Review: LG Optimus One (P500)

[a2mn2002]

1.Then how to play AB game smoothly on lg op1?
2.comment on live wallpapers. Does it drain battry more ?
3. List all the games that run fine on lg op1.

 

[coderunknown]

1. turn on H/W acc, move angry birds to internal memory & on top of that, overclock to 729Mhz (from 600). this will make the game a bit more playable.
PS: angry birds & season lag a lot. Rio is much much playable.

2. yes. drains battery. also don't see a reason to use live wallpaper, till you want to show off the mobile.

3. have not played a lot of games. but for me, raging thunder II is one of the best racing game & runs without any lag. graphics is comparable to some old PC games.

 

[Amigo007]

1. turn on H/W acc, move angry birds to internal memory & on top of that, overclock to 729Mhz (from 600). this will make the game a bit more playable.
PS: angry birds & season lag a lot. Rio is much much playable.

2. yes. drains battery. also don't see a reason to use live wallpaper, till you want to show off the mobile.

3. have not played a lot of games. but for me, raging thunder II is one of the best racing game & runs without any lag. graphics is comparable to some old PC games.

Great Review Mr Sam. Did you try playing NFS shift.? i am planning to buy O1 for sure and root it.
Once again great review and happy modding.

 

[coderunknown]

Great Review Mr Sam. Did you try playing NFS shift.? i am planning to buy O1 for sure and root it.
Once again great review and happy modding.

nope. till now not played that game.

 

[tmanikandan]

Thanks for analyzing in detail and writing such a wonderful review.
It's very nice that u also compared with other options.

Has it been upgraded to Gingerbread or Do we need to upgrade ?

 

[a2mn2002]

I want to know what happned to the dust issue? Had LG fixed it?
What about spice 410 . Has anybody tried it?

 

[tmanikandan]

Planning to buy one. How to root it ?

Any Good Links for Android Apps / Themes / Tutorials for Android as How To's in LG Optimus One ?

How is the audio quality ? I found from the web that headphone is not impressive.

Does it comes with PC Suite Cd ?

How about the screen when viewed in outdoors ( sunlight ) ?

 

[coderunknown]

Thanks for analyzing in detail and writing such a wonderful review.

thanks for reading

It's very nice that u also compared with other options.

idea taken from GSMArena's review. and this is necessary. you can't just claim that the mobile you bought is good without any comparison stuff.

Has it been upgraded to Gingerbread or Do we need to upgrade ?

no. but as official gingerbread rom have leaked so it should get update in a months time.

I want to know what happned to the dust issue? Had LG fixed it?

LG as told it is fixed since December 2010 batch. mine was packed in dec & i have this dust problem. AndroidFan's O1 was packed in January-February & his mobile isn't affected. so i think it is fixed. just avoid old stock.

What about spice 410 . Has anybody tried it?

made by Huawei & marketed by Spice. if problem creeps up, fixing it may take months. but H/W is good (way ahead of O1) & have good community support.

Planning to buy one. How to root it ?

you have to use a app known as ginger root. google it. ver 2.2.0 can be rooted using Z4Root not the latter versions.

Any Good Links for Android Apps / Themes / Tutorials for Android as How To's in LG Optimus One ?

any kind of download, Android Market. you'll get custom launcher & they have their own personal themes. use one & you'll never look for custom LG launcher again. i use Go Launcher.

don't go for any tutorials. buy & use, else it'll spoil all the fun. have you used an Android mobile before?

How is the audio quality ? I found from the web that headphone is not impressive.

comes with stock Android music Player. i use the stock player along with DSP manager for equalizer & some nice added features.

headphones are quality ones. much better than what you get with most mobiles.

Does it comes with PC Suite Cd ?

nope. PC Suite comes in memory card but i don't think you'll ever need to use it. also it is crap anyway. totally unusable.

How about the screen when viewed in outdoors ( sunlight ) ?

bad. screen is extremely reflective. you need to increase brightness to 100% to use it. maybe using a different screen protector solve it partially.

 

[tmanikandan]

Thanks very much for the reply

I am new to Android and obviously this will be my first Android Mobile.

"idea taken from GSMArena's review. and this is necessary. you can't just claim that the mobile you bought is good without any comparison stuff."

Samsung Galaxy Ace or Optimus One ?

"no. but as official gingerbread rom have leaked so it should get update in a months time."

Does it mean that it cannot be upgraded as of now as gingerbread has got issues ? Further can it be upgraded to gingerbread 2.3.4 ?

"LG as told it is fixed since December 2010 batch. mine was packed in dec & i have this dust problem. AndroidFan's O1 was packed in January-February & his mobile isn't affected. so i think it is fixed. just avoid old stock."

how to find the date of packing ?

headphones are quality ones. much better than what you get with most mobiles.

I found from the web, that it doesn't have cushions. Will it lead to ear pain on a long usage say 2 to 3 hours of usage ?


It comes packed with 2 Gb Card. Will a 4Gb or 8Gb card leads to problem ?

Can we read Ebooks in Optimus One ( PDF and Chm Formats ) ?

 

[coderunknown]

I am new to Android and obviously this will be my first Android Mobile.

then don't take any guide. just use it. you may need 2-3 days to get used to how Android works but it'll be fun. when i brought O1, it was my first Android but not my first smartphone. having used Motorola ROKR E6 for over 2yr it was easy to get used to Android.

Samsung Galaxy Ace or Optimus One ?

3.5" is the size one should go for when buying an Android if budget allows. 3.2" feels slightly smaller once you start browsing or watching videos. as most of the time i am online from mobile i really miss that extra 0.3" screen size. heck, if i can i'll go for 3.8-4" but not over that

but do remember Ace = smaller battery. but rest everything is good about it. also do check some user review of Ace as it may have some issues still unknown to me.

Does it mean that it cannot be upgraded as of now as gingerbread has got issues ? Further can it be upgraded to gingerbread 2.3.4 ?

as it is leaked rom, so it is definitely buggy & slow. but i am already on custom roms & running Android 2.3.4 since a few weeks (maybe a month).

how to find the date of packing ?

look for a white label with date of manufacturing & MRP.

I found from the web, that it doesn't have cushions. Will it lead to ear pain on a long usage say 2 to 3 hours of usage ?

*lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZMo51VKkmAQ/TgQf_kxAwaI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/iXRPbg_w0f4/s640/IMG_20110624_105306.jpg

It comes packed with 2 Gb Card. Will a 4Gb or 8Gb card leads to problem ?

nope. but some slow 8Gb cards are known to cause restart problem & SD card unmounting. better check the mobile section. there was a discussion about it sometime back.

Can we read Ebooks in Optimus One ( PDF and Chm Formats ) ?

yes. i used 2 different pdf reader but at last settled for thinkFree Office. it comes preloaded with stock optimus one or just download the free version from market.

i am not sure about CHM format. i only used pdf format.

 

[tmanikandan]

Thanks once again not only for clearing my doubts but also taking an extra step to post the headphone pic.

I will be proceeding to buy Optimus One this weekend.

 

[coderunknown]

Thanks once again not only for clearing my doubts but also taking an extra step to post the headphone pic.

my pleasure

i am not sure if all O1 comes with this headset but this is one quality set & frankly didn't expected from LG. my parents, uncle, aunt everyone used Nokia, Samsung mobile & the headset quality is absolutely pathetic. i previously used motorola & blackberry headset (wired) and after 1hr your ears will start to pain. the buds tries to come out, etc.

I will be proceeding to buy Optimus One this weekend.

just make sure manufacturing date is of 2011. also ask them if they can show you the headphone. a few months back someone complained about the headphone not being good. so ask for a demo if they have an open pack.

 

[tmanikandan]

Yeah Sure. Today I went and used the phone ( Live Demo ). Also I inquired about the headphones and they told me that it has cushions and I tried to show them this pic thru Wifi and confirmed that it is the same headset. Still, I will be confirming it once again when I buy the phone. The date of packing is Apr 2011 and in some shops it is May 2011.

I thank once again for your valuable review. I will let you know once I buy this weekend.

 

[coderunknown]

then most probably it'll come with v10e update (Android 2.2.2) which fixes almost all the problems user complained about. & most likely the touchscreen bug is fixed too.

 

[tmanikandan]

Hi Sam !

Got the mobile .

It was packed May 2011.

it'll come with v10e update (Android 2.2.2) which fixes almost all the problems user complained about. & most likely the touchscreen bug is fixed too.

Very much glad to know it.


Thanks very much for the wonderful review which provided me a great clarity in buying this product.

Thanks once again . Will share in the forum about my android and LG Optimus One
experience.

 

[a2mn2002]

Hi Sam !

Got the mobile .

It was packed May 2011.



Very much glad to know it.


Thanks very much for the wonderful review which provided me a great clarity in buying this product.

Thanks once again . Will share in the forum about my android and LG Optimus One
experience.

congrats mate ! How much damage to the wallet ? Try to post your experience with pics.

 

[coderunknown]

Hi Sam !

Got the mobile .

It was packed May 2011.



Very much glad to know it.


Thanks very much for the wonderful review which provided me a great clarity in buying this product.

Thanks once again . Will share in the forum about my android and LG Optimus One
experience.

congrats it feels great that some was helped by my work. do share your experience about using it in the Optimus One thread.

 

[tmanikandan]

Thanks . For the past one week , I was going to all the Live Demo Shops / Mobile Shops and I explored all the mobiles in this price / features category and also the high end smartphones. As I said earlier , your review brought a great clarity in helping me to buy this product and finally chose LP Optimus One .

The Kernel Version is 2.2.2. Date of packing is May 2011. I am using with Transcend 4 GB micro SD card ( mobile comes with 2gb micro SD ) and I am not finding any problem. The headphones is with Cushion ( as same in the pic posted ). I love the Touch and UI as it is very responsive and I also love the automatic screen rotation. I like the fonts in this mobile as it is very clear. There is no flash but it can be forgiven owing to lot of features of this mobile in this category. ( I think you can install android app to use mobile LCD as a flash ).It also comes with 40 pre installed android applications and beginners who use Internet will find it extremely useful. The LG Optimus One is awesome and I am exploring and enjoying it..

I have few questions /doubts related to LG Optimus One / Android. I am sorry that the doubt list is very big. I am new to Android and I am still in the process of learning and exploring LG Optimus One / Android. So please do excuse my big list of questions / doubts.


1) The battery is draining too much. I disabled the bluetooth, wifi but not sure as how to disable GPRS. I even checked the option 2G only for saving my battery but still no luck. How to get rid of background applications / Internet to have a maximum battery life ? ( I do not want internet as of now )

P.S. - When I inserted my sim, automatically I got message about my GPRS activated message ( But I did not send any message to activate GPRS )


1a ) On the notification bar, there are 4 icons. One is for wifi, 2nd one for bluetooth
Whats the 3rd one (with the mobile icon / mobile with marked X icon ) and the fourth speaker icon ?


2) When I try to edit a already saved contact, I am not able to edit the full name as the contact is allowing only a fixed number of characters.

But When I try to create a new contact and edit, I am able to create the full name.

3) Do we have screensavers ?

4) As memory is draining too much, I tried to kill some applications that were running on the background through task killer. It is getting killed but when I open again the Task Killer, I am finding the killed applications. How to get rid of these ?

P.S. When I try to kill using Task Killer, it says 280 M free. Does it indicate RAM ? If so, how much RAM to be free to make applications faster ?


5) All the messages not classified as Inbox, Sentitems, etc. Instead all of them are in the same Messaging Icon. So if I want to delete all the messages there was no option in it . Instead I have to multiselect all the messages and then only I am able to delete it.

6) I want to disable Internet from my mobile. I turned wifi off and bluetooth off. But still Internet is active. How to do it ?

7) When I click to the main menu, all the applications are displayed. When I try to create a new category, New category getting created only at the top of the Application Category. But I want the new category created to be at the bottom of the Application Category. Can I move the entire category ? How to do this ?

8) If the volume of the ringtone set to maximum, will it affect the quality of the speaker in the long run ?

9) I want to change the default opening image ( also the closing image ) of the Mobile.

10) How to put the image for the contact for the Photo call ?

11) What the meaning of USB on Mass Storage Option ?

12) I want to save all my contacts both in Sim as well as in Memory Card. How to do this ?

Also I want the contact to get saved to memory card by default. Where to find the options for this ?

13) When I try to set the wallpaper ( that I copied from my PC ), image is not getting auto adjusted. Even if I manually do it , it is not getting the exact fit to the screen.

14) Can I set the number of screens to 3 ?

15) When I compose a message , I find a big gap between TO and Compose Message . This happens only when I use abc keyboard. But when I try to compose using qwerty by rotating sidewards, I am finding the Compose Message big and I am able to see all the characters in my message clearly. Is it possible to reduce the space when I used abc keyboard ?

16 ) I want to remove the Browser icon in the default line up of 4 icons in the front screen and I want to customise my own icons in this list ( I am not talking about the screen here - The default 4 icons excluding the center one )

17 ) Is it possible to have different wallpapers for each screens ?

 

[6x6]

what about battery life under different conditions. like no calling only standby, ~30-60 min calling per day, watching 2-3 hour movies/ playing games/ using internet per day.

 

[coderunknown]

The Kernel Version is 2.2.2. Date of packing is May 2011. I am using with Transcend 4 GB micro SD card ( mobile comes with 2gb micro SD ) and I am not finding any problem. The headphones is with Cushion ( as same in the pic posted ). I love the Touch and UI as it is very responsive and I also love the automatic screen rotation. I like the fonts in this mobile as it is very clear. There is no flash but it can be forgiven owing to lot of features of this mobile in this category. (I think you can install android app to use mobile LCD as a flash ).It also comes with 40 pre installed android applications and beginners who use Internet will find it extremely useful. The LG Optimus One is awesome and I am exploring and enjoying it..

no. its the Android version. 2.2.2 but it should have something like V10B, V10C or V10E.

have you exchanged the card or got an extra one?

font is clear partly due to the resolution.

if you are talking about Adobe flash, lack of it is actually good cause of 2 things: flash sucks battery life & also most ads use flash.

mobile LCD as a flash? whats that? you'll find most of the apps as useless. & some apps are not installed. you can find those in the 2Gb card bundled.

1) The battery is draining too much. I disabled the bluetooth, wifi but not sure as how to disable GPRS. I even checked the option 2G only for saving my battery but still no luck. How to get rid of background applications / Internet to have a maximum battery life ? ( I do not want internet as of now )

P.S. - When I inserted my sim, automatically I got message about my GPRS activated message ( But I did not send any message to activate GPRS )

turn GPRS off while not in use & also decrease brightness to ~30%. turn off the option of auto rotate screen. now fully charge mobile & let it drain completely. do this a couple of time & battery backup will increase quite a bit. say 30-35hrs. or maybe more.

that msg came when you inserted sim for first time? if yes then it is normal. was some net pack active?

remember even if you don't use GPRS, Android will continuously transfer data so turn the GPRS option off. add to it LG bundled some really crappy apps that makes this process even fast.

1a ) On the notification bar, there are 4 icons. One is for wifi, 2nd one for bluetooth
Whats the 3rd one (with the mobile icon / mobile with marked X icon ) and the fourth speaker icon ?

GPRS on/off.

2) When I try to edit a already saved contact, I am not able to edit the full name as the contact is allowing only a fixed number of characters.

But When I try to create a new contact and edit, I am able to create the full name.

if the first name part have the whole name, copy the last name to the next space saying "Last Name".

3) Do we have screensavers ?

haven't seen any yet. also screen saver = battery drain increase. oh you can also increase battery life by using a dark or black wallpaper but won't be worth it. may give it a try.

4) As memory is draining too much, I tried to kill some applications that were running on the background through task killer. It is getting killed but when I open again the Task Killer, I am finding the killed applications. How to get rid of these ?

P.S. When I try to kill using Task Killer, it says 280 M free. Does it indicate RAM ? If so, how much RAM to be free to make applications faster ?

NO. don't. mobile have enough memory to handle any level of multitasking. you kill app. app restart & start eating memory. instead download Fast Reboot from market & use it if you feel mobile becoming a bit sluggish. avoid killing running apps. it may sound off but apps in memory doesn't need much power.

5) All the messages not classified as Inbox, Sentitems, etc. Instead all of them are in the same Messaging Icon. So if I want to delete all the messages there was no option in it . Instead I have to multiselect all the messages and then only I am able to delete it.

yes. thats a problem. Android doesn't have any inbox system. all msg are threaded.

all the msg means? in the msg in 1 thread or empty the whole msg box? just use multiselect. then press menu & an option should come up as "Select All". select it & then delete.

6) I want to disable Internet from my mobile. I turned wifi off and bluetooth off. But still Internet is active. How to do it ?

pull the status bar down & click the 3rd icon. internet will go off.

7) When I click to the main menu, all the applications are displayed. When I try to create a new category, New category getting created only at the top of the Application Category. But I want the new category created to be at the bottom of the Application Category. Can I move the entire category ? How to do this ?

no idea

instead try Launcher Pro, GO Launcher EX or Zeam launcher.

8) If the volume of the ringtone set to maximum, will it affect the quality of the speaker in the long run ?

shouldn't. i turn ringtone to max & vibration is always on.

9) I want to change the default opening image ( also the closing image ) of the Mobile.

you can't do it without rooting & installing custom roms. minimum root is needed so you have access to system apps.

10) How to put the image for the contact for the Photo call ?

have not done it yet so don't have much idea.

11) What the meaning of USB on Mass Storage Option ?

to access memory card while connecting to PC.

12) I want to save all my contacts both in Sim as well as in Memory Card. How to do this ?

i think you can only backup your contacts to memory card. sim card, don't know. all my contacts are at mobile & sync using google account.

Also I want the contact to get saved to memory card by default. Where to find the options for this ?

that option isn't there by default. you can try GO contacts if it had any such option.

13) When I try to set the wallpaper ( that I copied from my PC ), image is not getting auto adjusted. Even if I manually do it , it is not getting the exact fit to the screen.

it depends on the no of screen set & the height. standard image size for this mobile is 640X480 (3 screens). so resize or crop to that level then it should work.

14) Can I set the number of screens to 3 ?

probably no. if you want you may need to ditch LG launcher & go for some home replacement from market.

15) When I compose a message , I find a big gap between TO and Compose Message . This happens only when I use abc keyboard. But when I try to compose using qwerty by rotating sidewards, I am finding the Compose Message big and I am able to see all the characters in my message clearly. Is it possible to reduce the space when I used abc keyboard ?

just now checked. can't be done. also if you fit the keyboard at portrait mode, it may become unusable.

16 ) I want to remove the Browser icon in the default line up of 4 icons in the front screen and I want to customise my own icons in this list ( I am not talking about the screen here - The default 4 icons excluding the center one )

press it for 3-4sec & it'll vibrate. drag it to the dustbin that appeared. now pull any app to the homescreen (this will make a shortcut). once in homescreen drag that icon to the LG launcher.

i am not sure if this works as i ditched LG's launcher long ago.

17 ) Is it possible to have different wallpapers for each screens ?

for each screen? probably not.

what about battery life under different conditions. like no calling only standby, ~30-60 min calling per day, watching 2-3 hour movies/ playing games/ using internet per day.

gaming, browsing & video takes a lot of battery life. i can get 48hrs off my mobile if i use internet for 2-3hrs daily with an hour of call & 4-5hr of music @ headphone.

but lot depends on what rom you are using & which kernel. currently getting 24hr battery life as GPRS is on 12hr or more. games specially angry birds will empty a fully charged battery in 4-5hrs.