LG Optimus Black / Reviews

If you're attached to the LG brand and don't have the budget to purchase the Optimus 2X, the Optimus Black is a decent alternative. In fact, it's the only alternative for the moment, if you don't prefer Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform. The Optimus Black is an all-rounder with some pluses for the amazing NOVA display and stylish design.

Read original review at Softpedia.

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The LG Optimus Black is a fantastic device. It has the best non-AMOLED display available on an Android device, it features and attractive and functional design, and it runs both quickly and smoothly. I also really love how unbulky the phone feels, and really like the user interface work that LG has done.

It might lack dual-core power, but it will run much longer than LG's own Optimus 2X - even though both devices use the same capacity battery.

I'll take battery life over benchmark scores any day of the week. The Black is a winner in my book.

Read original review at MobileBurn.

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If you're both a fan of the black bar aesthetic that seems to be the current go-to design of smartphones, and a fan of lightweight machinery that does exactly what it ought to, then the LG Optimus Black will suit you great.

While its only truly outstanding feature is the NOVA display screen, it performs well enough in other areas to stand as a competitor to the Apple iPhone 4 for those who prefer Android phones.

Read original review at TechRadar.

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The LG Optimus Black combines a sleek design with an ultra-light handset to make what is certainly one of the best Android smartphones currently available. It might not pack the same punch as its rivals, but it's affordable enough to be a hit with a wide range of users who don't need a super-powerful mobile. It does a more than satisfactory job at everything it tries its hand at.

Read original review at Digital Versus.

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The LG Optimus Black is something of a mixed bag. Eye-catching design and a great screen are paired with a phone that isn’t a great performer on the multimedia front. For the most part we like LG’s light touch with Android: it still leaves you with that Android feel, but does offer a few nice widgets and some enhancements like weather. On the whole the phone runs smoothly and delivers the core Android experience with minimal fuss. But then we come to the strange situation with HD video capture, the slightly awkward gesture button and battery life that falls below what we expected.

The end result is a handset that doesn’t quite earn its spurs in the higher echelons. The Optimus Black is more capable than the current crop of entry-level devices, but it feels a touch under-powered when put alongside the likes of the new HTC phones - the Desire S or the Incredible S - which sit beneath the top tier devices and the performance (screen aside) sees it challenged by older devices like the Samsung Galaxy S.

Software updates could change the fortunes of the LG Optimus Black, so for now, this is a handset to keep an eye on, rather than one we’d fully endorse.

Read original review at Pocket-lint.

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The Optimus Black has a hard place in the market – upper mid-range in the phone rankings is a hard one to convince consumers to go for. It’s comparable on contract price with the more powerful LG Optimus 2X and better looking Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, and not too far off the cost of the Galaxy S2.
 

The battery life is something of a worry at times, and you could almost call the phone TOO light at times, with the lightweight feel not bringing a premium sensation in the hand.
 

The Optimus Black is a fine handset in a vacuum, and will probably entice a fair few users with its bright display and super-thin chassis. But you feel that with the plethora of hyper-cool dual-core handsets coming our way, this svelte offering could slip through the cracks.

Read original review at T3.

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The Optimus Black is cheaper, smaller and lighter than the 2X, and it offers a great experience and performance. But, it does risk being lost amongst the competition that consists of handsets with equal specs and nicer designs.

Read original review at Know Your Mobile.

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Although it is not the best shooter we've ever seen, the LG Optimus Black takes satisfyingly good looking photos and videos with its 5-megapixel camera, assuming it has been given the optimal conditions. When you have some time to kill, the Optimus Black can come in handy allowing you to watch 720p video on its vivid NOVA display. TI's single-core OMAP 3630 chipset is powerful enough for casual web browsing and will even run less demanding 3D games at good speeds. Thanks to its Adobe Flash-enabled browser, the smartphone delivers an enjoyable web browsing experience, although it can get choppy with some heavier web pages. In a nutshell, The LG Optimus Black can do most of the things that you would expect from a contemporary smartphone fairly well, which makes it a good all-purpose Android device.

Read original review at PhoneArena.

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It would be unfair to compare the Optimus Black to the new generation dual core phones. But it’s not a phone to write off either. It gives LG a boost in confidence and that’s more than welcome, considering the highly competitive bracket it falls in. Both HTC and Sony Ericsson have recently updated their droid lineups, and Samsung are busy churning out Galaxy S spinoffs. The Optimus Black has a key feature to market itself on and looks classy without overdoing it.

Read original review at GSMArena.

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Had it been immediately available upon its announcement at CES in January, its omission of Gingerbread may have been considered forgivable, its unimpressive performance would have been less harshly judged in the light of what else was on the market at the time, and its thinness would have actually been a unique feature to promulgate. Now? Now we have phones with qHD resolution, multiple processing cores, and slim profiles to match and even better the Optimus Black. So why would you want to buy the Optimus Black with all the other options crowding the Android smartphone marketplace?

Well, we could point to its dashing good looks, quality camera, and above-average screen technology, but if those are your top priorities, you might be better off with a Nokia N8. The one thing keeping the Optimus Black in the conversation is Android and its inherent software and ecosystem strengths, but even that has the stale taste of Froyo in a Gingerbread-eating world. We're sorry, Mr. Black, we really wanted to like you, but you turned out to be as shallow on the inside as you were thin on the outside.

Read original review at Engadget.

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My previous phone was a nokia c7 belle upgrade, and its a great phone. The Lg optimus black is nothing less. Its even more. The screen is an ace much brighter. Overall performance is very good. After a few days if it becomes sluggish just reboot to clear cache. Its ram is very good, its nice and speedy as long as u dont fill up ur screen too much of widgets. It came out of the box shipping with gingerbread 2.3 android. This version uses more memory than foryo yet its more nice.The only drawbacks in my opinion are: battery life is hardly one day, voice quality in the normal phone speaker is mediocre at best. Camera is ok , very good close range , bad at night if its further than 3 meters 'cause flash is single led but its still ok. So its a wonderful phone better than I phone in my opinion espicially with a price less than half of the I-phone or samsung galaxy s3 or nokia n8

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I have this phone and it freezes constantly when I am texting. I had to send it in to Koodo for repair but it still freezes. I text a lot, so if texting is your thing, this is NOT the phone for you.

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