LG Optimus V vs LG Rumor Touch

[OakIris]

I currently have a VM Rumor Touch and am considering jumping onto the Android bandwagon for a "real" smartphone. The Optimus V is at the top of my list right now. This is sort of asking for a comparison of apples to oranges but I do have some specific questions.

For those here who had the Rumor Touch, can you tell me if the Optimus V sound quality for calls is an improvement over that of the Rumor Touch? I am looking for a phone that has excellent sound clarity out of the box - I know sound also depends upon signal strength, etc., but if the phone starts out with a poor speaker, other factors don't count!

The Rumor Touch has the usual Virgin Mobile crippling so a lot of the LG features can not be used - just as an example, you can't download and use ringtones or wallpaper of your choice without going through hoops since VM wants you to buy everything from them. From what research I have done, it would seem that the Optimus V can actually download, tether, all those other things that VM frowns upon; is this true?

So, should I take the leap or stick with the Rumor Touch until the Optimus Black comes to VM (if it ever does)...?

Holly

 

[watskyhotsky]

think of the rumor touch like a regular phone with some decent features added. and the optimus V as a decent laptop shrunk to a phone shape and size.

if youve never had a smartphone before, there isnt any way to fully explain the difference between it and a regular phone.

its more like something you should just experience. if you have ever tried to surf the web or watch a youtube video or even manage lots of texts messages on a normal phone or feature phone, you are surely going to be impressed by the V, or any smartphone really. its just a better realization of what a "mobile phone" should be

you will love the V, but i will say dont bother tethering, virgin mobile is capping data use soon, for many reasons, one of which surely being that everyone tethers and they really dont want that.

 

[zedorda]

The OV is an android device so the world of getting ringtones and wallpaper is completely different and alot better no VM hoops for the most part. If call quality is ur main concern I am not sure it would be worth ur time to drop the money on the OV if the OB is an interest. In my belief the OB will hit just before x-mas considering the time frame they filed all the paper work with the FCC. Might be worth it to google VM855. Don't take what I say as reason to think the OV doesn't sound good but it may not be above avg. There is the opinion of 2.3 GB and DSP Manager which is a sound manager tool so u can tweak it how u want it to sound. The OB getting 2.3 GB as a stock upgrade is alot more likely than the OV because the user experience can more easily be assumed to be better.

 

[OakIris]

Thank you both for your responses.

As far as tethering is concerned, that would be only an occasional thing for me; I do most of my Internet browsing and downloading, etc., via my home desktop. Tethering would be for those few times that I am out and about with my laptop (an old MacBook Pro) with no local access to WiFi. Guess I would like to have a phone that was capable of doing this, just in case.

From what I have read and the videos I have watched I know a "real" smartphone is something I have never experienced but I sure want one so that I can experience it! I definitely want an Android phone as opposed to the iPhone, etc. - having an open source OS that allows the end user to tweak the phone to help make it the way she or he wants it to be is definitely a plus. (Thank you to all you developers out there who help those of us, like me, who are not programming savvy.)

The Optimus V looks pretty sweet and its price point is perfect for me. I may hold out for the Optimus Black, though I am concerned that it will be pretty expensive. I like the fact that it actually has a separate GPU, too. Of course, there is a lot of hype about it right now; I will wait until there is an actual user base here in the USA to find out what folks' actual experience is with it. And there is always the hope that once VM rolls out the Optimus Black, the OV price will really drop!

@zedora - I am not sure what you are talking about when you mention 2.3GB for the Optimus Black. What will be 2.3 GB? :-[ Is that the amount of memory, or...? Why would the amount of memory necessarily improve the sound, or are you saying that the additional memory will enable the user to add on programs that improve the sound? (Sorry, this is all new to me.)

Holly

 

[zedorda]

I was talking about the android version. The OV has 2.2 Froyo but u can flash a ROM of 2.3 GingerBread. 2.3 GingerBread has more options like an app called DSP Manager which lets u change alot of the settings concerning sound from the ear piece the speaker or even bluetooth.

 

[jSterling]

I was talking about the android version. The OV has 2.2 Froyo but u can flash a ROM of 2.3 GingerBread. 2.3 GingerBread has more options like an app called DSP Manager which lets u change alot of the settings concerning sound from the ear piece the speaker or even bluetooth.

And here I thought that just came with cm7. As far as the rumor touch issue goes I had one, call quality IS better and you're going to love the OV over the rumor touch.

Sent from my LG-VM670 using Tapatalk

 

[OakIris]

I was talking about the android version. The OV has 2.2 Froyo but u can flash a ROM of 2.3 GingerBread. 2.3 GingerBread has more options like an app called DSP Manager which lets u change alot of the settings concerning sound from the ear piece the speaker or even bluetooth.

I'm a goof. :-[ I saw "GB" and immediately thought "gigabytes" instead of "GingerBread!" I am just learning the initial/abbreviation designations here - thank you for your patient explanation. Is the consensus here that VM will never upgrade the OV to GingerBread?

@jSterling - your experience going from the Rumor Touch to the Opitmus V is encouraging. Better sound quality along with the much better user interface of a smartphone sounds like a winning combination.

Right now the Optimus Black is selling elsewhere (India, Germany) for $300-400 from what I have seen so I imagine it will be out of my price range; I think the Optimus V is in my future!

I will certainly keep reading and learning here at AndroidCentral so that by the time I get the phone I will have some idea of its capabilities and what the various changes in ROM, etc., can do for the phone.

Holly

 

[watskyhotsky]

the consensus on the forums is that the OV has already been upgraded. by us. Virgin Mobile will say that they havent officially released a GB rom for the OV, but several GREAT ones already exist.


the OV is a great little phone and its been out long enough that you can buy one without worry of it having problems. unlike the Triumph.

also, Ive read that virgin mobile is completely disabling Tethering in the hardware of the phones before they even ship. meaning nothing can get the phone to tether. I may be wrong, I have one of the first gen OV's and it can tether perfectly. havent tried to tether on one of the newer 2.2.2 OVs but there are a bunch of forum posts that these phones wont tether correctly

 

[one80oneday]

Wait for the LG Slider coming out, slightly faster with a keyboard and it will be $179. Android is awesome!

 

[OakIris]

the consensus on the forums is that the OV has already been upgraded. by us. Virgin Mobile will say that they havent officially released a GB rom for the OV, but several GREAT ones already exist.

I was aware that GB could be used on the phone by flashing it with a custom ROM, I was just wondering if VM was ever going to release it themselves - guess they haven't figured out a way to cripple it so the end users can't make the phone do what they want it to do!

also, Ive read that virgin mobile is completely disabling Tethering in the hardware of the phones before they even ship. meaning nothing can get the phone to tether. I may be wrong, I have one of the first gen OV's and it can tether perfectly. havent tried to tether on one of the newer 2.2.2 OVs but there are a bunch of forum posts that these phones wont tether correctly

I hate the way VM insists upon crippling their phones - yet another example of it - but you can't beat the price of their service. Even though I would only want to occasionally tether the phone, I guess there are others who use tethering a lot so VM wants to stop this - too much bandwidth being used so they must be losing money?? Not having to pay and extra $20 or $30 a month for a data plan is definitely a plus so I can do without the tethering in order to continue getting the VM price break. Of course, VM is supposed to be throttling back their "unlimited data" service in October, anyway...

@one80oneday - Since the Slider hasn't been officially released, it is hard to compare specs, but is the Slider basically an Optimus V with a slide out keyboard? I do like having a keyboard, one of the reasons I got the Rumor Touch, but, depending upon what the phone being "slightly faster" will turn out to mean, I am not sure a keyboard is worth $30 more.

All speculation at this point. Sprint was supposed to come out with the Slider and the Optimus Black on 9/11 (not the most auspicious of days) but there is nothing on their main web site about either phone as yet. Patience, patience, patience!

Holly

 

[jSterling]

If its your first android phone I'd go with the OV. There's already a nice selection of roms available for.the OV to give it a even bigger speed increase and lots of other cool features.

The triumph is just buggy at this point, and roms and other mods are slowly rolling out, some say its been fixing a lot of issues they've already had.

Sent from my LG-VM670 using Tapatalk

 

[OakIris]

The Triumph isn't in consideration at this time; too much money at this point for a phone that, except for those lucky few, seems to give its owners a lot of problems. For the most part, I have been pleased by my LG experience so only the Optimus V and Optimus Black are on my current list.

Of course, we will have to wait until the OB is actually available to find out how good - or how buggy/disappointing - the phone is according to our much honored guinea pigs, the early adopters!

Right now the Optimus V is at the top of my list - great price, good stock features, and, as jSterling mentioned, lots of work already done by folks to bring us better ROMs, etc., which enable us to use a lot of programs and features that VM never intended us to have access to.

Holly

 

[zedorda]

Wait for the LG Slider coming out, slightly faster with a keyboard and it will be $179. Android is awesome!

U sure u didn't mean the LG Optimus Note?

LG Optimus Note Qwerty Slider Android Smartphone Leaked | Geeky Gadgets

http://www.droidmatters.com/news/du...appearance-set-to-be-released-in-south-korea/

 

[benslgdroid]

I came from the rumor to the ov but mine was through sprint even though I had tons of java apps on it android is much faster and easier to use.

 

[OakIris]

U sure u didn't mean the LG Optimus Note?

LG Optimus Note Qwerty Slider Android Smartphone Leaked | Geeky Gadgets

Dual-core Tegra 2-powered LG Optimus Note makes an appearance; set to be released in South Korea | DroidMatters.com

Hmm, that does look nice. According to the 2nd link in your post, zedorda, and according to this similar link: LG Optimus Note slider emerges from South Korea as dual-core Tegra 2 contender - Engadget the Optimus Note and the Optimus Slider appear to be the same phone with different names.

Holly