In brief: Nationwide 5G coverage is still far from perfect, but LG still wants to bring more customers into the fold. Today, the company announced one of the cheapest smartphones on the market to feature 5G: the K92. Starting at $350, the device features an all-screen, FHD display, Snapdragon's 690 chipset, and a quad-camera setup.
Those specs are nothing to sneeze at for such an affordable phone, but we imagine the 5G support will be one of the main selling points here – especially when other modern 5G devices can run you upwards of $800.
In case you need a bit more information, let's delve right into the rest of the K92's features and hardware, starting with that quad-camera setup we mentioned before. According to LG, the camera array boasts "flagship-quality" photography capabilities courtesy of its 64MP standard lens, 5MP ultra-wide-angle lens, 2MP macro lens, and its 2MP depth sensor.
Obviously, without testing the device for ourselves, it's challenging to back LG's flagship-quality claims, but the specs, at the very least, are indeed similar to what you'd find in a higher-end smartphone.
As for the display, we're looking at a 6.7-inch FHD, all-screen panel here, with a 16MP hole-punch selfie camera that takes up only a small amount of the K92's screen real estate. LG claims the display houses a proprietary "FullVision" screen, a form of OLED tech.
Moving on to under-the-hood hardware, the K92 contains 6GB of RAM (seemingly non-upgradable) and 128GB of storage; only 99GB of which is actually usable by the end user. You can expand the storage with a microSD card for up to 2TB of extra space.
As noted above, the K92 has a budget-friendly Snapdragon 690 5G chip inside, which should be fast enough for the folks LG is targeting here. The device also runs Android 10 and ships with a 4,000mAh battery capable of USB-C fast charging. We're not sure how long it is supposed to last, though – LG only says the battery life is "reliable," but that's basically meaningless to us.
Designwise, the K92 is nothing too special. It has the same rounded edges and corners we see in most other modern smartphones, and the button layout is relatively standard (barring the side-mounted fingerprint sensor, which we don't as often these days).
The only stand-out design feature here is the two-tone rear panel: the camera array and flashlight are surrounded by a darker rectangular box, whereas the rest of the phone's rear is a few shades lighter. It looks good, but since most people will be using a case anyway, it might be a bit of a wasted effort on LG's part.
At any rate, the LG K92 is expected to ship out on November 6 through AT&T, with a $395 price tag. If you buy through Cricket instead, you'll only pay $359, and you can knock a few extra dollars off by going with US Cellular, which will reportedly offer the K92 for $359 starting on November 19.