May 20, 2015

LG Lucky L16C Tracfone Android Review

LG Lucky Review, Specs and Details - Android Tracfone

This post shares the latest information on the LG L16C Lucky and includes our review and comparison to other available devices. We hope this information is helpful, and will continue to update as more details become available.

lg lucky review tracfone
LG Lucky Review
Another new Android device is available for use with Tracfone, and it is the LG Lucky, also known as L16C. This is an android powered device that is for use with Tracfone prepaid service.

Tracfone sells both prepaid cell phone service, and cell phones to use with their service at fairly low prices. The phones available through Tracfone are not the latest options, but have enough features to satisfy most users. For those who demand a lot from their device, consider learning about Tracfone 4G LTE service which allows you to use top of the line Android and Apple devices.

The LG Lucky is the latest in a growing selection of smartphones that Tracfone continues to deliver since their first meager offering back in 2013 (do you remember the LG Optimus Dynamic?). You can see for yourself on our Android Tracfone List.

Phones have slowly improved over time, with several devices sporting 4" or greater screens, better processors, and more memory. The LG Lucky, while not at the top end of available phones, is a solid contender and compares similarly to the Samsung Galaxy Stardust and LG Optimus Fuel. The LG Ultimate 2 would be a good choice for those looking for a larger screen.

We can see straight away that the Lucky has a smaller, 3.8" screen. For most people, this is a big drawback. But some consumers would prefer a smaller device. Some of the other notable features include a 1.2 Ghz dual core processor, and Android 4.4.

Let's get into the full list of specs and features on the LG Lucky.

LG Lucky Specs and Features List

These are the current features available on the LG L16C Lucky smartphone.
  • Android 4.4 KitKat
  • 3G Connectivity on Verizon Towers
  • WiFi
  • GPS
  • Bluetooth 4.0
  • Triple Minutes for Life Split into Text/Talk/Data
  • Hands Free Speaker
  • Hearing Aid Compatible
  • Access to Over a Million Applications through Google Play
  • Up to 32 GB SD Card Compatible, comes with 4 GB SD Card
LG L16C Lucky Specs
  • Size: 4.43" x 2.50" x 0.49"
  • 3.8" Touchscreen
  • 1.2 Ghz Dual Core Processor
  • 512 MB RAM
  • Internal Memory 4 GB
  • Weight: 4.2 ounces
  • Battery: 7 Hours Talk Time, 10 Days Standby
There are a couple of features that stand out on this device, such as the processor and internal memory. We also like that it has Android 4.4.

Let's get into our review of the LG Lucky to give a better idea of how the device compares to other phones.

LG Lucky L16C Review - Likes and Dislikes for the Phone

Straight away we find that the Android 4.4 KitKat is a great OS to use. It is compatible with an extremely wide variety of apps through Google Play that give the LG Lucky many additional uses. You can take a look at our List of the Best Android Apps for some ideas.

The LG L16C also has a 1.2 Ghz dual core processor, and 512 MB of RAM. This is better than Tracfone's original Android offerings like the ZTE Valet, which means the Lucky will be faster, and able to handle apps better. However, modern smartphones are now running with at least 2 GB RAM, and often quad core processors. If you're planning on being a heavy user, especially with games, you may want to look for a more robust device.

While the size, at 3.8", might turn some people away, we find this is a convenient size for those who don't want to do much on their phone beyond talking and occasionally texting or checking email. If you do plan to do more than that, a 4" screen or larger is just much more convenient.

We have confirmed the Lucky comes with 4 GB of internal memory which is enough to store a variety of apps, but don't go overboard. You can use up to a 32 GB external SD card with this phone, and it even comes with a 4GB card which is great for loading some music or videos on.

The battery life on the LG Lucky isn't as great as some devices, especially the Moto E, which has a very nice battery life.

The LG Lucky will use Verizon towers through Tracfone's prepaid service, so be sure to check what the service will be like in your area before buying the phone. Android phones split minutes into three separate pools of Talk, Text and Data.

The camera on the Lucky isn't very impressive, and it doesn't appear to have a front facing camera either.

Overall, the LG L16C is a versatile, average performing Android device that might be right for certain people. Starting at just $60, it is a lot easier on the budget, but you might be better off with an LG Optimus Fuel which shares many similarities, but can be found on Amazon for $30.

How the LG Lucky Compares to Other Android Phones

tracfone lg l16c lucky
Access Google Maps on the LG Lucky
The LG Lucky is very similar to several other Tracfone devices including the LG Optimus Fuel, and Samsung Galaxy Stardust. Indeed, these phones share many of the same features with only slight variations such as screen size or memory.

The LG Ultimate 2 is a little ahead of the LG Lucky in performance and screen size, plus the Ultimate 2 has a nice amount of Internal Memory.

The Lucky is recommended over the ZTE Valet, LG Optimus Dynamic, Samsung Galaxy Centura and Unimax Max Patriot phones. These phones are all a bit too old to be very useful anymore.

We are excited to share that it appears that Tracfone may also releasing several more phones, including the devices for use on GSM networks. These devices are the LG L15G (same as the LG Lucky, but for GSM) LG L22C and LG L21G. The LG 22C and 21G are the same, but for CDMA and GSM respectively and will feature Android 5.0. No word on when these will be released, but we will keep you updated!

Read up on our GSM vs CDMA comparison if you aren't quite sure what this all means.

For a full list of phones, check out our Cell Phone Reviews page.

Where to Buy the LG Lucky and Covers/Cases

The LG Lucky is now available from a variety of sources (when it was first released, it was only available on the Tracfone website).

We have found a great deal on the LG Lucky with 200 Minutes on eBay currently $50 (the airtime is worth $40, making the phone only $10!)

We have also found the Lucky on Amazon for just $15

And you can also find it in many retail stores, such as BestBuy, Walmart and Target.

You can find plenty of cases and covers for the LG Lucky on retailers such as Amazon and eBay. Here are the LG Lucky Cases we've found on Amazon.

You can also take a look at the interactive tutorial for the LG Lucky.

The LG Lucky is another stop in Tracone's slow progression of Android devices, and it offers some nice features, but we hope Tracfone continues to bring us more modern smartphones.

Thanks for visiting and we hope you found this information useful.

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You might also want to check out our Tracfone BYOP page which contains the latest information on brining your own phone to use with Tracfone.

If you have questions or thoughts, be sure to leave a comment below, and also check for information posted by other readers!

65 comments :

Unknown said...

I have yet to enter the Tracfone Android party, but I think the GSM Android phones might just do it for me (particularly the LG Destiny L21G from what I'm piecing together from Google searching: 4.5" screen; 1.2 ghz quad-core processor; 4GB of available memory; 5.0 Lollipop...whether or not this stuff it true remains to be seen though). It'd just be nice to have an Android phone that gets signal whenever I visit friends and family back home (CDMA is finicky in some areas of West Virginia).

Disgruntled College Grad said...

Can't wait for the GSM Android to finally come to Tracfone!

fuddly said...

Triple Minutes for Life split into Talk/Text/Data means what exactly? A 200 minute card gets you 200 X 3(600) minutes, texts, MBs of data? Or 200 minutes, texts, MBs?

Anonymous said...

about time! hard to find CDMA phones you can bring to TracFone! Have the LG Ultimate and great but would really like a bigger screen. Can't believe some of the phone they are still carrying, they should all be "smartphones" really.

Anonymous said...

I purchased the LG L16 Lucky yesterday. I have not activated the phone yet. I did play with it and connect it to my homes Wi-Fi. The screen is not as dark as my LG Optimus Fuel. I put a black and white picture on the Lucky for my screen saver and it looked grey and light blue. I think I will activate this phone and give it a try. But I think I am going to be happy that I have a back up LG Optimus Fuel to switch back to.

Disgruntled College Grad said...

A 200 minute card will get you 600 minutes talk, 600 texts, and 600 Mb data

Anonymous said...

this one looks like a better deal, even a replacement for the 41c

http://www.ebay.com/itm/151701302555?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Anonymous said...

On sale for $39.99 at Target 6/14-6/20/15 Lg Lucky first time hearing of it in Target circular today. I'll wait.

Anonymous said...

I've read elsewhere that 1 text = 1 minute with android phones on tracfone. Does anyone know if that's true?

Disgruntled College Grad said...

Talk, text, and data are separate. See the "How minutes work on Android"

Disgruntled College Grad said...

Just found this at WalMart
http://www.walmart.com/ip/TracFone-LG-Prepaid-L15G-Sunrise-Smartphone/44751495

TracfoneReviewer Team said...

Nice find! Out of stock at the moment, but I wonder if this is coming sooner rather than later?

Disgruntled College Grad said...

I'd rather get the LG L21G, the L15G isn't any better than my 34C except for being on GSM instead of CDMA.

Anonymous said...

This phone is absolute shit! Had it for a month and it now won't power on, just stays on the "lg powered by Android screen" and I can't seem to be able to hard reset. None of the conventional methods work.. needless to say F%&* THIS PHONE!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, my phone just died as well. 3 weeks old.

Anonymous said...

Sorry kiddo, but we grown-ups want a *REAL* phone instead of the toy phones like this and the *CRAP* that *CRAPPLE* sells to people like you.

Anonymous said...

Well excuuuuse me Mr. Snob. There are a lot of people that see no value in spending hundreds of dollars for the privilege of burying their faces in a cell phone screen all day. There is so much more in life than one of these things.

Brian said...

Have had the LG Sunrise and the LG Lucky. These are the same phone except the Sunrise uses the AT&T network and the Lucky uses the Verizon network. THESE PHONES HAVE PROBLEMS!! After about 2 to 3 weeks the phones go into a boot loop and won't go past the LG Life is Good screen or the Tracfone screen. You have to remove the battery to shut it off. You can do a Hard reset back to factory original settings but it is still in boot loop. Straight Talk is aware of the problem but is not recalling the phones. Only those who call 1-877-430-2355 and go through the tech support process will get a trouble ticket for a new phone. THESE PHONES SHOULD BE RECALLED!

Anonymous said...

Does wifi need to be connected to send and receive calls? If so, Hard to do in the park or lotsa places.

Anonymous said...

Of course not, why would it? lol

Anonymous said...

I've had 4 of these things now and have never had that problem personally. The only reason I've had so many is because I gave one of them to my daughter, the other to a friend... dropped another and when I rolled the office chair back I heard and felt a crunch (take a guess what it was) and the one I'm using now.

Haven't had problem one with the performance though.

Anonymous said...

Then don't use it. No sense in whining in the comments section of someplace like this about a phone that you don't like.

Unknown said...

I bought this phone a month ago, and it began to lose its ability to function properly on the second week, with a completely unresponsive touchscreen. I removed the battery for at least 5 hours, and that resolved it somewhat, yet the touch screen still has been glitching since then.

Since then, I am having Google Play Services errors that pop up every few seconds, making it nearly impossible to use the phone. Any searching to stop these Google Play Services errors have produced results that did not actually resolve the issue.

I checked to see if I can update the phone's OS in case that will work, but it appears that I can't do that.

I don't want to do a factory reset just yet in case I need to buy new minutes, as I have no money to buy any new minutes.

JD said...

It's currently in an endless boot cycle. Got it for my 13 year old about 4 months ago at Target. I just spent $60 for service yesterday too lol......annoying.

Anonymous said...

After having 2 lg phones both malfunctioning articles of trash. I have come to the conclusion that further use of resource to build more should be stopped yesterday. I just got the ?? lucky?? inappropriately named POS. already the compass has failed. after only 1 day. The phone Previous was a lgl34c as soon as the warranty was out it started a fit of turning OFF and ON every 38 seconds. they are producing trash. and as soon as i can I will place it where it belongs. IN THE TRASH CAN FULL OF DOG S&!%

Anonymous said...

Does this LGL16C have a place to put a SIM card IF SO WHERE AND HOW DO YOU INSERT THE SIM CARD AT???!!!

Anonymous said...

I do believe that the LG Lucy is a CDMA phone which is not compatible with a SIM card. Only GSM phones use SIM cards.
Very unfortunate.

Michelle C Eaton said...

I hate this phone I need a 5.5 or 6 I am losing my vision and can't see the phone but I have straight talk version and can't afford a New phone now.

Unknown said...

Does this phone have a front camera

unhappy said...

This phone is junk I have had it for about 2or3 week I hate it POS

Anonymous said...

phone is haven't got front camera, only back and 3 mp.

Unknown said...

What the glip glop is wrong with the camera and where's the camera brightness thing?

Unknown said...

Light

Unknown said...

4.4.2 is a root patch..! When it clearly states 4.4 on the package nothing at all can root this device....If I had known this,wouldn't have purchased this BULL..!!

Anonymous said...

$9 at the local dollar store. awesome device, way better than the $200 ipod I have

Anonymous said...

seriously you can't root? that fucking sucks. option is there but permanently grayed out. what dipshits. other than that great phone for $9

Anonymous said...

this is actually a great phone, and I got it for $9 at the local dollar store. I've had NONE of these problems that these people are claiming to have and I've had it almost 2 months now. Way better than the $200 ipod I have.

GleamClean said...

*** don't waste your money*** it is an el cheapo for a reason!!
terrible phone, slow and glichy at best....tried everthing to fix!! no good!! bad bad bad!!! cannot wait to put a different phone on my acount!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the warnings! I'm staying away from this phone.

Guardian said...

Has anyone ever had to Hard reset the LG lucky I did two days ago I backed up my contacts and other data and only my songs and other data transferred, but not my contacts. I tried to retrieve my contacts with no success.

Bill said...

It is economical and works like I need it too.

Wayne said...

2 phones in 5 weeks both same problem when trying to call out screen goes black can not even hang it up have to remove battery to do so !What a piece of crap tracphone replaces them but it takes 3 to 5 days I'm looking for a different one now use to like lg but questionable anymore !

Anonymous said...

Danielle...you purchased an LG L16C at the local dollar store for nine bucks? I got questions......please contact me at administrator@suffolkconsumer.com

tam said...

I'm trying no and can't get ITT to go in to recovery help����

Anonymous said...

Phone is junk. Will not send or receive text messages. Battery dies within an hour after being fully charged.

scott308 said...

Check you McAfee settings and disable the root block. Then use king root.

Anonymous said...

Agree - phone is junk. bought yesterday, activated overnight, now there are no icons on the screen, home button turns off the phone when I press it, screen stays lit for about 10 seconds. user guide of no help, user manual of no help, LG tech wants $28 to diagnose a problem on a phone that cost $29. like they say, do your research first (which I did not) and now realize I will regret the mistake. TracFone should be sued. They forced me to do this by sending an email that my old phone was not going to supported after 3/24 with about 7 days notice to get a new phone. TracFone should be sued in a class action lawsuit. This is a backup phone for travel. At least I have a reliable Verizon unit as my main one.

Anonymous said...

I recently purchased an LG Lucky. It is very similar to my previous LG. But on that one there was a subtle green flashing light to let me know I had missed a phone call or text. There doesn't appear to be that feature on the Lucky or am I missing the setting to do so?

Unknown said...

I have the LG lucky and I hate it. It's slow, I have only added maybe 10 apps and I can't add anymore, I have to pretty much keep it on the charger bc the battery goes dead even when I'm not using it. Worst phone ever!

Anonymous said...

I have the LG Lucky. My phone doesn't stay charged for very long. It also doesn't always receive text messages which seems to be happening more and more often. I've been getting errors about storage space running low and have deleted numerous items to no avail. This phone is a piece of suit and not even worth buying minutes for!

Unknown said...

I've had two of them now, and I can say for sure that the Lucky has no redeeming features. The keypad just randomly quits, as do almost all of the apps on it, downloaded or otherwise. I'm 98% certain these lumps of scrap are meant to be burner phones for criminals or something.

Anonymous said...

Some people just use phones for phone calls.Some use them for calls and text only.

Anonymous said...

I was torn between the smart phones and the regular cell phones, the big push for me was their 1000 texts for $10.00 or a penny per txt, that's what pushed me over otherwise I'd still be with my regular tracfone, right now I have gigs of data that I don't use.

Airheadbit said...

I needed to get an upgrade from my 8 year old LG 290C so I ordered a LG Lucky from TracFone, free as in 'reconditioned' with a 1 year warranty. When my free LG Lucky arrived I opened the box I was surprised, there was what appeared to be a new phone. I put the phone together and when I went to charge it, it informed me it was at 100% charge, nice touch. I set it up and loaded some apps my only complaint so far is the password key entry; It shows the text entered for a second then replaces the text with a dot. I'm old, the screen is small, my fingers big and my eye sight not so good, this is a killer, 8 tries to enter the password to log into amazon from the Kindle app. Three tries to enter the password for Google. In other android devices I've played with I can set the password to text but this phone only allows setting the entry to text for a second, no joy.
After ten hours of loading apps and playing with this phone the battery is great, the screen is day-light readable and the phone sound (speaker/Mike) easy to hear with phone checks telling me it sounds good. I hooked my Jawbone hands free to this unit without issues and with WiFi internet access to download maps for off line GPS data logging I should be able to find my way home without burning up any minutes.
If I can fix the password thing great but not a deal killer, it was free and seems to work.

Anonymous said...

Look at me! I got an over priced phone!

dpjohnson said...

I need to know if my iMac will recognize the Lucky L16C when plugged into it, so I can download my own ringtone to it. The LG Flip Phone I have now isn't recognized by my iMac and will only be recognized by a Win PC I have no access to.

Unknown said...

Does anyone know the SIM card is located

dlm said...

How can a Tracphone user with A LG-L16C Lucky find out and display the minutes available left

HOODY said...

Just got this thing as a replacement for the 2nd LG34C I had to send back due to the startup screen being stuck in a boot loop.

The screen although a slight bit bigger, seems more washed out as far as color than the 34C,It has a strange way of color distortion when you move it around, and unless you look right at it it doesn't look too clear. other than that it doesn't look much different.

I read some reviews on it and it seems to have the same kind of problems with the startup logo screen getting stuck, so at some point I may end up replacing it the same way. At least every time you get a replacement it does give you a new full year warranty. Only thing is it takes a few hrs to reset and re-add all your apps and email accounts.

So far it runs. But its a real pain to re set these things up all over again.

I was looking at this Treasure model, but will hold up and see how this Lucky works out over my 34C, and just to see what the next 3 months bring for black friday sales :)

HOODY said...

do a review of the zte citrine, and how it would compare to this Lucky.

Unknown said...

How can i change to android 5.0 on my trackfone?

Unknown said...

This phone is the slowest phone ever made! My 3 yr oldeven says he hates it!

Anonymous said...

I have had mine for about four years now. Paid $9.99 for it at the dollar store. It has been a good one. A $50 unlimited air time card works fine for me. It is messed up now. Has a yellow box that you have to double tap. Won't scroll or go to all settings. Anyone know why and how I can fix this problem? Otheer than buying another phone. I need the info. on it that i can't get to.

Anonymous said...

Kingo root worked for my LG lucky

Anonymous said...

My LG lucky is missing the platform.xml file and i have no access to the ECT folder. I have the flash for lucky but I can't connect to my pc. Anyone have any tips? Email me at itstoast27@gmail.com