New LG Optimus Elite Owner

[Testshoot]

I wanted to upgrade my Optimus V and didn't think there was going to be a choice on the Grandfathered plan, however news just hit regarding the ability to get the Elite on the grandfathered Virgin Mobile plan....so I scooted over to BB and grabbed one for $129.99 ($149.99 at Wally World) and just put it on my VM grandfathered plan successfully.

Haven't made a call, txt, or anything yet....just charging the battery for now, but I did activate it.

Now I need ROOT!!!

So far, so good...seems like a worthwhile upgrade from the V if the GPS and radio are equal.

 

[Testshoot]

ps: I noticed in the beginning of the Elite's description below it mentions a 3.2" screen, and later acknowledges it is 3.5". The Godz might wish to correct the first part that says 3.2"

 

[350X]

wait for the next billing cycle to know if it stayed the same or not.

 

[Testshoot]

wait for the next billing cycle to know if it stayed the same or not.

The VM bill page shows what the next bill will be, and it is still $25. Further, others are also reporting their bills staying at $25.

I have an operator number for the person I talked to who also annotated my account regarding our conversation and agreement to leave me at $25.

There was even a person who assume he had to change to the $35 plan, so he first changed his plan, then swapped his phone. When he heard of others staying on their $25 plan with the Elite, he called in and had his changed from $35 back to $25.

 

[Testshoot]

Have had the phone for a day now, haven't talked on it yet, so I can't comment on the voice quality or the cell radio, but I can say that the GPS is better than the OV's GPS and almost as good as my Galaxy S II GPS.

I am testing the OV, the Elite, and the GS2 side by side right now. I had a Triumph before returning it after a few dismal days. In the same location as the three being tested below, the Triumph got NO satellites. I had to leave the house to get a satellite. For comparison, check out these three:

OV has 5 satellites in view, 5 in us, accuracy is just over 100, but drops down to the 30s and 40s as the distance "floats", hovers between 0 and 1 lock.

The Elite see 18 satellites, 5 to 7 in use, typically 40' accuracy, and one locked.

The Galaxy S II has the same 18 in view, 6-7 in use, accuracy hovering over 100, dropping under 100' some times, 0-1 locks.

After watching all three screens for awhile, and watching the satellites, accuracy, and locks jumping around, I declare the Elite the winner, beating the much more expensive GSII.

If left running for awhile, so more information could be collected, the numbers improved a bit.

I was VERY impressed with how quickly the Elite made a GPS connection without being able to "learn" my location. When I very first turned it on and launched the first GPS-centric application it quickly for the satellites and gave me proper location information.

I am guessing an outside or near south window location would give all three phones a better signal.

 

[Gduck]

I have a quick question. How much user accessible storage is available on your Elite? I have to keep a watch on my OV all the time to make sure I don't have too many apps. I'm sure it has more than the OV's 120whatever MB, but exactly how much does it offer?

 

[Testshoot]

I have a quick question. How much user accessible storage is available on your Elite? I have to keep a watch on my OV all the time to make sure I don't have too many apps. I'm sure it has more than the OV's 120whatever MB, but exactly how much does it offer?

The best place for comparing phones is phonescoop. Here is their comparison of the two phones:

Phonescoop Optimus V vs. Elite


They show 140MB for the OV and 1GB for the Elite. I had a memory problem until I went to an alternative ROM which I would highly suggest for the OV, but I would give an even higher recommendation to go to the Elite.

My OV shows 72MB used total Internal Storage, 107MB free. Under "downloaded applications" there are 86 listed programs. That is a lot of programs and have only used half of my internal memory. I have an SD card on the OV which is part of why I get so many programs on it while still leaving some space.

So far I only have 101 (downloaded) programs on the Elite. It shows 560MB used 330MB free. I haven't even put a SD card in it yet, so all of those programs are currently in the built-in memory.

 

[andid]

my battery seems to be draining very fast....in standby even ...i have the brightness down all the way and i have juice defender and not a lot of apps...bluetooth off...any suggestions on how to improve battery life?

 

[AndyOpie150]

Could be a rouge app trying to "call home" to much or causing a "wake lock".
Turn off Auto Sync, Wifi, Mobile Data, GPS, and the Bluetooth you mentioned. Get rid of Juice defender (it will not let you turn on Mobile data and GPS at the same time, a lot), it actually takes up space and use's up more juice than if you just did things yourself. You can do everything it does by downloading a widget app that will allow you to put widgets on any screen to control all the items above.

Go to settings/applications/running apps. Kill all the apps that are running. Monitor the ones that pop right back up in the running apps list. Go to settings/about phone/battery usage. Look and see what app/apps is using up your battery.

One at a time delete the one's that show up in the battery usage. After downloading one wait at least a day to see if you battery has improved. If not re-install and delete another.

 

[Testshoot]

Everything he said.... I have a program called PlaceMe that is always checking where I am...obviously that can burn up some battery by using the GPS.

Despite PlaceMe being my biggest power user (38%) as well as cell standby, wifi, etc. mine has been on battery for 19+ hours and I am at 62%. I am not a power user, i.e. haven't talked on it in that 19 hours, only a text or two, but I did some GPS testing and other program installation stuff in that time.

Just saw the article Levi did about battery usage and how you shouldn't leave something always plugged in, and should try as well as you can to keep the battery between 20 and 80% as going above or below that shortens the battery life.

I think given the cost of batteries, you it might be cheaper to buy a battery once a year than worry about it. I just replaced the original battery in my OV after 15 months of being constantly on charge other than my brief jaunts away from home.

BTW, the Elite NFC antenna is in the back lid, not in the battery like my Samsung. Without the NFC antenna in the battery, the battery cost should be a bit cheaper than other NFC phones.

 

[andid]

i have all that turned off except wifi and data..so get rid of juice defender?

 

[AndyOpie150]

Install an app called "Periodic Auto Sync" set it to every 4 hours for 1 min.
Install the widget app. There a plenty to choose from, pick the free one that gives you the most widget's. Install the ones mentioned ^ a brightness control widget that will allow you to pick 6-5 different levels, a USB Widget, a lock screen widget, airplane mode, silent/vibrate/volume on, and screen orientation (for when you need to move around but you don't want your screen to).

 

[Testshoot]

my battery seems to be draining very fast....in standby even ...i have the brightness down all the way and i have juice defender and not a lot of apps...bluetooth off...any suggestions on how to improve battery life?

I just noticed your comment about brightness turned down. If your phone is sitting around with the display on, even at a low level, all the time, that is where your juice is going. I don't leave my screen on unless I am testing or have a need to see it contstantly, and if I need to see it constantly, I leave it on a charger.

Did you ever check to see what your phone was saying it was using the battery for most. Then there is no more guessing.

I am now at 35 hours on my first battery charge from when I got the phone 2 days ago. Still at 42% battery with 39% of my battery used for PlaceMe. If I wasn't running that app I would have 60-70% of my battery left.

 

[ryansmith888]

can you wifi tether this phone? if so how, and is it as easy as the lg optimus v

 

[andid]

display doesnt stay on, cell standby 47 % ..phone idle 44% voice calls 5% display 5%

 

[AndyOpie150]

It doesn't look like you have a rouge app. Double check everything mentioned ^ above.
The other thing about your battery drain: When you first get the phone you have the screen on going everywhere and downloading all sorts of apps. This takes power.
Once you have everything downloaded and where you want it, you wont be having near the battery drain because you wont be needing to have the screen on and downloading stuff (the biggest battery drains) all the time.

 

[mugwump]

my battery seems to be draining very fast....in standby even ...i have the brightness down all the way and i have juice defender and not a lot of apps...bluetooth off...any suggestions on how to improve battery life?

Do you have notifications turned on for apps like Facebook, Amazon App Store and such? Those two used to run my V into the ground before I turned off notifications. As for the Elite I ran it heavily for about six hours yesterday loading apps and trying out car dock apps and even with all that and bluetooth turned on I was only down to about 60% left by the evening. The only battery saving app I use is Y5 to automatically switch over to wi-fi at home.

 

[Testshoot]

can you wifi tether this phone? if so how, and is it as easy as the lg optimus v

I haven't found a way to hotspot or tether the phone on USB.

 

[350X]

try FoxFi from the market to WiFi tether

 

[Petrah]

can you wifi tether this phone? if so how, and is it as easy as the lg optimus v

I haven't found a way to hotspot or tether the phone on USB.

This is a paid service that you can get through Virgin Mobile. You have to purchase the MiFi and then get the extra monthly plan with it.

MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot | Virgin Mobile

The second gray tab has the plan details and pricing.

 

[MacFett]

This is a paid service that you can get through Virgin Mobile. You have to purchase the MiFi and then get the extra monthly plan with it.

It is available as an addon for some hand held devices now for an additional $15 a month. The Evo will have it, unsure about the elite.

 

[Testshoot]

It is available as an addon for some hand held devices now for an additional $15 a month. The Evo will have it, unsure about the elite.

Noticed the Link2SD link in your reply. It seems a way is needed to put applications on the SD once we fill the internal memory. Supposedly only music and video goes to the SD and everything else stays local.

 

[350X]

If ya saw my post, http://androidforums.com/4391380-post7.html

the elite is setup like most and my tablet, ive yet to find a program that can push apps to the external SD, they only let you chose the built in SD.

so far all I have been able to do is get titaniumbackup pro to put the backup files on the external SD and tubemate to save files there, but haven't been able to push apps there.

 

[Testshoot]

I have a Titanium Pro backup on the SD on my Optimus V, but without TP on the Elite, I don't know how to do a restore. I don't know where the files were copied from...that is half the problem, it isn't just having the files, but not knowing where to put them on the Elite. I wrote the developer twice and never heard back. Would be nice for that info to be in the FAQ or ?

Regarding the info at the link you provided, I have WiFi Explorer Pro your link references, I don't get how that helps me figure out where they should go?

I have already tried to explore the phone and I only find the SD copy of the files, not the ones on the phone it backed up..

Thanks

If ya saw my post, http://androidforums.com/4391380-post7.html

the elite is setup like most and my tablet, ive yet to find a program that can push apps to the external SD, they only let you chose the built in SD.

so far all I have been able to do is get titaniumbackup pro to put the backup files on the external SD and tubemate to save files there, but haven't been able to push apps there.

 

[riggerman1]

Does this phone have a plastic or glass screen? Sounds like a good device and I'm thinking of getting one, but would like to know ahead of time about the screen's durability.