get it now?

[Zalmy2#IM]

So this and the replenish r the only 2 phones free now from sprint w upgrade so is this a good phone to get?

 

[mkbruin]

in my opinion: resounding NO.

Spend the $$$ for something good. Drop the $100 for an iPhone or the HTC Arrive. Drop a little more for an Evo or a Galaxy II.

I have 322 days to go till Sprint says I can upgrade (despite being a "premiere" member) and after about a year of ownership I have never been dissatisfied more.

I am even contemplating dropping back to my Curve 8330 for the next year or jumping ship from sprint altogether.

Opinions:
Processor: Arm v6. cannot run flash. cannot run certain apps, like firefox mobile. It was outdated a year ago, laughable now.

Battery: Horrid. I get ~6 hours unplugged without any use (standby) unless I turn everything off, like Gmail. And that's IF it charges, thanks to the botched 2.3 upgrade release.

While we are on the subject, DO NOT go to 2.3, stick with 2.2 if at all possible.

Memory: stock SD card unmounts itself constantly. you have to upgrade. Internal memory is barely sufficient to run what came factory. Limit yourself to no more than 5-6 additional apps or you'll run out of room. Less if you load big programs like google maps and netflix. Don't expect even enough memory to run angry birds without insane amounts of lag and stuttering.

Reception: average.



That's about all I have. I urge you to find a few bucks to get something good, and pass this over altogether.

 

[kingdavidbaker]

WOW...I gotta say I do not agree with mkbruin at all...not even close. This is an awesome phone especially when you consider it is free. For one flash DOES work now so that isn't a problem. I am running the new gingerbread update with about 20-30 apps installed and I have NO issues with memory or my SD card unmounting. I have 5 email accounts setup...two of which use "push"....and a bunch of widgets. On top of that I listen to music for a few hours a day and my battery lasts 12-18 hours no problem....and let me reiterate that is with me doing a TON of crap. If I barely use my phone it'll last a day or more. If you have the phone rooted with a custom rom/kernel then you won't have any issues with apps lagging either. Angry birds runs like a champ except for a tiny bit of lag on a few levels.

The ONLY thing I will agree with him on is that there are some apps that won't run on the Optimus S.....then again that is true of a lot of phones. Most of the apps you will want and won't be able to get/use are games. This is due to the fact that the Optimus has smaller resolution than the HD games require. Personally I couldn't care less about firefox mobile because there are a ton of other browsers which basically do the same thing.

 

[memsman]

If you root this phone, you can get the latest CM7 ROM and get:

- latest android version: 2.3.7

- overclocked cpu: up to ~800 MHz

- more internal memory (I have now 165 MB). The roms in the subforum allow for partitioning space from the SD card as internal memory as well (so you can practically have GBs).

- Battery life of 1-1.5 days.

- Flash (You can get it now actually, without root. It's not "perfect" but works pretty well).

- all the awesome ongoing development of the CM7 ported to your phone

Check the subforum.

And you are not forced any more to update to the latest GB provided by sprint/lg which is buggy. Downgrade is available by sprint for those that got the upgrade and have issues.

 

[jondevere]

in my opinion: resounding NO.

Spend the $$$ for something good. Drop the $100 for an iPhone or the HTC Arrive. Drop a little more for an Evo or a Galaxy II.

I have 322 days to go till Sprint says I can upgrade (despite being a "premiere" member) and after about a year of ownership I have never been dissatisfied more.

I am even contemplating dropping back to my Curve 8330 for the next year or jumping ship from sprint altogether.

Opinions:
Processor: Arm v6. cannot run flash. cannot run certain apps, like firefox mobile. It was outdated a year ago, laughable now.

Battery: Horrid. I get ~6 hours unplugged without any use (standby) unless I turn everything off, like Gmail. And that's IF it charges, thanks to the botched 2.3 upgrade release.

While we are on the subject, DO NOT go to 2.3, stick with 2.2 if at all possible.

Memory: stock SD card unmounts itself constantly. you have to upgrade. Internal memory is barely sufficient to run what came factory. Limit yourself to no more than 5-6 additional apps or you'll run out of room. Less if you load big programs like google maps and netflix. Don't expect even enough memory to run angry birds without insane amounts of lag and stuttering.

Reception: average.



That's about all I have. I urge you to find a few bucks to get something good, and pass this over altogether.

You obviously have NOT had this phone. The Optimus S is a great phone and there is no other phone that I have see that comes out for FREE from sprint that is as good of quality.

This may not be an HTC EVO, but this phone kicks. Not only is the phone itself a great device but the community over here at AndroidCentral is awsome and we have TONS fo developers and enthusiasts that work on this model.

Botton line..... I would choose the Optimus S over an EVO 3D ANYDAY!

Yes, I said EVO 3D. Deal with it

 

[Alvis]

this phone, is more of a tiny powerhouse than most people conceive it to be. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND for you to get this phone

 

[mkbruin]

haven't had it? You have to be joking.

Both my wife and I have it. We both cannot stand it. I work with three other people that have it. They hate it. My father has it, he also cannot stand it.


So, looking at what the others in this thread have said: in order for this phone not to completely suck, you have to root it (and risk bricking it) and load an unsupported software. Got it.

 

[blackops1125]

This phone kicks ass. I love this phone. It is a little powerhouse as someone put it.
My wife has the replenish, that phone is a piece of junk.

sent from my CM7/Reborn w/ 1 Gb internal storage Optimus S

Always happy to help, hit that thanks button if I did

 

[Masterjakeway]

There is virtually NO risk of bricking if you follow the threads word for word. This is meter than any phone I ever paid for...
And it was free!

 

[Sdude1200]

haven't had it? You have to be joking.

Both my wife and I have it. We both cannot stand it. I work with three other people that have it. They hate it. My father has it, he also cannot stand it.


So, looking at what the others in this thread have said: in order for this phone not to completely suck, you have to root it (and risk bricking it) and load an unsupported software. Got it.

That's where you are completely wrong. If you are enough of a to brick your phone using Super-one-click, you deserve to have your phone bricked. All it takes is you plugging your phone into the computer.

I HIGHLY suggest getting this phone, yeah it may not be the absolute greatest but it kicks butt if you tweak it a little

Sent from my OptiRom v1ed LG Optimus S

 

[mkbruin]

I HIGHLY suggest getting this phone, yeah it may not be the absolute greatest but it kicks butt if you tweak it a little

And this is exactly my point.

99% of the people who got this phone are stock.

In order for this phone not to be a giant ball of suck on an unprecidented level, you have to "tweak it a little".

Again, just my opinion: spend a few bucks on something that wasn't outdated the day it was released a year ago, and that requires it be hacked and modified to be made into something useful. Going back a year, I wish I had taken that same advise.

 

[drewwalton19216801]

That's where you are completely wrong. If you are enough of a to brick your phone using Super-one-click, you deserve to have your phone bricked. All it takes is you plugging your phone into the computer.

I HIGHLY suggest getting this phone, yeah it may not be the absolute greatest but it kicks butt if you tweak it a little

Sent from my OptiRom v1ed LG Optimus S

That is a totally inappropriate (and inflammatory) response. Nobody ever deserves to have their phone bricked, no matter what their circumstance is.

Anywho, read on.

With the only real exception being the latest Gingerbread update (what a doozy that was...), this phone has been darn near perfect. But if you manage to get a phone that has Gingerbread pre-loaded you can always go to a Sprint repair center and have them downgrade you to Froyo (ZVD) which IMO is the most stable software version on the Optimus S to date.

There is one main shortcoming with this phone, and it mainly stems from it being a mid/low-level budget device. One thing is, a lot of your high-end games more than likely won't run (or even be available in the Market to download) simply because the Optimus S doesn't have the fancy-shmancy dual-core Tegra 2 nonsense that some newer devices have. My opinion? If you want to play bad-ass games, go pick up an Xbox 360, PS3, nice computer, etc.

My suggestion to the OP is to do your homework before getting this phone. Read all about it, figure out what you want your phone to do. If the Optimus S fits the bill then fantastic! If it doesn't, that's fine too as there are plenty of other devices to choose from.

I know you are probably in the market for a free device (aren't we all?) and don't want to spend a bunch of money on a phone. Who really does? There are plenty of devices that Sprint offers that are under $100 after all the rebates and new contract rebate and whatnot.

To everyone complaining, why are you complaining about a FREE phone? If you paid $200+ for it I'd understand but you didn't.

And this is exactly my point.

99% of the people who got this phone are stock.

In order for this phone not to be a giant ball of suck on an unprecidented level, you have to "tweak it a little".

Again, just my opinion: spend a few bucks on something that wasn't outdated the day it was released a year ago, and that requires it be hacked and modified to be made into something useful. Going back a year, I wish I had taken that same advise.

Both my brother and mother have this phone and have not touched the phone in a "break the warranty" way. They both love it, and I even have a few friends that have completely stock Optimus S's and love them.

 

[kingdavidbaker]

And this is exactly my point.

99% of the people who got this phone are stock.

In order for this phone not to be a giant ball of suck on an unprecidented level, you have to "tweak it a little".

Again, just my opinion: spend a few bucks on something that wasn't outdated the day it was released a year ago, and that requires it be hacked and modified to be made into something useful. Going back a year, I wish I had taken that same advise.

Hmm while I obviously don't have the statistics in front of me I would bet there are a great deal of people who have rooted the device. It is true that the phone requires a little toying with to get the most out of it but I suppose the question comes down to this....would you rather spend some money to flat out buy a good phone or would you rather spend some time to make a free phone good? For me if it comes down to an hour of my time or a $100-$200 bill I'll spend the time.

Edit: Oh and the reason I say that a great deal of people have the Optimus S rooted is because its hard NOT to come across an app or something that requires root. Just flipping through the market you'll find something you want that requires root which then makes you wonder "wtf is root and how do I get it"....just a quick google search from there to a one click utility that is so simple just about anybody can use it.

 

[duffkitty]

This is a great phone but I'm in the camp of spending the money. You'll have the phone for about 2 years so it's best to just throw down $200 and get a phone with staying power. And wait until December for sales and the new phones, otherwise a Galaxy South II is nice.

 

[hlxanthus]

In all fairness, stock on either is not great. But it is relatively simple to root and put a custom rom on the phone. When properly modded, this phone really rocks. If you want an good phone that comes that way, you are going to have to drop some money. But for a free phone, the optimus s truelly shines when running a custom rom, it just takes a little work to get it there.

 

[drewwalton19216801]

This is a great phone but I'm in the camp of spending the money. You'll have the phone for about 2 years so it's best to just throw down $200 and get a phone with staying power. And wait until December for sales and the new phones, otherwise a Galaxy South II is nice.

Galaxy South? Is that a new phone?

Is there gonna be a Galaxy North too?

I'm joking, you must have typed that on your phone. Gotta love autocorrect!

 

[apinkel]

I'll weigh since it seems like their haven't been enough opinions on this subject yet .

Two issues I have with the phone..
-it is an entry level device so there is a limited amount of storage
-if you spend a lot of time in a weak signal area the radio in this phone seems to really chew thru battery. If you aren't in a weak signal area I find the battery life to be very good compared to other androids.

For the weak signal areas issue I use an app called green power to only sync my phone at 30 minute intervals... at the end of a 16 hour day I'm typically at 55-60% battery left. Without turning off data sync I was around 20-30% since my signal at work is not great. Keep in mind I'm not a power user... I get a few phone calls, check a few emails, check the weather, etc..

For the limited storage... as mentioned you can root and load a custom rom to help reduce the affects of this. But I'd also say that if you aren't a power user there's a fairly good chance you won't run into the storage space issues. The only reason I do is that I've got a secure email client for work that chews up 30MB of space (more than all my other apps combined).

Reasons I like the phone:
I think the Opt S is a very solid phone and it is a very good phone for the price of free. In addition if something does go wrong with the phone you can get a refurb from sprint for $35. It's a low priced phone to buy and own.

The reception, call quality, camera (which is good for what it is) and the active developer and user community you find here are all nice benefits of this phone.

If free is the price you need then I would recommend this phone. If you can afford $200 I'd suggest looking at the Evo 3D, Photon or Epic Touch.

 

[pergerson6]

who cares what he says lol. i love my optimus and everything this phone can do. thanks to the devs on this forum my phone runs better than most of the 4g phones ive seen. i said most!

 

[ocellaris]

Unless someone absolutely positively has $0 available, I would never recommenced this phone to someone getting a new contract. I have had an Optimus S since it was the "best non 4G phone on Sprint" and much of the time with it has been dreadful. This isn't a phone you want to get locked into a 2 year contract with.

The hardware was dated when it released, the phone is slow, battery life isn't spectacular, the screen is small low resolution (and terrible), the touch screen isn't very accurate, internal memory is low, and web browsing sucks. The phones are so cheap, Virgin Mobile was selling the same phones for $129 for prepaid use. Most of the apps and games I download run like crap. It is not a "mid range" phone, it is low end now. The only way to make the phone acceptable it to tweak it. Personally I just need my phone to work when I need it to and now involve a lot of screwing with it. Even after screwing with it (and I have), the phone has *nothing* on even an iPhone 3GS released in early 2009. It is that bad. Heck, the 3GS I use as a spare phone (AT&T prepaid) just got a the new iOS 5.0 update, and everything on it works perfectly... I have over 100 apps on that phone and every freaking one of them works perfectly. I just keep using my Optimus for the unlimited minutes and unlimited texting.

Get a different iPhone 4 or a better Android phone. Do some over time at work or sell some old stuff in your house to get the money if you need to. This is not the time to buy a dated, slow, low resolution Android phone that is likely done getting updated.

 

[Ivy547]

My phone isn't rooted, completely stock, don't use any sort of hacks... And I love it. As a low-mid-range smartphone it pretty much does all it should. I'll admit the low memory drives me nuts sometimes. While the 2.3 update has it's issues they wheren't too bad on my case. Other people haven't been so lucky. I've had my phone for a year now and I'm still happy with it.