The Korean firm LG worked hard in 2011 to improve its market share in the mobile phone industry, and the LG Optimus Sol E730 was one such attempt. The mobile phone premiered in September and had to go head-to-head with Samsung’s Galaxy S II, and that was just unlucky timing.

Because the Galaxy S II took the mobile phone world off its iPhone rocker, the LG Optimus Sol never really had its fair share of limelight. It has its drawbacks, but for a mid-priced smartphone, the E730 packs a pretty good feature and capability presentation for the average user.

Read our Galaxy S II review for an in-depth comparison.

Overview

The display in the LG Optimus Sol E730, previously rumoured as the LG Victor, has an excellent clarity and vividness to its images. Bright colours snap right off the screen – until compared to the Galaxy S II. The SII just has that little bit extra that takes the wind out of LG’s comparison sails.

Taken alone, however, it shouldn’t be overlooked as a viable option. The wide-angle viewing on this model has a wide range, just as the SII does. The Sol accolade starts to pale, however, at the extreme comfort angle: A green screen tint appears, and there’s nothing the user can do to overcome it. The tint would affect view-sharers more than the user, however, so on average use scales, the inconvenience is only about a level two, not a level eight or higher.

The body is plastic, which contributes to the mobile phones slim profile. It feels like a cheap mobile phone because of it, though, but at least the back display discourages lots of fingerprints despite its plastic casing.

Specifications

Dimensions: 122.5 x 62.5 x 9.8 mm /110 g
Display: 3.8 inches / Ultra AMOLED capacitive touchscreen / 480 x 800 pixels at 246 ppi
Operating System: Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread
Speed: 1 GHz Snapdragon, single-core, Qualcomm
Memory: 512 GB RAM / 1 GB storage / 2 GB ROM included / Memory expandable to 32 GB via microSD card.
Battery: 1500 mAh / Talk: up to 4 hours / Standby: up to 100 hours.
Camera: rear: 5 MP / 2592х1944 pixels / autofocus / Video: 720p at 30 fps. / Front: 0.3 MP, VGA.
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot, DLNA / 2G: GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 / 3G: HSDPA 900 and 2100 / Class 10 GRPS and EDGE / HSDPA / HSUPA.

Additional comments: “Ultra?” – Are they stretching for alternatives to “Super” to avoid licensing fees or what? Corning Gorilla Glass and Optimus 2.0 user interface for protection and ease of use, respectively. MP3 / WAV / WMA / eAAC+ audio player; MP4 / DivX / Xvid / H.264 / H.263 / WMV multi-media player.

Very poor battery performance; well below average for a 1500 mAh battery. The display is powered by the Optimus UI but presents as little white space as possible in an effort to minimize the power draw. Unfortunately, it still eats power on a huge scale.

Overall opinion: Not a bad mid-range mobile phone if the Galaxy S II is out of reach, but don’t go far without a charger