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LG Optimus Elite first impressions?

F

fopolopoguis

Newbie
What does everyone think of the phone so far? Im purchasing it hopefully tomorrow if I can get a ride to Best Buy and I wanted to get some user reviews ahead of time! So... what do you like/dislike about it? And how does it match up with the Optimus V (My current phone)? Let me know what you all think and there's a good chance ill be doing an unboxing for this relatively new phone, at least to vm.
 
Nice phone. I got one at Best Buy a couple days ago. It's faster than my previous phone (Op V), the screen's bigger, battery life is good to great for a smartphone. Everything works well. Calls sound good. Camera is okay, but nothing special. The main bonus is the storage space for apps. Compared to my other phone, there is a TON of space. No more worries about that . . . at least for awhile.

There is one odd behavior I have noticed. Move2SD allows apps to be moved to "Internal Storage." Evidently the Elite's advertised 4GB of internal storage is divided into two partitions, one labeled Phone and the other Internal Storage. I have moved several apps to internal storage, and all of them became corrupted and had to be uninstalled. I don't know if this is the norm or a quirk of my particular phone. There's enough room on "Phone" not to worry about it, but it does seem odd. I'm getting a full day's use out of the phone leaving wireless and data enabled all day with GPS off unless I need it. I have a habit of plugging my phone in at night and using it for an alarm clock, but I think I could go 2 days most of the time if I wanted to. I usually have 60% or so charge left at bedtime.
 
Well for starters I love how its actually clocked at 1Ghz! One thing I found interesting is it has very good screen response, almost like the apple products which have a glass screen (Big draw something fan!). The picture app built into the phone has a decent amount of options and takes good pictures. The screen meets my needs for text messaging (On the OV I had a lot more mistakes). The touch keys at the bottom light up when you have a notification, which actually comes in handy when your away from your phone. And less annoying then a red or blue LED light that flashes at night when your in a dark room. The speakerphone is on the front of the phone which helps when you lay the phone down on a solid desk which blocks the sound a little bit. And the back cover gives a good texturing feel in your hands when holding it and placing calls since it is such a light phone.

The only thing I don't like about the phone is the ID icon that you can't change in your launcher bar (The Icon that is usually your browser icon). With a root tho that will be fixed.
 
axelxbc said:
Well for starters I love how its actually clocked at 1Ghz! One thing I found interesting is it has very good screen response, almost like the apple products which have a glass screen (Big draw something fan!). The picture app built into the phone has a decent amount of options and takes good pictures. The screen meets my needs for text messaging (On the OV I had a lot more mistakes). The touch keys at the bottom light up when you have a notification, which actually comes in handy when your away from your phone. And less annoying then a red or blue LED light that flashes at night when your in a dark room. The speakerphone is on the front of the phone which helps when you lay the phone down on a solid desk which blocks the sound a little bit. And the back cover gives a good texturing feel in your hands when holding it and placing calls since it is such a light phone.

The only thing I don't like about the phone is the ID icon that you can't change in your launcher bar (The Icon that is usually your browser icon). With a root tho that will be fixed.
Click to expand...

I appreciate both of your inputs. What is the ID icon thing on the launcher? i saw it in a review and didnt get it. I hope this gets rooted soon too to fix all the menial stuff
 
fopolopoguis said:
I appreciate both of your inputs. What is the ID icon thing on the launcher? i saw it in a review and didnt get it. I hope this gets rooted soon too to fix all the menial stuff
Click to expand...

It seems like its Virgin Mobile's new way of creating a saved state of your current phones apps, settings, and personal information like wallpapers and such. Basically you create an "ID" that saves the current state that your phone is in and allows you to download and switch to other "ID" states that you customized or downloaded. Very similar to that of multiple users on your windows computer.
 
My impression of this phone so far. I have not activated it yet, so I can not speak about its Voice/Data and reception qualities yet, but I have used it with WiFi. The Elite is much snappier than the OV as the pages load much faster. On YouTube, the OV started getting choppy about 1 minute into the video, where as the OE was smooth for the whole thing. Good sound quality too. Operating the Elite is so much smoother compared to the OV. You can notice that with Google maps, as you drag the screen back and forth, the map moves with your finger with very little lag where as the OV is choppy and lags noticeably. Unlike the OV, on the Elite the screens scroll up and down smoothly and apps open and close much faster.

The keyboard is sooooo much better. The little bit of extra screen and revamped keyboard make all the difference in helping me increasing my typing(?) success rate. I give a big thumps up to the bigger screen and the better keyboard.

I did take some pictures and videos with the Elite and I would say that the quality is an improvement over the OV. The flash certainly makes a big difference in low light and being able to control the ISO and the focus area is a nice touch.

Although the OV has a better resolution per screen due to its smaller screen size, the Elite at its lowest brightness setting seems brighter and livelier than the same setting on the OV. I like the touch keys much better than the physical keys and they can be set up to turn on as an indicator for missed calls, etc.

Overall The Elite feels good in the hand and I like the textured back. The operations are smooth and snappy and bigger screen is definitely noticeable. I think it’s a keeper.

I will add an update as soon as I activate the phone and use it for a few days.
 
fopolopoguis said:
I appreciate both of your inputs. What is the ID icon thing on the launcher? i saw it in a review and didnt get it. I hope this gets rooted soon too to fix all the menial stuff
Click to expand...

Easy fix, download another launcher and set that as the default. Then you should be able set anything you want on the dock. For example, on my wife's phone, I just downloaded Go Launcher Ex and used that to set the dock icons.
 
I've been running mine very hard over the weekend and continue to be impressed with the speed and battery life. I was about to leave VM due to the lack of any solid new phones as my Optimus V was on its last legs but this thing does everything I want and need at $25 a month so I'm sticking with it.
 
Too early to say this phone is as good as OV when it came out but it continues to impress and looks like a very promising successor to the OV
 
I sold my Triumph for an Elite & am glad I did. The Elite has the "just works" aspects of the V but with an updated experienced--larger screen, updated software, slim profile. It "just works"--GPS locks on (Triumph took an eternity), people can understand me on the phone (the Triumph STUNK in that regard), I don't have to tap OK or SAVE 45 times for the phone to know & act on it. The V looked dated compared to the Triumph, but it worked as it ought to. The Elite, other than having a 3.5" to the 4" of the Triumph, combines the best of BOTH (and 3.5" isn't bad, it's noticeably better than the V's 3.2").

And yes, I have the $25 plan and it came right over.
 
Firstly Wow is this forum server slow!

I am also coming from a OV, so I would expect the Elite to do everything plus some. I'm not hating on this phone but just trying to let you know all of the caveats I have found thus far.

1) Can't do Hotspot! That is a deal breaker for me!
2) No camera button, making it harder to steady the camera.
3) Can't move installed apps like Angry Birds onto the sd card.
4) It's wider than the V, making it harder to hold.
5) Once the screen blacks out you have to press the pwr button instead of any button like on the V.
6) USB/charging port feels very chincy. That is what broke on my OV forcing me to "upgrade" to the Elite.
7) The entire phone does not feel as solid/rugged as the V.
8) Ongoing debate as to if we will be grandfathered in to our $25 plan still, we'll have to wait and see what happens on that.
9) Speaker phone does not seem as loud.
10) No custom firmware for it. It's likely just to new.
 
straykat said:
3) Can't move installed apps like Angry Birds onto the sd card.
4) It's wider than the V, making it harder to hold.
Click to expand...
3) you move them to the internal memory which is essentially a 1gb internal uSD.
4) I always had my V in an Otterbox so the Elite is actually a hair thinner for me.
 
axelxbc said:
The only thing I don't like about the phone is the ID icon that you can't change in your launcher bar (The Icon that is usually your browser icon). With a root tho that will be fixed.
Click to expand...

I use Go Launcher Pro and I am guessing the regular version will also let you change the icons of the bottom row, as well as have three sets. I have changed all of the icons.
 
I heard VM sent a "security update" in last few days that stopped the hotspot widget. Buddy who bought my Optimus V tried it today and gets a hotspot message saying its not available or something. I tried it first day I bought elite and bricked the phone, kept giving me data error. He to swap out at radio shack.

I like the phones bigger screen, faster response and also like the free $25 for google wallet. You get $10 right away and $15 3 weeks later I think.

Anyone know how to block calls or texts? I found it first day I was messing with the phone but can't find it again.
 
I agree with everything on this list. Not hating on this phone either. But, the charging port on my OV broke too and thats the only reason I "upgraded" to this phone which is not head and shoulders above the V. It's a good phone, but if my V had not broken I would have waited for the next "greatest thing." HAAATE the fact that you cant use Hotspot.

straykat said:
Firstly Wow is this forum server slow!

I am also coming from a OV, so I would expect the Elite to do everything plus some. I'm not hating on this phone but just trying to let you know all of the caveats I have found thus far.

1) Can't do Hotspot! That is a deal breaker for me!
2) No camera button, making it harder to steady the camera.
3) Can't move installed apps like Angry Birds onto the sd card.
4) It's wider than the V, making it harder to hold.
5) Once the screen blacks out you have to press the pwr button instead of any button like on the V.
6) USB/charging port feels very chincy. That is what broke on my OV forcing me to "upgrade" to the Elite.
7) The entire phone does not feel as solid/rugged as the V.
8) Ongoing debate as to if we will be grandfathered in to our $25 plan still, we'll have to wait and see what happens on that.
9) Speaker phone does not seem as loud.
10) No custom firmware for it. It's likely just to new.
Click to expand...
 
straykat said:
6) USB/charging port feels very chincy. That is what broke on my OV forcing me to "upgrade" to the Elite.
Click to expand...

Well, yeah, this made you buy a new phone. In the regard, the design is "successful" to them - they certainly don't want you to have the same phone for 5 years.
 
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