Presenting the FoneArena LG Optimus One Review. The P500 is LG's attempt to conquer the affordable smartphone segment. At one point of time ,� the Korean handset maker was pumping out too many handsets into the market that we could barely keep track of. But over the last 1 year , the company has decided to launch fewer phones aimed at specific sections of the market. The Optimus One is one such attempt to fight back into the smartphone market. The specs of the phone look quite interesting considering the price point of the phone. In this review lets take a in-depth look at how LG has succeeded in delivering a great android phone.

Box Contents

• LG Optimus One P500
• 1500 mAh Battery
• 2 GB microSD Card
• USB cable
• AC Plug
• Stereo headphones
• Manual

You can check out our unboxing here

Hardware

The first thing one would notice about the phone is the metal bezel around the phone which is mostly made of plastic. On the front you would find the 3.2 inch capacitive display sporting a resolution of 320�480 pixels.The display is not super responsive but it does the job . Seems like it's made of plastic and not glass but we are fine with it. Below the display you have backlit keys for menu , home , back and search. The home and back button are slightly raised. LG thinks that these are the most used buttons and gave it special treatment � great move. Above the display you have the LG branding and the earpiece.

On the top you would find the 3.5 mm audio jack on the left and the power/lock key on the right.

You also have the small ridge for opening the back cover.

On the bottom you have the microUSB port which is used for charging and syncing and a microphone.

The volume rocker keys are present on the right side and the left side is free.

The 3 MP Camera is present on the back with some Google branding below it.

OS� / UI

LG has made minor changes to the stock Android UI. Most of the changes are related to the themes. LG offers it's own keyboard while we preferred the default android keyboard.

As you can see in the screenshot above , this is main home screen. LG had created a custom area for commonly used shortcuts such as phone , contacts, messaging and browser.

You have a notification bar which has icons on the top with toggles for wifi, bluetooth, GPS , data and sound.

You can also set the number of home screens as 5 or 7

Phone Calls and Messaging

We had no trouble with phone calls on this device. It managed to pick up 3G signals even in areas of poor reception.

It supports SMS , MMS and Email. For Email you can choose to use the inbuilt Email app or the Gmail app.The Email app supports Microsoft Exchange mail. You can add multiple accounts.

Connectivity /� Browser

The Optimus One offers plenty of connectivity options.It supports Bluetooth 2.1 , WiFi b/g , 3G/EDGE, GPS. You can also turn your phone into a WiFi Hotspot. The phone charges via microUSB and connects to the PC the sameway. There's a 3.5mm audio hack for connecting the ear phones.

The browser if pretty fast as the phone runs on Android 2.2. Sadly it does not support Flash player. But it does play Youtube videos .

Google Maps works pretty well including Navigation and StreetView.

Camera

You get only a 3 MP Camera without flash or a camera key. You would have to use the onscreen controls to capture pics. While the Camera does manage to take some good pics in well-lit conditions it fails in low light areas.

There are plenty of options in the camera app.

Check out some camera samples below.

We tackled the low-light by increasing the exposure.

Multimedia

The loud speaker is pretty loud on this phone.

The music player is almost the same stock android player. Same goes for the video player too.

The video player does support a wide variety of file formats including DivX and Xvid.

The FM Radio has a nice little tuner UI.

Youtube videos play pretty well and supports even High Quality.

Although we would have appreciated a slightly larger display. But we are more than satisfied with the entertainment experience considering the price point.

Apps / Android Market

The phone comes with some apps pre-installed depending on the country. Our phone came with Twiter , Facebook , Thinkfree Office. Anything you download from the Android Market gets stored under the Downloads section. The UI lets you create new categories and you can customize what apps go where.

Conclusion

The Optimus One is not the fastest Android phone in the market currently but it does offer a lot of features at an affordable price point. It does not feel cheap despite being made of plastic.

If you are looking for a reasonably spec-ed , reliable Android phone , the Optimus One is for you. We are sure you wont be disappointed. The battery life is one of the best we have seen on any Android phone. It kept running for nearly 2 days before it went dead.

It is powered by a 600 MHz processor and has 512MB of RAM.� There were lags during operation at times but not a deal breaker for sure. The phone never crashed or stalled during our review.

Pros

• Simple yet attractive design
• Android 2.2
• Fast Browser
• Above average battery life
• Value for money
• Loudspeaker

Cons

• Mediocre Camera and no front facing camera
• No Flash support in Browser

The handset is currently available for Rs.12500 approx in India and is sold through various carriers in USA and Europe. It has managed to sell more than 2 million units since launch.

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