Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one.

[cole2kb]

I keep seeing people talking about the Optimus Black as the next phone to hit VM but have yet to see any sort of official announcement / recognition. Now, browsing Engadget today, I see this:

Samsung Transform Ultra hitting Boost Mobile in October, we go hands-on -- Engadget

The Samsung Transform Ultra coming to Boost, it's got a 1ghz proc and a slide-out keyboard. This seems like a much more likely replacement for the Intercept than the Black, since the Triumph has seemed to fill the 'touchscreen only' slot, provided they follow a pattern of one with / one without, although I'd be surprised if they didn't keep the V around as a 'low end' option.

Thoughts?

 

[OakIris]

Re: Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one

I hope you are wrong but your speculation does seem logical. I was hoping that the Optimus Black and the Optimus Note/Slider would actually be available on VM one of these months soon...

Still, there have been various articles by industry watchers stating that the Optimus Black will be coming to Sprint and VM this year, so I remain hopeful!

Holly

 

[cole2kb]

Re: Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one

I just really want something with a keyboard, and if it can perform better than my Optimus, then that would be nice too.

 

[OakIris]

Re: Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one

I understand about the keyboard; that's why the Optimus Note is on my wish list: LG Optimus Note slider emerges from South Korea as dual-core Tegra 2 contender - Engadget

I think the Note is the same phone as the LG Optimus Slider that Sprint is supposedly getting, which is why I am hoping that it will eventually make its way into VM's line up.

Holly

 

[Whyzor]

Re: Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one

Hardware keyboards are going away because they add bulk, cost, & complexity to making a phone. The bigger screens make soft-keyboards easy to use, plus you can do swiping and it's easier to customize different languages for the manufacturers. A lot of people I know who used to swear by HW keyboards, have converted just fine to using soft-keyboards.

 

[jmart981]

Re: Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one

Honestly, I imagine the LG Marquee (optimusblack) will come to VM this year, but yes I would be even happier if the LG Note came to the carrier with stock android using a dual core processor, onecan only hope, so here's hoping!

 

[zedorda]

Re: Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one

Google LG VM855 and u should find a link to Pocketnow to find out more about the Black coming to Virgin. VM855 is the model number that was registered with the FCC earlier this year by LG to release the Optimus Black within the US for Virgin Mobile. LG also registered LS855 and US855 for Sprint and US Cellular. These registrations aren't cheap to file with the FCC so lets think would they just toss the money out the window or would they atleast have fairly solid plans for release? You be the judge...

http://pocketnow.com/android/lg-opt...&utm_campaign=Feed:+pocketnow+(pocketnow.com)

 

[watskyhotsky]

Re: Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one

Hardware keyboards are going away because they add bulk, cost, & complexity to making a phone. The bigger screens make soft-keyboards easy to use, plus you can do swiping and it's easier to customize different languages for the manufacturers. A lot of people I know who used to swear by HW keyboards, have converted just fine to using soft-keyboards.

i hear ya man. I used the Sidekicks for years for the sole reason being that the keyboard was the best ive used on a phone. and I was firing off a lot of emails. (a LOT)

moved from the Sidekick LX 2009 to the Optimus V and now I type faster and more accurately in landscape mode than on my SKLX. i use "iphone keyboard emulator" for the key spacing, and I have all auto corrections and any help turned off. pure keyboard and I still type faster than on a sidekick, which of course have the best keyboards of all phones

 

[mknollman123]

Re: Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one

i too can haul on a software keyboard.

speed is not why i prefer hw kb.

what i really like about hw keyboards is that you can type and interact with text and still see the whole screen.

I can make due on either but if there is a slider that is still somewhat slim i would love it.

 

[nin]

Re: Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one

I believe I read somewhere there were two phones coming, not at the same time though. One being something like the Black and another having a slide out keyboard.

 

[mknollman123]

Re: Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one

My guess is that they will still wait until just before Xmas to get the holiday rush (late october early november). This will allow them to milk as much cash out of the triumph as possible.

I have to say that the battery life and relatively speedy performance of my optimus V is gonna be hard to beat. My wife and I came from a Droid X and a Fascinate (Galaxy S) - and although i miss the screen real estate - the OV is a better device all around when you include "pocketability" and battery life.

I really thought that I would have to "deal with" a substandard device to save the money that I do at VM, but once I rooted and set up link2sd on both of our devices I have almost no complaints. I guess I should mention that for graphically intense games I use my Asus Transformer, but all around the OV has aged pretty gracefully.

 

[LeslieAnn]

Re: Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one

I have to say that the battery life and relatively speedy performance of my optimus V is gonna be hard to beat. My wife and I came from a Droid X and a Fascinate (Galaxy S) - and although i miss the screen real estate - the OV is a better device all around when you include "pocketability" and battery life.

Funny, I became worried about this day before yesterday as well after I found a Triumph on display and saw the size of it. I put my V on top of it and was rather shocked at the size difference.

The V may have a small screen, but it almost has to. The overall size of the V could almost be considered petite compared to the Triumph. That kind of worries me about the OB, I will still probably upgrade, but really, while a larger screen woudl be nice, I don't want a huge phone either.

 

[cole2kb]

Re: Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one

Same here. I'm attracted to the larger screen BUT I'm not sure if I'd love it on a daily basis, my roommate has one of the various Moto Droids with a huge screen and it's almost awkward to use, although she is running total stock, I think I'd enjoy it after modding the pixel density, everything just looked HUGE on it, haha.

 

[jdcnosse]

Re: Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one

I'm with you on the "not too fond of big devices" bandwagon. My girlfriend has an EVO 4G, and while waiting for the guy at Best Buy to go grab the key to get my Optimus V out (they had no more on the shelf ) I decided to compare the models that were on display, and the EVO is huge! It was too big for me to use comfortably, and she has smaller hands than I do lol

I like the OV's size. Now if they could maybe have a screen size between the two (like say 3.7" screen) then I'd be willing to go for that, or if it had the same size as the OV but all the upgraded extras that the newer phones have (faster processor, better camera, etc) that'd be nice too.

 

[LeslieAnn]

Re: Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one

I did some digging...

OV
114 x 59 x 13 mm
127 grams

OB
122 x 64 x 9.2 mm
109grams <--- WOW! (yes, I double checked this)

Triumph
122 x 66 x 10 mm
143 grams <---- YIKES!

Thickness
Both triumph and Black are thinner, and quite a bit in terms of percentage (not much in actual size).
Thickness is a concern to me, and I like the latter phones better.

Weight
The weight of the Black is simply AWESOME! What is up with the triumph weight? It's about 30% heavier than the OB.


Width and Height
The black is 2mm smaller than Triumph, 5 larger than the V, sort of in between. The black is quite a bit taller than the V. and same as the Triumph. To be honest, height isn't such a big deal to me. The width in my pocket is an issue though. Another factor to keep in mind about these phones though is the corners, they make a difference in how big a phone looks and feels. Even if the Black and Triumph are almost the same size, the rounded corners will make it feel smaller in your pocket. Plus, it cant catch or stab you.

This is how they match up when you superimpose them over each other (yes they are to scale).
Look at the amount of mass the corners cut off when you super impose the phones over each other.
Red is the Triumph, Orange is Black, OV is in color.

(ignore the crudeness)

Don't get me wrong, the Black still looks big, but the Triumph looks like another step or two larger than the Black. Odd since they are actually so similar in size.

 

[OakIris]

Re: Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one

Great graphic comparison, LeslieAnn. On paper, the OB didn't look that much bigger than the OV, and I am thinking that the increase in screen real estate should make the increase in dimensions worth it. Hopefully the OB being thinner and lighter will make up for its slightly bigger size. Guess we all need to see them in person to make that decision.

Here is a "first look" video review for those that are interested in the Optimus Black: LG Marquee Android smartphone hands-on impressions Live Photo Gallery
Holly

 

[cbill]

Re: Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one

As an aid to the discussion the following links are spec comparisons of: a, the Marquee (Black) to the Triumph, and b, the Marquee to the OV.

a: PDAcomparer | PDAdb.net - Smartphone, Tablet, Netbook, PDA, PNA & Mobile Device Specifications Database
b: PDAcomparer | PDAdb.net - Smartphone, Tablet, Netbook, PDA, PNA & Mobile Device Specifications Database

From what I can see the Marquee would be in direct competition with the Triumph; which makes me wonder if Virgin would be willing to introduce the Marquee at this time, unless the Triumph has become a customer satisfaction problem (reliability).

It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next several months. If the "Black" proves to be reliable (and has Gingerbread, as indicated in the comparison) then it might be time to change my OV's status to "backup".


Cbill

 

[Eollie]

Re: Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one

From what I can see the Marquee would be in direct competition with the Triumph; which makes me wonder if Virgin would be willing to introduce the Marquee at this time, unless the Triumph has become a customer satisfaction problem (reliability).
Cbill

Why wouldn't they? The contract carriers are consistently releasing phones that compete with their existing phones. It just brings more to the table for Virgin. Getting people off contracts and onto prepaid style plans is better IMO then keeping a contract and paying a ton each month. IF I can choose between several phones on a carrier then Im more likely to test their service out.

 

[LeslieAnn]

Re: Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one

From what I can see the Marquee would be in direct competition with the Triumph; which makes me wonder if Virgin would be willing to introduce the Marquee at this time, unless the Triumph has become a customer satisfaction problem (reliability).

It has lower specs, so i suspect it would be priced lower.

Just a guess, but I would expect the Black to be 200, give or take $50, same for the new keyboard phone. This would replace the aging Intercept and OV. Though it's possible Virgin could keep one or both and drop their prices.

Put the OV down at $90-$130 (especially with a GB update), they would sell a ton, and let's face it, it is a heck of a good phone for for that price. Regardless of what people say about the specs or it's age, it's a solid phone at a great price. Sure there are better, newer Androids (for more money), but there isn't a lot it can't reasonably do. At $100 it's a disposable smart phone.

 

[jdcnosse]

Re: Has the Black been officially announced? My guess is this one

Put the OV down at $90-$130 (especially with a GB update), they would sell a ton, and let's face it, it is a heck of a good phone for for that price. Regardless of what people say about the specs or it's age, it's a solid phone at a great price. Sure there are better, newer Androids (for more money), but there isn't a lot it can't reasonably do. At $100 it's a disposable smart phone.

I agree with you there. When I was researching the specs for the OV one review said it best, it's a great starter android phone. It's not too low end, but not super high end either. Pretty much perfect for the average user. (I know my girlfriend's mom has the OS and my guess is that she got it because it was cheap, and not overly huge or flooded with features like my girlfriend's EVO 4G).

I don't think I would have had as much fun playing with android without this phone as my first.