Hands on: LG Optimus review

LG has been a bit staid in the Android race so far - it promised so much but hasn't really delivered as yet.

The Optimus (which is the new name for the LG GT540) follows up the GW620 Intouch Max from the Koreans' Android stable - the latter might have been a nice device but it was a far cry from the feature-packed devices we're used to playing with these days.

But the LG Optimus has some nifty features to play with and what's more - it's set to come in at a pretty reasonable price point too.

The LG Optimus feels pretty premium for a phone that is essentially aimed at the mid-range market.

Its brushed aluminium-style outer body feels nice in the hand, and the 3.2-inch screen is vivid and bright.

However, LG has once again opted for a resistive display here - the stand bunny demonstrating the devices tried to convince us it was just as responsive as a capacitive screen, but we can't really agree with that - it's only any use if you have ridiculously long fingernails.

We were left on a number of occasions trying to make sure our touch input registered - something we're not used to doing on the higher end capacitive phones.

However, the Android system used on the Optimus is pretty good, taking the best bits of the GW620 Intouch Max and adding some touches of its own.

This means social networking from the likes of Facebook and Twitter can be accessed via a single SNS portal on the phone, as well as linking in the relevant accounts with people in your address book.

You can also choose between two 'types' of home screen - the vanilla Android experience or the LG customised one.

The latter offers you customisable icons at the bottom of each screen to let you access things like messaging whenever you want, and also portions off the drag-up menu between your regular programs and downloaded applications.

But the Optimus goes further with the Android experience - it allows you to not only choose the amount of home screens that you want to have to play with (between three and seven) but also lets you change the theme completely, from pink and bubbly (for the ladies we were told, somewhat stereotypically) to stern, grey and functional.

We're not sure if this feature is coming to the UK version though, as LG is trumpeting four home screens to play with. We're digging around to find out if this is the case, so watch out, multiple home screen lovers.