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Despite running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the LG Optimus L5 can occasionally be laggy and slow to move between apps. Even swiping between home screens isn't particularly smooth.
Other mid-range handsets such as the HTC One S, which carries a 1.5GHz dual-core processor along with Android 4.0, don't have such issues.
Even if mid-range smartphones aren't fully-featured, you'd hope the navigation would be slicker.
The LG skin has a couple of interesting features, such as being able to edit all five home screens in a scrolling view rather than dealing with each one separately.
You can also organise app shortcuts into folders and keep shortcuts to favourite apps on the anchored dock.
The choice of widgets over app shortcuts seems a little limited, but there's Quick Memo, which is an interesting addition to the drop-down notifications bar.
See something you like on the internet? Need to remember to buy milk later? Hit quick memo and scrawl directly onto the screen. Done.
The notifications bar itself is customisable to an extent, mainly with the handiest display, connectivity and power-saving options.
Wi-Fi toggles are always welcome, but it's a shame there's no overall 'settings' option to add to the bar, meaning you have to come out of apps and back to the home screen if you want to change anything not included in the notifications menu.
For users of an Android smartphone with Gingerbread it won't be too difficult to navigate Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
On the face of it, navigating around the phone is generally OK if occasionally juddering, though there are a few niggles when it comes to more in-depth set-ups, such as within contacts (which we'll get onto in a minute).
