Many have asked if the LG Mach can join the growing team of Sprint’s Android lineup that has grown significantly over the last few years. Many say that the LG Mach is a mid-level device but this is not easily noticeable due to the dual core snap dragon S4 processor, 4G LTE, and Android 4.0 alongside a really good feature set.

Even as the QWERTY was dying, Motorola went ahead and installed a phenomenal keyboard on their Proton Q handset which was meant to be their high end phone of service provider Sprint. At the same time, LG went ahead and launched the all-touch Optimus G which they claimed to be their new hero device. Even as they did this, LG also announced the launch of the LG Mach.

We would like to find out if the LG Mach LS860 can find a place in Sprint’s Android line up. Let us begin with the design.

Read also: The New LG L9 Review

Design:

The LG Viper was one of Sprint’s Long Term Evolution (LTE) launch devices and this device was updated by the LG Mach. The LG Mach which boasts a 4 inch display is more comfortable to use than the Motorola Proton Q which falls at a slightly bigger 4.3 inch display. Even though the LG Mach cannot be compared to the standards of the Nexus 4 or the LG Optimus, the way in which the Mach is designed with its smooth yet durable spring slide which has quality materials makes it efficient to use and easy to handle. Even though it has lower standards than the above mentioned hand sets, one should not confuse this for a cheap quality phone, even though it comes with a low price tag. Having both the touch and Qwerty key board, the Mach is still a pretty thin device and fits very well into one’s pocket.

Around the Edges:

Around the edges of the handset nothing has changed as you find the same button as other LG handsets. These are the power button located at the top of the handset, the up and down volume buttons located on the left hand side of the handset and finally the mute button located on the right hand side of the handset. One will find three buttons below the display and in true LG tradition, they have replaced the Android multi tasking button with a menu button. If one wants to access the multi tasking menu, then a long press of the home key will do just that. LG have not put any Sprint logo on this phone unlike other competitors like Verizon.

QWERTY Keyboard:

Even though the LG Mach’s QWERTY keyboard is not as inviting as the full physical slide out QWERTY keyboard on the Motorola Photon Q, the spring slide out keyboard is still easy to use and very easy to get used to. The key board boasts its own dedicated number row in the five rows offered on this QWERTY key board. The space between the keys on the five rows of this key board make them easy to use though a little bit more spacing would have made it even better.

Display:

The LG Mach has a 4 inch display and a resolution of 480x800 which translates to 233ppi. The LG Mach does not use the TFT technology but instead decided to go the less travelled route using the In Plane Switching (IPS) technology which delivers exceptional picture quality and has definitely raised the bar in picture quality for handsets around the world. Even with the relatively low resolution, the LG Mach’s display is still in a class of its own with the high end color reproduction and the phone’s ability to offer all round viewing angles. The phone’s clarity is perfect in all lighting conditions. The display on the LG Mach has a light sensor and a proximity sensor making it easy for one to operate the handset.

Battery, Hardware and Camera:

The LG Mach’s battery has a relatively good talk time duration which is 9 hours 50 minutes. The stand by time is 12.9 days which easily translates to 309 hours. Seeing as the phone has 4G, the stand by time when using the 4G option is 10.1 days or 243 hours. The LG Mach has a system chip that uses Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 plus MSM 8960. Its internal processor is dual core and uses 1200MHz, Krait. Unlike many phones the LG Mach has a graphics processor that runs on Adreno 225. All this is run on a system memory of 1024MB  RAM. The built in storage for the LG Mach is 8GB but the phone also has a storage expansion capacity of up to 32GB when using a micro SD card or a micro SDHC card. The camera has a clarity of 5 mega pixels with an LED flash. Other features for the camera are auto focus and geo tagging. This phone also has a camcorder that is 1920x1080 translating to 1080P HD. There is also a front facing camera that is 0.3 mega pixels and is ideal for self portraits and video chatting.

Multimedia, Internet Browsing and Technology:

The LG Mach has various multimedia options including the music player which one can filter by the artist, album or playlist. Other features include viewing of the album cover and a back ground play back option that allows the user to use the phone while still listening to music. The video playback option allows the user zoom on an image and also stretches an image to full screen.  When ot comes to the speakers, one can select from two options, the earpiece or the loud speaker.  The LG Mach has built in online support services where one can upload YouTube videos and also use Picasa. This phone uses CDMA technology and can use either 800 or 1900 MHz.  The handset also uses Long Term Evolution (LTE) of 1900 MHz. One can access data using LTE and EV-DO Rev A.

Phone Features and Connectivity:

The phonebook is in a class of its own with unlimited entries options, caller groups, searcg by both first and last name and also allows the user to put a picture ID as well as ring ID. The LG Mach phone organizer offers a calendar, and alarm and a calculator. When it comes to messaging, one can either use Small Messaging Services (SMS) or MMS and it offers threaded view as well as predictive texting input. Options for email are IMAP, POP3, SMTP and Microsoft Exchange. The LG Mach has a Bluetooth connectivity of 4.0 and one can access Wi-Fi at any hotspot. The phone has USB connector features and one can use USB 2.0 or a micro USB. You can use the USB port to charge the phone as well for storage devices.

Other Features:

Other features the LG Mach has to offer include Haptic feedback, polyphonic ringtones, music ringtones (MP3) and vibration. The phone also has the flight mode option as well as a speaker phone. The sensors on this phone include an accelerometer as well as a compass. Voice dialing, voice recording and voice commands can also be used on this handset.

Conclusion:

The LG Mach phone if put on a scale of 1 to 10 would definitely score an even 8. This score is based on the underlying features above and the additional QWERTY key board that is an added advantage. Even as we move to the new touch screen technology, the QWERTY way will still take time to change. As they say, old is gold.

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