LG Optimus One P500 budget Android smartphone

Froyo on the cheap

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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