LG Optimus is an Affordable Android Phone for the Masses

This post brought to you by LG. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you’re a little late to the smartphone party (and it’s just getting started), you’re in luck. The LG Optimus One is the best of both worlds for touchscreen smartphone newbies; it’s the perfect beginner phone, but it doesn’t skimp on the specs. The Optimus One offers a healthy combination of hardware and software inside, packed into a user-friendly frame that could prove to be a big hit as a gift for the budding techie in your family. LG even took the time to recognize that the countless different things you can do with a smartphone, and the numberless apps available for them, can be nothing of short of overwhelming. The Optimus One has a few features aimed at easing the transition, and making it simpler for newcomers to adjust to what these machines are capable of, and how they can best adapt them to fit their own personal needs.

The LG Optimus One runs Android 2.2 (or, Froyo), the most recent mobile OS released by Google. This means that it comes equipped with the whole suite of easy-to-use Google mobile services, including voice search, voice actions, and Google maps. Instant messaging comes ready in the form of Google Talk. You’ll also see a couple more services, like Google Goggles, a fun to use image recognition program for pictures taken with your mobile phone that becomes practically addicting during vacations, and Google Shopper, which gives you information about any product within view of your smartphone’s camera, and where you can find it for the lowest price. Of course, when talking about Android 2.2, you can’t forget to mention that it comes equipped with Flash support, and the massively expanded Internet browsing options that come along with it.

There’s also full access to the Android Market’s 80,000 strong applications, but that’s where things can get a bit overwhelming for newbies. LG has their backs with the App Advisor, an extra program that suggests ten of the best applications on the market every other week. Suggesting the best of the best, and introducing different kinds of apps bit by bit, is the perfect way to build newcomers’ confidence. Give them a month or two, and they’ll be going app crazy in the Android Market like a seasoned smartphone veteran.

Internet browsing is as smooth as ever for any LG smartphone, and multitasking is always nice to see. Anyone who had an iPhone pre-iOS 4.0 knows how much of a difference multitasking makes; there weren’t many things more disappointing than not being able to rock out to Pandora and check your email at the same time. In addition to solid hardware under the hood, the Optimus One sports a camera with face tracking and smile shot, to make picture taking that much more user-friendly for the novice user. It also has a 3.2” wide HVGA screen and a 1500mAh capacity battery, which promises to provide solid battery life, even with heavy use. The Optimus One can also double as a Wi-Fi hotspot, using its 3G connection, and allows for syncing with Outlook Calendar, so you can keep your life on track at all time with ease.

Overall, the LG Optimus One is a phone that has the ability to bring Android to the masses by making an Android handset affordable without skimping on important features. The Optimus One is available now from Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon, as the Optimus S, Optimus T and Vortex, respectively. Sprint’s offering retails for $49.99, T-Mobile’s comes in at $29.99, and Verizon’s will cost $79.99. All costs are after mail-in rebates, and come with two year contracts. The Optimus One will soon be available in over 90 countries via 120 partners. The most telling part of the Optimus One is the sales numbers thus far. It sold one million in forty days, which makes it the fasting selling LG phone ever. They must have done something right with the Optimus One, because it’s become quite the hot item. At a very affordable price, it’s worth considering for the techie-to-be on your shopping list.