LG Optimus Chic
The LG Optimus Chic is the more stylish sibling to the Optimus One, with a few extra features like the ability to wirelessly sync to your PC and DLNA support.
When LG officially released information about the Optimus One (P500), it also gave details on a slightly higher-end smartphone called the Optimus Chic (E720). When we say slightly, we do mean it — this model has the same 600MHz processor and 3.2-inch HVGA screen as the budget P500. However, it does have a few extra features. Let's see what they are.
Upside
The Optimus Chic is meant to be a stylish alternative to the Optimus One. It has a clean front facade and is quite compact at 112.5 x 57.9 x 12.9mm.
While the P500 has a 3-megapixel camera, the Chic comes with a 5-megapixel version. Aside from taking higher-resolution images, it can also shoot VGA videos at 30fps, which will result in smoother motion compared with the Optimus One's maximum of 18fps.
According to the official LG UK product blog, the E720 will come with a feature that allows users "to control the device from their PCs". No other details are given, but this is possibly similar to what HTC has done with its HTCSense.com service, which lets users perform tasks such as locking their phones or pushing apps to the device from a Web browser.
Downside
Even though the use of touch-sensitive shortcuts gives the E720 an uncluttered design, their location below the screen can be potentially cumbersome. We've mentioned this in a few different reviews: Physical buttons are better because the chances of hitting one accidentally when playing games is lower.
Despite being slightly heavier than the P500, the E720 has a smaller battery. Its capacity is 1,250mAh, less than the Optimus One's 1,500mAh cell. With the same screen and processor, this could potentially mean a shorter battery life.
Outlook
The Optimus Chic is not available yet, but is supposed to be in before the end of the year. We don't see it so much as a higher-end P500 because the differences are quite minute, but more as an alternative design. The price has not been announced, but given its feature set it shouldn't go for very much more than the Optimus One, which costs AU$349 before operator subsidies.