[TheGenius]

After owning this phone for a few days, time for a review! A full review means I am going to go over about every aspect of this phone.

The phone seems solid. The body seems nice, but the silver accent around it might look like it can rub off (silver on phones almost always rubs off.)

I think they could of made the back better, the plastic used in it already has a couple scratches, and I have only had this in my pocket for a couple days, with no change, credit cards, etc to scratch it. Also the back is hard to take off. Inside, the battery compartment area is silver and somehow gives the phone a cheap look.

The micro SD door goes in tight. I hardly ever take my card out, so this door won't have much use.

The usb connector, I wish it was hidden with a door, keeping it in the buff will allow moisture and dust to get in there. Also the location of the usb connector makes it hard to text in landscape mode while charging.

The camera seems ok, but making this phone sans led flash was dumb.

The 3.5mm headphone jack is in line with the silver paint, I am guessing using headphones with this a lot is going to remove some of the silver paint due to the tip of the jack hitting it.

At the top of the phone, lies a power/lock button, reminds me of old Nokia phones and iPods.

There are 2 buttons on the other side of the micro sd door, one is a camera/shutter button, and a voice button, both seem solid. The volume up/down buttons need to be made wider.

The buttons on the front are solid and have a nice click to them, however, they turn off quickly, and if you use the phone in the dark, you will have to hunt around for the back, home, etc button. The silver trim around the front buttons adds a nice touch. I wish it had a physical send and end key! I miss double tapping the send key on my old phone to quickly redial. Also I could answer and end a call without getting anything on the screen.

The speaker is nice, it has a grille, instead of cloth like my 2 old phones, which got dusty inside and looked bad. It gives it a nice touch too. The sound seems clear, but I have yet to have hear a cellphone with voice quality as good as a regular telephone (well if your old enough to remember analog cell phones...a whole nother story)

Hiding the mic on the bottom was a cool idea, cleans up the front of the phone.

Speakerphone had adequate volume. Loudest one yet.

The screen is nice, but seems to fingerprint easy, a screen protector would easily fix this.

The phone DID come with a screen protector, but sprint had to be mean and slap their logo on it! So much for a free screen protector.'

No notification light. This has been on phones since the mid 90s, why did you get rid of it LG?

That covers the outside of the phone.

Turn the phone on, and you will see it running android 2.2.

Phone seems quick, but sometimes lags a bit, have yet to see a smart phone that hasn't.

GPS was SPOT ON, something my droid and ally never had.

Keyboard sucks, on my droid and ally, having the phone in landscape mode gave me bigger buttons, not at all on the optimus!

So if you have big fingers, this phone is not a good phone for you!

I don't really like the sprint ID button taking over where the browser button is at on my androids, but I can get use to it.

Well that's all I have for now.

-Pros.

Nice design.
Seems fairly quick.
Screen is vibrant.
Good call quality.
Good battery life.
Solid buttons.

-Cons

No camera flash.
No physical send or end keys.
No notification light.
No door on the usb port.
Low res screen, fingerprints easily, not made of gorilla glass.
Silver paint (hate it on phones, ALWAYS comes off.)
No larger buttons in landscape mode.
No wifi tether without root or an app.


Rating. 6/10.

[Duffman]

Nice review. Thanks.

[theog]

Originally Posted by TheGenius

Phone seems quick, but sometimes lags a bit, have yet to see a smart phone that hasn't.

Get a Windows Phone 7. Seriously. Freakishly fast and smooth at all times. No lag.

Nice review... Android is great for some people.

[TheGenius]

Originally Posted by theog

Get a Windows Phone 7. Seriously. Freakishly fast and smooth at all times. No lag.

Nice review... Android is great for some people.

Thinking of it, dunno yet. I was watching some vids of the moment (the phone I'm getting) being rooted, and a app called setCPU, which allows you to keep the phone at the same speed, the app and rooting made it fast it seemed like.

I'm going to root the moment, and If I don't like it, get either a TouchPro 2 or a Arrive, BTW folks, which one do you like better?

[theog]

Touch Pro 2 was the best phone I ever owned, until the HTC Arrive. Then again, I'm a business user.

Problem I had with the TP2 was the screen... replaced twice in the year I had it. The screen could come apart from the device easily and cause the touch screen to stop responding. The arrive does not look like it will have this issue.

It is hard to say which is better. I loved my tp2 (outside of the screen issue). GPS has been more reliable on the arrive... it is instant. If you like zune, then arrive is a must... hmm... hard to say which is better, they are so different.

Like asking which is better: Windows phone 7, android, or iPhone. You could start a war with that one. I'm just happy for choice; competition is great for the consumer.

[SLME]

Good review..

[cheezit]

Originally Posted by TheGenius

Keyboard sucks, on my droid and ally, having the phone in landscape mode gave me bigger buttons, not at all on the optimus!

So if you have big fingers, this phone is not a good phone for you!

I had this phone and I got rid of it in favor of an HTC Evo Shift because of the Optimus keyboard. With the Optimus I couldn't hit the right letter key for anything. Darn big fingers. Other than that problem, I really liked the phone. (Well, except for that Sprint ID gimmick. )

[SLME]

Only things I didn't like about the Optimus in all honesty was no Flash support cause of the lower processor and there was no flash light on the camera.

My night shots looked like crap.

I take night time pictures at times and a flash comes in handy.

So, I got a phone with a flash this time..

[kleonard04]

Great review. The Optimus is my first Android phone (coming from a BB) and I love it.