I've owned both the VM LG Optimus Elite, and the VM HTC One V. I don't play any processor-intensive games on my phone, so I can't really tell you about raw performance. What I can tell you is that both phones are solid performers for things like texting, voice calls, taking photos, web surfing, Facebook, Gmail, etc.
Big caveat: I went through a few "lemons" with the Optimus Elite (various problems with the phone randomly freezing up, rapidly draining battery, or losing GPS lock for no reason). The "good" Optimus Elite I owned was a great little phone, until I dropped it in the ocean. (Can't blame LG for that one!)
In contrast, after my third OE lemon, I switched to the HTC One V. I have not had a single problem with it.
- Compared to the Optimus Elite, the screen on the One V is a little bigger, and the display looks sharper, and is a bit easier to read in sunlight. The One V can adjust screen brightness automatically, which is a very nice feature, in my opinion.
- The touch screen on the One V seems to be slightly more responsive.
- The battery life appears to be quite similar, I can easily get a full day of light-use out of either phone. GPS navigation drains the battery quickly with either, though.
- GPS lock has been practically instantaneous for the One V, and rock-solid. GPS lock on my "good" OE was not quite as fast or solid.
- Both phones seem equally "snappy" to me for the types of apps I run. (My previous smart phone was a Samsung Intercept, which was, ... slow.)
- Voice call performance on both phones has been good.
- I do like the blinking notification LED on the One V that tells you when you missed a call or a text. (The Optimus Elite doesn't do that.)
- The Optimus Elite has NFC, and Google Wallet, which seems like a really cool feature. Google will give you $25 just for trying it out. I never got a chance to use the NFC payment option on my OE, though. Not enough vendors around here can accept it. No NFC for the One V.
- The One V is solidly constructed aluminum body, with a Gorilla Glass screen. The Optimus Elite feels a bit more plastic-y--not quite as solid. But still well put-together.
- A potential down-side for the One V: You can't (easily) open the One V case to access the battery. I haven't needed to do a battery-pull reset on it yet.
- One V comes with ICS, and some HTC Sense overlays. Some of the Sense stuff seems pretty good. The Optimus Elite is shipping with Gingerbread, and has some weird Virgin Mobile ID bloatware attached to its launcher. (I quickly switched to a stock Gingerbread launcher, so no big deal.)
- Both phones seem to have plenty of RAM and internal storage space for the types of apps I like to run. And both will accept microSD cards for photos, videos, music, etc.
In sum, I think the extra $50 ($75 considering Google money) for the One V is worth it. If you're really keen on NFC/Google Wallet and/or the ability to access the battery, you may want to give the Optimus Elite a try, though. Just be sure to keep your receipt in case you get a lemon.
