LG Optimus GT540 First Impressions

We had a closer look of LG’s first ever Android phone today — the LG Optimus (LG GT540). LG Philippines is positioning it to be the most affordable Android phone in the country with a suggested retail price of Php12,900USD 220INR 18,635EUR 209CNY 1,601.

The specs of the LG Optimus is close to that of the HTC Hero, only way cheaper, and could be closely compared to the Samsung Spica. The line-up consists of 4 colors (white, black, silver and pink) although LG reps say they’ll skip the white one once it’s released in stores.

The various colors are targeted to specific demographics with the black (brushed-metal finish) one for men and the pink (quilt-like pattern on a glossy finish) one for women. LG is obviously looking to capture the lifestyle-inclined segment of the market.

One big question we repeatedly discussed was the use of a resistive screen instead the more commonly used capacitive display in Android phones. It takes a bit of time getting used to (especially if you’re very used to capacitive touchscreen phones) and there are obvious drawbacks like the inability to do multi-touch.

I reckon LG is looking to repeat the success of the Cookie with the Optimus (thus the resistive-TFT) — an affordable, fashionable Android phone.

LG added a UI layer on top of Android 1.6 (Donut) that allows for user-selectable (3, 5 or 7) Home Screens. First time I saw this option on an Android phone. Here’s a short clip of how the UI looks like.

LG Optimus GT540 specs:
3.0″ screen @ 320×480 pixels
Qualcomm MSM7227 600MHz CPU
130MB internal storage
up to 32GB via (2GB included)
3G/HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
WiFi 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth 2.1
3.15MP autofocus camera
FM Radio w/ RDS
GPS w/ aGPS support
Android 1.6
Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery

Instead of adding its own LG App Store, the system has an App Advisor that recommends useful and cool apps in the over 50,000 selections of the Android Market. LG also promised that an upgrade to Android 2.1 will be available via Service Center before the end of the year.

The LG Optimus will hit the stores in the first or second week of August with a recommended retail price of Php12,900USD 220INR 18,635EUR 209CNY 1,601.