Hasta La Gadget!

The low-end LG Optimus S that wowed us earlier the other day has a magenta twin — the LG Optimus T, headed to T-Mobile with very similar hardware. Considering that both carriers’ phones will come in similar shades of purple and black, you could easily be excused for confusing the two — aside from a prominent logo and the physical button arrangement, they’ve got the exact same build. That’s not a bad thing, mind you, as it means the Optimus T is similarly solid as a rock, but there are a few differences here and there, like the lack of dedicated camera and voice buttons this time round. Whether it’s extra bloat (of which there’s some) or a slower chip, the T’s also not as wonderfully lag-free as the S, though both phones would handily beat most of the other low-end Androids we’ve seen.

The 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen’s just as responsive, though the physical buttons here aren’t quite as nice — we prefer Sprint’s distinct, textured keys to the slick plastic rocker for Home and Back and the Menu and Search buttons here. We weren’t able to download Quadrant on the T for benchmarking like we did for its sister phone nor verify the same exact specs inside, but paging through menus we spotted mobile hotspot functionality and WiFi calling, just as originally foretold, not to mention support for old-school FM radio. Now we just wait to see if T-Mobile follows Sprint’s lead and offers the phone at a similarly fantastic price.

Update: It’s a bit of a shame, but LG just informed us the Optimus T won’t have WiFi calling after all — it was originally considered for the device, but the software we saw was apparently a old, out-of-date build. T-Mobile reps wouldn’t confirm or deny that, but told us that the option is something they’d like to bring to more devices later on, though they said it might require Android 2.1 or higher to function properly.

LG Optimus T hands-on (update: no WiFi calls) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The low-end Android game just got real, folks, with Sprint’s introduction of the LG Optimus S, a $50 (on-contract, post-rebate) Android slatephone running Froyo on a 3.2-inch HVGA screen, with mobile hotspot functionality for up to five devices, 802.11 b/g WiFi and a 600MHz processor to run the whole shebang. As you’d expect in a world of 1GHz smartphones at the $200 price point, it’s not quite up to spec, but that doesn’t keep it from having a super-solid build, durable and weighty, that belies its low price. It honestly feels much like a Nexus One in the hand, though with nice big physical buttons instead of capacitive function keys, and of course a lower-quality LCD screen. There’s an auto-focusing 3.2 megapixel camera on the back and a fairly responsive capacitive touchscreen up front, and though browsing was a little painful on the low-res screen, the Android 2.2 device sped through the UI without skipping a beat. If this device impresses as much after we throw it through a barrage of tests, I’ll be hard to imagine ever spending a cent on a regular ol’ featurephone again.

Update: We’ve just been informed that the Optimus S has 256MB 512 MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM, an MSM7627 chipset and Bluetooth 2.1, but there’s more — it pulls a respectable 430 in the Quadrant benchmark thanks to Qualcomm Adreno 200 graphics, and we’ve got visual proof. See some direct-from-device screenshots and a couple sample pics from the Optimus S’s camera in our second gallery below!

Update 2: Video after the break!

Myriam Joire contributed to this report.

Continue reading LG Optimus S, first hands-on! (update: video)

LG Optimus S, first hands-on! (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 18:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We love a nice pre-release leak as much as the next tech blog, but come on, aren’t you starting to feel sorry for these Windows Phone 7 guys? By the time Steve Ballmer takes the New York stage on Monday, we‘ll be more familiar with the stuff he’ll be showing off than the big Microsoft boss himself. Today, LG’s Optimus 7 handset has suffered the only indignity left, after being videoed, pictured, and handled many a time — it’s had its official press shots unleashed unto the world. It’d be hard for them to tell us anything we don’t already know, but at least they’re nice and neat. More at the source link.

[Thanks, Ravi]

LG E900 (aka Optimus 7) finds its official press pictures unofficially leaked originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 02:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG won’t be releasing a Froyo tablet. The South Korean company announced this week that it had abandoned its plans for the Android 2.2 device, which may ultimately lead to the delay of its first tablet, which was originally set for next year.

The company is opting to release the device with a more stable, older version of the open OS, keeping with Google’s wishes. A spokesperson for the company told Reuters, “We plan to introduce a tablet that runs on the most reliable Android version … We are in talks with Google to decide on the most suitable version for our tablet and that is not Froyo 2.2.”

The market for tablets, meanwhile, is growing steadily more crowded. Both RIM and Saumsung recently announced their own answers to the iPad, the PlayBook and Galaxy Tab, respectively.

If you needed any further proof that Android in its present form isn’t mature enough to perform tablet duties, here it is. Reuters is citing an unnamed LG official who has categorically written off the possibility of his company producing an Android 2.2 tablet. The LG informer has said that his company wants “the most suitable version [of Android] for our tablet and that is not Froyo 2.2.” This mirrors Motorola’s strategy of holding out until at least the next iteration of Google’s mobile OS before diving into the tablet pool. Still, it’ll be disappointing to those who took LG’s words at face value when it promised its tablet will be an iPad killer — that may still happen, mind you, just not this year.

LG scraps plans for Froyo tablet, will wait for next Android version originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 04:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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