Transform or Optimus S for a 9 year old

[jeeplj8]

Christmas present for my daughter. She will be thrilled with either. Basically it will be for games, texting and calling mom and dad to check in. She won't be allowed to have email or FB on it.

Looking at reviews of the 2 and trying to decide which is better choice, have the following pros and cons:

Transform: front facing camera (I have an Evo and would like to be able to video chat over the phone with her while I am traveling); keyboard

Optimus: users report slightly faster, less buggy

Right now, the Transform seems to be the choice just for the camera. I understand it only works with Tango currently, but will likely be available with other apps in the future. The keyboard is not a big deal, she types without problem on a touch.

What else should I think about when comparing these?

 

[KMfiremedic111]

I would go with LG optimus. I had the transform and hated it. I baught it for the front facing camera too but that turned out to be a dissapointment. The transform does not handle video chatting well. It was very choppy, echoey, not able to hold a conversation at all. Transform only has android 2.1 with no due date for 2.2 known to man. Transform is a heavy brick compared to the optimus. It is slow and buggy for the type of processor it has.
The optimus is way better in my opinion. Lighter, easier fitting in your hand or pocket, fast internet, very responsive screen, fantastic battery life, great call clarity, android 2.2, decent enought camera and video camera, ability to use swype keyboard. I like the 4 hard buttons on the front that take you home, settings, back, and search. On transform those were touch and not very responsive. I cannot say enought good things about the optimus. LG hit a home run here. You still can video chat on the optimus. You can call your 9 year olds optimus and he/she can see you through your front facing camera. The only thing is for you to see them she will have to turn her phone around to the camera. My wife and I both have an optimus. We video chat a lot using Tango or Fring so I can see our baby while I am at work. She points the camera at the baby and I can see her on my end through the video chat. It works really nice. I would say get the optimus. You will not regret it.

 

[KMfiremedic111]

Oh and by the way my optimus is WAY faster than my transform was. Even with its smaller processor. Don't ask me how but it is faster. I also held them side by side in a sprint store and went to same sites. There were times when they were just as fast, but a lot of times when the optimus was faster. Never was the transform faster than the optimus.

 

[DroidXcon]

Also i would download an app called "Lock" this will password lock any application on the phone including the settings so they can not disable shut down the lock app. since its for a 9 yr old you should lock up the market at least until its cleaned up a bit and also to keep from just buying apps as they see fit. Just my suggestion. man i wish we had smartphones when we were kids, i was not even allowed to have a pager till i was 16

 

[_Zguy__]

Would defiantly get the keyboard and ffc for the daughter
she doesn't need extra web speed and less lag, because she probably won't be tasking it too heavily
My guess is texting, pictures, and maybe some music and youtube would be what are used

 

[rgb2]

concur with Zguy. Would like to point out Transform's screen is a little larger. Also, Transform has much lower SAR values, that was a consideration for me.

 

[dachiefmizzy]

I got the Optimus for free from Radioshack and swapped it for a Transform on black Friday. The Optimus was a great little phone but for a few of these main reasons I went with the Transform. The Transform has a 3.5 inch screen which is just as big as the iPhones, while the Optimus with it's 3.2 inch felt too small and the picture quality is not as good as the Transforms. The camera on the Transform has a lot more options and a very good flash, while the Optimus only had auto focus -some features. The front facing camera works well and I video chat with my brother with Tango and his HTC Evo. It works well over wi-fi but choppy over 3G. The Transforms keyboard is the best I've ever used and the build quality of the phone is on par with the Epic and other Galaxy S phones. Overall its a hard choice but personally I am happy and love the Transform. Yes the Optimus was a tad bit faster and has more ram, but i'd take a camera with flash and ff camera over it any day. Froyo 2.2 will be out for the Transform prior to 2011 hopefully, but who knows it may get adobe flash player unlike the Optimus and it will be just as fast or faster than the Optimus when 2.2 hits. I also have swype beta installed so that's not much of a con.

Hope this helps

 

[_Zguy__]

Id also show her the phones and put a bit of her input into the choice

 

[jeeplj8]

I ended up getting the Transform. I played with both in the store for while while they were replacing the speaker on my Evo.

I did not notice much speed difference between the two. The Samsung has some built in latency in actions, as if it wants you to be sure you are pressing a button (on screen or capacitive.) This appeared uniform and I actually liked it, cuts down on those "why is the search function up right now?" moments. Honestly, compared to my laggy Evo on 4g both were blazing fast!

I felt the FFC was the most important thing. I have read a couple people throwing froyo on this model, so if I feel the need I can. The keyboard is more for my wife - she cannot use the on screen on my Evo and she will share the responsibility of keeping this thing locked down.

Thanks to above post on "Lock", am looking at that.