LG Sentio Mobile Phone Review: Budget Touchscreen Option

LG Sentio Mobile Phone Review: Budget Touchscreen Option
Page content

The LG Sentio is a lightweight touchscreen handset which is moderately priced. Despite the cheap price tag, the Sentio comes with a good array of multimedia functions featuring a 3 megapixel camera, GPS, video and music players, Bluetooth and advanced Web browser.

(5 out of 5)

LG Sentio Mobile Phone

The LG Sentio is considered to be one of the top 5 LG mobile phones. It has a height of 4.2 inches, width of 2.1 inches and a depth of 0.5 inches. It weighs around 3.3 ounces- making it easy on the pockets, literally. At first look, the Sentio looks like a mini smartphone made of smooth rubber. The phone has a 3-inch touchscreen that pales in comparison with other phones in terms of illumination. Users may get disappointed with the dim backlighting of the handset, and the phone’s main screen can get washed out when under direct sunlight.

The LG Sentio does not have a physical keyboard, so users have to access the various functions of the phone using the touchscreen. On the left spine of the phone is the volume toggle control, as well as the Task menu key and microUSB port. On the other side is a dedicated key for the camera while on the upper part of the device is a screen lock and unlock key.

User Interface (4 out of 5)

There are three circular buttons located beneath the Sentio’s screen. These buttons are used in accessing the various functions of the phone. A satisfying click sound is heard when the buttons are pressed. The on-screen QWERTY keyboard appears when the user tilts the handset. One of the most common complaints about the onscreen QWERTY keyboard is the cramped spacing of the characters, so users may have to give themselves time to get used to using this. The screen lock prevents the phone from performing unwanted operations but most users will also find this as an obstruction in doing basic functions like ignoring or aborting a voice call.

There is a customizable widget placed on the right side of the main screen that quickly delivers the most commonly used applications to the user. The main menu, on the other hand, has four screens which users can select by tapping buttons located on the right side of the menu. This is in stark contrast from the swiping mechanism that most Samsung devices employ. Unlike other budget phones, the Sentio has a snappy feel when in use and the integrated accelerometer responds quickly, much to the contentment of many of its users.

Features (4 out of 5)

LG Sentio

The Sentio has the basic text and multimedia messaging functions as well as other basic features like clock, calendar, email, and organizer. More advanced multimedia functions include a web browser and a music player that supports popular audio formats like MP3, WMA and MPEG4. Noticeably absent is a Wi-Fi feature. The phone’s memory can be expanded up to 16GB.

The Sentio has a 3 megapixel camera that is a surprising addition to such a cheap handset. The phone lacks a viewfinder as well as flash settings for the camera, however. The camera has digital zoom, a couple of shooting modes, and editing and color options. The camera can also capture video clips.

The phone book of the Sentio can store up to 1,000 contacts. Each entry can have up to five phone numbers, three email addresses, and other details like instant messenger IDs, company name, street address, URL, birthday and memo.

The phone is fully customizable as users can change graphics and sounds. The phone comes with demo versions of LG mobile games such as Guitar Hero 5, Need for Speed, Pac-Man, Millionaire 2010 and Photobucket Mobile.

Performance (4 out of 5)

The Sentio’s web browser is not the fastest in the market today. Users have to wait for sometime to have the web pages load, and this could cause a lot of frustration for many LG Sentio owners. The mobile phone, however, does have a good battery life. It can last up to 6 hours of talk time, and almost a week of standby time.

Voice calls made using this phone were pretty OK. Audio quality was clear and loud, and users can hear the person on the other line very well. Don’t rely on the phone for playing music as audio blasting through its speakers was sub-standard. It is always a good bet to use a headset when listening to music stored on the phone.

The media player, however, gets good grades for being easy to use. The media player can display album art too, a welcome treat for any audiophile.

Verdict (4 out of 5)

The LG Sentio is a great bargain. It is not the most advanced phone in the market, but just the same, it offers great features and performance for such a cheap price. The design alone can give other smartphones a run for their money. Those who cannot afford expensive handsets can go settle for this handset.