We got to check out LG's eco-friendly Optimus Elite for Sprint and Virgin. Here's what we saw.
Sprint and Virgin Mobile recently announced the LG Optimus Elite, a new, inexpensive, eco-friendly Android smartphone. PCMag got a chance to see both phones up close.
The green features are really being played up on these phones, so let's look at those first. For starters, the Optimus Elite is ULE Platinum Certified, which is the highest level of environmental performance recognized by sustainable requirements established by UL Environment and Sprint. The phone's casing is made of 50 percent recycled plastic, and is RoHS compliant, which means it is free from many potentially hazardous materials such as halogens, mercury, phthalates, and PVC.
The phone also comes with a charger that exceeds the EC Code of Conduct on energy efficiency when it comes to no-load consumption. Unlike many other chargers, the Optimus Elite's charger only consumes 0.03 watts of power when plugged into a wall socket without being connected to the phone.
The Sprint version of the phone comes in fully recyclable packaging that is printed with soy inks, contains up to 87 percent post-consumer paper, and was engineered with a glueless construction. The Virgin Mobile version comes in fully recyclable packaging that uses soy inks, and contains up to 30 percent post-consumer paper.
Green features aside, the Optimus Elite looks like a pretty decent, low-end smartphone as well. Available in white or silver, the Optimus Elite is cute, tiny, and comfortable to hold. The recycled plastic casing feels comfortable, and the phone has a nice, textured back panel.
Spec-wise, it's certainly not among the smartphone elite, but it should get the job done. The phone is powered by a single-core 800MHz processor, and will be running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). LG hasn't done much to modify the OS, and the version I saw running looked pretty close to stock on both phones. There's no word yet on an update to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), but it's probably not happening anytime soon.
The phone's 3.5-inch, 480-by-320-pixel capacitive touch-screen looks about on par with other low-cost Android smartphones, and I imagine the 5-megapixel camera will deliver average performance. The phone is enabled with Near Field Communication (NFC), which means you can use Google Wallet to make payments at stores using your phone. All in all, it looks the Optimus Elite will be a solid starter option for first-time smartphone buyers.
The LG Optimus Elite will be available from Sprint online starting Sunday, April 22 (which, not so coincidentally, is also Earth Day), for $29.99 with a new two-year service agreement. A release date and pricing details for the Virgin model have not yet been announced.
Check back with PCMag for a full review of the Optimus Elite on Sprint soon, and on Virgin once it becomes available.
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