LG Optimus Net/Link P699/P690 Review

After putting everything on LG Optimus Net/Link P699/P690 under our microscope, its evident this smart phone is poised to become Optimus One P500 successor, whether or not it’ll perform as good, is debatable. Its specs might not be the best we’ve seen so far, but considerably at par with its respective genre. Optimus One’s performance is not close to worse in a fair comparison though mid-range favorites such as Galaxy Ace S5830, Galaxy Ace plus S7500and Sony Ericsson Xperia Miniclearly tags LG Optimus Net/Link P699/P690 as the underdog. Despite a significant resemblance in hardware configuration such as the display screen, primary camera, RAM size between Optimus One and Optimus Net/Link P699/P690, the later comes with a beefed up 800MHz processor squaring that of Galaxy Ace S5830. This may not have a significant impact on Samsung as the phone maker has already unveiled Galaxy Ace plus S7500with a 1GHz processor to succeed its best performing sibling.

 The phone’s build quality isn’t the best we’ve seen but average; furthermore, Samsung’s devices aren’t any good, they fail miserably against Sony Ericsson’s. Smart phone geeks looking for affordable stylish devices will find Sony Ericsson’s products appropriate especially the Xperia Mini. LG Optimus Net/Link P699/P690’s front panel is dominated by a 3.2inch display screen except for the LG logo, earpiece, proximity and accelerometer sensors at its top while the back, home, menu and search buttons sits at the screen’s bottom. There’s a 3.15Megapixel camera without Led flash at the phone’s back, so you can capture those memorable moments in bright lit places, photos taken in darker places may not be admissible. Although it’s not the slimmest phone we’ve seen, LG Optimus Net/Link P699/P690 is noticeably 12.1mm thin and will fit in any pocket. If you’re a staunch smart phone geek with tiny pockets or a cheapskate searching for an affordable mid-range handset, this phone fits the equation.

 320x480p screen resolution is definitely below par though at 180ppi pixels density, text and images appear crisp enough for the eye; however, a lot of scrolling is a must to view web pages in their entirety. Just like other devices with processor clock-speeds below 1GHz, LG Optimus Net/Link P699/P690 doesn’t support adobe flash, meaning you only view videos via Youtube application as opposed to viewing directly from browsers. The phone runs on Android v2.3 Gingerbread OS and comes with 512MB RAM and an 800MHz processor. It supports 3G networks as expected and doesn’t disappoint on speed.

LG Optimus Net/Link P699/P690 Price in Kenya: Kshs.20k to 35k