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LG’s entry-level Android comeback smart phone, the Optimus One, will be available on T-Mobile, and the network is throwing in a couple of motor-related freebies.
In a landing page, T-Mobile announced a Navigation Edition Optimus One, with a form where you could register your interest. T-Mobile is touting it as featuring satellite navigation with Google Maps (which is included anyway), with a free in-car charger and cradle dock.
The LG Optimus One P500 launched along with the Optimus Chic this week, and is the Korean’s company first in a new wave of Android phones aimed at competing with rivals such as BlackBerry, Nokia, HTC and Apple. It’s running with Android 2.2 straight out of the box, and carries a 600MHz processor, 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen and 3-megapixel camera.
LG said the phone was designed for those new to Android, and it has a helpful ‘app advisor’ that recommends apps you might want to download.
The Optimus Chic has the exact same 600MHz processor and touchscreen. But it does field a better 5-megapixel camera, carrying a different look and capacitive soft buttons instead of the hard menu keys of the Optimus one. They’ll both have Wi-Fi and HSPDA, but it would have been a surprise if they didn’t.
The Optimus One and Chic aren’t particularly snazzy in terms of specs, and LG has said there will be some more seriously high-powered phones coming out later in the year, with some running dual-core Nvidia processors.
There’s also a Windows Phone 7 device in the works called the LG Optimus 7, which features the Nvidia Tegra 2 chip. We’re also expecting an Android tablet.
LG has lost its way when it comes to smart phones, with rivals like Samsung and HTC gaining a march. With the Optimus One and the Chic it has a couple of decent low-end Android phones that should do a job, but we still await the glamour devices it’s promised.
