LG Optimus S Review

Introduction:

In this ever-increasing Android-centric smartphone landscape it is getting harder and harder to differentiate oneself. Some manufacturers are going the software route and adding custom skins to their devices. Others are taking the brute force hardware method by throwing fast processors and gobs of memory into their devices. Then there is LG, which is taking a novel approach and aiming for the low-end. The Optimus line (T-Mobile has the Optimus T and Sprint the Optimus S, Verizon has rebranded theirs the Vortex) takes square aim at the featurephone market and hits the nail squarely on the head. Included with Sprint’s LG Optimus S you will find a 2GB memory card, microUSB cable and AC adapter.


Design:

LG has not strayed far from the original Optimus One design, but there are a few differences. The Optimus S is a very grey shade of blue and slathered in soft touch paint. The phone feels fantastic in your hand; it is extremely well-built, has a good weight to it and the materials are better than the $50 price point would indicate. Compared to the Sanyo Zio and even the fairly nice Samsung Transform, the LG Optimus S is easily the class leader when it comes to mid-range Android design. In reality the Optimus S likely replaces the HTC Hero in Sprint’s lineup, a phone we were quite fond of last year. Simply put, the LG Optimus S feels like a premium device.



You can compare the LG Optimus S with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The 3.2” capacitive display has a 320x480 resolution and support for 16M colors which gives it the color depth that the HTC Hero (and for that matter, the EVO 4G) lacks. Yes, it’s a small display in today’s market and it doesn’t have the resolution of the Zio, but it’s quite usable even in sunlight, it is very responsive (unlike the Zio) and still looks pretty good. Below the screen are the typical four Android navigation keys: Home, Menu, Back and Search. They are physical buttons with very good travel and a pop to reassure you that they have been pressed.



The left edge of the LG Optimus S simply houses the microSD card slot while the right side is the home for the volume rocker, voice dial and camera keys. At the top is the power/lock key and 3.5mm headphone jack while the microUSB port is centered at the bottom of the Optimus S. Like the front four buttons, the side buttons all feel very good with a reassuring pop. Flipping the phone over you’ll find the 3.2megapixel camera trimmed in brushed metal housing with the Optimus’s single speaker just to the right.




We can’t really overstate how solid this phone feels. The soft-touch paint offers great grip and at 4.06oz the weight is nearly perfect for its size. The dimensions are also good; unlike the Hero there is not a lot of wasted space around the display so the phone is not longer than it needs to be. The LG Optimus S feels equally good in the hand, the pocket and against your face.

Interface and Software:

Like the Sanyo Zio and Samsung Transform before it, the LG Optimus S is a Sprint ID device meaning that the user can install customized ID packs built around a central theme or content provider. We went over this more in the other two reviews, and since nothing has changed we won’t mention any more about it here. While you have to install an ID to begin using the phone you can then cancel that download and stick with the basic Android experience if you wish. By doing this the only Sprint apps on the phone are Sprint Zone and Sprint ID; to get other Sprint apps like TV, Football, etc. you can download the Sprint ID pack.



At the LG Optimus S's core though is stock Android 2.2, making it the second 2.2 device in Sprint’s lineup behind the EVO 4G (the Transform, Zio and Epic 4G will be upgraded to 2.2, and the Galaxy Tab launches with it.) The LG Optimus S and Zio run on identical Qualcomm MSM7627 processors clocked at 600MHz and share memory specs, but the Optimus is the zippiest Android phone we’ve seen on Sprint this side of the Epic and EVO. It easily outpaces the Moment/Intercept/Transform trio, which are all clocked at 800MHz. It will be interesting to see what the 2.2 upgrade does for the Zio and Transform, but for now the Optimus S is the clear leader of the three in terms of OS performance.



Even when we put it through some stress testing the LG Optimus S held up well. Typically an onslaught of rapid-fire downloads from the Market will make a lesser device choke, but we downloaded 35 apps in a matter of a few minutes and, while there was a brief pause here and there, the Optimus S chugged along quite fine. We were worried that the 140MB of internal memory would not be enough, but we took it down below 45MB with those 35 downloads and it still zipped along quite fine. Your average user won’t realize that some of these apps could be manually moved to the SD card, but until you run out of space altogether we don’t see a need for this. Quadrant scores in the 430s aren’t exactly stellar (high end devices like the EVO 4G and Nexus One score in the 1300s) but the real world performance is quite great. We are awfully impressed with the speed and fluidity of this device.



There are several messaging options such as Handcent and Chomp to replace the stock SMS app, and other messaging services like Kik (think a cross-platform BlackBerry Messenger) are available as well. We had no issues using the stock Android keyboard on the smaller display, but of course there are other options in the Market for this as well.



Camera and Multimedia:

The 3.2MP camera uses the stock Android interface with no real adjustments beyond focus mode, picture quality and color tone. Images turned out OK but not great. In general color reproduction was good, but the pictures had a lot of blur to them and some expected noise in lower lighting conditions. The autofocus isn’t the quickest thing on the market; it took a little over 2s to snap a picture from when the shutter button was pressed. Thankfully the Optimus S was almost immediately ready to snap another picture when done with the first. The camcorder was also acceptable but nothing special. We’re not expecting Epic 4G quality here, but it would have been nice to see a bit better camera performance from the Optimus S.





LG Optimus S Sample Video:



The music and video players are capable enough, but are not nearly as pretty as the ones found in iOS. There are several alternatives in the Market that will add shine, functionality or both to the phone.

Internet and Connectivity:

The LG Optimus S utilizes Sprint’s EVDO Rev. A network and is quite zippy on the internet. For those without 3G coverage, wanting faster speeds or just looking to conserve battery life Wi-Fi is also available. The stock Android 2.2 browser is decent, and there are some good alternatives such as Dolphin Browser HD, Opera Mobile and Skyfire, not to mention the continued progress of Firefox Mobile. Unlike the Sanyo Zio, the Optimus S supports multi-touch and it is executed smoothly. Unfortunately Flash is not available, but with a lower spec processor this is not a surprise and Skyfire’s server side rendering allows you to watch Flash videos on the phone. Bluetooth clocks in at v2.1+EDR and supports the HSP 1.2, HFP 1.5, OPP, FTP, PBA, DUN, A2DP 1.2 and AVRC profiles. GPS is of course also available for turn-by-turn navigation and a whole slew of other GPS enabled applications.

Performance and Conclusion:

Overall call quality was above average on the LG Optimus S. Callers noted that clarity is very good and there was no echo, hollowness or static but said that we sounded a bit congested. They rated us an 8.25/10. Earpiece volume was excessive, even at lower volumes and at times there was some harshness almost as if the speaker was blown. Still, in normal conversation this wasn’t present (it is most obvious when the phone is ringing) and callers sounded natural. Too much volume is always preferred over not enough, and on the whole we’d give it a 7.5/10 on our end. Battery life was quite surprisingly good. It is rated at 5 hours of talk time, but in standby it went several days of light usage without needing a charge .

LG is serious about their Android push, and the Optimus S is a very nice device. Like the Mazda RX-8’s tiny 1.3L engine, the Optimus S does a lot with a little and delivers smooth, quick performance. At $50 it is easily the best value on Sprint’s lineup right now and, unless you don’t want a data plan, the Optimus S should be chosen over featurephones like the LG Rumor Touch and Sanyo Innuendo every time. We are quite impressed with this little device, and while it won’t steal sales from the EVO 4G and Epic 4G, for now it is the only other Android device we’d consider in Sprint’s lineup until the Transform gets upgraded to 2.2. LG has shown us that you don’t need a high price tag to deliver top-notch performance in a smartphone.

LG Optimus S Video Review: