With so many Android handsets streaming
the market, it becomes difficult to select one. Android operating
system works more or less similarly whether in high end phones or in
mid range ones. So, what is the thing that differentiates the two?
Well, the next thing which comes to our mind after software is
hardware. In this, the entry level smartphone LG Optimus GT540 makes
an impression. It looks great, thanks to its slim configuration and
performs really well.
Check out our review to explore more
about LG Optimus GT540:
Design- Great first
impression
Though, it is a mid range phone, it makes quite a
big impression with its overall curved design and looks. It is carved
with stainless-steel feel like plastic casing which is metallic grey
in colour. This stylish phone is acquirable in variety of colours
like Black, White, Silver and Pink. The sleek dimensions of the phone
are 109 x 54.5 x 12.7 mm with weight of mere 115.5g, making it easy
to carry around. There are certain controls present both on screen
and beneath it. The physical buttons are - call, home and end, while
menu and back controls are present on the screen. On the top there is
a 3.5mm headphone jack and volume control is on the left.
Display-
This pleasing and high end phone comes with a
TFT resistive touchscreen which is not that sensitive like the
capacitive one. This screen has certain drawbacks like not being very
responsive to touch and multi touch instructions. However, display
makes a mark with the resolution of 320×480 pixels on 3.0 inches
screen instead, which brings makes it fairly bright. But that said,
it is still far less as compared to those of Samsung and HTC. But if
you are a first time Android user then, this will not pose a problem
for you.
Operating System-
Although many Android
upgradations have reached the market, but LG Optimus GT540 still
flaunts Android 1.6 which lags on many fronts. We can't say that it
doesn't perform well; it's just that the higher Android OS would have
made things simpler and smoother. The processor is 600 MHz Qualcomm
processor with 256GB of RAM which seems to give sufficient power to
handle all the applications quite well. But if you are opening
multiple apps at the same time then there might be some
delays.
User-Interface-
LG Optimus GT540 has squeezed
in five scrollable home screens. There are icons for phone calls,
text messages, Email, browser and contacts. You also have SNS for
social networking integration. Besides, there is another icon over
the home button which takes you to the features like Google Mail,
Android market and apps which you have downloaded.
Texting-
You
can send all kinds of messages through SMS, MMS or Email. In order to
type in the messages there is QWERTY keypad when in landscape mode
and in portrait mode you have the alphanumeric keypad.
Web
Browsing-
Since LG Optimus GT540 is a 3G phone, surfing the
Internet is smooth and hassle free. It has an amazing list of
connecting options like GPRS,EDGE and Wi-Fi. With Bluetooth and USB
you can share and move files like music, images and videos with or
without a cable.
Multimedia features-
The phone is
fitted with 3.2 MP camera affairs. It is incremented with features
like Geo-tagging, face and blink detection. Since there is no Flash,
it becomes necessary to capture pictures in full light to get them
bright and crisp. Video recording is also done at VGA@17fps. There is
the highly preferred music player which supports assorted music
formats like MP3, WAV, AMR and ACC. There is video player to play
videos supporting Xvid, MPEG4 and DivX files. Besides, there is an FM
tuner to play your favourites stations. With 3.5mm headphones you can
enjoy loud and crisp sounds. There is dedicated social networking
integration like those of Facebook and Twitter. You can have access
to these directly from your contact list. With auto face tagging all
your friends’ photo which you have tagged is
remembered.
Memory-
Since there is only 130MB of
internal space, the need for the microSD card to expand the space for
storing music, videos and images is just inevitable. You can increase
it to a whopping 32GB.
Battery-
Li-Ion 1500 mAh is the
standard battery present in the phone. It is quite powerful for this
level of smartphone. You can browse the web, listen to music and
search your way using GPS before the battery goes down. The stand by
time is 500 hours both in 2G and 3G. It gives talk time of 5 hours
and 30 minutes in 2G, while in 3G it is 7 h 20 min.
Verdict-
If
we talk about looks of the phone, we can easily say that it is the
best touchscreen smartphone in the category of budget phones. It has
great features together with elegant looks. But the outdated Android
OS and resistive touchscreen doesn't do any good for the phone. Still
I would recommend it to the first time smartphone users as you will
not even notice these flaws. And you can simply enjoy your superior
looking handset with complete multimedia features.
