OV vs. O Slider

[chopnhack]

Hello all, sorry for the lame question, but I am new to smart phones and need your collective advice.

I need a phone for myself and the wife but don't know what to get and I am leaning towards either the LG Optimus V or the Optimus Slider.

Our current plan doesn't even have text so I don't know how big a part of our future usage that will be, but having or not having a slide out keyboard doesn't seem to make or break the decision here. Keep in mind I am still rocking a Samsung C225

Should I get a standard Optimus and root it, upgrade it to gingerbread and OC it to 800mhz to equal the Slider and enjoy the slender rock solid performer that I keep reading that it is?

Or do I go the thicker Slider route with the future possibility of upgrading to ICS?

As you can tell I tend to keep my phone forever.
Thanks in advance.

 

[MacFett]

The Optimus V has far more devs working on it. I would browse the all things root subforums for both mobiles and compare roms if that is something you're thinking about doing for sure.

It would be nice to have the physical keyboard, but then my awesome Otterbox wouldn't fit and that would make me a sad sad panda.

 

[chopnhack]

Thanks Mac, but I should have also included another sticking point for me:

Is the better screen on the Slider that much better? I haven't been able to find a local store that has live demo models to compare.

I will definitely "root" around and check out what's being offered as far as rom's go. I am not completely sure if I will do that yet, I may stick with a stock phone if it performs well enough. I am sure my wife's phone will stay stock accept for battery life enhancers.

Thanks for the input.

 

[Leslie Ann]

The Slider is a bit thicker and will be faster, but has far less options.

The OV will be slower, there is no guarantee that you will be able to overclock even a little. Just how overclocking goes.

If you plan to leave it stock, get a Slider.
If you plan to root (and I would personally), I would go OV. It's cheaper, and with a good rom should run a bit faster, and it's smaller (same screen size) with better support. At stock speeds, a rom'd OV will run almost as fast as a Slider, overclocked even the slightest, an OV should be faster than a stock Slider.

 

[chopnhack]

Thanks Leslie. I have started to think since this is the first set of smartphones, that we may just go the Optimus V route. Save a little money up front until we are more familiar with needs and wants. By the time we need new phones, the better stuff will have become cheaper anyway Gotta love Moore's Law..

Kinda surprised to see you write that the Slider has less options, I figured since its running gingerbread it has more options?? Do you mean there is less developer support for the slider?

I did read a little about the rom support on the Optimus and was surprised that there is a way to go back to the stock rom - if this is done, are you then able to pass the test your cell provider would run to test if the phone has been rooted - looking for the # response? Just wondering in case there is trouble and I need their support for some reason. Gonna have to go back and read more of that page, lots of great info!

 

[Leslie Ann]

That sounds like a good plan and I meant to mention that.
Get these, root/rom, then when the OneV comes out, see how support is and decide if you want that.

Don't get me wrong, the Slider is a better phone, but is it worth twice the money? I don't think so unless you need a keyboard. As a former Blackberry user, I can tell you, I prefer Swype! or similar. It really works fantastic.

And yes, I meant it has less developer support.
For as small as the OV dev community is, we have managed to crank out a lot of good stuff. The roms we have (which has a lot of variety really compared to most phones) make this little phone really shine and there is very little we can't fix when there is a problem (just NEVER, EVER hit the factory reset).

Remember, yes, the Slider has GB, but we have Froyo, GB, CyanogenMod 7, ICS, AOKP, MIUI, Lewa and more. Most phones really only get a modified stock rom and maybe CyanogenMod, especially prepaid. Very few get an OS upgrade, much less two (Froyo to GB to ICS).

If nothing else, it's a good, cheap, safe, easy phone to experiment with and get to know Android and see what you want out of your next phone.

 

[Guian]

Well said Leslie. not to mention that the OV goes on sale all the time, so you might be able to pick up a few more like I did on Black Friday. Can't beat the OV at the price of $50.00!