The LG Optimus was an insanely popular phone. Released across carriers, it proved that you don’t need carrier exclusivity as a selling point. I honestly feel that this helped influence Samsung with their launch of the Galaxy S and Galaxy SII and hope it has a wider impact. The Optimus also showed that you don’t have to be high end to be popular. By using a dedicated graphics processor unit, they offset the slower chip and made Android work in a spiffy fashion.
One thing the Optimus lacked though was a hardware keyboard. I’m a huge fan of hard keyboards — portrait form-factor usually, but those are rare beasts. Still, many wondered if we might see a sequel to the Optimus with some sort of hardware keyboard. That eventually happened in the form of the Optimus Slider. Unlike the original Optimus, this puppy was launched only on Virgin Mobile. After our Wildfire S review they were kind enough to send us a unit. Sadly.
Why can't you be more like your older brother?
I suppose if I’d never used the light, fast, well-built Optimus I might not have found the Slider so bulky, laggy, and cheap-feeling. Simply put, the Optimus Slider may be the most disappointing phone I’ve ever dealt with.
We're talking Superdickery levels of disappointment
Let’s start with the major selling point: the keyboard. This adds a significant bulk to the Optimus. It’s not as subtly done as the Motorola Droid series or as elegantly done as, well, anything. The keyboard layout itself is basic, and I have to give props for including a dedicated “.com” key. The layout though, causes issues, with a tiny space bar and for making me hit Enter when I go for the delete key.
Could be me, could be the layout.
A far larger problem is the almost complete lack of any kind of feedback when using the keys. They have almost no travel and I found myself constantly checking to see if I’d actually successfully imputed anything. That’s pretty much unforgivable. If you think I’m exaggerating, chew on this — I almost always try to write some of my review on the phone or tablet I’m reviewing. With the Optimus Slider, I manages three words before huffing in frustration and grabbing my trusty Palm Pre.
Still, hardware keys aren’t for everyone, right? I can use the onscreen, right? Good idea but even that’s bloody useless. Despite eschewing the standard Android 2.3 keyboard for the popular Swype keyboard, the screen’s lack of sensitivity made typing impractical. Inputs were ignored or repeated. The smoothness of the original Optimus was completely missing. The same missed press phenomena plagued my use of the launcher. When swipes registered it worked fine, but occasional missed swipes threw me off and drove me batty. I’d go on about how the plastic body looks and feels cheap and how LG somehow managed to make the Slider feel like a brick in my hand. Except I won’t.
Where's Ignatz when I need him?
Frankly, the hardware keyboard not working right is an instant deal breaker. It’s a damn shame, because a hardware keyboard device running unskinned Android 2.3 on Virgin’s amazingly affordable month-to-month network would be a fantastic thing.
The Optimus LG Slider is just not that thing.
[…] brilliantly or poorly. The last two Virgin Mobile phones that we reviewed, the Venture and the Optimus Slider absolutely bombed. Would the Rise manage to get a handle on that? We didn’t have to wonder […]