I'd become my spouse an Optimus Elite a couple of days before which is certainly a pleasant little phone for that cost, and was considering you get one personally, however i was leaning towards going the energy route and becoming the Evo V 4G. Fortunately - just over time, because they just arrived on the scene - I went over the HTC One V first. After a little of research and weighing the choices, I made the decision which i was fed up with transporting around large, bulky phones, which I truly did not require the extra energy and capacity the Evo has, and so i acquired a One V. I do not talk much, use texting more, therefore the $35/month plan fits me perfectly, and also at that cost as well as for only $200 in advance this can be a steal. Now, towards the phone itself...
It's a very compact phone, very light, yet doesn't whatsoever feel cheap. No plastic backing, that one includes a real aluminum unibody that both feels and looks great while offering far better protection than cheaper plastic models. It's Gorilla Glass on screen too, so away from the box this phone is much more steadily built than the majority of the competition. I dropped it my second day (my hands still getting used to gripping a large-tested monstrosity) also it required a significant tumble before it hit the ground, selected up and blown them back, not really a scratch and stored walking. It features a no extras appearance into it which i find visually pleasing too. 35mm slides right interior and exterior the pocket, don't even notice it's there. I love that from a large phone you need to have a problem with to get away from the pocket.
The screen is nice vibrant. Not the very best available but it's crisp and incredibly responsive, with every indication of quality. Decent viewing angles. I've found the three.7" just sufficiently small to be easily functional and simple to type on, but still large enough for many gaming and video. Large screens are nice for individuals things, however i think they hit the sweet place with 3.7" - large enough although not so large as to help make the phone itself too large.
The ICS operating-system is extremely smooth, noticeably more refined (and much easier, when you are accustomed to it) than previous versions. I do not even care if the phone ever will get Jelly Bean or otherwise, I'm perfectly pleased with ICS. Application compatability continues to be excellent to date - virtually every application I'd loaded around the X (and every one I personally use regularly) works fine on that one, that is surprising since that one is really new.
Underneath the hood that one has similar specs as to the my Android X had: a 1Ghz Snapdragon processor and 512MB of RAM. Greater finish phones nowadays are sporting dual as well as quad core processors combined with 1GB of RAM, however ,, what do you want that for? Virtually more recent graphically intense gaming, that we don't do with my phone (I've an Acer Iconia Tab A100 for your). I actually do light gaming on the telephone, and for your this works all right (although even that one will have most of the greater finish games like Shadowgun, it is simply less smooth because the S3s around the globe). For other applications the hardware within the One V runs everything all right with very virtually no lag, so I am not missing individuals extra cores and additional RAM. Observe that if you plan to complete serious gaming in your phone then that one isn't for you personally, but when you are only a casual phone gamer this works all right.
The Gps navigation is probably the cleverest just right this phone - it's just phenomenal. I toggle the Gps navigation on, hop into Gps navigation Status and *immediately* acquire 8 satellites - inside. Then open maps and find out it has situated me to within about 3-5 meters. I sometimes needed to hang on to five minutes in my Android X to obtain a position, that one required about 5 seconds.
Your camera is pretty good whatsoever. The Android X had an 8MP camera, that one a 5MP camera, and that i can't differentiate in quality. It will, however, possess a neat little function where one can hold lower the shutter button for any couple of seconds also it takes multiple photos quickly, and allows you choose the main one you need to keep. This is extremely handy for taking stills of moving targets. Also, there's virtually no shutter lag, that also helps.
Battery existence continues to be very good to date. After about 10 hrs at the office doing a bit of browsing, light gaming, some tunes, fiddling with Gps navigation a little, with no re-charging I recieve home with between 20-40% remaining. That's perfectly sufficient for me personally.
Cell reception appears to become quite great for me to date. I recieve decent 3rd generation signal and data transfer speed even if walking within an subterranean train tunnel as well as in places that other large company phones don't. I'd expected worse from the no-contract company, but am amazed. I realize this can vary greatly based upon location, but my home it's very good. Call quality has additionally been good on finishes.
Wi-fi compatability and Bluetooth work fine. I had been even in a position to tether my tablet using FoxFi and run them back of Bluetooth... In order to save my data plan I switch on Wi-fi compatability whenever I've access (like the moment I recieve home). The 3rd generation is perfect for after i am on an outing, and that i shouldn't have any problem thumping facing VM's throttle limit of two.5GB of information. That will only be an issue if a person was streaming plenty of video or music, that we avoid.
So, to conclude, is that this a top quality phone? No, if you would like that then you'll obtain a contract having a large company, and you'll pay alot for this. For me personally, and that i suspect for many customers available, this phone does things i require it to complete, also it will it well. When the Universe S3 is top quality, and say a Android Razr is runner up, then that one would place third. However I am invoice discounting the price into my evaluation, and also the cost for any One V from VM is *much* under individuals kinds of phones, and you receive a platform that does virtually the same things for that huge most of customers available. And also the payment is way simpler to swallow. Even when you receive the $55/month limitless everything plan and add some $5 insurance (worthwhile IMO) will still be far under you'll be having to pay on any smartphone contract. For example, our 2 smartphone contract using the old company with 700 minutes ended up costing just below $200/month, while 3 mobile phones with VM with 1800 minutes total price us $120/month. More phones + more minutes + lower monthly cost = Win every day.
And among the best things: you aren't tied to this phone. Phones become obsolete rapidly, generally lengthy prior to the 24 months is on contract. In regards to a year in to the contract you are a slave to fiddling together with your phone searching in the awesome new stuff everybody is having fun with and thinking "Oh great, I am tied to this factor for an additional year...". You've got no easy capability to upgrade you can either pay an enormous penalty to do this or else you are simply tied to that which you have, that will easily be obsolete following the newbie. With one of these you can easily chuck the ball phone and upgrade easily when you want, and also the new phones aren't that costly. That's most likely my personal favorite feature of.
So if you're looking for a good no-contract phone and do not require the features from the Evo or want it's size and bulk, this can be a fantastic choice. The telephone itself isn't a five star phone, I'd provide 3.5-4 stars in present day atmosphere - but reasonably that's perfectly acceptable for 95% from the customers available. Most people don't really require the uber-awesome hardware from the latest release, they simply need something which works, and that one does. Invoice discounting within the cost and also the versatility of sounding-contract is exactly what will get it to five stars. And when you're searching in the Optimus Elite I'd recommend thinking about the One V it's well worth the extra $50. The OE is a fairly little phone and price its cost, but that one is much better my spouse has already been annoying me to obtain her one...
Oh, and BTW - Otterbox already includes a situation out of these, which is great. Amazon . com has them, too.
UPDATE: So, been running this phone for any couple of days now, and i'm still liking it alot. A couple of comments:
Battery: most Android phones take one or two weeks to understand anyone's designs and optimize themselves, and that one isn't any exception. Throughout the very first week approximately I'd at times where it almost died on me, however it knows me and it is drinking juice. It isn't abnormal that i can go back home with near to 50% battery left now, quite good, I believe. The lack of ability to get rid of battery won't be an problem, as when this battery goes bad (all of them do eventually) this phone is going to be obsolete and it'll the perfect to replace it all anyway. Tough it through individuals initial few days and also you will not be disappointed within this battery.
OS: ICS is running very smooth. I'd a few FCs in the beginning but because using the battery, it smoothed itself out and it is running nearly perfectly now. Application compatibility continues to be phenomenal for any relatively recent phone.
Cell signal: Throughout the very first week I'd 3-4 instances in which the phone lost 3rd generation signal, however i don't fault it almost as much ast I had been deep inside a heavy metal and rock structure building and hidden under plenty of concrete. It has not happened since, so when it made it happen found the signal again inside a minute, so not quite a large deal. I've since traveled across condition (Texas, a large one) and located cell reception / 3rd generation to become quite good virtually everywhere. Irrrve never observed any places that I could not obtain a signal. Running on Sprint's network I did not expect any problems in this region, and haven't really found any there is a perfectly developed network as well as their expansion is ongoing. Also, weight loss people start 4G systems it can make 3rd generation simpler to ride.