LG E900 Optimus 7 Sim Free Windows 7 Mobile Phone - Black

 

 

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I'd just like to say a few things about this phone, i've previousl been a windows phone user for the last 6 years, from windows 5.0 to 6.1 with a very brief stint of using 6.5.

Inititally I was unimpressed with the new interface, although, after getting used to it I very much like it, theres some major improvements over the previous windows mobile operating systems but at the same time theres some things I find really annoying, I'll point out the things I miss from previous windows first for anyone who will be considering upgrading

No file explorer
No obvious way to customise the 'today screen'
No ability to use your phone as a usb drive, or at least, there is no app that works as of yet without having to run a program on your pc
No obvious signal or battery indicator
No TomTom, Although have since bought navigon, which is considerably better for mapping, but does have some wierd issues with entering destinations, I miss the simplicity of enterting addresses with tomttom but the features in Navigon blow the competition away, if only they improve the entering a destination bit.

Advantages I found with the newer os

Internet explorer is brilliant, I always used opera mobile on previous devices but the ie built in with windows 7 is amazing, its by far the smoothest browser i've used, even friends with android phones who claim the browser is amazing on android couldn't belive how much better ie was on the phone, Personally i'd say its the best imnplementation of a browser on any mobile device including the iPhone.
Battery management seems very well done, apps don't run in the background, they hibernate
Switching between applications is very easy, just hold down the back button and you get a vista/7 still task switcher
Interface is smoothest i've used on a mobile device.
Latest updates (not sure if its shipped on the phone) but there is a built in wifi sharing point app which allows 5 people to connect, its provides a very stable connection, really impressed me, especially after the tradiational windows mobile os seems quite flaky with internet sharing in my experiance.

About the handset.
feels very good quality, and if you want mugen make a good sized extended life battery if you need more power and don't mind an enlarged back cover, something I noticed the new htc devices don't seem to be able to do with the the way they design the covers.
I've missed the led flashlight on the camera! very bright, with a flashlight program its very useful in the night
Battery life seems impressive considering what the device does, with normal usage (ie little time spent on the internet/apps) I find it lasts up to 2 days, one of the reasons I went for this device was the 1500mah battery, most devices seem to come with 1250/1300 that I was looking at. Again mugen do a 1700mah battery with the same form factor if you need that little bit more.
I was concernd about hte quality of the handset considering the price compared to HTC's latest and greatest, but after using a Mozart 7 and the LG, personally I prefer the LG, battery seems to last longer, and the overall feel of the phone in your hand for me seems better, and with a considerably lower price tag seems a no brainer, unless you need a better quality camera.

Finally, i'm not sure if this applies to all sellers, but the phone I bought was a Vodaphone branded phone, the only way you can tell is a little vodaphone icon on the box, nothing on the phone itself implies its from vodaphone and the device is completly unlocked, there is a single vodaphone app on the phone, but you can easily remove that, otherwise no indication at all.

I've had this phone since a week or two after launch and can't praise it enough at this price (£200)

I've had no major update problems (including meandering through a few unofficial ROMS back to official updates)

LG have loaded it up with some great software such as the DNLA server (they call it Play-To, works with fine with Sony and Samsung TVs) and have added new stuff like Internet Connection Sharing

The only negatives I can think of are a dodgey magnetic compass, cheap feeling buttons and slow GPS fix (I suspect the GPS problems are down to the vodafone supl server - if I change it to Google it is much faster - which you can do easily with the barely-hidden diagnostics utility)

No Gyro or front camera becuase it is a first gen device but you won't miss them.

No hardware or software dramas and I've even managed to get over 3 days standby in battery saver mode which is not bad for a smartphone

With 16gb it's a bargain...

This is the third Windows Phone 7 in my house. All have been different (HTC Trophy, Samsung i917, LG E900).

Form Factor:
The E900 weight and feel and form factor is very good. The i917 is comparatively too wide. The Trophy is near perfect (IMHO) when it comes to size and weight. If anything I would say the LG model is a bit long with a bit too much at the bottom where the navigation buttons are.

Screen:
The screen is excellent...no complaints yet. No visible differences over the i917 or Trophy.

Interface (buttons):
The E900 navigation is not touch based whereas the i917 and Trophy are touch based buttons for navigation, windows home, and search. I definitely prefer the touch based buttons. This is the only cheap feeling aspect (the rest of the hardware is quite solid) of the E900.

Interface (stereo jack):
BAD - Phone reboots each time I plug in my Auxilliary cable to listen to music over my stereo.

Communications:
GOOD - Cellular Radio - No complaints so far
GOOD - Bluetooth - successful and clear communications with plantronics headset, over Lync and Skype
BAD - Wifi - have noticed some issues here where the phone is unable to connect to the wifi network without a reboot or when the signal strength is low whereas my other phones do not have this issue (nor the laptops).

Support:
LG support seems good in structure (registration, my support page). However, no updates listed for the device yet and the auto-reboot on stereo plug-in is not an acceptible "feature". Waiting on response from LG.

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