Early Verdict
A fine little phone that offers a pleasant build quality and decent enough spec list - we just need to know the price to find out whether this is worth buying.
Pros
- +
Good screen quality
- +
Metal frame
Cons
- -
Slow camera
- -
Button on back not quite placed right
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The LG K10 is a very, well, mid-range phone. It's hard to say that much more about it, because without the price it just feels like a phone that's made to put some phone bits on a chassis that looks a lot like a phone, and ta-da! suddenly a phone appears.
That's not to say there's anything wrong with the LG K10 (2018) - it just doesn't really wow in any way. Then again, given it's middle of the road in terms of the likely price bracket, you wouldn't expect it to
LG K10 (2018) price and release date
We're thoroughly guessing on the price here, but if it's more than £150 then it's too expensive. The release date is going to vary by region, but we doubt you'll have to wait too long if you're going to see it in a local phone shop, Google this preview and wonder if it's worth buying.
Design and screen
Actually, we're probably being a bit mean to this handset - if it comes in with a lower cost, then it's probably worth checking out, as the metallic body is impressive and nice to hold.
It's a touch slippy, but nothing that a firmer grip won't fail to solve. The fingerprint scanner on the back functions as a power button as well, but it's not always easy to hit this and open the phone... which is something of an issue.
The screen is a 5.3-inch affair, with a1280 x 720 resolution - still HD, but a long way from the most detailed on the market. That said, the contrast ratio and brightness of it was rather good considering this should be a lower-cost phone, and you can't really tell it's that low-res compared to other phones on the market.
The LG K10 (2018) is a little bezel-heavy, but given we're in a world where the top handsets are packing long, 18:9 displays, the feeling of large bezels is always going to be easily compounded.
Camera and battery
The snapper on the LG K10 is a 13MP affair, with a decent selfie mode from the 5MP (for wide angle selfies) or an 8MP sensor. The camera itself is a little slow to fire, which we understand given the 1.5GHz octa-core Mediatek processor on offer.
The battery life on the K10 should be pretty decent though, depending on how much effort LG has made to bring the quality of the software up. With only HD-level pixels to run and a 3000mAh battery pack in there (the same as the Galaxy S9), we can see this being a rather long-lasting phone.
Early verdict
The LG K10 (2018) is a fine phone, with an attractive metal chassis and a screen the belies its low spec in terms of quality. The pronounced buttons on the side are pronounced and feel well-machined, and the overall effect is brings a pleasant feel.
However this phone will live and die by the price it brings... if it's not cheap, then there's no way it's going to pick up a lot of traction. However, hit the right cost level and we'll see something that really brings innovation to that cost bracket.
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