At the beginning of March 2015, LG revealed four new mid-range Android smartphones – the Magna, Spirit, Leon, and Joy. While not as high-tech as the G Flex2, they do have something in common with the flexy phone; it’s subtly curved shape.
Updated on 03-31-2015 by Andy Boxall: Added in international availability for the Magna, Spirit, Leon, and Joy.
LG confirmed the four new phones would be released internationally from March 30, starting with South America, followed by Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and finally, North America.
For now, let’s focus on the spiffiest of the bunch, the LG Magna. This one sports a gently curving design to help it sit comfortably in the hand, and comes with a 5-inch 720p display, an 8-megapixel rear camera, and a 5-megapixel shooter on the front. Under the hood you’ll find a quad-core 1.2GHz processor, 8GB of storage, and 1GB of RAM. The LG Spirit also has a slight curve to its body shell, and all except the Joy have the now traditional LG rear mounted controls.
Features such as Gesture Shot come to all of LG’s new phones. For the uninitiated, this lets users take a selfie by activating the camera’s timer with a simple gesture, relieving you of the need to stretch awkwardly or pull any weird moves as you try to tap the shutter button. However, in a move that will only help encourage the sale of more selfie sticks, the tech firm says it’s extended the distance from which the camera can recognize gestures to 1.5 meters to accommodate those who like to use the articulated monopods for self-portraits.
The Korean tech company’s newest devices also come with Glance View, which was introduced with the G Flex2 and is part of LG’s Android 5.0 Lollipop user interface. Here, a swipe downwards on the lock screen lets you view the time, messages, and missed calls while the display is switched off.
The specs among Magna, Spirit, Leon, and Joy are broadly similar, though the screen sizes differ and each camera’s megapixel count falls the further down the line you go. The LG Spirit has a 4.7-inch 720p screen and an 8-megapixel rear cam, while the LG Leon retains the same rear camera, and has a smaller 4.5-inch, 854 x 480 pixel screen. The front camera will vary depending on where the phone is sold. Both could have the 5-megapixel camera, or a 1-megapixel or VGA lens respectively.
Finally, the LG Joy has a 4-inch, 480 x 800 pixel screen, a 5-megapixel rear camera, and a VGA selfie cam. The new handsets all run Android Lollipop 5.0, have removable batteries, and come available in both LTE and 3G versions. Pricing details have yet to be announced.
[Source: LG]
