LG Optimus GT540 Unlocked Phone GSM Quad Band

First off, let me start by saying that I do love this phone, and despite the flaws it has I'm STILL baffled over it, and I still haven't gotten over that it's a phone, and not just a toy. (I came from a Blackberry, and this just has so many advantages over it)

Pros: 

Quick! Much faster than my Blackberries, I can send messages without any lag, there's generally very little delay between selecting programs and having it open. Sleek! I've gotten a few comments about it being a cool looking phone, and one person didn't want to stop playing with it!. Surprisingly cheap! When I was looking at phones, I generally didn't want to spend over $150, but when I saw what this came with and the general reviews of it, I couldn't pass it up. This is cheaper than any Android upgrade T-Mobile would give me, and the cheapest Android phone I could find!. Android OS, This is huge! So many people develop apps for this system, it's awesome. There is literally an app for everything that I've wanted so far, and plenty more that I haven't wanted, haha.

Cons:
Android 1.6 - This is upgradable, but apparently LG had issues with the OS or something, so they took it down. You can potentially upgrade it by getting "root" access, which is essentially like jailbreaking an iPhone, or something like that. It gives you access to things that you normally wouldn't have, but not without its own issues. You can potentially "brick" your phone and have it be just that, a very expensive paperweight. I would do this but right now I'm just so happy with the upgrade I don't need it. 

Pain to set up -- When I first received it, I just popped in my SIM card and I could text/talk no problem. Picture messages were a different story. For some reason I could not receive picture messages despite normally being able to do so with my Blackberries. I was told I would need a data plan for it by a T-mobile representative. This did not fix the issue. I continued to talk to three total T-mobile reps and none of them could get me to receive picture messages (or web, after the data plan was added to test it). I only found out how to do this by browsing the T-mobile forums and finding the right Access Point Names (APNs) to use in order for it to work. I will post these settings at the end of the review. 

Performance : fast & stable. 

• It can run Raging Thunder II smoothly (need to download data to SD card separately in order to run the game. The data can be found easily on android forums).
• Web browsing: no lag when scrolling. No double-tap or one-touch zooming (as in Iphone and other capacitive phones) because this phone has resistive screen.

Wifi : 

• Easy to config.
• Run smoothly.

Texting: not texting so no comment. However: 

• Qwerty onscreen keyboard is not spacious (3" screen).

Music : 

• Loudspeaker is good for pop, rap. Not good for metal + rock: I tried playing Tokyo (Resident Evil - Afterlife's OST)and it sounded awful.

Connectivity :

• Always has good signal.
• No problem with making calls (voice is clear).

Software : 

• Running Android 1.6.
• Can be upgraded to 2.1 (not officially supported).

Battery :

• 1500mAh => long standby time.
• Run out quickly when running game + WiFi on (battery is drained 21% when running Raging Thunder II for 10 mins).

Suggestion :

• Install APNdroid (must use 3.0, 2.1 won't work) + 3G Watchdog.
• Install ApkInstaller to install applications from SD card.