LG Optimus One

Editor's Review of the Optimus One

The LG Optimus One may not be the cutting edge smartphone we were all waiting for, but for a low/mid-range handset, it shows the manufacturer are beginning to up their game. It's the perfect handset for first time smartphone users, and with such a low price-tag, we were very impressed.

Design & Build

The LG Optimus One might not come equipped with the high-end glossy design of the iPhone 4, but there's no doubting it's a good looking handset. Its chassis is crafted from a soft rubber material, that feels both tough, while sitting comfortably in your hand. It will slip adequately in your pocket too, as it measures in at just 113.5 x 59 x 13.3mm, and weights 130g.

The handset rocks a decent 3.2 inch multitouch display, which is a vast improvement on the GT540's resistive touchscreen, proving to be extremely responsive. With a 600MHz processor onboard and 320 x 460 pixel resolution, the handset is capable of supporting all apps in the Android market, which run smoothly and quickly on the device.

4 large clickable buttons are located underneath the screen, although we could have liked to have seen the capacitive buttons featured on the LG Optimus Chic.

OS & Interface

I'd say the LG Optimus One is the best handset in its price range when it comes to looking at its OS and interface.

The handset comes equipped with Android 2.2, which provides you with a slick and easy to use interface. You can navigate through up to 7 homescreens, so there is plenty of room for storing all of your apps, including the Twitter and Facebook widgets which come pre-installed on the device.

With Android onboard, the Optimus One also comes equipped with Adobe Flash 10.1 support, Swype, turn-by-turn navigation powered by Google Maps and access to over 80,000 apps in the Android Market. LG also provide you with Voice-to-Text, which will write messages for you when you're driving or just can't be bothered.

Multimedia & Storage

We have to admit, we were pretty disappointed with the 3 megapixel snapper on the Optimus One. Although it comes equipped with autofocus and smile detection, the picture quality often suffers due to its lack of flash. You can only record VGA video footage too, which is a bit of a letdown.

In terms of video playback, it can sometimes be a little choppy. Nonetheless, the quality is almost faultless on the handset's HVGA display, and excedes the usual standards of this price point.

An built in music player and FM radio is also onboard, and with up to 32GB of storage, you're provided with more than enough storage for all of your music files.

Everything Else

With HDSPA and WiFi, browsing the web is a breeze on the LG Optimus One, and is a feature we struggled to fault.

The handset also comes equipped with staying power, as its 1500mAh battery allows for 8 hours of talk time.

Conclusion

For a mid-range smartphone, the LG Optimus One rocks features that makes it worthy of competiting against all the big names. It's good looking, easy to use and endlessly entertaining, so if you're an Android newbie, this could be your perfect handset!