LG Optimus L7 P700 - Slim low cost 4.3-inch smartphone

Yesterday we took a look at the Sony Xperia Sola, which comes with the new NovaThor chipset, dual core processing and fast graphics to the mid-level. LG has a new Android offering which surprisingly uses updated 2010 technology, packaged with other hardware that makes it an interesting enough offering. 

Inside the LG Optimus 7 P700, you have a 1 GHz Snapdragon Qualcomm S1 processor, Adreno 200 graphics and 512 MB of RAM and a 5 MP autofocus camera with a LED flash. This is similar to what you might find on a Nexus One from early 2010. The older components are built on a newer chipset and the Adreno 200 graphics has been enhanced. The phone also has a front camera.

Even considering the hardware is less than stellar, we were still surprised that the video capture is limited to VGA video capture. Flash support in the web browser is also limited. We are guessing this has something to do with the choice of a Qualcomm S1 processor.

But LG has wrapped the less than stellar hardware in a very interesting package. The LG Optimus 7 has a 4.3-inch IPS LCD display with a 480 x 800 screen resolution. That screen is held in a light 122 gram case which is all of just 8.7 mm thin. Inside, you have a decent amount of internal storage at 4 GB (2.6 GB of which is user available). The internal storage can be expanded using MicroSD cards, with 32 GB cards being supported. Behind all that, you have a fairly impressive 1700 mAh battery. 

The LG Optimus 7 also comes out with Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, out of the box. All-in-all, not a bad packed for the suggested retail price of just Php15,990, and we expect street prices could be all of 1K under that.

Sony Xperia Sola - Best mid-level Android smartphone in the market?

The Sony Xperia Sola is now available in the Philippines. It can be found for as low as Php15,300 with an official Sony Philippines warranty.

With a 3.7-inch LCD display with 480 x 854 pixel resolution, a dual core 1 GHz processor and Mali 400 graphics inside and 512MB of RAM, this could be that low cost jewel we try to find in every bunch of cellphones. Let me explain. With each batch of new releases we usually try to identify the mobile phones which are good enough in terms of specializations so that buyer does not regret nit having bough a higher end phone, and looking for the one that meets this requirement at the lowest price.

In 2010, the LG Optimus Black and later the Sony Ericsson's Neo V fit this role of being good enough for most people use, that getting something more expensive might not make any sense. Right now it looks to be the solo, with one big caveat.

The Xperia Sola comes out of the box with Android 2.3, but Sony is rolling out Android 4.0 for its Xperia devices right now. So we expect this phone to be running Android 4.0 within this month. So, it meets the requirement for being a current up to date device. 

While the Optimus Black and Xperia Neo V can still be found at good prices, a year has past since we looked at this two phones as great bang for the buck options. This year, we would like more power, and the Xperia Sola with is dual core processor and Mali graphics does provide the needed power boost. Note though, that despite the dual core processor and high end graphics, video capture is still limited to 720p.

Another thing we expect from an Android phone today is more internal storage. For this year we would want more than a few hundred megabytes or a gigabyte or two. The Xperia Sola hapilly delivers with 8 GB of internal storage, of which 5 GB is user available. The 5 GB is expandable via a MicroSD card slot.

The 5 MP camera is on the Xperia Sola is pretty good, and has the a strong feature set which you would expect from a 2012 Android phone. This include  smile detection, geotagging, image stabilization, Sweep Panorama and 3D Sweep Panorama. While video capture is limited to 720p, the camera does produce good quality video and features auto-focus.

So this meets all the requirements to an heir apparent to the Optimus Black and Xperia Neo V.  How does it far against its competition.


You so have the new HTC One V and Huawei U8860 Honor which are about 1.5K cheaper. But those phone are single core devices. For 2.4K more you have the Galaxy S Advance, with a larger display and more RAM while providing dual core power too. The only problem is we are not sure if the Galaxy S Advance will be updated to Android 4.0.


One caveat, the phone comes with a small 1320 mAh battery.  For this class of phone, we would expect a larger 1500 mAh unit. We so not have battery life test for this phone, so we are not sure if the the battery will be an issue. Sony promises 6 hours of talk time and 6 hours of video playback. Not great by todays standards but enough to get you by. The battery is not user replaceable, but looking at the phone with the back panel removed, it looks like an easy enough job for a technician to do, so we do expect it can be replaced by the local Sony service centers.


By way of trivia. This is the first floating touch phone. Floating touch allows you to manipulate the display without actually touching it. I am not sure of how much us that is.


When you consider all this factors, it looks like the Xperia Sola is the mid-level phone which a person can buy without regretting not having spent more.


Update: We have a post on battery life tests for the Xperia P, which is similar in terms of hardware to the Xperia Sola, and the results are disappointing.