Description
LG Stylus 2 Android smartphone with stylus – review
LG’s take on the budget to mid range arena offers something slightly different – it has a built-in stylus, hence the name. It’s not the all singing, all dancing offering you get with the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 or Microsoft’s Surface laptops, but if you like to draw and write your notes on screen then this might appeal.
Inevitably dubbed the “Note 8 for those on a budget”, it does fit that bill nicely, with lower specs than the £800 Samsung flagship but a much lower price. It has the screen size to match, and at a hefty 5.7 inches is undoubtedly a handful, but surprisingly manages to find a slot to house the admittedly very thin stylus. It’s quite an achievement on a device that’s only 7.4mm thick. Or should we say thin. A nice feature is an automatic alert on the phone which reminds you if you have forgotten to dock the stylus and walk away without it, while note and sketching apps become available when you remove the stylus from the phone.
If note taking on your phone isn’t that important to you though, there are better phones around for less money. The 1.5GHZ quad-core processor is fine for general everyday use but it not the most powerful. The screen is decent enough and while the 720p HD resolution isn’t the sharpest on a display of this size, it still offers a respectable 258 pixels per inch.
There are plenty of positives too, with a 13 megapixel camera on the rear – almost the default size nowadays – while the forward facing selfie snapper gives you 8 megapixels and both take decent shots. The main camera is certainly well specified with HDR mode, panorama, touch to focus and face recognition included.
LG also retain the nicely placed volume and power buttons on the back panel below the camera. LG claim the back panel position is the most natural and ergonomic and it’s hard to argue because they do feel right and your finger rests almost naturally on them, but I guess old habits die hard and the volume buttons have moved back to the sides on the new LG G6 flagship.
It’s not particularly heavy despite it’s size, weighing in at just 145 grams, partly due to the plastic casing but that’s a plus point on a phone this big and it is easier in the hand than you probably have a right to expect. Other specs are low to mid range, but one interesting addition is a built in DAB+ digital radio. A colleague described it as a nice phone with a certain appeal that won’t appeal to everyone. and that’s probably about right.
OUR SUMMARY
The LG Stylus 2 is great if you want a device with a stylus and don’t want to spend a fortune, but you are limited to LG’s few note taking and sketching apps. There are a couple of interesting uses, one app which allows you to straighten out shots of objects that are, well, not straight, and an app that allows you to take a screenshot and annotate it, but there’s little beyond that.
OUR SUMMARY
You get a good “phablet” sized 5.7 inch screen which is perfectly adequate with great contrast levels. We would have like to have seen a slightly higher resolution but it’s difficult to complain at this price point. If you have no use for a stylus or big screen you might find yourself asking what the point of it is, but if that’s what you are looking for then the LG Stylus 2 offers a lot of phone for the money and it’s hard not to like it.
However if you’re looking for a decent mid range smartphone without the stylus then the Samsung Galaxy J5 or the considerably cheaper 5.5 inch Sony Xperia L1 are better value for your money.
Brand new and boxed with UK charger and USB cable.
Includes free O2 Pay As You Go sim card (but feel free to use your own sim. This phone is factory unlocked and works with any UK or European network sim, contract or prepay) FREE UK postage or upgrade to 1st Class Tracked for just £3.
