Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

[UPDATE: My initial review was posted after using the phone for 2 or 3 days. I've now used it for one or two more weeks, and numerous problems have been revealed, leading to me downgrading my review from 5 stars to 2. See my new comments further down. UPDATE 2: I've had the phone for nearly a month now and it is getting returned. The final update is at the bottom.] I won't do a comprehensive review of this phone because they're already out there. In general, I will just say that this phone is far faster and smoother than the LG Optimus V I was using. Download speeds are also greatly increased - apparently this has as much or more to do with the phone itself as it does with the network. It's easiest to see the difference in download speeds over your Wifi at home, where the speed should be the same as it was with a different phone yet in fact it's now much, much faster. A few key facts then, both pros and cons: Swype: The phone does not ship with the Swype keyboard pre-installed. Nevertheless, it is possible to get Swype for the phone easily, and without rooting the phone. Just go to Swype's official website and click on the "join" link to get access to Swype "beta" (I'm not sure what's beta about it, it's unbelievable and vastly improved over the version of Swype I was using on the Optimus V). Swype will then send you an e-mail with a link in it. Open that e-mail *on your phone*, click on the link, and the rest just happens. Screen Protection: I'm 99% sure this phone ships with a screen protector already on it. I know this because 1) I saw a video somewhere (I think Howard Forums) of a guy who claimed that his came with a screen protector on it, and who then removed that protector on the video (he didn't like screen protectors), and 2) now that I have the phone myself, I can see that at the *very* edge of the screen, there is a line that can be seen that seems to divide between a layer underneath and something that's on top of it but doesn't *quite* perfectly cover every millimeter of the surface - though that's probably on purpose, so that you can remove it if you want to or it becomes necessary. With the factory screen protector on, the screen nevertheless looks vibrant and clear, and feels quite smooth. I'd think it was just glass if I didn't know better. It's pretty glossy and picks up a fair amount of glare, and is prone to lots of smudges and fingerprints. FYI, the guy on Howard Forums claimed that after removing the screen protector the screen was somewhat more vibrant but also had more glare. However, he was most impressed by how much more responsive the screen felt now that there was no separation between his finger and the actual glass. If you don't want a screen protector, or want to swap out the factory one for a different one (perhaps at a later time if the one from the factory gets scratched up), you can remove the factory one. The video guy pulled up the edge with a thumbtack. Internal Memory: Initial reports indicated that this phone had only 512MB of internal memory, and as of now the Virgin Mobile site also indicates that. That appears to be incorrect. According to the App2SD app, I have 1.05GB of internal memory. By contrast, the Optimus V had only 140MB of internal memory, and for me that ran out VERY quickly. With Android Version 2.2 and above, many apps can now be "moved" from the phone's internal memory to an SD card. Nevertheless, how much usable *internal* memory you have is critical, because 1) many apps are not movable to the SD card, regardless of what version of Android you're running, 2) many apps only have full functionality if you're keeping them on the phone's internal memory (this most commonly comes up for apps that have widget functionality - the widgets cannot be used if the app is on the SD card), and 3) EVEN when you move an app to the SD card, all apps *still* leave portions of themselves on the internal memory. You can see how much internal memory an app is using by going to Settings > Applications > Manage Applications and looking up the particular app (if you want to see how much memory an app is taking up on an SD card, use App2SD). On the Optimus V, I had a number of apps that, even though officially "on the SD card", still left 2, 4, even 10 MBs on internal memory. Thus, having 7 1/2 times the internal memory of the Optimus V is huge. Conclusion: I give the phone 5 stars because it not only does everything I expected of it but is also snappier and has more internal memory than reported. The addition of a factory-installed screen protector (without air bubbles!) is also, to me, a plus. The only negatives are that the screen is prone to smudges, and that the phone ships without Swype - but, as I explained, that's easily rectified. UPDATE: After using the phone for another one or two weeks, numerous problems have cropped up. First, two additional positive points: LED light - The Triumph has an LED light that is located behind the earpiece grille. It glows red when charging (green to et you know it's done), and pulsates when you have a new notification message. This is a handy feature that the LG Optimus didn't have. Netflix - The free Netflix app is now available for the Triumph in the Android marketplace. Streaming to the Triumph over a Wifi connection works nicely. Last I saw the Optimus didn't have this app available, and maybe it couldn't because the phone needs more processing power to handle the streaming. And now for the problems that have cropped up: Restarts - The phone randomly restarts itself every so often. It was not dropped on the floor nor did it get wet. Battery life/Reception - The battery life of this phone is decidedly worse than that of the Optimus. I can only say this anecdotally as I haven't done "testing" per se - the phone just dies way too fast, and this is with options like Wifi, GPS< and Bluetooth turned off. As further evidence, I have a widget from the "Juiceplotter" app. On a full charge for the Optimus, it would say I had something like 17 hours of battery life (presumably in standby conditions, not if you talked on the phone for 17 hours straight, obviously). On the Triumph, the same widget gives me a maximum of 10 hours on a full charge, but in practice the phone doesn't come close to matching that. The reception is also definitely worse than the Optimus was, but again I can only comment on that anecdotally. Non-responsiveness - Sometimes the "back" button on the phone simply won't work for a while. I'll be using an app and won't be able to get out of it except by using the "home" button. The fact that the "home" button works indicates that the phone's CPU isn't just completely choked on something. The app and phone are working, it's just that the back button checks out every so often. The "menu" button does the same thing, but a bit less often. Build quality - In the lower left corner of the phone, where the glass screen meets the outer hard plastic border of the phone, there is light leakage whenever the phone's screen is on. It's only in this one spot. I find it distracting and annoying and wonder what it says about the build quality of the phone. NEW Conclusion: It's always possible that the problems I've had are isolated to my particular phone, but all I can do is report on my own experiences. If other people have the same experiences, then I think this phone's problems seriously outweigh its advantages, and you're better off going back to the more humble but more reliable Optimus. FINAL UPDATE: I've had the phone now for almost a month. Its habit of restarting itself randomly has only increased, and the touch screen and touch-sensitive buttons remain unresponsive at times. In addition, the battery life has been revealed to be absolutely abysmal. In standby mode, the phone can lose up to 10% of its charge per hour, and of course loses it far more rapidly if it is actually being used. I've decided that even if a phone wipe could somehow clear the first two problems, it certainly wouldn't improve the battery life or poor signal strength, so the phone is being returned. Back to the Optimus V.