LG X Charge Review: Nothing More Than a Battery Champ?

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LG X Charge: At First Glance

By popular opinion, the LG X Charge is said to be a rebranded variant of the LG X Power which was released in 2016. In addition to that, the LG X Charge is also said to have a similar look to the LG K20 Plus – which I reviewed earlier.

Having those different opinions makes it seem more like the LG X Charge is a merge of both the X Power and the K20 Plus. Such varying opinions can be quite confusing and confusion is the last thing you need when your money is involved.

Can you now see the importance of this LG X Charge review? This is why you should read on to get more clarity.

LG X Charge: Design, Dimensions and Weight

Simplicity and durability are two words to best describe the LG X Charge. To start with, it has a dark grey plastic build.

Furthermore, the phone’s back is quite grippy. This grippy feel means you don’t have to worry about this phone slipping unnecessarily from your hand.

Despite its durable build, its simplicity clearly makes it look like a cheap device. If you’ll prefer an affordable smartphone with a metal build, the Moto G5 Plus is worth considering.

The dimensions of the LG X Charge measures 154.7 x 78 x 8.4 mm – the phone weighs 163.9 g. In comparison, Moto E4 Plus weighs more at 198 g.

This Moto E4 Plus dimension also measures 155 x 77.5 x 79.55 mm. On the lighter side, there’s the Moto G5 Plus weighing 155g and its dimension of 150.2 x 74.0 x 7.7 mm.

However, the LG K20 Plus which is the look-alike of the LG X Charge weighs lighter at 140g.

It appears that the LG X Charge weighs averagely when compared with similar affordable smartphones. Additionally, you can be sure this phone doesn’t weigh a chunk.

Phone manufacturers like to give their consumers color options to choose from when getting their products and LG is no exception. You can get the LG X Charge in black titan, shiny blue, shiny gold, or shiny titan.

Now, let’s talk about what’s on the phone’s surface. As I earlier stated that the LG X Charge is very similar to the LG K20 Plus, it also shares similar looks.

To start with, the LG X Charge has thick upper and lower bezels while the side bezels are narrow. Only the front-facing camera and LED flash are what you’ll find on the upper bezel.

The only thing occupying the lower bezel on the other hand is the “LG” logo – no fingerprint nor navigation keys.

As for the navigation keys, it consists of the Back, Home, and Recent keys that help you move around apps. These important keys are found on the screen which then makes you wonder why LG made the lower bezel thick anyway.

The position of the power button and volume rocker on this phone is nothing different from what we’re used to. On the right is the power button and the left is where you’ll see the volume rocker.

Also on the left is the SIM tray. This is a different design pattern from what’s on the LG K20 Plus which has its SIM tray at the back.

Notably, this SIM tray on the LG X Charge consists of a SIM slot that accommodates a single Nano-SIM. The second slot on the other hand accommodates a microSD card.

Having a smartphone that only allows a single SIM can be disappointing especially if you must have two SIM cards in the phone.

If you can live with that or you have just one SIM card, then you have nothing to worry about. Away from that, the bottom of the phone has a micro USB charging port and a headphone jack.

On turning over the phone, if you’ve been expecting a fingerprint sensor, you’ll be disappointed. You’ll only find the rear-facing camera, a LED flash, and the ‘LG’ logo here.

On the lower part of the phone’s back, there’s the back-facing speaker just like the LG K20 Plus.

From such a speaker, don’t expect great sound quality from this smartphone only if you’ll use earphones instead. This speaker would have sounded a lot better if it was in the same position as the charging port and headphone jack below.

In a nutshell, the LG X Charge weighs averagely, has color variants to choose from, and has a durable build to top it. It however doesn’t impress with its single SIM slot like the LG K20 Plus.

For such reasons, I will be rating LG X Charge and eight in this design section.

LG X Charge: Display Features

Knowing the display features of a phone is important because it lets you know just how clear or not a phone screen is. The display technology responsible for the LG X Charge is the IPS LCD display panel.

This IPS LCD display functions well by providing good viewing angles. The importance of viewing angles is that it helps maintain the visibility of a display even when you tilt the phone to any angle.

One downside of the IPS LCD however is that it tends to consume more battery. All the same, you can be sure to get a crispy and sharp display on here.

Another important aspect of the display is its resolution which is the HD (1280 x 720) resolution. As far as resolution types go, what the LG X Charge offers is below the standard – which is the FHD.

Even though the HD resolution is lower than what is found in most smartphones, the display is not terribly bad. Although, LG could have done better even with its price tag.

As for display size, the LG X Charge is 5.5-inch wide which is larger than the 5.3-inch size of the LG K20 Plus. Even though the LG K20 Plus is similar to the LG X Charge, it doesn’t quite match up.

Such a size is not too big nor too small. This makes it appropriate for watching movies, reading documents, or playing games.

Additionally, screen brightness isn’t very high, so the display can be hard to see in direct sunlight.

Overall, the LG X Charge has a fair display that could have been better. Such display features make this smartphone deserving of an eight in this display section of the LG X Charge review.

LG X Charge: Camera Features

Without a doubt, camera features can be a deal-breaker for many smartphone users, let’s see if this smartphone matches up. The rear-facing camera of LG X Charge is 13MP with ƒ/2.2 aperture and the front-facing is 5MP with ƒ/2.4 aperture.

To clarify, the “ƒ” symbol which stands for the “aperture” is a more important feature of the camera than the megapixel (MP). This is because the aperture helps understand the amount of picture quality you can expect from a camera.

In essence, aperture refers to how wide the camera lens gets and this determines how light passes through the camera. Interestingly, the lower the figure, the better the aperture.

This means you should be rooting for a lower aperture when going for a smartphone camera that will blow you away. Having said that, let’s talk about what both cameras on the LG X Charge have to offer.

The 13MP rear camera is focusable, which means you can set the focus when taking a picture using “autofocus”. The autofocus is a camera feature that fine-tunes the camera to solely on the subject it detects.

This rear camera captures images well even in low-light situations. However, color reproduction is low when taking videos.

Also, video taking on this smartphone is not smooth when capturing. If you’re a YouTuber, this phone won’t cut it for making videos.

As for the 5MP selfie camera, it is simply average, there’s nothing spectacular about it even with the flash. It captures decent pictures and is okay for video conferencing, however, the image quality is not great.

Furthermore, it takes a little while for the autofocus to actually focus but when it does, it does a good job.

In brief, the unimpressive camera features section deserves a seven in this LG X Charge review.

LG X Charge: Battery Life and Talk Time

As the name implies, the LG X Charge was created to please you in the battery department. This phone is called the “Charge” because of the amount of battery it has and how users won’t have to charge so often.

The LG X Charge is packed with a 4500mAh non-removable battery. It also lasts 20 hours on 3G talk time.

At full-screen brightness with mobile data turned on, this phone lasts 11 hours 8 minutes on YouTube video playback. Slightly longer is the Moto E4 Plus which lasted 11 hours 44 minutes.

The higher-performing Moto E4 Plus is not a surprise since it’s packed with a 5000mAH battery. LG K20 Plus on the other hand with its 2700mAH battery lasts 7 hours 31 minutes on the same video playback.

Comparatively, the LG Power X with its 4100mAH battery lasts 8 hours 48 minutes on video playback. Even with its similar battery size as the LG X Charge, the Power X still didn’t match up.

Actually, the LG X Charge lasts for two days on regular use and lasts a week on standby mode.

Moving on to charging capabilities, having a phone with a lasting battery can be annoying if this battery actually takes forever in getting a full charge.

In that regard, the LG X Charge comes with a fast charger in the box and LG says this phone has a fast-charging feature. Even with its fast charging feature, it still takes some time to fully charge this phone’s battery.

The LG Charge X actually takes 3 hours 30 minutes to get a full charge from 0 to 100%. All the same, the amount of battery life you get on here won’t make you have to charge this smartphone too often.

Overall, LG aims to reduce battery anxiety of its users with its impressive battery features. Even though the fast-charging feature doesn’t impress, it deserves an eight in this section of the LG X Charge review.

LG X Charge: Storage Options and Performance

In terms of storage, the LG Charge X comes with 16GB of storage. Even for a 2017 smartphone, 16GB of storage is not impressive in any way.

This is particularly true because most smartphones actually come with 32GB of storage which seems to be the standard. Notably, 5.79GB is what you have available out of the 16GB and this is because of the apps and phone software.

Looking at that, you already know that almost 6GB won’t suit your needs especially if you intend to have a lot of music and pictures. That’s nothing to worry about though because you can use an SD card to increase your chances of getting more storage.

Fortunately, the LG Charge X supports expandable storage of up to 2TB with the use of a microSD card (which you’ll have to purchase separately). Having a whole 2TB made available is far more than the 256GB maximum storage we see for most smartphones.

All in all, LG seems to have made up for their low storage here by making the 2TB expandable storage available. For that reason, I will be rating this storage section a nine in this LG X Charge review.

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LG X Charge: Security Features and Sensors

A smartphone sensor is an important feature because it measures physical quantities and transmits them to the application processor. Common sensors on smartphones are proximity, accelerometer, compass, ambient light, and gyro sensors.

For the LG Charge X, there are the accelerometer, compass, gyro, and proximity sensors. To start with, the phone’s accelerometer is a built-in feature that measures tilt and screen movement.

This is what’s responsible for screen rotation. The compass sensor on the other hand performs exactly as the name implies.

It functions when you install an application that requires a compass. As for the proximity sensor, it turns off screen brightness when the phone is close to the face or ear.

Apparently, this mostly happens during a call. The proximity sensor does well to prevent battery drainage and turns off the display to prevent the keypad from pressing itself.

Next is the gyroscope sensor which is my favorite. The gyroscope sensor is the one responsible for the motion gestures that get things done on your phone.

An example is when you wave your hands over the phone screen to reject a call. Once a smartphone has the gyroscope sensor feature, such motion gestures work well on your phone which gives you a more interesting experience.

On a disappointing note, the LG X Charge does not have a fingerprint sensor. This is displeasing even for a low-budget device because we are already getting used to seeing fingerprint sensors in smartphones in this price range.

In the absence of the fingerprint sensor, it means you’ll have to secure this phone in an old-fashioned way. Either by PIN or pattern method.

As a whole, this sensors section deserves a seven in this LG X Charge review. My main reason for doing that is because of LG’s omission of the fingerprint sensor.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

The LG Charge X offers a good deal for an affordable smartphone with battery life you can trust far more than average smartphones. That said, if the battery is all you’re thinking about, this phone is just it.

Also, if you’re a heavy phone user who’s always on the move and doesn’t have time to charge at every spot, the LG Charge X performs better than average. On the other hand, if display and camera features are so important to you, this smartphone might not be your final choice.

Furthermore, not having a fingerprint sensor on this phone may also be a deal-breaker for you. If you’re willing to spend more, you can get the Moto E4 Plus which has a similar battery capacity and a fingerprint sensor.

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