LG Optimus 7 and Optimus 7Q

Available now 
11th October 2010

LG's first Windows Phone 7 based devices, the LG Optimus 7 range consists of a pair of high-end smartphones battling it out with several other rivals for a slice of this new market.

The LG Optimus 7 (or the LG E900) is a tablet-style smartphone with a 3.8" display, the LG Optimus 7Q (or LG C900) adds a slide-out QWERTY keyboard but comes with a smaller 3.5" display.

Compared with the Samsung Omnia 7, LG's offering has a smaller screen (3.8" compared to 4.0" on the Samsung), but double the internal memory. Even though the Omnia beats the Optimus on screen size, the LG is still a little bit better than most other market leaders. The display on the Optimus 7Q is smaller than most of the competition, but the trade-off is what looks to be a well-designed QWERTY keyboard instead.

Windows Phone 7 offers an utterly different approach from older versions of Windows, and only time will tell if this platform will be a success. Microsoft's new operating system will appeal to those who both want something different from the iPhone and also want something a bit more polished than Android. These two smartphones are very competent from a hardware level, and LG have done a lot of work to integrate Windows Phone 7 with DLNA and other services in order to make them appealing.

Apart from the screen, keyboard and physical dimensions, these two Windows Phone 7 handsets seem to be identical. On the back is a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and a flash, which is also capable of 720p video capture. Inside is 512MB of RAM coupled with a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, internal flash memory is a useful 16GB (but there is no memory card slot). There is also a large 1500 mAh battery, although we don't know how much talktime and standby time that equates too.

Both LG Optimus 7 phones offer a multimedia player that is capable of playing most major formats, an FM radio, a 3.5mm audio socket and stereo Bluetooth. This is a 3.5G device capable of a maximum 7.2 Mbps download speed and 5.7 Mbps uploads, and the Optimus 7 also supports 802.11 b, g and n WiFi.

The software suite includes a web browser, social networking services and an email client in addition to the media player. Other applications should be available to download from the Windows Phone 7 marketplace, although don't expect thousands of applications at launch.

LG say that the Optimus 7 and Optimus 7Q should be available in 35 countries worldwide, and will start to be available in certain European and Asian markets from October 21st.