LG Prime, good entry level touch screen

The delivery, the free air time, and the SIM:
My LG Prime was delivered at a great price, and came a day early - thanks for another great experience from Amazon and their suppliers. Tracking worked, too. The LG Prime had a sticker on the back upon delivery telling me to boot up with my old SIM card, and that I could receive the free air time when I did this - worked great for me, but I caution that Amazon, LG, and AT&T did not know how the phone would be received, or if this was possible - so maybe it changes by area.

BEFORE I DID THIS, I backed up my contacts on my old phone to my SIM, then transferred the old SIM to the new phone. My contacts transferred perfectly, and my phone number was in tact, no problem - fired right up, WITH MY FREE AIR TIME. Worked nice.

AND I DID NOT START MY NEW PHONE WITH THE NEW SIM CARD, SINCE THAT NEW SIM CARD WOULD HAVE A NEW PHONE NUMBER - I ONLY STARTED WITH THE OLD ONE - NOT SURE IF THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN A PROBLEM AS FAR AS THE FREE AIR TIME - I STRONGLY SUSPECT IT COULD BE, BUT MAYBE NOT. In that event, you should be able to use the new SIM until the credit is gone, and maybe switch back and forth as needed. TALK TO AT&T FIRST if you did this by mistake, or for the best advice.


The touchscreen:
The LG Prime is a good entry level touch screen phone. Others say the touch screen is not very sensitive, but it is easy for you to get used to it. If you never had an iPhone, or a highly sensitive 'capacitive' touch screen, you likely will not notice this. In the past, I had a capacitive touch screen, and it still doesn't bother me. In the future, when I spend a lot of money for a top-of-the-line smartphone, I will insist on a capacitive touchscreen, or AMOLED - but mostly because I am paying for it.

For the price, I have seen touchscreens which are much worse than this one (usually resistive with thin, soft plastic screens), and even require a stylus - not the LG Prime - my fingers work fine, and the screen is glass (or very hard plastic which looks like glass - not 100% sure, seems like glass - I haven't scratched it yet either, but hasn't been very long either - seems like it could be pretty good surface. Screen protector might make the screen less sensitive, also.

If you really want the best touch screens, 'capacitive' and 'AMOLED' touch screens are the best - AMOLED promises to be the best by far, and takes less power because it is LED. At the time I am writing this, it seems to me that the 'capacitive' touchscreen phones start around 200 bucks, and AMOLED touchscreens 600 bucks.


The OS:
In the past I had an iPhone 3G, and loved it. LG Prime does not really compare to that very much - only in some ways. The power and speed of the phone hardware/connectivity make me feel like I will not fully use the very good Android OS which is installed - mostly just talk and text. (However, you might be in an area where you are less capable on speed anyway - see below). Android looks very good to me, but look to other reviews for full web/email functionality of this phone, also.


The connection speed:
This phone is not terribly slow, but this is not a 3G phone, is not UMTS/HSDPA, and does not have wifi. If you want high speed data transfer, (with AT&T or through a wifi), you MIGHT need to go to another phone with better network connectivity, wifi, and/or even a phone with a better processor. HOWEVER - if you live in an area where 3G, or UMTS/HSDPA, or EDGE/GPRS capabilities are not available anyway (meaning your area is 2G/GSM only), maybe this can work for you since you will likely be slow with any phone.

If you don't know about your network, check AT&T maps for your areas coverage - make sure you click 'voice, data, go phone, 3G' tabs above the map, also:
[...]

Although I have not fully tested the web/email capability of the LG Prime, I checked the weather with the web browser once - speed was OK, not great - looked at radar maps on weather.com, (2 different maps) - costed me $2.50 to do this - took me 90 seconds or so - in what is a very good AT&T area, (best AT&T GSM color on the map linked above). OK - maybe i had my $1/day charge included in that, but I don't think so.

Either way, if your web browsing/emailing everyday, you should get a data plan. In fact, unlimited data plans might make this worth while for some people, but for me, my laptop will do this faster for now. In my opinion, if I will attempt to replace my laptop, (or even tether my laptop, which LG Prime will not do), LG Prime won't do it - not very close - whereas the iPhone3G was close - I would often pick up my iPhone3G instead of my laptop - not with the LG Prime, not in my area, not for me. This also does not speak against the Android OS, only the fact that the phone has lower technology connectivity, and therefore lower speed. (Near my signal bars, the phone always reads 'E', and this phone will never be able to say '3G' or 'EDGE' the way it is built).

If others say they are good with the web/email capability of Android OS - I would say they are right, I'm mostly saying look at this phone's capability versus a better connected/higher processing phone - if it is important to you, or even available to you.


USB Cable connectivity:
This phone is an LG Prime GS390. DO NOT BUY A USB CABLE for any other type of phone. I bought the cable:
USB Sync Charging Data Cable for LG Vu CU915 CU920, GT365 Neon, VX10000 Voyager

LG Customer service told me this cable would work on the LG Prime and it did not! My only other experience with them was OK, but not this bad - hit and miss - like most customer service these days, right? (LG says it's a new phone and they didn't have the specs at customer service yet - but they said it would work on my first contact with them. So help me, or buy/send me a cable, right? Nope, not even after I requested a new cable.) Then they updated the webite after the mistake with me (next day), to include the LG Prime, (wasn't listed before this) - so you're welcome - but still no cable. :-)


The phone/software speed:
The processor/software is very adequate for talk and text - it can slow the screen, but only rarely it seems, and never for a long time - mostly it keeps up and is highly responsive, but not instant. (I put an 8GB microSD in to store my contacts, photos, etc., also - cost me 15 bucks - probably helps the speed a little). As far as I know, only most expensive and newest smartphones will respond instantly - seems to be true in my experience and reading.



The Apps:
For now, AT&T has an app store, and so does Android - hopefully another reviewer will clear up where the best apps are for the LG on the Android platform. Hard to say for me, but I will post again if I learn more about this.

You can do a google search for the best Android Apps and learn a lot that way, also - depends what you want - I think the options are very good now.

LG also states they plan to have apps available in their app store worldwide - the USA Appstore is the last to come on line on the LG website. USA does not have a date posted for LG to start up the app sales - not that I have found. Likely, Android and AT&T have apps covered very well, and you don't need LG, but it might be interesting to see what LG puts forward for their phones.


Overall:
For the price, the good delivery, the 'seems very good so far' Android OS, the smooth SIM change, being able to transfer my free air time, keeping my contacts, and for a nice looking phone/touchscreen/display, I give 5 stars. After I shopped, I couldn't find a glass touchscreen phone with this kind of capability at a better price. And I am very pleased to not be using my entry-level Nokia go phone anymore. If the price was higher, I would remove a star for the screen locking/unlocking button, and how it functions - but I am used to it already, and who am I to complain about one semantic when the price is so very right. And if it bothers me later, I will make it better by gently filing the top of the button down so it can't be bumped anymore. So 5 stars it is.

This was a great deal by Amazon at the time I purchased it. (My local AT&T store didn't even want to try to match or beat this price, either.) With all of this, my satisfaction level is very high, but know what you are buying, also. My review is not negative on the LG Prime, but rather intends to help you understand what you are reviewing/buying.