LG Optimus One (P500) Review

First, I might have just killed my budget for the whole damn year. I’ll be eating bread all till my child’s 5th birthday. Sarcasm for the masses…

It might look that I’m showing off, but I am… hahahaha

The size is comparable of the generic medium sized smartphones. Not too small where the damn onscreen keyboard is a fail and not too big where it’s just gadget porn for the eyes and not usable for anything else.

Its actually just a little thicker than the Diamond. About 1 mm.

 

The review

I bought this phone at www.1handphone.com for an amazingly cheaper price. They even gave me a car holder, free screen protector, a car charger and a mini headphone. Not to forget they also gave me tons of software and apps for the phone. All for about RM30-40 less than what you get elsewhere. Kudos to them.

Because of this I’m actually eating bread. Not to care, it was a calculated buy. But it goes into the category of ‘what the hell did you do that?’. I’ve just got it for several days and did endure an entire day of fully giving me internet connectivity at the PC Fair. I tried using Celcom’s 1 day internet just to try out its internet performance. I don’t know if it was the line or the phone but it was abysmally slow(the connection). Using WiFi however was a breeze at home.

I haven’t tried it fully yet but the batteries are definitely better than my HTC Diamond that garnered 2 days of of basically doing nothing. I’ll try on using it normally. It said on www.gsmarena.com that it would last up to 700 hours of standby time and 8 hours of talk time. Maybe if you live in a fantasy land that has no 3G connectivity and not use it else than talking. Hmm… I think more to 3-4 days of nothing to 1-2 days of doing stuff and probably 5-6 hours of just moving my lips that make sound.

The android operating system is Android 2.2 Froyo hence all the hype. It’s still android. This is my first android device. I’ve tested some before mostly tablets but this seems a little bit more overly complicated for the average Joe. But smartphones aren’t suppose to be used by toddlers or your grandmother unless she’s a total gadget freak like me. Hence for the average power user, its simple to use till the point where nobody tells you how the hell to change the bloody ringtone. Its not even mentioned in the manual given with the phone.

Pros

1. Price, at RM779(15 April 2011) at www.1handphone.com
2. Android 2.2 Froyo
3. 3.5mm earphone jack
• also used for handsfree
4. Hardware buttons are responsive
5. Sounds quite loud
• louder than my HTC Diamond and iPod Touch
6. 480x320 3.2inch screen is quite good
7. WiFi tethering
• this makes my life a whole lot easier
• easy to set up for the general geek
8. GPS
• fast at finding my location
• good for social apps
9. Fast startup for a smartphone

 

Cons

1. Touch screen
• it takes a lot more effort to use if you have used other capacitive screens like on the iPod Touch
2. CPU
• a tad bit on the slow side
• slowness shows when it starts
3. Screen rotation could have been better
4. Included 2 GB memory isn’t enough
5. Come on… I want to use my friggin own ringtones and it took me hours to do that. Stupid user interface.

Early user’s verdict? I’d give it a

7.5/10

just because of the price and what I got from my money… Maybe I’ll update this after I find its ultimate Achilles heel and rant about it. Now I just don’t have much time.