LG P698 "Affordable and eligible"

LG has made great strides in their smartphone offerings in the recent years. More importantly, this has been along the entire spectrum — right from powerful dual-core phones at the top to the more cost-effective devices at the bottom. The LG P698 is an offering of the latter type. Not so creatively dubbed the Dual SIM, the P698 allows you to install two SIM cards in the device and switch between them to make calls, but more on this later. In terms of design, the device is all black with a glossy frame but a matte-finished back. The front features the LG logo rather prominently on the top and a 3.2-inch display. The standard Android buttons can be found on the device with the Search Key replaced a Dual SIM key. Just like most devices on the market, the P698 is very much pocketable at 12mm thick and 125g heavy. The 3.2-inch display is powered by a 320x480 display. Being a budget phone, the resolution is on the lower side. What is perhaps most frustrating is the inclusion of 150MB of internal memory. Thankfully, it can be extended with a micro-SD card, and a 2GB version is included in the box. The Operating System is Android Gingerbread 2.3.4, which works rather smoothly. The eyes of this camera create shots at 3MP with video capabilities at 640x480. Once again, fairly average in terms of specifications but the results were pretty decent. Other features include FM radio and RemoteCall, which lets your phone remotely control, diagnose and support your device. The Social+ widget lets you add your Facebook, Twitter and MySpace (yes, really) accounts to it for "enhanced social communication". Me, I'm a purist and prefer the applications from the social networks themselves. That being said, the widget worked well for basic functionality. Oh, and the battery is a hefty 1,500mAh, which has the device running for more than a day. The standout feature on the device — the Dual SIM capability — works very well. Pushing the SIM switch key which is located at the bottom right lets you choose which SIM you want to use. The same functionality is provided with a widget on the screen. There is no long-drawn-out process here. The LG Optimus Net isn't looking to break any technology barriers. Instead, it seeks to bring it to an affordable level. Priced at Dh899, the Optimus NET is an affordable smartphone that is capable of doing a lot of the things the higher-end ones do.