LG has announced the Optimus, a smartphone the firm says is “a handset offering an optimal environment for first-time smartphone users with easy and convenient mobile access.” Basically, a smartphone for beginners.
The Optimus, previously codenamed the GT540, has – like many of its smart-er smartphone colleagues – been based on Google’s Android platform.
The phone is aimed squarely at those new to the whole smartphone saga, the very young, the very old and the technologically challenged. As a standard low end Android phone running version 1.6, there really is nothing special about it, except that it’s easy to use for those easily flustered.
The hardware is still a bit of a mystery as the firm has neglected to mention what processor it uses and just how much RAM the device has, but it’s a safe bet both will be on the slower and smaller end of the scale.
The device sports a three inch HVGA (480×320) touch screen, 1500mAh battery, a 3.5mm headphone jack, Bluetooth 2.1 capability, assisted GPS, and a 3MP geo-tagging enabled camera with support for micro SD cards up to 32GB in size.
According to LG the rather misleadingly named Optimus will be available from the first week in May across Europe, with other markets to follow.
With such low end specs, surely it should be called something more appropriate, like the Bumblebee.
