LG Optimus Sol Review

Introduction:

There was a time when having a 1GHz processor in your smartphone was a pretty big deal, yet chips of such caliber are a pretty common sight even among mid-range handsets nowadays. Such is the case with the LG Optimus Sol, which besides the 1GHz silicon brags with its slim, lightweight construction and 3.8-inch Ultra AMOLED display. What kind of display is that, you ask? It is simply how LG refers to its AMOLED panels, and the Optimus Sol happens to be the first smartphone to boast one at its front.

On paper, the Optimus Sol has the potential to be a pretty decent mid-range offering, but whether it truly is one will become apparent once we take it for a spin. Read along, and we will tell you how the smartphone performs in real life.

The package contains:

Design:

The LG Optimus Sol looks and feels like a run-of-the-mill piece of plastic, just like the ones the smartphone market has more than enough of already. However, that shouldn't come as much of a surprise as the Sol is meant to be a cheap handset, so we will have to accept the fact that its body is made out of boring, flimsy plastic.

On the good side, the choice of materials makes the smartphone lightweight. Because if its dimensions, the Sol can be easily used with a single hand, and its waistline of 9.8 millimeters or 0.39 inches gives it a slim profile. Besides, its back cover is pretty resistant to fingerprints despite having a glossy finish.



You can compare the LG Optimus Sol with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

There are three capacitive buttons underneath the smartphone's display and a front-facing VGA camera right above it. Pressing the buttons by accident is hardly likely to happen since there is a good distance between them and the bottom bezel of the device. The top side of the smartphone is populated by a 3.5-millimeter headphone jack, a microUSB port protected by a removable cover and a lock button. There is also a secondary microphone for noise cancellation, which you do not get to see too often on handsets of this class. However, the volume rocker on the phone's side could have been exposed better.

The LG Optimus Sol is the first in the company's portfolio to boast an AMOLED display. Bearing the “Ultra AMOLED” moniker, LG's panels have yet to make a name for themselves, but we can say that we are pleased with what we see on our unit here. The Sol's 3.8-inch WVGA display delivers intense, saturated colors and deep blacks, which together bring images to life and make watching videos a pleasant experience. We were also satisfied with the display's outdoor visibility as it glows bright enough to be used easily on a sunny day.

However, when we put the LG Optimus Sol and the Samsung Galaxy S II side by side, it becomes apparent that the latter has the upper hand. Whites look whiter, blacks are deeper, and colors are noticeably more intense on the latter.  Besides, the Super AMOLED Plus display on the Galaxy S II is superior when it comes to displaying fine details and tiny text. As far as viewing angles go, both displays remain usable even when tilted to the extremes, but at certain angles, a greenish tint becomes visible on the Optimus Sol's Ultra AMOLED panel.

Overall, the LG Optimus Sol packs an eye-catching display, its body is slim and lightweight, but that is pretty much all that would really grab anyone's attention as its design is a bit boring. Now it is time to see what it has to offer in terms of functionality, so read along to find out.