LG K31 review with our opinions on the phone’s basic specs, from performance, design, camera, and other aspects. Discover its price as well.
LG K31 smartphone was released in August 2020. It’s one of the budget options from LG circulating in the market right now. Consumers may find LG K31 as a budget reliable device with many smartphone perks.
This phone features a sizable screen that is 5.7-inch. It is powered by an Octa-core MediaTek CPU and 2GB RAM. At a first impression, LG K31 looks not bad for an entry-level model.
Moreover, it also features a dual camera. Although it is not exactly revolutionary, it serves as a nice bonus for a phone in the $100-ish price range. For the battery, the capacity is 3,000, which is also not bad.
Here we examine the phone thoroughly in this LG K31 review. Find out if the phone offers value that aligns with the price it is selling.
Page Contents:
Key Specs
LG K31 specifications:
- Weight: 146g
- Dimensions: 147.8 x 71.1 x 8.6mm
- OS: Android 10
- Screen size: 5.7-inch
- Resolution: 1520 x 720
- CPU: 2GHz Octa-core, MediaTek Helio P22
- RAM: 2GB
- Storage: 32GB
- Battery: 3,000mAh, Non-removable
- Rear camera: 13MP + 5MP
- Front camera: 5MP
Design
On the first impression, what’s striking is how light LG K31 is at 146g. The phone employs plastic back and fronts, hence the lightness. As for the dimension, it is pretty average at 147.8 x 71.1 x 8.6mm for height, width, and thickness. There’s only one color choice that is gray.
The design of LG K31 resembles typical LG phones in the budget range. It features a full-vision display but unlike the more expensive models, LG K31 is thicker on all sides. Especially the bottom part when there’s a substantial space. There’s also a notch on the top. Unlike the gray back cover, the front frame is entirely in deep black.
The phone features three physical buttons. Aside from the usual Power and Volume key, LG also installed a Google Assistant button. Often we found it rarely used since you can activate Google with a voice command anyway.
This phone’s build quality is just so so. The plastic back is light and durable enough for everyday use. It’s not immune to scratch so expect some wear and tear along the way.
As for the design, it won’t steal anyone’s attention, but good enough to show itself as a phone of the latest release. It doesn’t look old school.
Read also: LG K31 User Manual
Display
The 5.7-inc display on LG K31 manages to get the perfect middle ground. It is not too small yet won’t discourage users who don’t like humongous screens. The screen itself has a decent HD quality, with pixels measuring at 1520 x 720.
The size is spacious to host your favorite movie. Also, for providing ample room when users scroll apps, stack apps, and do other basic tasks every day. LG K31 is comfortable to hold in one hand. Furthermore, when watching a video on full-screen, you can easily ignore the bezels on the phone’s sides.
The screen of LG K31 comes with the HD+ display quality. You can enjoy high-definition images and movies on it, with crisp colors and decent brightness. Please understand that HD+ still has some drawbacks. It is not the best screen in the market (There are AMOLED screens and Full HD screens which are better quality and more expensive.)
One of the most inconvenient compromises you’ll make is when using the phone on a sunny day. The screen won’t be able to hold up well and you’ll be squinting your eyes. Overall the weaknesses come from brightness and details. On the other hand, problems like bad and rough pixels are almost non-existent.
Camera
LG K31 tries to impress consumers with its dual-camera setup. We spotted the 13MP PDAF camera with an aperture size of F1.8. The secondary camera is at 5MP and it holds an ultra-wide lens. On the other side, a 5MP selfie shooter occupies the notch above the screen.
The main camera is a promising feature. With a focal length of F1.8, it is better than lower quality and more common F2.2. It means the lens has a better light-capturing ability. In a situation where light is scarce, like at night, the lens could still perform well. The PDAF (Phase Detection Autofocus) is another plus point the lens has. It makes the camera more agile when capturing moving objects.
The wide-angle lens is useful for taking panorama pictures. It is also helpful when you want to zoom in on objects without losing picture quality. However, this is not a depth lens. You can’t take a true bokeh image with this dual-camera setup on LG K31.
Video recording on this phone is capable of producing Full HD videos. It applies both to the back and the front camera. The front camera itself is a decent selfie shooter at 5MP. There are no autofocus and other enhancing features, so don’t expect the pictures to match the back camera’s results.
Read also:
- Alcatel 1B Review: Modest Specs and Android Go
- Alcatel U50 Review: Compact Design, Basic Functionalities
Storage
LG K31 comes with 32GB of external storage. This is not the full amount a user will enjoy. Because LG will load some custom apps on the phone, the number of available storage will be greatly reduced. In the end, you’ll get around 17GB to use. That’s almost half of the total capacity. This is actually pretty common practice by manufacturers, however, LG software seems to always excessively use the internal storage.
When a user thinks they need more space, you’ll get an option for expandable storage. On LG K31, you are allowed to install up to 32GB of SD card. It’s not a lot and we think LG K31 should provide more. Most people would require more than just 32GB.
Performance
LG K31 runs on a 2GHz MediaTek Helio P22 chipset. It is aided by a 2GB RAM and the CPU has a GPU too, called PowerVR GEB320. The processor is an ARM Cortex one with 8 cores (Octa-core.) The more cores a CPU has, the more efficient it is with its operation. This is because they can multitask between the cores and deliver faster results.
As a result, this phone has a decent performance compared to many cheaper alternatives. You can get around the phone doing tasks like browsing, social media, and document editing with ease. It is not the fastest CPU, however, so things like launch time is significantly slower than on a flagship phone.
We can’t complain with the speed in this LG K31 review. This device is a versatile casual phone for casual users. The RAM, which only 2GB, seems to hold up pretty well in most situations. You can use the phone to multitask between apps and won’t encounter any problem up to a point.
This phone, however, is not made for intense gaming. It will struggle to play big popular names out there. For online gaming, you will need to deal with hiccups as well.
There seems to be no problem when it comes to other multimedia-related activities. We’re talking about streaming movies and music. The hindrance instead comes from the limited storage. If you like to download your media offline, it’s easy to make the phone full in no time. That would impact your overall user experience with LG K31.
LG K31 runs on a pretty recent version of Android, Android 10. As usual, LG puts its own modifications to the operating system, giving you a bespoke user interface. It’s pleasant to look at and easy to navigate. There are also some custom apps to play around with and improve user productivity.
The accessibility features of this phone are abundant. Starting from the Google Assistant to the hearing aid compatibility, LG K31 strives to make itself accessible to a wide range of consumers. It supports multiple languages and native voice assistants. Additionally, this phone also has a fingerprint scanner, an important feature to increase the phone’s security.
Connectivity
LG K31 is a 4G-supporting handheld. So, you don’t have to worry about not getting the fastest and widely available network coverage. Signal reception is good, and calling on this phone comes with a VoLTE feature among many others.
Download speed can reach 150Mbps with LG K31. The phone also provides derivative features such as mobile Wi-Fi hotspot and Wi-Fi direct.It also has Wi-Fi calling, which allows you to make a regular phone call through Wi-Fi instead of the usual mobile network. This feature can save you some money.
LG K31 comes with Bluetooth v.5, which supports multiple pairing and a wider pairing range (up to 10m.) This device also has GPS for location positioning. However, it doesn’t feature NFC. That’s why it’s not a good idea to buy this phone if you are a regular user of contactless mobile payment.
Battery
LG K31 is powered by a 3,000mAh battery. It is non-removable and has no fast-charging feature. The specifications of the battery is exactly what we expected. There’s nothing standout about it, while it being reliable enough for an entry-level phone.
The battery claims to get you 12 hours of talk time on 4G. On standby, the phone records 620 hours without charging. We see it as average and quite common compared with competitors. Of course, real-life performance will depend on the individual. It varies depending on how you will use the phone. Naturally, more screen time means less battery life.
Is the LG K31 a good phone?
LG K31 is a good everyday phone with important features included, all while being packaged with an affordable price tag. It only costs $139,99 to get this phone to be your own. There are some interesting features to pay attention to, including the dual camera and Android 10.
On the other hand, there are some popular features you won’t get with LG K31. For example, the ability for intense gaming. Additionally, it’s a budget phone with just okay build quality. It’s a good phone but you must be aware of these drawbacks. That’s pretty much our conclusion for this LG K31 review.
LG K31 Pros
- HD+ screen
- Perfect size
- Dual-camera
- Fingerprint reader
- Inexpensive
LG K31 Cons
- Not for gaming
- Plastic body
