LG Lucid 2 Review

By Rob Boggan

Mid-range smartphones have made quite the name for themselves in recent years. It used to be where a mid-range smartphone was almost always doomed to suck, and there was no actual place for them amongst smartphone giants like the iPhone, or Galaxy series from Samsung.  Led by LG, Motorola, and HTC, consumers were treated to an onslaught of mid-range feature phones that flooded store shelves and forced consumers to pay attention. Today we take a look at the LG Lucid 2, a sequel to a mildly successful mid range smartphone from Verizon Wireless.

The original Lucid released about this time last year and was met with pretty high praise. I was a huge fan of the unique design and color of the device and couldn’t wait to see how much it’d be improved. Disappointment. The design has actually taken a step backwards, and sort of takes away from the uniqueness of the OG Lucid. The phone now has a solid black design with almost no highlights, and nothing that makes it pop. Although it is an amazingly light device, it also feels extremely cheap and flimsy. That beautiful cherry red battery door has been replaced by a textured black one. Back to the front of the phone, users are greeted by a decent sized 4.3 inch (960×540) IPS display. Despite having a pixel density of 256ppi, and having an IPS display, the actual screen quality on the Lucid 2 happened to be a bit underwhelming. With LG’s skin slapped on top of Android, the cartoonish interface simply didn’t look as good as some of it’s smartphone counterparts, and watching videos (even in HD) was disappointing.

Performance on the other hand, was where the Lucid 2 shined, and easily exceeded my expectations. While the internals of the device aren’t anything special by today’s standards, they all worked together flawlessly to provide a solid experience. Sporting a Snapdragon S4 processor along with 1GB of RAM, the Lucid 2 sped right along and ran with relative ease. Rocking a standard 8GB of internal memory, those who want a ton of memory need not apply, although the lack of internal storage is easily remedied by the inclusion of a MicroSD slot. The Lucid 2 also rocks a dual camera system that works well, but could’ve been better. Even though it’s a mid range smartphone, I would’ve liked to see an 8MP main camera instead of the 5MP that LG opted for. The rear camera took OK photos, but most of them turned out grainy, and the colors appeared a bit washed out. Video records in up to 1080p, and produced pretty solid results surprisingly.

The LG Lucid 2 packs the right amount of features and performance to make it a pretty solid handset. Even though it rocks a virtually uninspired design, looks aren’t everything and that’s really my only beef with this device. It’s a worthy successor to the original Lucid, and if you’re looking to snag one for an incredible price, head on into a Verizon store, or the Verizon website, as they’re giving these puppies away for free with 2 year agreement.