What's good
- Attractive build and design
- Second screen provides most relevant information
- Decent processor performance
What's bad
- Main display max brightness too low
- Camera provides mediocre performance
- Second screen too dim in sleep mode to view properly
With the smartphone market flooded with dozens of budget, mid-range and premium phones, it’s getting harder for manufacturers to produce devices that stand out. Nowadays, almost all of them have the same rectangular slab design and large screens. With the release of the X Screen, LG hopes to increase their base with the addition of a secondary screen ticker.
At first glance, the X Screen doesn’t look too different from other smartphones. It sports rounded edges and a polycarbonate body with a faux-metal finish to the edges. Despite the budget materials, reviewers were impressed with the overall fit and finish of the phone. In addition, they found the smaller size (4.93 inches tall and 0.27 inches thick) made it perfect for one handed use. Plus, the lightweight of 120 grams allowed them to use it with zero hand fatigue.
Of course the biggest feature of the X Screen is its dual screen. The main screen measures in at 4.93 inches and has a resolution of 720pixels. Despite the lower resolution, experts actually had no issue with its sharpness as the smaller screen size actually leads to a higher pixel density. And since it is using IPS LCD technology, it provided them with excellent viewing angles and balanced colors. With that said, they did notice colors looked a bit washed out and it had poor sunlight legibility due to the low maximum brightness.
The dual “ticker” screen is always on and sits atop the main screen. It measures only 1.8 inches diagonally and provides a resolution of 520 x 80. While not sharp, it is only meant to display important information such as the date, time, battery level and relevant notifications. While the resolution wasn’t a deal breaker for experts, they did find the screen far too dim in sleep mode, making it difficult to read, defeating the purpose of the ticker. While a good idea in theory, most consider it superfluous as it only takes a couple seconds to wake up other smartphones.
As far as speed goes, this cannot compare to many mid-range or premium phones. Still, the 1.2GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM provided a decent enough experience that reviewers were able to multitask with no stutters or lag. Gaming, however, is another story. While they were able to play less demanding games, some of the more intensives ones suffered from low frame rate. Battery-wise, the X Screen managed to last a full day with moderate use.
Unsurprisingly, the 13MP main camera did not impress experts. Their shots, while generally color accurate, were often grainy and lacked detail when cropped even in good lighting conditions. Images became much noisier indoors or in other low light situations. They also noticed fairly high levels of lag in between shots, leading to missed pictures.
Overall, critics have a hard time recommending the LG X Screen. NDTV states, “Besides the good design, battery life and the second screen, it’s far too underpowered to properly handle Android Marshmallow…and overall camera performance is quite underwhelming.” Android Pit adds, “…the mediocrity of the X Screen is apparent. The display is always a bit too dark and the processing performance is just sufficient.”
What the Critics Are Saying...
- Roydon Cerejo, Gadgets 360After spending a good amount of time with the X screen, we wish more manufactures implemented this concept. Having a second screen constantly displaying basic, relevant information is a real boon and the ability to quickly jump between apps and features is a real time-saver. It just would have been...
- Thomas Wellburn, What MobileThe LG X Screen is a good handset that comes at a bad time. With an outdated processor and stiff competition, the allure of a second display isn’t really enough to warrant purchase alone. The Lenovo Moto G4 can be had for practically the same price and trumps it in all areas, including screen,...
- Hansa Verma, The Indian ExpressLG X screen has a stylish form factor, decent camera and is good with multitasking. But I feel LG is asking for a bit too much of a price here for a phone that lacks full HD display and fingerprint scanner. LG wants its second screen to stand out among competition. But frankly, I did not find m...
- Monit Khanna, PC MagazineLG X Screen is a good looking smartphone with a not-so-powerful hardware. At this price point, we have smartphones that surpasses the X Screen in all aspects. making it hard to recommend this.
- Jon Mundy, TechRadarThis reasonably-priced Android smartphone feels great in the hand and performs well.
Prices (Where to Buy)
Common Questions
We've got you covered! Download a free PDF copy of the LG X Screen user manual here.
LG backs up the X Screen with a 1 Year parts & labour warranty.
If your X Screen has problems and is still within its warranty period, you could contact LG support or the retailer you purchased the phone from. You'll find LG's contact information here. If your phone is off warranty and needs repair for a physical problem such as a broken screen or bad battery, you should visit an authorized service centre or a local phone repair shop. You can also connect with others in The Informr Community Forum to find and share answers to questions.
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Resources
Manuals / User Guides
- LG X Screen Manual (PDF)
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