New phones, part deux

From J:

As A alluded to about a month ago, we recently purchased new phones.  I've had a smartphone for a couple of years (an iPhone 3G), but this is A's first smartphone - she upgraded from a venerable Motorola Razr that had ~3 hours of battery life.  We both went with the LG Optimus S on Sprint since A gets such a sweet discount through her employer.  For $50, this is a heck of a phone.

The basics: the latest and greatest Android operating system (v2.2), a teensy form factor, and good speed.  I was hesitant about the less-than-cutting-edge processor (600MHz, when top of the line phones are running 1GHz), but the phone has never felt slow, web pages load smoothly, and apps open very snappily.  It also multitasks just fine thanks to plenty of RAM for such a cheap phone.

The best feature is Android itself, which is blowing the pants off of iOS.  Widgets are excellent; without opening up any apps I can check my google calendars, the weather, phone settings, to do lists, see text messages, etc.  Sweet, and something that makes the iPhone look like it's in the dark ages.  It's not as intuitive as the iPhone, however - it's more like having a real computer in your pocket, with access to the file system, lots of customization options, and some troubleshooting required for certain apps.  This is not a downside to me, but I can see where it could get messy for some people.  And, while the iPhone comes with lots of basic functions preinstalled and polished, Android requires you to download standalone apps from the market for simple things like a stopwatch.

In short, we're loving our new phones.  I can't imagine plunking down $200 for an iPhone or a top-of-the-line Android compared to this thing.  LG's hit a home run with this one.