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LG quietly adds Marshmallow-powered K8 to its mid-range lineup

At CES last month, LG launched a couple of new K-series midrange smartphones with the aim to at least have a presence at the low end of the market. Design was almost identical between the K7 and K10, although specifications were slightly different. Without as much as a press release, it seems the company has now added another K-series phone which sits right in between those two.

The LG K8 has now gone on sale in Europe and is a similar size to the K7, but has a higher resolution screen. Its 5-inch display features in-cell touchscreen technology and boasts a resolution of 720 x 1280. More importantly, the device is launching with Android Marshmallow onboard.

Key specs include the following:

  • 5-inch HD display (720p)
  • MediaTek MT6735 processor
  • 8MP rear camera
  • 5MP front camera
  • 1.5GB RAM
  • 8GB or 32GB internal storage
  • Bluetooth 4.2 and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
  • 2125mAh battery

Along with the unspectacular X cam and X screen, the K8 signals that LG is clearly still trying to figure out how to compete with the new wave of affordable smartphones boasting great specs and performance. With companies like Oppo, Huawei/Honor, Xiaomi and OnePlus churning out premium looking, fast, high-end devices at low prices, it’s pretty baffling to see LG respond by launching a plethora of plastic, cheap low end phones that clearly won’t compete.

More importantly, with the increase in recently announced phones with Android Marshmallow onboard, we should finally start seeing the OS increase its adoption rate which is, by all counts, embarrassingly low.

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