LG Optimus One P500 disadvantages

LG

LG Optimus One P500 disadvantages

By Moonlight → الأربعاء، 29 يونيو 2011

Introduction

The LG Optimus One may not be your average killer gadget, but it sports a tempting pricetag, solid build, a nice looking set of features and Android 2.2 Froyo. And with the Optimus One in your hand, you are free to mock and tease those seemingly superior phones, which are still stuck on Eclair – now that's priceless!

Indeed, the Optimus One offers an awesome price-to-features ratio among modern Android smartphones. With 1 million units sold already, the LG Optimus One P500 seems to be a popular option and it’s not difficult to see why.

True, it's only got a moderately clocked CPU running at 600MHz, but with the performance boost from Froyo it feels reasonably fast and responsive most of the time and the plenty amounts of RAM give it enough app-toggling punch. Here go the rest of the specs:

Key features:

·         3.2" 256K-color capacitive TFT touchscreen of HVGA resolution (320 x 480 pixels); Multi-touch input

·         Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support 

·         Dual-band 3G with HSDPA (7.2 Mbps) 

·         600MHz CPU running Android 2.2 Froyo; 419MB RAM

·         3 megapixel autofocus camera; face and smile detection, geotagging

·         VGA video recording @ 18fps

·         microSD card slot, up to 32GB, 2GB in the box

·         Standard 3.5mm audio jack

·         Standard microUSB port (charging)

·         GPS receiver with A-GPS; Digital compass

·         Wi-Fi b/g; Wi-Fi hotspot functionality built-in

·         Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP 

·         Accelerometer for screen auto rotate; Proximity sensor

·         FM radio with RDS 

·         Office document editor 

·         Portrait and landscape on-screen QWERTY keyboard

·         Social networking integration

·         DivX/XviD support

·         Smart dialing 

·         Excellent loudspeaker performance

Main disadvantages:

·         Slow CPU makes editing Office documents a chore

·         Camera is just 3MP, has no lens protection, no flash and no dedicated shutter key

·         No Flash support in the browser despite Froyo 

·         No front facing camera

Digging inside the camera settings you can almost get lost – smile shots, face detection, face-tracking effects, beauty and art shots and so on. At 3MP it’s a no-frills camera but certainly one for casual users to have so much fun with.

Then there are the Facebook and Twitter apps which come preinstalled and the video player has DivX/XviD video support – the LG Optimus One P500 knows good fun. There’s a serious side to it as well, the Office document viewer/editor will help you get some work done.

Overall, the Optimus One can’t compete in the Android big league but great value for money is likely to draw many people away from feature phones (which is a huge market to tap into).

It’s not without its limitations – editing a complex Office document is painfully slow and video playback stops short of VGA resolution.

But when you’re buying cheap, you know you’ll have to make compromises – jump to the next page to see if there’s anything lacking in the hardware department

LG Optimus Black disadvantages

LG

LG Optimus Black disadvantages

By Moonlight →

Introduction

It’s not a Black Label phone but could’ve honored the designer series. It’s called Black but bathes in light. What is the LG Optimus Black? To begin with, it’s solid build and pure elegance. With Android on board, smartphone meets fashion phone in a super slim package.

The Optimus Black is the first phone we’ve tested that uses the NOVA display technology. Special enough to warrant a dedicated article. You’re welcome to read the whole piece but, to sum things up, it’s the brightest display on a phone with picture quality that stands up next to the industry’s best.

Despite the 4” NOVA display however, the Optimus Black is a compact device – there’s not much bezel around the screen and it's mere 9.2 mm slim. The smooth back with sloping edges makes the Black feel thinner still. And that’s 9.2 mm at the thickest – no camera bump or any other bulging bits.

The screen and the slim silhouette are certainly the highlights of the LG Optimus black but not all there is to it.

Key features:

·                 9.2 mm slim touchscreen bar

·                 4” NOVA display at 700 nits of brightness, 16M-color WVGA capacitive IPS LCD unit

·                 Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support

·                 7.2 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA

·                 Android OS v2.2 Froyo (upgradable to v2.3) with LG Home launcher 2.0 and Gesture UI 2.0

·                 TI OMAP 3630 1GHz processor

·                 512 MB RAM

·                 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, face detection and geotagging

·                 720p video recording at 30fps

·                 2 MP front-facing camera with video calls

 

·                 Wi-Fi b/g/n; Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA

·                 GPS with A-GPS, digital compass

·                 2GB storage (1GB user available); microSD slot, 32GB supported (2GB card included)

·                 Accelerometer, ambient light and proximity sensor

·                 Standard 3.5 mm audio jack

·                 Stereo FM radio with RDS

·                 microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1

·                 Smart dialing, voice dialing 

·                 DivX/XviD video support

·                 Gesture controls with dedicated button

·                 Adobe Flash 10.1 support

·                 Document viewer/editor

Main disadvantages

·                 HD video clips come out with distorted aspect ratio

·                 Single core processor when most of the high-end has gone dual-core

·                 The blacks of the NOVA display are not deep enough to impress

·                 No dedicated camera key

·                 No Android 2.3 Gingerbread at launch

·                 Disappointing audio quality

The LG Optimus Black focuses on the all-round experience rather than the raw processing power but a 1GHz (single-core) CPU and 512MB RAM should be by any means enough for most apps .

The Optimus Black features the Wi-Fi Direct technology, which claims faster local file transfers than Bluetooth 2.x, and is as easy to set up as Bluetooth.

The imaging department also earns a nod – 5MP stills and 720p videos should be enough for the average user. The 2MP front-facing camera is right on time to join the revival of video calling.

Now, go and put your shades on – we start inspecting the hardware of the LG Optimus Black, including the super-bright NOVA display

LG Optimus 2X disadvantages

LG

LG Optimus 2X disadvantages

By Moonlight →

Introduction

Begun the dual-core revolution has. And there’s no scouting time – the offensive starts with the big guns. The LG Optimus 2X is not just counting on the fancy Tegra 2 name to generate the sales – it is a powerful smartphone through and through.

The fancy camera with Full HD video recording alone is enough to bring any handset into the limelight and the fact that it’s not even the Optimus 2X key feature speaks volume. As far as hardware evolution goes, the Optimus 2X promises to be one of the biggest steps forward in the mobile phone industry.

Key features:

·                 Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support

·                 10.2 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA

·                 4.0" 16M-color capacitive IPS LCD touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels)

·                 Android OS v2.2 Froyo with LG Home launcher

·                 Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 proccessor, ULP GeForce GPU, Tegra 2 chipset

·                 512 MB RAM

·                 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, face detection and geotagging

·                 1080p video recording @ 24fps, 720p@30fps

·                 1.3 MP front-facing camera with videocalls

·                 Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA

·                 GPS with A-GPS, digital compass

·                 8GB internal storage and microSDslot for up to 32GB cards

·                 Accelerometer, gyroscope, and proximity sensor

·                 microHDMI port with HDMI mirroring

·                 Standard 3.5 mm audio jack

·                 Stereo FM radio with RDS

·                 microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1

·                 Smart dialing, voice dialing 

·                 DivX/XviD video support

·                 Innovative gesture controls

·                 Adobe Flash 10.2 support

·                 Dolby Mobile and SRS sound enhancement

Main disadvantages

·                 Despite similar technology LCD isn’t quite as impressive as the iPhone4 screen

·                 No dedicated camera key and no lens cover

·                 Captured 1080p videos not big improvement over 720p, have low frame rate

·                 No Android 2.3 Gingerbread at launch

·                 Audio quality is only average

·                 Below average speaker loudness

There are always a few compromises necessary with modern-day smartphones, but those are brought to a minimum with the Optimus 2X. You have a relatively good display (large, too), lots of oomph under the sleek hood and an excellent snapper at the back, plus all but the kitchen sink in the connectivity department.

Or at least that’s what papers will make you believe. Our experience, however, has thought us better than blindly believing the fancy PR talk. The excellent first impression certainly helps the Optimus 2X cause, but we’ll only be able to recommend it wholeheartedly if it passes the test of a full review.

Update 25 March: We just got our hands on a retail Optimus 2X unit (we originally tested a pre-production unit for this review). We've updated the text where necessary. The new stuff is marked in bold, but the major changes are in the video recording section.

So, shall we start? Join us after the break for the hardware review

LG KM900 Arena disadvantages

LG

LG KM900 Arena disadvantages

By Moonlight →

Introduction

One of the most exciting handsets the season - the LG KM900 Arena - returns to our office and this time it is going to stay a bit longer. After getting off to a flying start in both sales and reviews the Arena certainly looks like the next big thing from LG. In these tough economic times no company can afford too many blunders so it better live up to those high expectations.

The LG KM900 Arena grabbed our attention for the first time back in February at the MWC and even more so last month when wepreviewed it. Let's see if it's third time lucky and if it will be able to completely sweep us off our feet in a full review.

Key features:

• 3" 16M-color capacitive TFT touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels)
• S-Class Touch UI
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• 3G with HSDPA (7.2 Mbps)
• Wi-Fi and GPS receiver with A-GPS
• 5 megapixel autofocus camera with Schneider-Kreuznach optics, LED flash, geotagging
• D1 (720x480 pixels)@30fps, VGA@30fps, QVGA fast-motion video and QVGA slo-mo video
• 8GB built-in storage
• Hot-swappable microSD card slot
• Standard 3.5mm audio jack and TV out
• USB Mass Storage
• Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
• Accelerometer for screen auto rotate
• Multi-touch input
• 3D hardware accelerator
• DivX and XviD support
• Dolby for Mobile audio enhancement
• FM radio with FM transmitter
• Office document viewer
• Smart dialing

Main disadvantages:

• Poor sunlight legibility
• Inadequate flash performance
• No voice-guided GPS navigation software available
• No standard USB port
• Records video in 3GP file format
• Maximum email attachment size is 1MB only (both ways)
• Limited DivX/XviD video support

The LG KM900 Arena is the pioneer of the new UI designed by the South Korean company, boldly named S-class. Promising fluidity never seen before and uncompromising looks and functionality, it is starting to take the world by storm. We doubt that it will be of a measure equal to the hurricane created by the iPhone's UI but the whole package might well surprise us.

We enjoy having the LG KM900 Arena back on board in a retail outfit

Mainly because the LG KM900 Arena has none of the (absurd) limitations of the original iPhone - no proper Bluetooth functionality, no FM radio, lack of file manager and so on. Instead the Arena comes as a exceptionally well equipped phone with almost every feature in the book included. From 3G with HSDPA, through Wi-Fi and GPS to FM transmitter - the LG KM900 has it all. 

The Arena is ready to take on the iPhone - and most other full touch phones for that matter

Let's now check if there are any gaps in its performance that avoided our watchful eye in the preview. We will get to the unboxing this multimedia beast after the jump.