Full Review of CSL Android-based Slim Mi410

CSL hopes to make headway in the premium smartphone space with the Android-based Slim Mi410.

CSL is well known for its budget phones that cost below RM500 on average but that hasn't stopped the company from dabbling with premium models.

The latest is the Slim Mi410, an Android 2.2 (Froyo) smartphone encased in a sturdy candybar housing with a big 4.1in touchscreen.

The smartphone runs on Android 2.2 and the company has spiced it up with a few extras such as MapKing, Blueberry Messenger, Azan alarm and Kiblat compass.

The front of the Mi410 is mainly taken up by the bright 4.1in capacitive touchscreen with a WXVGA (800 x 480-pixels) resolution.

Design
When we first held the Mi410, we didn't realise that we were looking at a CSL device. The differences aren't just cosmetic when compared to the other CSL models - the Mi410's dark grey plastic and aluminium housing is not only nice but also solid.


IMHO, the design and build quality is far better than most CSL phones. Anyway, we wouldn't have expected anything less from a higher-end phone.

Moving on, the device's front is mainly taken up by the bright 4.1in capacitive touchscreen with a WXVGA (800 x 480-pixels) resolution. The screen is a fingerprint magnet but thankfully the rest of the device isn't.

The screen has good viewing angles which is great for watching videos and playing games.
The virtual keyboard also looked good on the screen and it wasn't cramped. We found it to be quite responsive but the word prediction feature is still sloppy. More often than not it guessed the wrong word especially when we typed fast.

Besides the requisite power and volume rocker buttons on the side, there are four haptic-based touch-sensitive buttons just below the display to access the Back, Menu, Home and Search functions.

Hardware
The Mi410 runs on a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and has 512MB RAM which should be enough to power the device.

We had no trouble running most applications - both the preinstalled apps and those downloaded from the Android Market worked fine. Also, it was a breeze to view multimedia files and even 720p HD movies on the Mi410.

However, it was not all smooth sailing for the device. We encountered a few hiccups especially with the capacitive screen. It behaves erratically sometimes and the device lags when switching between homescreens.

There were even times when some apps refused to load. We had to tap on the app's icon several times before it finally worked.

Also, the unit stopped working twice and the only way we could rectify the problem was to do a hard reboot - we had to remove and reinsert the battery before restarting the smartphone.
However, the problems could be unique to the review unit.

The phone also has a HDMI port which makes it easy to hook it up to a HDTV to view images and videos. We tried it and it worked without a hitch.

The HDMI port is located next to the similar-looking USB2.0 port at the bottom, more often than not, we plugged in the charging cable to the wrong one especially when in a hurry.

However, we didn't like the location of the HDMI slot. It's located next to the USB port which also looks similar and it's too easy to accidentally plug the charging cable to the wrong port especially when you are in a hurry.

Camera
The Mi410 packs a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and built-in LED flash along with the standard Android features to help you take better pictures.

We found both the picture and video quality were nothing to shout about but they were on par with most camera phones in the market.

One thing to take note - the bezel around the lens cover doesn't protect it enough. If you are unlucky enough to rub it over something rough, the protective glass will get scratched and we weren't surprised that our review unit's lens cover was already damaged.

In terms of battery, the phone hardly lasted a day before needing a recharge. Even when used sparingly, the battery usually ran out of juice after just half a day.

We were not able to get the official standby and talk time for the phone but it's still not normal for a phone to run of charge so fast.

Conclusion
We really want to like CSL Slim Mi410 because we want to be proud of a local product. However, it has a lot of flaws that needs fixing and hopefully the problems can be eliminated with a software patch. For instance, the screen wasn't responsive enough and the device suffered from two hard crashes.

Overall, the CSL Slim Mi410 has a reasonable price tag but it's let down by a number of problems.

Pros: Solid design; big screen; virtual keyboard is responsive; HDMI connectivity.
Cons: Touchscreen can be erratic; noticeable lag when switching between homescreens; bezel doesn't protect lens cover; short battery life.

SLIM MI410
(CSL)
Android smartphone
NETWORK: GSM 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA 900/2100
OPERATING SYSTEM: Android 2.2 (Froyo)
DISPLAY: 4.1in touchscreen (480 x 800-pixels)
CAMERA: 5-megapixels camera with autofocus; secondary 0.3-megapixel camera
CONNECTIVITY: Bluetooth, WiFi, USB 2.0
MEMORY: 2GB internal storage
EXPANSION SLOT: MicroSD
OTHER FEATURES: FM radio tuner, geotagging, accelerometer, digital compass, proximity sensor, Kiblat compass, azan alarm, records 720p HD video
DIMENSIONS (W X D X H): 112 x 66 x 10mm
WEIGHT: 143g
WEBSITE: www.spicei2i.com
PRICE: RM1,299
RATING: 2.5

Full Review of CSL Android-based Slim Mi410

CSL hopes to make headway in the premium smartphone space with the Android-based Slim Mi410.

CSL is well known for its budget phones that cost below RM500 on average but that hasn't stopped the company from dabbling with premium models.

The latest is the Slim Mi410, an Android 2.2 (Froyo) smartphone encased in a sturdy candybar housing with a big 4.1in touchscreen.

The smartphone runs on Android 2.2 and the company has spiced it up with a few extras such as MapKing, Blueberry Messenger, Azan alarm and Kiblat compass.

The front of the Mi410 is mainly taken up by the bright 4.1in capacitive touchscreen with a WXVGA (800 x 480-pixels) resolution.

Design
When we first held the Mi410, we didn't realise that we were looking at a CSL device. The differences aren't just cosmetic when compared to the other CSL models - the Mi410's dark grey plastic and aluminium housing is not only nice but also solid.


IMHO, the design and build quality is far better than most CSL phones. Anyway, we wouldn't have expected anything less from a higher-end phone.

Moving on, the device's front is mainly taken up by the bright 4.1in capacitive touchscreen with a WXVGA (800 x 480-pixels) resolution. The screen is a fingerprint magnet but thankfully the rest of the device isn't.

The screen has good viewing angles which is great for watching videos and playing games.
The virtual keyboard also looked good on the screen and it wasn't cramped. We found it to be quite responsive but the word prediction feature is still sloppy. More often than not it guessed the wrong word especially when we typed fast.

Besides the requisite power and volume rocker buttons on the side, there are four haptic-based touch-sensitive buttons just below the display to access the Back, Menu, Home and Search functions.

Hardware
The Mi410 runs on a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and has 512MB RAM which should be enough to power the device.

We had no trouble running most applications - both the preinstalled apps and those downloaded from the Android Market worked fine. Also, it was a breeze to view multimedia files and even 720p HD movies on the Mi410.

However, it was not all smooth sailing for the device. We encountered a few hiccups especially with the capacitive screen. It behaves erratically sometimes and the device lags when switching between homescreens.

There were even times when some apps refused to load. We had to tap on the app's icon several times before it finally worked.

Also, the unit stopped working twice and the only way we could rectify the problem was to do a hard reboot - we had to remove and reinsert the battery before restarting the smartphone.
However, the problems could be unique to the review unit.

The phone also has a HDMI port which makes it easy to hook it up to a HDTV to view images and videos. We tried it and it worked without a hitch.

The HDMI port is located next to the similar-looking USB2.0 port at the bottom, more often than not, we plugged in the charging cable to the wrong one especially when in a hurry.

However, we didn't like the location of the HDMI slot. It's located next to the USB port which also looks similar and it's too easy to accidentally plug the charging cable to the wrong port especially when you are in a hurry.

Camera
The Mi410 packs a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and built-in LED flash along with the standard Android features to help you take better pictures.

We found both the picture and video quality were nothing to shout about but they were on par with most camera phones in the market.

One thing to take note - the bezel around the lens cover doesn't protect it enough. If you are unlucky enough to rub it over something rough, the protective glass will get scratched and we weren't surprised that our review unit's lens cover was already damaged.

In terms of battery, the phone hardly lasted a day before needing a recharge. Even when used sparingly, the battery usually ran out of juice after just half a day.

We were not able to get the official standby and talk time for the phone but it's still not normal for a phone to run of charge so fast.

Conclusion
We really want to like CSL Slim Mi410 because we want to be proud of a local product. However, it has a lot of flaws that needs fixing and hopefully the problems can be eliminated with a software patch. For instance, the screen wasn't responsive enough and the device suffered from two hard crashes.

Overall, the CSL Slim Mi410 has a reasonable price tag but it's let down by a number of problems.

Pros: Solid design; big screen; virtual keyboard is responsive; HDMI connectivity.
Cons: Touchscreen can be erratic; noticeable lag when switching between homescreens; bezel doesn't protect lens cover; short battery life.

SLIM MI410
(CSL)
Android smartphone
NETWORK: GSM 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA 900/2100
OPERATING SYSTEM: Android 2.2 (Froyo)
DISPLAY: 4.1in touchscreen (480 x 800-pixels)
CAMERA: 5-megapixels camera with autofocus; secondary 0.3-megapixel camera
CONNECTIVITY: Bluetooth, WiFi, USB 2.0
MEMORY: 2GB internal storage
EXPANSION SLOT: MicroSD
OTHER FEATURES: FM radio tuner, geotagging, accelerometer, digital compass, proximity sensor, Kiblat compass, azan alarm, records 720p HD video
DIMENSIONS (W X D X H): 112 x 66 x 10mm
WEIGHT: 143g
WEBSITE: www.spicei2i.com
PRICE: RM1,299
RATING: 2.5

Full Review of CSL Android-based Slim Mi410

CSL hopes to make headway in the premium smartphone space with the Android-based Slim Mi410.

CSL is well known for its budget phones that cost below RM500 on average but that hasn't stopped the company from dabbling with premium models.

The latest is the Slim Mi410, an Android 2.2 (Froyo) smartphone encased in a sturdy candybar housing with a big 4.1in touchscreen.

The smartphone runs on Android 2.2 and the company has spiced it up with a few extras such as MapKing, Blueberry Messenger, Azan alarm and Kiblat compass.

The front of the Mi410 is mainly taken up by the bright 4.1in capacitive touchscreen with a WXVGA (800 x 480-pixels) resolution.

Design
When we first held the Mi410, we didn't realise that we were looking at a CSL device. The differences aren't just cosmetic when compared to the other CSL models - the Mi410's dark grey plastic and aluminium housing is not only nice but also solid.


IMHO, the design and build quality is far better than most CSL phones. Anyway, we wouldn't have expected anything less from a higher-end phone.

Moving on, the device's front is mainly taken up by the bright 4.1in capacitive touchscreen with a WXVGA (800 x 480-pixels) resolution. The screen is a fingerprint magnet but thankfully the rest of the device isn't.

The screen has good viewing angles which is great for watching videos and playing games.
The virtual keyboard also looked good on the screen and it wasn't cramped. We found it to be quite responsive but the word prediction feature is still sloppy. More often than not it guessed the wrong word especially when we typed fast.

Besides the requisite power and volume rocker buttons on the side, there are four haptic-based touch-sensitive buttons just below the display to access the Back, Menu, Home and Search functions.

Hardware
The Mi410 runs on a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and has 512MB RAM which should be enough to power the device.

We had no trouble running most applications - both the preinstalled apps and those downloaded from the Android Market worked fine. Also, it was a breeze to view multimedia files and even 720p HD movies on the Mi410.

However, it was not all smooth sailing for the device. We encountered a few hiccups especially with the capacitive screen. It behaves erratically sometimes and the device lags when switching between homescreens.

There were even times when some apps refused to load. We had to tap on the app's icon several times before it finally worked.

Also, the unit stopped working twice and the only way we could rectify the problem was to do a hard reboot - we had to remove and reinsert the battery before restarting the smartphone.
However, the problems could be unique to the review unit.

The phone also has a HDMI port which makes it easy to hook it up to a HDTV to view images and videos. We tried it and it worked without a hitch.

The HDMI port is located next to the similar-looking USB2.0 port at the bottom, more often than not, we plugged in the charging cable to the wrong one especially when in a hurry.

However, we didn't like the location of the HDMI slot. It's located next to the USB port which also looks similar and it's too easy to accidentally plug the charging cable to the wrong port especially when you are in a hurry.

Camera
The Mi410 packs a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and built-in LED flash along with the standard Android features to help you take better pictures.

We found both the picture and video quality were nothing to shout about but they were on par with most camera phones in the market.

One thing to take note - the bezel around the lens cover doesn't protect it enough. If you are unlucky enough to rub it over something rough, the protective glass will get scratched and we weren't surprised that our review unit's lens cover was already damaged.

In terms of battery, the phone hardly lasted a day before needing a recharge. Even when used sparingly, the battery usually ran out of juice after just half a day.

We were not able to get the official standby and talk time for the phone but it's still not normal for a phone to run of charge so fast.

Conclusion
We really want to like CSL Slim Mi410 because we want to be proud of a local product. However, it has a lot of flaws that needs fixing and hopefully the problems can be eliminated with a software patch. For instance, the screen wasn't responsive enough and the device suffered from two hard crashes.

Overall, the CSL Slim Mi410 has a reasonable price tag but it's let down by a number of problems.

Pros: Solid design; big screen; virtual keyboard is responsive; HDMI connectivity.
Cons: Touchscreen can be erratic; noticeable lag when switching between homescreens; bezel doesn't protect lens cover; short battery life.

SLIM MI410
(CSL)
Android smartphone
NETWORK: GSM 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA 900/2100
OPERATING SYSTEM: Android 2.2 (Froyo)
DISPLAY: 4.1in touchscreen (480 x 800-pixels)
CAMERA: 5-megapixels camera with autofocus; secondary 0.3-megapixel camera
CONNECTIVITY: Bluetooth, WiFi, USB 2.0
MEMORY: 2GB internal storage
EXPANSION SLOT: MicroSD
OTHER FEATURES: FM radio tuner, geotagging, accelerometer, digital compass, proximity sensor, Kiblat compass, azan alarm, records 720p HD video
DIMENSIONS (W X D X H): 112 x 66 x 10mm
WEIGHT: 143g
WEBSITE: www.spicei2i.com
PRICE: RM1,299
RATING: 2.5

ViewSonic unveils Android Tablets

ViewPad 7

VIEWSONIC has launched two Android Tablets, the ViewPad 7 and ViewPad 10.

The ViewPad 7 is a smartphone, computer, game machine and e-book reader combined into one device, the company claimed.

The device, which runs on Android 2.2, has a 7in capacitive multitouch screen with a resolution of 800 x 480-pixels and runs on a Qualcomm MSM 7227 600MHz processor.

It also has a built-in storage of 512MB and a microSD slot which supports card sizes of up to 32GB.

Other features include two cameras (VGA camera on the front and 3-megapixel camera on the back), stereo speakers, accelerometer, digital compass, light sensor and A-GPS. The ViewPad 7 measures 179 x 110 x 11.5mm in size and weighs 375g.

ViewPad 10

The ViewPad 10, on the other hand, is a dual-boot device that runs both Windows 7 Home Premium and Android 2.2 operating systems.

This device has a 10in screen capacitive display with a resolution of 1,024 x 600-pixels. It also has an Intel Atom Processor N455 (1.66GHz), 1GB of memory, Intel GFX 200MHz graphics chip and 16GB SSD.

Other features include two USB ports, a mini VGA slot and SD card reader as well as WiFi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. However, it doesn't have 3G connectivity.

It also has a 1.3-megapixel webcam with built-in microphone which is great for videoconferencing.

The ViewPad 10 measures 275 x 170 x 14.5mm in size and weighs 875g.

The standard preinstalled apps for both devices include Google Maps, Voice Search, Gmail, YouTube and Aldiko e-reader.

There are over 100,000 apps available on the Android Market for users to beef up their Tablets, the company said.

However, users can only download free applications for now.

The ViewPad 7 and ViewPad 10 cost roughly about USD 580 and USD 645 respectively.

ViewSonic unveils Android Tablets

ViewPad 7

VIEWSONIC has launched two Android Tablets, the ViewPad 7 and ViewPad 10.

The ViewPad 7 is a smartphone, computer, game machine and e-book reader combined into one device, the company claimed.

The device, which runs on Android 2.2, has a 7in capacitive multitouch screen with a resolution of 800 x 480-pixels and runs on a Qualcomm MSM 7227 600MHz processor.

It also has a built-in storage of 512MB and a microSD slot which supports card sizes of up to 32GB.

Other features include two cameras (VGA camera on the front and 3-megapixel camera on the back), stereo speakers, accelerometer, digital compass, light sensor and A-GPS. The ViewPad 7 measures 179 x 110 x 11.5mm in size and weighs 375g.

ViewPad 10

The ViewPad 10, on the other hand, is a dual-boot device that runs both Windows 7 Home Premium and Android 2.2 operating systems.

This device has a 10in screen capacitive display with a resolution of 1,024 x 600-pixels. It also has an Intel Atom Processor N455 (1.66GHz), 1GB of memory, Intel GFX 200MHz graphics chip and 16GB SSD.

Other features include two USB ports, a mini VGA slot and SD card reader as well as WiFi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. However, it doesn't have 3G connectivity.

It also has a 1.3-megapixel webcam with built-in microphone which is great for videoconferencing.

The ViewPad 10 measures 275 x 170 x 14.5mm in size and weighs 875g.

The standard preinstalled apps for both devices include Google Maps, Voice Search, Gmail, YouTube and Aldiko e-reader.

There are over 100,000 apps available on the Android Market for users to beef up their Tablets, the company said.

However, users can only download free applications for now.

The ViewPad 7 and ViewPad 10 cost roughly about USD 580 and USD 645 respectively.

ViewSonic unveils Android Tablets

ViewPad 7

VIEWSONIC has launched two Android Tablets, the ViewPad 7 and ViewPad 10.

The ViewPad 7 is a smartphone, computer, game machine and e-book reader combined into one device, the company claimed.

The device, which runs on Android 2.2, has a 7in capacitive multitouch screen with a resolution of 800 x 480-pixels and runs on a Qualcomm MSM 7227 600MHz processor.

It also has a built-in storage of 512MB and a microSD slot which supports card sizes of up to 32GB.

Other features include two cameras (VGA camera on the front and 3-megapixel camera on the back), stereo speakers, accelerometer, digital compass, light sensor and A-GPS. The ViewPad 7 measures 179 x 110 x 11.5mm in size and weighs 375g.

ViewPad 10

The ViewPad 10, on the other hand, is a dual-boot device that runs both Windows 7 Home Premium and Android 2.2 operating systems.

This device has a 10in screen capacitive display with a resolution of 1,024 x 600-pixels. It also has an Intel Atom Processor N455 (1.66GHz), 1GB of memory, Intel GFX 200MHz graphics chip and 16GB SSD.

Other features include two USB ports, a mini VGA slot and SD card reader as well as WiFi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. However, it doesn't have 3G connectivity.

It also has a 1.3-megapixel webcam with built-in microphone which is great for videoconferencing.

The ViewPad 10 measures 275 x 170 x 14.5mm in size and weighs 875g.

The standard preinstalled apps for both devices include Google Maps, Voice Search, Gmail, YouTube and Aldiko e-reader.

There are over 100,000 apps available on the Android Market for users to beef up their Tablets, the company said.

However, users can only download free applications for now.

The ViewPad 7 and ViewPad 10 cost roughly about USD 580 and USD 645 respectively.

Optimus One LG-P500 : Reviewed

The LG Optimus One promises all the thrills of Android 2.2 at an affordable price and without much compromise.

WHILE it may seem odd to describe an Android 2.2-powered smartphone as an affordable, no-frills device, that's precisely what the LG Optimus One LG-P500 is.

Although it's armed to the teeth with an array of technological acronyms and probably has a kitchen sink stashed somewhere in there, it doesn't exactly shout "Pick me!" as your eyes glaze over the sea of other budget Android phones in the market.

Of course, it probably doesn't help that it looks identical to the rest of them too. But let's give it a chance and power it up, shall we?

Mostly regular

Unlike some other Android phones, the Optimus One doesn't have any weird manufacturer-imposed customisations made to its Home screen. Whether that's a plus or minus to you, at least it doesn't get in the way.

POWER UP:The port at the bottom lets you charge the Optimus one while it syncs with your PC. It's a proprietary plug though.

Browsing through the app screen, you can see a bunch of preinstalled 3rd party apps such as NDrive for car navigation, ThinkFree Office for document editing and TasKiller for killing apps (and freeing up more RAM).

And on the social networking and connectivity front, you've got apps for Facebook and Twitter, along with built-in apps for Gmail, Google Chat and YouTube.

Nothing out of the ordinary - just letting you know that it's there and it works well. The only other thing that's bespoke is the LG software keyboard, which is supposed to be an improvement over the standard Android keyboard.

Real estate

Speaking of which, the Optimus One's 3.2in LCD is a little too small for typing on a portrait-oriented Qwerty keyboard. Doesn't look much smaller than the 3.5in screens on some other touchscreen smartphones but it does make a difference when your thumbs are big enough to cover several virtual buttons at the same time.

Good thing that the LG software keyboard has pretty effective word-prediction and auto-correction, then.

It's a bit on the slow side, though, so you may end up waiting for the software to catch up if you're a fast typist. The LG keyboard also does handwriting recognition for Chinese, though I can't comment on how good it is.

The weird thing, though, is that the standard Android keyboard's text prediction is disabled; it doesn't seem to have access to the system's language dictionaries. So if you want word prediction, the LG keyboard it is.

But when you're not typing on it, the 3.2in LCD is big enough for other stuff like messaging, web browsing and so on. It has pretty good viewing angles too, and you'll only get inverted colours or weird hue shifts at extreme angles.

With a bit of care, the LCD is readable in bright sunlight too. And last, but not least, it's pretty resistant to fingerprints, which is a big plus in my book.

Performance

Generally the Optimus One feels snappy enough. You won't spend much time waiting for apps to open or for thumbnail galleries to be displayed.

However, you will see the odd stutter or two when there's a lot happening on screen, like when you're browsing through thumbnails or scrolling through web pages.

It's particularly noticeable when playing games. Or at least when I tried Angry Birds, which is the only game I tested on the Optimus One.

The frame rate tends to shift between okay to slideshow-slow for no apparent reason.

Even killing off other processes and apps with the bundled TasKiller app doesn't solve the problem. I'm thinking that the slightly anaemic 600MHz processor has something to do with it.

Battery life is pretty good. Didn't do any scientific tests, but it will easily last a couple of days of furious Web surfing, text messaging, GPS navigating, photo taking and game playing, with some juice to spare.

Like most smartphones, it charges via its USB port, which is cool.

GPS navigation

The A-GPS unit in the Optimus One is quick enough to get an initial satellite lock within seconds, though it sometimes lags for close to a minute if you're sandwiched between tall buildings or are seated beneath a tree.

The Optimus One comes preloaded with a navigation app called NDrive, which comes with maps for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

It's an okay navigation system, though it sometimes comes up with really weird routes and its voiced directions can sometimes be confusing.

It's a bit hard to use too, and it insists that you use its own non-Qwerty keyboard to input addresses, which is annoying. Here's hoping that Google Maps Navigation gets official support in Malaysia soon.

POINT AND SHOOT: The 3-megapixel camera has an autofocus lens.

Multimedia

The Optimus One has a 3-megapixel autofocus camera on its back. It takes fairly decent photographs in daylight (for a phone), though it definitely wouldn't replace your dedicated point-and-shoot.

It's fine for Facebook uploads and small 4R prints, but the narrow dynamic range results in easily clipped highlights and photos that look a little too contrasty. Autofocusing is a little on the slow side too.

In other words, it's a typical phone camera. It also shoots video at VGA (640 x 480-pixel) resolution though at a weird, choppy frame rate of 18 fps.

Audio is encoded in 8KHz AMR compression, so it sounds rather low fidelity too. So, no, it won't replace your camcorder either.

Conclusion

So there you have it. The LG Optimus One P500 is decent, budget Android phone that may not set the world on fire, but does its job competently and without any major annoyances.

And thanks to Android 2.2 (Froyo), it's got quite a lot of nice usability touches going for it.

Pros: Affordable; long battery life; feature-packed; Froyo; good word-prediction with LG software keyboard; decent LCD.

Cons: Sluggish performance for games; screen a little small for keyboard in portrait mode; camera could be better.

Optimus One LG-P500
(LG)
Smartphone
Network: GSM 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA 900/2100
CPU: 600MHz
OPERATING SYSTEM: Android 2.2 (Froyo) DISPLAY: 3.2in capacitive touchscreen (320 x 480-pixels)
CAMERA: 3-megapixels with autofocus; VGA-quality video recording (640 x 480-pixels, MPEG4 at 18fps)
CONNECTIVITY: Bluetooth, WiFi, USB 2.0
MEMORY: 512MB SDRAM; 170MB Flash memory
EXPANSION SLOT: MicroSD (2GB included)
STANDBY/TALK TIME: 550 hours/7.5 hours
OTHER FEATURES: A-GPS; FM radio tuner
DIMENSIONS (W x D x H): 59 x 113.5 x 13.3mm
WEIGHT: 129g

Optimus One LG-P500 : Reviewed

The LG Optimus One promises all the thrills of Android 2.2 at an affordable price and without much compromise.

WHILE it may seem odd to describe an Android 2.2-powered smartphone as an affordable, no-frills device, that's precisely what the LG Optimus One LG-P500 is.

Although it's armed to the teeth with an array of technological acronyms and probably has a kitchen sink stashed somewhere in there, it doesn't exactly shout "Pick me!" as your eyes glaze over the sea of other budget Android phones in the market.

Of course, it probably doesn't help that it looks identical to the rest of them too. But let's give it a chance and power it up, shall we?

Mostly regular

Unlike some other Android phones, the Optimus One doesn't have any weird manufacturer-imposed customisations made to its Home screen. Whether that's a plus or minus to you, at least it doesn't get in the way.

POWER UP:The port at the bottom lets you charge the Optimus one while it syncs with your PC. It's a proprietary plug though.

Browsing through the app screen, you can see a bunch of preinstalled 3rd party apps such as NDrive for car navigation, ThinkFree Office for document editing and TasKiller for killing apps (and freeing up more RAM).

And on the social networking and connectivity front, you've got apps for Facebook and Twitter, along with built-in apps for Gmail, Google Chat and YouTube.

Nothing out of the ordinary - just letting you know that it's there and it works well. The only other thing that's bespoke is the LG software keyboard, which is supposed to be an improvement over the standard Android keyboard.

Real estate

Speaking of which, the Optimus One's 3.2in LCD is a little too small for typing on a portrait-oriented Qwerty keyboard. Doesn't look much smaller than the 3.5in screens on some other touchscreen smartphones but it does make a difference when your thumbs are big enough to cover several virtual buttons at the same time.

Good thing that the LG software keyboard has pretty effective word-prediction and auto-correction, then.

It's a bit on the slow side, though, so you may end up waiting for the software to catch up if you're a fast typist. The LG keyboard also does handwriting recognition for Chinese, though I can't comment on how good it is.

The weird thing, though, is that the standard Android keyboard's text prediction is disabled; it doesn't seem to have access to the system's language dictionaries. So if you want word prediction, the LG keyboard it is.

But when you're not typing on it, the 3.2in LCD is big enough for other stuff like messaging, web browsing and so on. It has pretty good viewing angles too, and you'll only get inverted colours or weird hue shifts at extreme angles.

With a bit of care, the LCD is readable in bright sunlight too. And last, but not least, it's pretty resistant to fingerprints, which is a big plus in my book.

Performance

Generally the Optimus One feels snappy enough. You won't spend much time waiting for apps to open or for thumbnail galleries to be displayed.

However, you will see the odd stutter or two when there's a lot happening on screen, like when you're browsing through thumbnails or scrolling through web pages.

It's particularly noticeable when playing games. Or at least when I tried Angry Birds, which is the only game I tested on the Optimus One.

The frame rate tends to shift between okay to slideshow-slow for no apparent reason.

Even killing off other processes and apps with the bundled TasKiller app doesn't solve the problem. I'm thinking that the slightly anaemic 600MHz processor has something to do with it.

Battery life is pretty good. Didn't do any scientific tests, but it will easily last a couple of days of furious Web surfing, text messaging, GPS navigating, photo taking and game playing, with some juice to spare.

Like most smartphones, it charges via its USB port, which is cool.

GPS navigation

The A-GPS unit in the Optimus One is quick enough to get an initial satellite lock within seconds, though it sometimes lags for close to a minute if you're sandwiched between tall buildings or are seated beneath a tree.

The Optimus One comes preloaded with a navigation app called NDrive, which comes with maps for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

It's an okay navigation system, though it sometimes comes up with really weird routes and its voiced directions can sometimes be confusing.

It's a bit hard to use too, and it insists that you use its own non-Qwerty keyboard to input addresses, which is annoying. Here's hoping that Google Maps Navigation gets official support in Malaysia soon.

POINT AND SHOOT: The 3-megapixel camera has an autofocus lens.

Multimedia

The Optimus One has a 3-megapixel autofocus camera on its back. It takes fairly decent photographs in daylight (for a phone), though it definitely wouldn't replace your dedicated point-and-shoot.

It's fine for Facebook uploads and small 4R prints, but the narrow dynamic range results in easily clipped highlights and photos that look a little too contrasty. Autofocusing is a little on the slow side too.

In other words, it's a typical phone camera. It also shoots video at VGA (640 x 480-pixel) resolution though at a weird, choppy frame rate of 18 fps.

Audio is encoded in 8KHz AMR compression, so it sounds rather low fidelity too. So, no, it won't replace your camcorder either.

Conclusion

So there you have it. The LG Optimus One P500 is decent, budget Android phone that may not set the world on fire, but does its job competently and without any major annoyances.

And thanks to Android 2.2 (Froyo), it's got quite a lot of nice usability touches going for it.

Pros: Affordable; long battery life; feature-packed; Froyo; good word-prediction with LG software keyboard; decent LCD.

Cons: Sluggish performance for games; screen a little small for keyboard in portrait mode; camera could be better.

Optimus One LG-P500
(LG)
Smartphone
Network: GSM 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA 900/2100
CPU: 600MHz
OPERATING SYSTEM: Android 2.2 (Froyo) DISPLAY: 3.2in capacitive touchscreen (320 x 480-pixels)
CAMERA: 3-megapixels with autofocus; VGA-quality video recording (640 x 480-pixels, MPEG4 at 18fps)
CONNECTIVITY: Bluetooth, WiFi, USB 2.0
MEMORY: 512MB SDRAM; 170MB Flash memory
EXPANSION SLOT: MicroSD (2GB included)
STANDBY/TALK TIME: 550 hours/7.5 hours
OTHER FEATURES: A-GPS; FM radio tuner
DIMENSIONS (W x D x H): 59 x 113.5 x 13.3mm
WEIGHT: 129g

Optimus One LG-P500 : Reviewed

The LG Optimus One promises all the thrills of Android 2.2 at an affordable price and without much compromise.

WHILE it may seem odd to describe an Android 2.2-powered smartphone as an affordable, no-frills device, that's precisely what the LG Optimus One LG-P500 is.

Although it's armed to the teeth with an array of technological acronyms and probably has a kitchen sink stashed somewhere in there, it doesn't exactly shout "Pick me!" as your eyes glaze over the sea of other budget Android phones in the market.

Of course, it probably doesn't help that it looks identical to the rest of them too. But let's give it a chance and power it up, shall we?

Mostly regular

Unlike some other Android phones, the Optimus One doesn't have any weird manufacturer-imposed customisations made to its Home screen. Whether that's a plus or minus to you, at least it doesn't get in the way.

POWER UP:The port at the bottom lets you charge the Optimus one while it syncs with your PC. It's a proprietary plug though.

Browsing through the app screen, you can see a bunch of preinstalled 3rd party apps such as NDrive for car navigation, ThinkFree Office for document editing and TasKiller for killing apps (and freeing up more RAM).

And on the social networking and connectivity front, you've got apps for Facebook and Twitter, along with built-in apps for Gmail, Google Chat and YouTube.

Nothing out of the ordinary - just letting you know that it's there and it works well. The only other thing that's bespoke is the LG software keyboard, which is supposed to be an improvement over the standard Android keyboard.

Real estate

Speaking of which, the Optimus One's 3.2in LCD is a little too small for typing on a portrait-oriented Qwerty keyboard. Doesn't look much smaller than the 3.5in screens on some other touchscreen smartphones but it does make a difference when your thumbs are big enough to cover several virtual buttons at the same time.

Good thing that the LG software keyboard has pretty effective word-prediction and auto-correction, then.

It's a bit on the slow side, though, so you may end up waiting for the software to catch up if you're a fast typist. The LG keyboard also does handwriting recognition for Chinese, though I can't comment on how good it is.

The weird thing, though, is that the standard Android keyboard's text prediction is disabled; it doesn't seem to have access to the system's language dictionaries. So if you want word prediction, the LG keyboard it is.

But when you're not typing on it, the 3.2in LCD is big enough for other stuff like messaging, web browsing and so on. It has pretty good viewing angles too, and you'll only get inverted colours or weird hue shifts at extreme angles.

With a bit of care, the LCD is readable in bright sunlight too. And last, but not least, it's pretty resistant to fingerprints, which is a big plus in my book.

Performance

Generally the Optimus One feels snappy enough. You won't spend much time waiting for apps to open or for thumbnail galleries to be displayed.

However, you will see the odd stutter or two when there's a lot happening on screen, like when you're browsing through thumbnails or scrolling through web pages.

It's particularly noticeable when playing games. Or at least when I tried Angry Birds, which is the only game I tested on the Optimus One.

The frame rate tends to shift between okay to slideshow-slow for no apparent reason.

Even killing off other processes and apps with the bundled TasKiller app doesn't solve the problem. I'm thinking that the slightly anaemic 600MHz processor has something to do with it.

Battery life is pretty good. Didn't do any scientific tests, but it will easily last a couple of days of furious Web surfing, text messaging, GPS navigating, photo taking and game playing, with some juice to spare.

Like most smartphones, it charges via its USB port, which is cool.

GPS navigation

The A-GPS unit in the Optimus One is quick enough to get an initial satellite lock within seconds, though it sometimes lags for close to a minute if you're sandwiched between tall buildings or are seated beneath a tree.

The Optimus One comes preloaded with a navigation app called NDrive, which comes with maps for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

It's an okay navigation system, though it sometimes comes up with really weird routes and its voiced directions can sometimes be confusing.

It's a bit hard to use too, and it insists that you use its own non-Qwerty keyboard to input addresses, which is annoying. Here's hoping that Google Maps Navigation gets official support in Malaysia soon.

POINT AND SHOOT: The 3-megapixel camera has an autofocus lens.

Multimedia

The Optimus One has a 3-megapixel autofocus camera on its back. It takes fairly decent photographs in daylight (for a phone), though it definitely wouldn't replace your dedicated point-and-shoot.

It's fine for Facebook uploads and small 4R prints, but the narrow dynamic range results in easily clipped highlights and photos that look a little too contrasty. Autofocusing is a little on the slow side too.

In other words, it's a typical phone camera. It also shoots video at VGA (640 x 480-pixel) resolution though at a weird, choppy frame rate of 18 fps.

Audio is encoded in 8KHz AMR compression, so it sounds rather low fidelity too. So, no, it won't replace your camcorder either.

Conclusion

So there you have it. The LG Optimus One P500 is decent, budget Android phone that may not set the world on fire, but does its job competently and without any major annoyances.

And thanks to Android 2.2 (Froyo), it's got quite a lot of nice usability touches going for it.

Pros: Affordable; long battery life; feature-packed; Froyo; good word-prediction with LG software keyboard; decent LCD.

Cons: Sluggish performance for games; screen a little small for keyboard in portrait mode; camera could be better.

Optimus One LG-P500
(LG)
Smartphone
Network: GSM 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA 900/2100
CPU: 600MHz
OPERATING SYSTEM: Android 2.2 (Froyo) DISPLAY: 3.2in capacitive touchscreen (320 x 480-pixels)
CAMERA: 3-megapixels with autofocus; VGA-quality video recording (640 x 480-pixels, MPEG4 at 18fps)
CONNECTIVITY: Bluetooth, WiFi, USB 2.0
MEMORY: 512MB SDRAM; 170MB Flash memory
EXPANSION SLOT: MicroSD (2GB included)
STANDBY/TALK TIME: 550 hours/7.5 hours
OTHER FEATURES: A-GPS; FM radio tuner
DIMENSIONS (W x D x H): 59 x 113.5 x 13.3mm
WEIGHT: 129g