Review Time was when smartphones were always high-end handsets. But as economies of scale help bring prices down, Android’s open option has made it appealing to a wide variety of manufacturers and it’s adding smartphone goodies to some very modestly priced handsets.

LG's Optimus One: Android 2.2 on the cheap

Case in point: LG's Optimus One. The follow-up to the Optimus GT540, it immediately has the edge on its predecessor with a much classier casing: metal striping and sturdy rubberised plastic shell replace the GT540’s metallic but cheaper plastic casing.

Gone too are the rounded top and bottom in favour of more conventional handset lines. It looks a little less unusual, but is none the worse for that.

It measures 114 x 59 x 13mm, weighs 129g and the 3.2in screen sits above the standard four Android hard buttons, with Home and Back mounted on a rocker, and Menu and Search on separate keys. Other features are sparse: just a volume rocker on one side, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a power/lock button on top, and a micro USB charge/sync slot on the bottom.

You’ll need to remove the back to get to the Micro SD memory card but thankfully you won’t have to remove the 1500mAh battery to change it.

Smarter design, better build than its predecessor

I felt a bit cheated by LG’s last Optimus, which undid the good work of the Android OS and LG features know-how with an insensitive resistive screen that made it a pain to use. This time round, the touchscreen is capacitive and much more sensitive to the difference between a brush and a press, if not quite as quick to react as others a little bit higher up the price scale.

Budget offering

The One offers a 320 x 480 resolution, so not as sharp as the pricier models, but still decent.

Video playback is smooth enough, though there’s no option to stretch the picture to fill the screen. Downloading an alternative player such as RockPlayer from the Android Market fixes this, and also adds a bit more flexibility to the video formats it supports.

Corners cut - but not as many as you'd expect

The One has Android 2.2 on board which offers a few little extras such as the ability to use your handset as a Wi-Fi hotspot and free navigation from Google Maps. Surprisingly, though, there’s no support for Flash video. You can download the latest Flash Player from the Android Market for other 2.2 handsets, but apparently the Optimus One doesn’t meet the hardware requirements. There is, however, a YouTube app on board, and the Skyfire browser from the Android Market can also offer a lot of additional Flash playing capability.

The interface has a light dusting of LG customisation with a few widgets on offer for the maximum seven home screens and a dock at the bottom of the screen offering popular shortcuts: phone, contacts, messaging and browser. Sadly, this isn’t customisable.

In an echo of LG’s S-class interface, you can subdivide the menu into different categories - for example, ‘games’, ‘media’ etc. - and arrange your apps accordingly.

Snap happy

In use the One handles well, though it's not quite as nippy as some pricier handsets, betraying its slightly underpowered 600MHz processor. But there’s no serious tendency to lag.

The 3Mp camera is what you’d expect from a handset in this price range though with a few extras, including face tracking and macro settings, digital zoom and a range of scene modes. There's no flash, though.

Colours are reasonably accurate, though the camera does struggle a bit in low light. It will record video at 640 x 480 resolution and does an OK job so long as you can hold it still.

There’s a choice of on-screen keyboards, with the standard Android version and a slightly tweaked alternative from LG. The keys are on the small side, though there’s just about enough room for them all in portrait mode. Landscape mode gives more space and if the sensitivity of the screen lags a little behind more expensive handsets, you’ll probably only notice it if you’re more accustomed to using the likes of the iPhone or an HTC Desire.

Sample Shots

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Macro
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Big improvement

The browser looks like standard Android and the multi-touch screen offers the pinch-to-zoom gesture, but this isn’t as smooth an operation as you’ll find elsewhere. It works, but tends to look a little jerky, certainly over HSDPA 3G and even Wi-Fi connections. There’s an accelerometer to flip it into landscape mode automatically when you turn it on its side and the usual handy Android navigation options.

Social networker

The Android music player is a decent one, though it’s a shame you can’t access any equaliser settings from the track you’re playing. The bundled headphones are bog standard but easily upgradeable thanks to the 3.5mm jack and Bluetooth. There’s an FM radio on board too.

There’s 170MB of memory on board plus room for 32GB more via Micro SD card and, usefully, the standard handset comes with a 2GB version ready to go.

Battery life is more or less what you’d expect, delivering a little over a day of fairly heavy use.

Verdict

The Optimus One is a huge leap forward from the Optimus GT540 due in no small part to its far superior capacitive touchscreen. It wears its budget limitations on its sleeve but if it’s not quite as fast, and the screen isn’t quite as sharp, as its more expensive brethren, it still delivers a strong performance and it’s good to see the Android 2.2 Froyo on a budget phone. ®

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