of the LG G Pro Lite placed a bit upwards on the right panel, we wish it could have been placed a little lower as that would make hitting it a bit easier. Next we ended up pressing the QuickButton shortcut instead of the volume rocker buttons often, again because of awkward placement of the buttons. For a smartphone this big, we hope that the volume rocker button could have been placed a little higher.
The 3.5mm audio jack, Infrared Blaster and an additional microphone sits at the top panel of the G Pro Lite and there is a stylus port at the top right corner of the phablet.
The Micro-USB port and the microphone are located at the bottom accompanied by dual speakers; something that we could say is an addition to the G Pro Lite, when compared to its predecessor.
An aluminium frame runs through the phone separating the back and front panels and we must confess that it does give the G Pro Lite a premium look. The frame is visible as a thin line at the left and right sides, but widens at the top and bottom.
Much like the Optimus G Pro, the LG G Pro Lite comes with removable back panel. The rear panel is made of plastic and can be removed through a small gap at the right side of the phablet. The back has a glossy finish and is prone to smudges. Being a plastic back, the phone does seem slippery when used for long durations and also doesn't provide a good grip.There is an 8-megapixel camera accompanied by an LED flash at the back. Notably, the camera lens is surrounded by a raised, circular in shape enclosure which is very much visible. LG branding is also present at the back of the G Pro Lite, in the middle.
The LG G Pro Lite as anyone would expect is not very easy to use with one hand, unless you have big palms. However, we would say it's not impossible to hold G Pro Lite one-handed, but stretching the thumb all the way across the display feels uneasy at best, and for many users - it could even a deal breaker. Also due to the sheer size the LG G Pro Lite barely fits into pockets and usually was visible out of our pocket.
Display
The LG G Pro Lite comes with a 5.5-inch IPS display with a resolution of 540x960 pixels and the pixel density stands at mediocre 200ppi. LG has given a miss to Corning's Gorilla Glass 2 that resists scratches, which is expected since it's a mid-range phone. The company has thankfully not compromised on the display size but has dropped the resolution of the G Pro Lite considerably, when compared to the Optimus G Pro which features a full-HD (1080x1920) display.
In terms of performance, the G Pro Lite's 5.5-inch display is a bit mixed bag - on one hand, it has vibrant colours and respectable contrast. On the other hand, it has pretty low-resolution 540x960 pixels, which is evident when watching a video or even browsing through images on the Web.
The resolution and pixel density of the LG G Pro Lite is far lower than some of its competitors in the price segment like the Micromax Canvas Turbo which boasts a full-HD display and Karbonn's Titanium X again with full-HD display.
The display produced bright whites and vibrant colours; however the G Pro Lite's IPS display does not produce deep blacks, when compared to an AMOLED display.
While the LG G Pro Lite renders images and text sharply, we observed that it appears to be slightly washed out due to the low resolution of the screen. The viewing angles on the smartphone are not that great and when you tilt the G Pro Lite, one can notice colours losing their saturation.
The touch sensitivity of the LG G Pro Lite is impressive and we did not encounter any issues while using the phablet. Sunlight legibility on the LG G Pro Lite was good when we used the phone with brightness set to the highest level, though the screen is reflective to some extent.
Camera
The LG G Pro Lite sports an 8-megapixel rear camera with BSI (back-side illuminated) sensor and also houses a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera.
The G Pro Lite's camera app borrows a lot of features from its elder sibling, the Optimus G Pro. The camera app on the phablet includes a customisable quick menu on one of the sides, which includes controls for switching between the front and rear cameras, turning on the Intelligent Auto (flash) mode, switching between normal, panorama, continuous shot, beauty shot, sports and night modes and for accessing the camera settings.
Notably, the LG G Pro Lite offers the same settings for voice-activated shutter which is found on the Optimus G Pro, which pictures with voice commands like 'cheese', 'kimchi', 'LG', 'Smile' and 'Whisky'. The camera app on G Pro Lite also offers options like focus, zoom, brightness, image size, scene modes, ISO, white balance, colour effects, timer, geo-tagging, shutter sound and image storage.