LG TONE Platinum Review

The LG TONE Platinum sounds decent and has a great battery life, but the high cost largely negates these positives. It also cannot be used in any sort of athletic capacity, which limits its usefulness.

Performance Comparison

The LG TONE Platinum did not live up to its all-caps title in our testing, pulling down one of the lowest overall scores. In the following sections we detail the individual testing results that led to this low overall score.

Sound Quality

A score of 6 out of 10 in our sound quality testing put the LG TONE Platinum right around average. The Platinum actually produces fairly impressive clarity, making it great for listening to podcasts and talk radio in general. However, the bass is noticeably weak, resulting in a sound that is quite thin. This is especially apparent when listening to bass heavy tracks. This made it one of our least favorite pair of earbuds for listening to music.

The Platinum was quite poor when it came to making phone calls. Incoming calls sounded thin and often muddled enough that we couldn't make out what the caller was saying. The microphone created a good amount of static in outgoing calls, which was incredibly distracting and annoying for the people that we called.

Comfort

The Platinum was towards the top of our comfort scoring, earning a 7 out of 10. It comes with three sizes of fairly squishy earpieces, which allowed everyone in the office to find a good, cozy fit. That snug fit also allowed them to block out a bit more noise than some of the other models. It missed out on a top score because of the rigid neckpiece. Wearing that around the neck can feel a bit awkward compared to the small cables that most other models use. We did get used to it eventually, but every time we moved we remembered it was there and had to get used to the feeling again.

Athletic Performance

The Platinum is not meant for athletic endeavors, garnering it a score of just 2 out of 10 in this metric. Remember that rigid neckpiece we mentioned? It bounces around like crazy anytime you move at all. So unless you want to feel like there are some angry birds jumping around on your shoulders as you run on the treadmill, these earbuds shouldn't be used in the gym.

Battery Life

The Platinum was a standout in our battery life testing, lasting 13.5 hours. This was the highest mark in our testing by a full 2 hours.

Portability

The Platinum was the worst scorer in our portability testing, earning a 3 out of 10. We liked that the earbuds could retract into the body for storage, but that large, rigid neck piece makes it the least packable of any of the earbuds we tested. You can't just easily put the Platinum into a pocket, you really need a backpack or purse, and even then you need to plan your packing so no as to break the neck piece. These earbuds are much more suited to just sitting at a desk and not for traveling with.

Value

The Platinum lists for a whopping $200. Seeing as these earbuds are quite specialized in that they only really work for sedentary listening, and that they only offer average sound quality, this feels like an incredibly high price. There are many earbuds that sound better, can do more, and cost less, like the JBL Reflect Mini and the Bose SoundSport.

Conclusion