As is the trend nowadays, LG has decided to release as Mini version of its flagship handset the LG G2. Whilst the G2 wasn’t an exceptional phone (when we reviewed it in November 2013’s issue of What Mobile Magazine we gave it 3 ½ stars), it did have some nice features – and a hefty £500 pricetag.
So here, with the European announcement of the G2 Mini, was the perfect opportunity for LG to right their wrongs. A 4.7 inch display may not sound all that small, but it’s a fair drop from the sizeable 5.2 inches of the original model. That’s about the best that can be said for it though, as the rest of the specs are something of a head-scratcher.
For the fairly significant pricetag of £289 (a UK price has yet to be officially set, but at $350 it should be around that amount) you get some pretty torrid specs. The processor drops from 2.26 GHz to 1.2 GHz, 2 GB of RAM is now just 1 GB, the pixel density falls from an exceptional 424 PPI to an ugly 234 (thanks to a resolution of just 960 x 540), and the internal storage is just 8 GB as opposed to 16 or 32 GB. The camera also takes a hit, sliding from 13 MP to 8 MP.
Whilst some downgrade is specs is usually to be expected, it’s hard to imagine Apple (the iPhone 5c) or HTC (the One Mini) or Sony (the Z1 Compact) releasing such a drastically worsened version of their flagship handset. At such a steep price, and with a screen which is still 0.7 inches larger than the largest iPhone, it’s hard to work out just what LG’s intentions were when conceiving the handset. It’ll be on sale early this April, if you can find a reason to care.
