LG Spectrum First Impressions and Hands-On Video

• Tweet

One of the devices that kind of flew under the radar at CES 2012 was the LG Spectrum, a device that is going to be headed to Verizon on January 19th for $200. That price point is unusual for a phone destined for Big Red’s 4G LTE network, especially one that has the specs that the LG Spectrum boasts.

That being said, many of you out there off-contract or looking to upgrade might be looking at the LG Spectrum as a possible device. Well, we were able to go hands-on with it at CES and we wanted to share our first impressions, along with a hands-on video.

First though, let’s run down the LG Spectrum and what it will offer when it hits shelves.

On board, the Spectrum has a large 4.5-inch display which will feature True HD IPS and boast a resolution of 1280×720. That display will also feature Gorilla Glass. It’ll also have a 1.5GHz dual-core processor 8MP rear camera, 1.3 front-facing camera, and 16GB of storage space.

And like many of the other phones at CES 2012, the LG Spectrum will run Android 2.3 Gingerbread out of the box with LG promising an upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in the first half of 2012.

No exact date was given, of course.

As for our impressions, we’ll say this.

For the most part, we liked what we saw. The LG Spectrum is a solid phone. It can handle Android with ease. Browsing the web was painless. The screen is beautiful and Gorilla Glass is a definite plus.

However, the Spectrum’s design left us wanting more. It’s really plastiky. And while it does have the nice price tag, there really isn’t much on board the Spectrum that separates it from the rest of the pack.

It left us with that “it’s just another Android phone” feeling. Not good, especially with MWC and quad-core phones on the horizon.

We’ll reserve final judgement for our upcoming review but right now, we’re lukewarm on the LG Spectrum.