Cellphone Review: LG Motion 4G from Metro PCS

Cellphone Review: LG Motion 4G from Metro PCS

The latest smartphone release from Metro PCS may be petite but it’s packed with features that you would not expect from a small device. Aside from supporting the 4G LTE technology, this device comes with a dual-core processor at 1.2GHz and operates on an Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich software. It also comes with a camera that is 5 megapixels, capable of recording in high definition at 1080p.

This smartphone is the LG Motion 4G offered by Metro for its $55 plan that includes unlimited calling and texting plus data access. Aside from that, subscribers would only have to pay $99 for the handset if they would participate in the mail-in rebate promo.

Body and Display Specs

The Motion 4G weighs 4.8 ounces and a dimension of 4.37 x 2.39 x 0.45. The device’s exterior is made out of plastic and fits comfortably in your hands. You will find the volume rocker on the left side with the port for Micro-USB. At the top, the sleep and power button is located beside the 3.55mm headphone jack. On its back is the camera with flash and a slit for the speaker. There is an indention at the bottom edge to remove the plate where the microSD slot is located with the 1700mAh battery.

The touch screen is 3.5 inches in size and is made of Corning Gorilla glass. You may notice the graphics of photos and videos are rich and vivid when the level of brightness is at its highest. The resolution is low at 480×320 pixels but the icons on the menu are still displayed crisp. The only problem that you might encounter with this screen resolution is when you are viewing a complex image where it becomes grainy and the slopes have changing colors.

You may also notice that the touchscreen is still responsive when swiping through the menu and when playing games. However, if would view the images directly under the sunlight, you may have some difficulties. There is also a VGA camera just above the display and; the menu, home and back buttons below. These hot keys would light up when you use them.

When opening apps that are large, you will notice that it does not take long before it launches while the camera shutter responds quickly. You may also like the fact that it is fast to navigate back to the home screen.

Features and Apps

By default, all the handy Google applications would be included like Chrome, Gmail, Talk, Messenger, Maps with Navigation, Latitude and Store. It would also feature the apps Youtube, Car Home and Local. Google’s Car Home allows users to access a number of phone features while driving and Local would scan an area nearby for attractions and restaurants.

Of course, Metro PCS has incorporated its own apps in the Motion 4G. MyMetro apps allows you to check your plan details and account balance while the MetroPCS Easy Wi-Fi allows you to take advantage of the carrier’s hotspot capability. There is also the Metro 411 app that enables you to search and find restaurants and other businesses while the M Studio is an app that serves as a storage for multimedia files.
The standard features are also present in this LG smartphone like its Bluetooth capability, a clock with alarm, calculator and a calendar. Other features include voice recorder, text messaging with Swype and apps for the weather and news. Some unusual add-on apps in this smartphone are the Polaris Office(mobile office suite), Pocket Express(mobile media suite), Yahoo Sportacular(sports news app) and Amber Alerts. You will also get Social, that grouped all your social networking sites in one app and an IM.

Pre-installed in this unit is an app that allows you to search and download songs from different U.S. released albums and artists. For an additional $10 a month, you can take advantage of this easy-to-use app from Rhapsody. You must take note that you need to add a song on your playlist to play it even when you are offline.

If that is not enough apps, the Motion 4G also has LG’s own user interface, the Optimus UI 3.0. You will notice that the default icons for this interface are boxy yet customizable. Some of the widgets are outdated but with the interface, you can choose four apps that you can access by swiping their icons even when the screen is locked.

Camera and Video Features

As for the camera, it is also packed with features including the ability to digitally zoom an image up to 15x, a hard drive recorder, panoramic shooting, face-tracking, touch focus, continuous shooting and geotagging. It also comes with four color effects, four ISO options, seven scene modes , five options of sizes from 2560 x 1920 to 1296 x 864 pixels, five white-balances and an exposure range from -2 to +2. Notable features are the Cheese Shot, which allows you to use a voice command to take a picture and the shooting mode Time Catch that allows you to choose among several shots and save your choice before the shutter is pressed.

The camera in front of the device on the other hand, has almost the same features as the primary camera. It has a timer, geotagging capability, options for white-balance, an exposure meter, color effects and the Cheese Shot. However, images can only be saved in one size which is 640 x 480p and the camera only two scene modes.

As for video recording, it features white balances, digital zooming, color effects, geotagging and the exposure meter. You can also mute the audio when recording plus there are seven size options for your video from QCIF to 1080p HD. There is also a feature that allows you to distort the faces of the subjects while recording and another that enables you to change the background. It can also be customized.

In terms of the quality of the pictures taken with the camera, it varies whether taken indoors or outdoors. Obviously, photos taken outdoors are vivid and bright all the small details may be blurry. As for indoor photos, you will notice that they’re quite grainy and digital noise is very much apparent. It is hard to tell what exactly is the color when the hue is dark while bright colors would seem as if they’re all in one shade. As expected, the camera in front would give poor quality photos with a lot of blur and digital noise. In terms of recording, you may notice that the videos are crisp with vibrant colors. It is not difficult to use in terms of focusing and even if you move around, the images do not lag. In addition, the audio can still be heard clearly on the video recording.

Overall Performance

When using the handset for calls, the only problem that you might encounter is the muffled sound quality. However, this can be adjusted by cranking up the volume. Turning the speakerphone on would give you the same issue and this can be corrected this time, by turning the volume down. You may also find the speaker’s volume as moderately loud. Overall, you may find that using the phone for calls would not give you much of a problem. You may also want to note that Metro PCS data access speed is quite impressive. Also, the battery would drain out of power at an average of 8 hours and 15 minutes.

While LG Motion 4G may seem to be packed with apps that you may not even use, it still is very affordable and functions quite above the average. Aside from that, it is offered by a prepaid mobile carrier without getting tied to a contract. In this case, the Motion 4G may just be a great smartphone purchase.