A few things to note:- This is a joint review by me & AndroidFan.
- Both mobiles are running on heavily customized Cyanogen7 ROM (Android 2.3.4), though the review is based on the official Android 2.2.2 release for which we used Void ROM (based on official Android 2.2)
- Most of the pics used are from CM7 or Void.
- Thanks to Mik & Andy for the ROM, FranciscoFranco for the excellent kernel, LG for providing good hardware at a reasonable price, AndroidFan for helping complete the review. Lastly all the members & guests for reading.
O1 & O’sic:
LG originally launched 2 Android based mobiles in India, namely LG Optimus GT540 & LG GW620. Sadly, neither of the two sold well. Packed with a resistive touchscreen, outdated OS & was priced higher than its competitors. On the other hand Samsung launched Galaxy 3, HTC launched Wildfire, Sony Ericsson launched Xperia X8 & Motorola launched Quench XT3/5. All these mobiles were priced at or below 15k. LG desperately needed a new Android based mobile in this section. And they launched LG Optimus One & Chic (not available in India) with an MRP of Rs.15,000 but was sold for 13,500 initially.
NO……… it’s an LG mobile!!!
Needn’t to say but even being the 3rd biggest player in mobile market, peoples still opt for Sony Ericsson, Motorola, HTC & even some local companies instead of LG. the reason is simple, if you don’t know. LG’s feature phones sucks. Their smartphones are not good at all. While others use multitasking OS, they still use Java based OS on most of their mobiles. Ok, let’s stop here for now as I don’t want to make an “Anti-LG thread”.
LG Optimus One was launched in November 2010 (18th to be precise). It was praised well by both reviewers as well as the buyers, selling 1M units in just 20days & another 1M in 20days (internationally), went on to become LG best seller of all time. However, within a month of launch, a news broke out stating that LG O1 (will refer Optimus One as O1 from here on) won’t receive Gingerbread update i.e. Android 2.3 as it doesn’t fulfills minimum system requirements of Gingerbread. But after a couple of days (& a lot of criticism), LG announced that O1 will ultimately receive Gingerbread update sometime this year. And some countries already have it & India should get it by this month.
Whats in that box?
The mobile came in a small box. A bit too small for a mobile that cost over Rs.10,000. It is ok to have a small box, however even a bit of rough handling will cause the mobile to take damage at the top or at the bottom part. Inside the package you get your mobile, an in-ear headset, a 1500mah battery, a standard USB to microUSB cable, a Wi-Fi coupon, a sleek looking mobile cover & the usual manuals but no driver disc. The cover is not of the best quality but should do its job for a few months. A 2GB microSD card comes preinstalled in the mobile & contains the LG PC Suite and a few of its apps (call it crapwares).
Err… how is it?
Optimus One is a candybar mobile with a 3.2” capacitive touchscreen with HVGA resolution (320X480). It’s made entirely of plastic; even the silver lining which is actually an extension of the main body is actually plastic. But remember, there is difference between made of plastic & feeling plasticy. Optimus One’s build is solid which adds to its weight @ 125gm. coming back to the screen, however the colour representation is limited to only 256k but we didn’t have any problem using the screen indoor with brightness set to minimum. However, visibility in sunlight is not the best. You must up the brightness to its max to make it usable, in part thanks to the use of glossy screen. There are 4 buttons at the bottom. MENU, HOME, BACK & SEARCH. HOME & BACK is combined as a large central button but don’t get me wrong, it’s as usable as if they were discrete buttons. All these makes it looks like a premium mobile.
At the top, near the LG logo is the proximity sensor (almost impossible to spot with naked eye) but sadly no ambient light sensor. Maybe it was too much to ask for such a price. The earpiece also acts as the speaker. So you don’t need to worry about the speaker getting blocked if you place it in desk or table. At the top are 3.5mm jack & the power/lock button. The lock button is a bit too small & I, even after using it for more than a week, fail to hit it at times. It does help to have the lock button at the top but a slightly bigger button would have been highly appreciated. Flipping the mobile to the right reveal the slim volume rocker but thankfully is comfortable to use & offers nice feedback (unlike the lock button). On the left side, it’s plain. No buttons. At the bottom is the microUSB port used for charging as well as PC connectivity and the mouthpiece at the very bottom (it may get coagulated with pocket lint over time). Flip it over & you are presented with a 3Mp snapper without any flash or lens cover. As this isn't marketed as a camera mobile, it’s acceptable but night/lowlight photography is out of question. But a thing to notice is that the actual lens is a millimeter or two below the silver lining, saving the lens from scratches if you place it in table. There is also the usual “with Google” tag in the back, showing that the mobile uses Google’s Android operating system. Mobile is nice to hold as it uses non-glossy plastic so no worry of it getting slipped out of your hand or having to clean the fingerprints every now & then. It has a little bit of weight compared to other smartphones from Samsung. This weight gives it a premium, solid-built feeling.
On the first day when I was fiddling with this new phone, I accidentally dropped it from my computer table. That was a good 30 inches fall… screen first, on the ground… The back cover flew out and the battery came out. But thankfully (and surprisingly) not a single scratch came on the phone or the screen. It is certainly well built.
Get down to basic:
The mobile comes with Android 2.2 Froyo (our came with Android 2.2.1, just an updated version). LG didn’t try to customize it like Samsung & HTC does installing custom skins. But added its own launcher, known as LG Home. The menu is same as stock Android & have a second section, “downloaded” that lists the apps/games user downloaded or installed. Quite handy at times but for those who don’t like/want it or can disable it easily from settings. So can be set the number of homescreen to 5 or 7.
LG preloaded it with 40 apps (but no games), some of which are in the memory card but not installed. Most of these apps are useful however a few can be annoying at times. Out of these, Ndrive(cost appx Rs.500), Thinkfree office, task killer and dictionary are useful. Also the messaging widget is really useful.
We opted for custom roms that comes with its own Launcher & almost all the stock apps are replaced. I am using SE Arc launcher while Gauhar is using stock Gingerbread launcher.
The new way of accessing pictures:
PS: this part is specially for those who are using non-Android mobiles.
The phone comes with standard Froyo Gallery app. It scans phone memory and SD card and arranges pictures in the form of albums on the lines of folders in your SD card. So, if you create a friends folder in your SD card and put all your friends’ pics there, then that would appear as an album in the Gallery app.
It has a nice 3D effect which moves when you tilt the phone… Supports pinch to zoom, double tap to zoom and swipe to change image, just like was in the iPhone.
Once you install Facebook, Twitter apps, they get integrated into the share menu. There you also find Share with Picasa, Gmail, Bluetooth, MMS, and other Email. For videos, you have an extra option to share on Youtube. Very convenient.
Play it loud:
LG Optimus One comes with standard Music and Video player. It is very barebones app and is enough for most people. For those who need extra equalizer settings, you can download PowerAMP or Winamp from the Android Marketplace.
For video, I recommend Rock Player, which can play Divx files out of the box.
Count of megapixels:
The Camera interface is very good. There are a lot of options. The 3.15 megapixel camera provides good outdoors and decent indoors pics. Video capture is available at VGA resolution.
I have recorded a video sample, uploaded straight from my phone… Youtube is integrated into the Gallery App --
YouTube - LG Optimus One Video Sample
The software makes everything easy… very straightforward. I have been clicking pics and uploading them to facebook which is integrated into the gallery. I am really loving it…
Digital zoom is present but degrades images considerably. But the good thing is, it is usable.
Some images that I have clicked…
Given below is the camera interface and a few of the options and settings available…
Note: For those who have shifted to CyanogenMod or similar ROM & finding the camera app lame, you install the MIUI camera app having features similar to the official ROM.
The way it was meant to be used:
LG keyboard. Froyo Keyboard (with a missing enter key)
It uses the stock Android dialer, with a bit of UI change. Also, phonebook and message are same as vanilla Android 2.2. Message appears as a threaded list starting with the last msg sent/receive & hence looks clean. If you are a sms freak, you’ll love this feature as it keeps all the conversations with another person under a single thread.
Connectivity comes in the form of Wifi b/g (no Wifi n) and Bluetooth 2.1. As for WiFi, it is able to catch signal from a distance across multiple walls. However, it drains the battery more. Network antenna is good… Have not dropped any calls yet.
NO2 for mobile:
Overclocking is nothing new for PC but for mobile, one has to check his steps really well. Unlike PC, mobile doesn’t have a BIOS or a discrete processor, graphics card or ram. Everything is there inside a small circuit known as SOC (system on a chip), the size of a penny. Overclocking depends mainly on your kernel. Some kernel may panic if you try to go a bit too high. Mine is currently set at 748/480 @ SmartAss.
Number tells the story:
This part is a bit confusing as it depends on a lot of factors. I have seen some costly mobile scoring lower than Optimus One. Higher screen resolution & screen size usually reduces the score as pixel per inch increases, while a faster processor, faster ram & even a better memory card can increase the score a lot. But the main point is a good kernel. The stock LG Optimus One scores as low as 30FPS in neocore while a kernel modified for performance with a processor clocked at 800Mhz can get past 76FPS (already achieved by few members at XDA. I didn’t use the new kernel as it was not stable enough).
So my results are a bit low. I used Neocore as well as Quadrant for the benchmark test. Kernel is based on CyanogenMod kernel (not LG kernel).
scores are a bit low cause ShootMe was running in the background.
Youtube Video. Now I can play:
So you just brought your new mobile, inserted sim & went browsing on the best mobile browser till date. But wait, you went to youtube, videos are shown fine. But when you try to play you are just presented with a black screen or an error msg that Adobe Flash is needed. What a shame that your 10k mobile can’t play some simple youtube videos (opera mini doesn’t support anyway, stop complaining). Solution? Adobe Flash player. But then it doesn’t support your mobile as it uses ARM v6 core whereas Adobe Flash needs ARM v7.
abode flash + WiFi + youtube video = battery dead in a few hours.
Well, someone just did the hard work of making Adobe flash player work on ARM v6. But it has its own limitations. You must have Android 2.3 or higher to use it. Also it is not supported by Official gingerbread. You must have CM7 rom or something based on CM7.
get it from here:
link
Review: LG Optimus One (P500)
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