Final Thoughts

I find the Final Thoughts on lower-end devices much harder to write, as you have to be so critical on the device. The Optimus L7 can be found for under $200, and for that price it's a great phone - if you're not looking at any others.

Right now, the Nexus 4 is $349 in Australia for the 8GB version - so for under double the price you can go from a single-core 1GHz smartphone to a quad-core 1.5GHz behemoth. The screen res almost doubles, the camera bumps up to 8-megapixel, and just about everything else is better to the power of infinity.

I really think because of the Nexus 4, phones priced at $200-or-so are going to be hard sellers. Are you buying this outright? If so, grab the Nexus 4. Are you buying this phone on a plan? Well, it's only going to be $10 a month over two years, so why not jump up and grab the Nexus 4?

I have a hard time recommending this phone because of that - but there are people who will still not want to spend that extra money and that's fine. If that's sounding like you - the Optimus L7 is not a bad phone by any means, it's just that the tides have shifted and there are new powers around charging much less for the best smartphone out right now, in my opinion of course.

The Optimus L7 isn't a bad phone it has just been faced with some strong and cheap competition.