Fancy yourself a quad-camera smartphone? Find it this LG K61 has what you need. This phone offers incredible specs at a bargain.
LG K61 smartphone was released in April 2020. With this model, LG tries to maintain its status as one of the best providers of flagships at a bargain. The phone boasts several features hard to ignore but the price is not ultra-expensive.
Among these features is a 6.5-inch screen. Followed by a Full HD resolution, the combo promises you more than a decent viewing experience under $300.
But the highlights lie in other areas. It’s the camera setup, which impressively has four lenses with all sorts of functions. This spec is a couple with large internal storage and a big battery.
There is more to explore, hence we present this LG K61 review. Enjoy getting to know the phone thoroughly. It will help you make a decision before making a purchase.
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Key Specs
LG K61 specifications:
- Weight: 191g
- Dimensions: 164.5 x 77.5 x 8.4mm
- OS: Android 9
- Screen size: 6.5-inch
- Resolution: 2340 x 1080
- CPU: 2.3GHz Octa-core, Mediatek Helio P35
- RAM: 4GB
- Storage: 128GB
- Battery: 4,000mAh, Non-removable
- Rear camera: 48MP + 8MP + 2MP + 2MP
- Front camera: 16MP
Design
LG K61 employs a design familiar with phones released in 2020. It features an expansive screen with frames as small as possible. This particular model is quite gigantic, with 164mm and 77.5 mm in height and width, respectively.
Due to all the extra camera and battery capacity it carries, we are not surprised that it’s a bit weighty. LG K61 weighs 191g, slightly above average than many of its counterparts. This extra weight serves as one of LG K61’s plus sides, as the phone feels solid and more premium when you are holding it.
The back cover has a titanium white color which is surprisingly good at hiding smudges. It has a glossy finish and minimal look, and overall beauty in our opinion. We had a bit of a complaint regarding the fingerprint reader. It lies too far up and too small, therefore people with small hands might find it harder to reach.
LG K61 is not just about appearance. This phone also guarantees sturdiness by utilizing a military-grade standard. It is certified as shockproof. The phone also can survive in extreme temperature and humidity conditions (MIL-STD-810 certified.)
In conclusion, LG K61 satisfies us in both looks and build quality. There’s some minor discomfort with the fingerprint reader. But other than that, LG K61 is a well-designed handheld.
Read also: LG K61 User Manual
Display
LG K61 comes with an expansive screen with 6.5-inch in size. The display enjoys an incredible FHD+ quality too, with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixel. It has a high screen-to-body ratio of 82.5% and an almost 2:1 aspect ratio.
Although no AMOLED screen, a Full HD screen is capable in its own right. It is bright and clear, with colors that appear vibrant and sharp. The phone has no problems related to stray or rough pixels. Images look pristine and exude all their necessary details. The phone lacks brightness and clarity when used under the sun, but it still performs far better than a lesser-quality display.
About the size, you will need to familiarize yourself with a big display. It’s a bit hard to navigate the screen with one hand. On the other hand, the big display means a better viewing experience. There’s simply a lot of space to display stacked apps, wide-screen movies, and video games. Combined with the thin bezels, the display is visually pleasing.
On top of that, LG K61’s display is scratch-resistant. We kind of expected the feature on this phone, and it doesn’t disappoint. The thin glass coating protects the display from everyday minor damages. However, it’s better to not leave the screen bare, as a protective coating won’t shield your phone from fall damage.
Camera
LG K61 prides itself on having a complete set of capable lenses for its camera setup. The configuration consists of a 48MP main lens, an 8MP ultra-wide, a 2MP macro camera, and a 4MP depth lens. If you are an avid photographer, this setup gives you tools to be as creative as possible with photos.
The star is undoubtedly the main camera. At 48MP, it is among the highest resolution you can get on a smartphone. Camera resolution is not everything, but more is always better. Especially when the lens also has a narrow f/1.8 aperture size, 0.8µm sensor, and Phase Detection Autofocus.
If these specs confuse you, let us explain in a simpler way. These specs translate into detail-rich photos, brighter results even during low-lights, and accurate focus. In short, you can snap a photo that would earn you compliments among your friends on social media. A little bit of tweaking and a picture can look like they’re professionally captured.
The depth lens, at 5MP, assists in picture-taking sessions where you’d want the background to be blurred. Using a lens, the result looks much more natural than using post-processing software. We also like the ultra-wide lens which helps in features like zoom or panorama.
If you like selfies, the 16MP front-facing camera is a reliable tool for that. This camera can also take 1080p videos, which helps a lot for clear-looking video calls.
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Storage
We like the fact that LG K61 comes with 128GB internal storage. This capacity grants you space for storing ten thousand photos, showing how large it is. The phone is perfect for somebody who doesn’t want to spend a dime for an SD card.
Despite the large internal capacity, an expandable option is still available. You can add up to 2TB of SD card into the phone, therefore expanding the overall storage space tremendously. The massive space of this phone is one of the best things we found in this LG K61 review.
Performance
LG K61 utilizes a 2.3GHz MediaTek Helio P35 as the center of its processing operations. This chipset is assisted by 4GB RAM and Android 11 on the software side. At a glance, this seems to be an okay setup for a budget mid-range smartphone.
MediaTek CPUs usually focus on being power-efficient than speedy, and it shows in this LG K61. The performance is far above cheap phones, but you won’t exactly call it a flagship performance.
The phone undoubtedly excels in daily tasks. For example, lightweight apps we use for everyday communication, such as WhatsApp and a bit of social media. We don’t see many problems in executions. LG K61 does the job flawlessly.
LG K61 is also a good phone for entertaining yourself with movies or music. The CPU and RAM are beyond capable of handling streaming-related tasks. You can also enjoy additional features like the DTS:X Virtual Surround. It brings the multimedia experience to the next level.
Things get a bit difficult with games. LG K61 can handle most games available in the app store. But for demanding names, there will be a performance drop for high settings. You can compromise by choosing the lower setting, although it won’t be as enjoyable.
Furthermore, this device comes with an Accelerometer, Gyroscope, and Compass. It means you can install apps and games that use these sensors, such as a racing game or navigation apps.
For the software, LG K61 originally runs on Android 9 Pie at the time of release. This operating system is upgradeable to Android 11, which is nice. The user interface is typical of LG, with custom UI and some in-house LG apps. Icons are neat-looking and the phone itself is easy to navigate.
Connectivity
With all its impressive specs, LG K61 misses one thing: a 5G support. This phone instead supports 4G. Don’t get us wrong, 4G LTE is still fast, providing up to 300 Mbps of download speed. However, it will lack an upgrade to a faster network speed in the future.
That’s all we lament about LG K61’s connectivity, because about other features, we are quite satisfied. This phone, as expected, has Wi-Fi and the latest version of Bluetooth. Also equipped with all sorts of GPS mechanisms (A-GPS, Cell ID, & Wi-Fi positioning), this device is reliable for everyday navigation.
Furthermore, this phone doesn’t ditch the classic 3.5mm headphone jack. At the same time, it uses the latest USB Type-C for its PC-to-device port as well as for charging. There are also more contactless connectivity features worth noting, like Screen Mirroring and NFC.
Battery
The 4,000mAh battery on LG K61 is a Li-Po cell and a non-removable one. This capacity is enough to power all the features and capabilities LG K61 offers. Promising around 420 hours of standby, the phone is also durable for calls, with battery performance reaching 14 hours on VoLTE.
Light activities on LG K61 can easily result in one day of full phone usage without charging, which is expected. This phone charges through a USB Type-C port. There’s no fast charging option, however. We rarely see fast charging features on a phone powered by MediaTek processors. The CPU unfortunately doesn’t support this convenient feature.
Is the LG K61 a good phone?
Our LG K61 review comes to a positive conclusion. This could be a great phone to have. LG K61 is also reasonably priced too. With a $410 price tag, it may sound expensive. Our tip here is to buy through an installment, which requires you to pay only $10 per month for two years. We think it’s a great bargain.
You’ll get a Full HD display and quad camera. Also, a decent battery life, a large storage space, and great performance. Not to mention small yet useful extras like the fingerprint reader and NFC.
We believe LG K61 is a phone better serving savvier users than entry-level ones. You can consider this phone if you’d like to upgrade from your starter Android.
LG K61 Pros
- Military-grade build quality
- Large FHD display
- Quad-camera
- Large storage space
LG K61 Cons
- Too big design
- Expensive on full price