The LG Optimus Elite is budget smartphone. There is no other way to put it more simply than that. It’s eco-friendly construction and price conscious target limits the comparison to the likes of it’s higher spec’d competitors, but the increasing demographic of first time smartphone buyers is increasing rapidly which warrants a breakdown of the device in its entirety. Let’s dive in and see whether the Optimus Elite as anything “elite” about it to make it stand out in this rising budge device market.
Optimus Elite Hardware Not So Elite
There’s nothing elite about the Optimus from a hardware perspective. It’s lightweight cheap plastic leaves much be desired and the overall feel of the device is rather slippery when held in the hand. The phone just has a very distinct generic look to it. LG has made weird angular material differentiation along the sides of the device, so it does have some design visuals to it. But that’s it.
The guts of the device also fall along the same category of basic. You’ll get a 3.5 inch low res display that comes in at 320×480. I know the device is going for the affordable smartphone demographic, but that’s extremely poor, even for Android standards. There’s the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, 5 megapixel camera with Flash ! A paltry 800mhz single-core processor, has 512MB of RAM, and 1GB of internal storage. Yes, a measly 1GB of internal storage.
Luckily the Optimus comes with a MicroSD card slot and accepts 32GB of additional memory if necessary. But why would anyone want to put that much memory in a device like this anyway. Continuing on, this device has no ambient light sensor or front facing camera so LG is really trying to give less for your buck.
Packing a 1520mah battery and no 4G data, the Optimus gives a full day of use without a hitch. Strange enough, the Optimus packs a NFC chip with it so if you need to make wireless mobile payments on the go, you can do so.
Overall, the Optimus provides pretty lackluster hardware all around. But that’s what you get with a device priced at $29.99 with a 2 year commitment.
Generic, Boring, Slate But Simple Android 2.3 Gingerbread
This segment of reviews is usually very detailed and deeply opinionated, but in the world of Android, that seems to be the case only a handful of times. LG gives the Optimus a taste of Gingerbread 2.3 so with saying that, you know the distaste and stale flavor this version of Android provides.
Adding to the poor screen resolution, the experience using this version of Android is hands down awful. The redundant slow animations when maneuvering through the OS, to the slow overall day to day use because of the underwhelming 800mhz really makes the $29.99 price seem unjustified. Adding Sprint’s bloatware to the fray doesn’t help much either.
They’re really isn’t much else I can say about the Optimus’ from a software standpoint. Not being upgradable or compatible with a vast amount apps in the marketplace severely hinders the
value of the device.
The Optimus Elite’s Camera Will Not Be Your First Choice
The Optimus’s camera is comparable to that of the T-Mobile G1. Frame rates are non-existent and lighting conditions have to be sent from God in order to produce adequate photos. Even if you’re looking to take a quick snapshot of something worthy of a photograph, the Optimus probably shouldn’t be your first choice. Saying all of that, the device is priced at $29.99 so you shouldn’t be expecting anything spectacular in the first place and LG didn’t reduce the quality of the device when it actually came to making phone calls. Call were pretty average and caller’s heard the voices just as well on the other end. Definitely a good device when being used as a phone
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The LG Optimus Elite seems to have no place in the world
The LG Optimus Elite seems to have no place in the world. Its name itself is very deceiving as it makes the consumer believe they’re getting something worthwhile, but in reality, the Optimus is just Sprint’s attempt to bolster their lineup with cheap smartphones that may or may not add subscribers.
T-mobile, At&t, and even Verizon offer better smartphones at the same or even cheaper value (FREE), so it’s really difficult to recommend the Optimus to any perseptive smartphone buyer. If you find yourself purchasing this device, you’ll have a capable smartphone that can get simple task done, but that’s ALL you’re getting with LG’s offering.
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