Virgin Mobile Lg Optimus V Review

Hello fellow tech friends. If you follow me on twitter and watch my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/sassygirl8324 you know that I finally got my hands on the much anticipated Lg Optimus V. I’ve had many questions before the release date on the Optimus, Such as when I would buy this phone and when would there be a review?  I was very happy with my Samsung Intercept from Virgin Mobile I had never had an Android phone when I received the Intercept so I had no clue what I was getting into. But after having the Intercept, I was quite afraid that the Optimus V wouldn’t live up to the standerads after having the Intercept especially when the Intercept had a physical keyboard. Unfortunitly Thursday morning I dropped my Intercept in water and it fried the system board, The Lights come on and the phone will begin to start up but will freeze at the Samsung logo and will not turn on.  This was very upsetting for me because like I said I had gotten the Intercept when it came out and it was the first phone I was really happy with.

Saturday I was able to pick up the Lg Optimus V from Best Buy Mobile. The first thing I did was bring it home and get an unboxing out to my YouTube followers. The box included the Obvious, Phone, Charger, Data cord, Micro SD Card 2Gigs, SD Adapter and Stereo headset! I was super happy to see that a Micro SD adapter was included because it just makes it a lot simpler for transferring photos and music to my computer from my phone. 

I really liked the cosmetic design of this cell phone it looks professional and I like the feel of the paint it has a soft texture to it. The Silver lining at the top of the phone gives the Optimus V a professional look almost as if it is steel.  On the top of the phone there’s a on off power switch that doubles to shut the screen of like a lock screen or sleep. Also on the top of the phone you will find a headset jack that will support all your standard headphones. On the left side of the Optimus V you will find a Micro SD card slot where you will find the two gigabyte SD card it will be pre loaded. The bottom has a charging port for the standard Lg charger. On the right you will find a volume rocker, dedicated camera key and a voice dialer key. The Lg Optimus is a full touch screen but features four soft keys for Android the menu, home, back and search keys. With the 3.2 inch touch screen I find this phone’s screen larger than the Intercept even though there the same size the Optimus V is wider so it gives the feeling of a larger screen.  I love the feeling of this phone it feels like it has some weight to it and doesn’t at all feel cheap. 

This phone runs Android 2.2 Operating system and you can definitely tell the difference after running the intercepts older Os, Applications run smoothly with no leg or freezing. Occasionally the Intercept would freeze a second and then say it wasn’t responding, I have yet to have an issue of freezing or not responding with the Optimus V. 

A lot of people have asked me about the texting on this phone because of the lack of a physical keyboard. I would promote a physical keyboard over not having one anytime. But I can tell you the touch screen on this phone is super easy to use and I haven’t had any issues writing e-mails or sending text messages.  This phone has Swype texting and although a lot of people have had complaints about this not working, I’ve even seen post that Swype texting is worthless. I have used Swype to write e-mails and I’ve enjoyed it. 90 percent of the time Swype gets the correct word that I am trying to write and I find it a lot of fun to use Swype, This may not be for everyone but you should definitely check it out if you get this phone. The Lg Optimus comes with a lot of pre loaded software that I would call bloatwear such as Twidroyd I found Twidroyd pretty much useless and for some strange reason you’re unable to uninstall the preloaded applications unless you root your phone. The Bloatwear and the fact of not having speed dial on this handset are basically the only complaint about this phone and that is definitely not a reason to not check out this phone especially for a price tag of 149.99 that’s a huge steel when you figure in the fact that the Samsung Intercept was 250 when it was released. 

There are many cool features on the new Lg Optimus such as live wallpapers; even though this could significantly reduce battery life it’s very neat to have with the option to download other live wallpapers from the Android Market.  I also found that Yahoo Messenger has a patch that can be downloaded so that you can make free video calls to anyone on your messenger list and even though the Optimus V doesn’t have a front facing camera it works great and is fun. 

Something that I found very interesting about the Lg Optimus V was this phone was the first I have had from Virgin Mobile that gave me 3G service, I found that great but wondered how come it never worked on any of the other phones, None the less I’m super happy with the faster internet speed. Wi-Fi worked great except I found out it would shut off within 5 minutes of being in sleep but I was able to find a simple fix for that issue by going to settings, Wireless & Networks, Wi-Fi Settings , Menu Key , Advanced, Wi-Fi Sleep Policy and then I put the phone on Never so the Wi-Fi won’t shut off. 

For a phone that I had my doubts about, I’m extremely happy with the Lg Optimus V and I would recommend anyone looking for a new cell phone to buy this phone. Virgin Mobile offers great plans on their phones from 25 to 60 dollars a month unlimited. I’ve been a customer for Virgin Mobile since 2002 and I’m very happy with their service.  Thanks again for reading my blog enjoy the week.

                                                                                 All the best, 

                                                                                           SassyTechGirl

                                                                                           Rebecca Marie

For more information/videos on the Lg Optimus V please visit my YouTube channel at http://www.Youtube.com/sassygirl8324

Picture courtesy of Virgin Mobile USA http://www.virginmobileusa.com/