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Apps
Unlike many of its entry-level rivals, which target the first-time and teenage smartphone markets, the LG Optimus L3 fails to offer a selection of preinstalled applications likely to appeal to such users wants and needs with the now standard social offerings of Facebook and Twitter not added to the handset prior to boxing.
While such apps, services and features can be added by a simple, free jaunt to the Google Play store, the convenience and user-appealing reassurance of their premature installation on many rivals is one which is missing from the Optimus, an omission that sparks a number of questions around LG's planned user support for the device.
What LG Optimus L3 owners will be treated to instead of Facebook and Twitter, however, is the array of barebones Google-branded Android classics with the likes of YouTube and Google Books lining up alongside the handset functionality requiring array of settings and shortcuts and of course the increasingly pushed Google+ service.
Maps
Thanks to its Android innards, the LG Optimus L3's mapping software comes in the form of the tried and tested favourite that is Google Maps, with the usual array of mapping and direction providing characteristics in tow.
Even when connected using a strong Wi-Fi signal the Optimus' GPS abilities are far from a speedy affair, with image rendering of searched locations chugging along like a dial-up accessed web page.
Furthermore, zooming in and out of maps provides a stunted, slow experience that is further extrapolated when used under a 3G connection.
Adding further woes to the handset's less than impressive mapping abilities, the LG Optimus L3's Google Maps software crashed without warning on a number of occasions with location based information, such as current location required for directions, repeatedly failing to initialise and provide useful, accurate information.
With the Google Play Store ensuring all your wants and needs are fulfilled, and the handset's 800MHz processor is a match for most apps, games and software add-ons although the desire to play games with such a poor visual is questionable.
