As some wait for the update to ICS on their LG Viper's, and we now join the rest of the Sprint's smartphones on Android 4, I figured I would write my simple summary review of the device.
1) First of all, ICS on this phone is MUCH, much faster & more responsive than Gingerbread! I couldn't believe how much better ICS is. The screen is more responsive than before.
2) Load time: After the boot animation is complete, the time the phone takes to load from there has improved by a lot. It even connects to phone service faster than before.
3) Modems: At home, where phone service is miniscule, my phone seems to have a more stable connection to Sprint.
4) ICS Features: ICS is much more pleasant to the eyes, however, that brightness control needs to be tamed. If turned up too high, it sure is bright. And the fact that I can customize my lock screen with a built in calendar will sure save me battery life. Shortcut buttons on the lock screen are awesome too! It will take some time for me to get used to the System Settings menu, as everything is arranged differently than on Gingerbread, but it is a welcome change. I also like the customizable system fonts. If finally gives me some extra level of control on how I want my user interface to look like.
5) Voicemail App: Sprint waited until this release to upgrade the Voicemail app to bring it inline with the rest of their LTE smartphones. I'm glad for that, I hated the yellow background on the old icon.
6) Battery life: I can't really say I've seen too much difference here yet as I have problems with my battery, but so far there has been a small drop in battery life on my phone alone as my current battery keeps dying anyway.
7) LG QuickMemo: In July, LG introduced QuickMemo. A useful feature, it gave Viper users the ability to take screenshots natively on our phones. It received an upgrade on ICS, and it seems to be better optimized with the new OS.
Overall, this device has been given a well needed upgrade, and performs much better on ICS than it did with Gingerbread.
This phone was announced January 9th at CES 2012 in Las Vegas, released April 22nd alongside the Galaxy Nexus, and received ICS on November 1st.
Here's hoping that we will also receive Jelly Bean, preferably 4.2
Note: For those that own a Mac and the Viper, you need a MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) app in order to transfer information from your phone to your Mac. Google has one located here, called Android File Transfer. Apparently, all versions of Android from 3.0 up need this program to work with a Mac, or a similar program that supports MTP tech. I will definitely miss the days I could just mount as a USB drive.